BBD 07.23.10 The Good Neighbor (New)

#1 · July 23, 2010, 12:51 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on July 23, 2010, 12:51 pm
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

www.theburningbush.net
www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170 countries.
Celebrating 11 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more
than 11,000 subscribers across the world.

Please join the Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998 and is
made up of more than 300 prayer warriors. Send prayer requests and receive
prayer requests. To join send an email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

If you love to send and receive inspirational emails the Burning Bush
Inspirational Group is for you. To join send an email to
bbinspire-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

You can now leave comments/feedback about the devotionals at
www.theburningbush.net.

Now available FREE OF COST for BIKER MINISTRIES is the "WORDS for the ROAD"
devotional booklet with 34 devotionals and 48 pages. It is 8 1/2 X 11" bound
in gray lightweight card stock and black plastic comb. I originally intended
to provide this to a ministry at the Sturgis Rally in South Dakota but that
has not worked out. So the booklet is available with the words "Sturgis
Rally Edition" on the cover or without it. Or if you have a ministry
directed toward a different rally I can add your rally name to the cover.
Just let me know. Send me an email at wrather@dobsonteleco.com or
edwrather@theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush Devotional
Welcome to the 781 new subscribers since January 1, 2010!!
There were 1367 new subscribers during 2009!!

07.23.10

The Good Neighbor

Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to
Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded
him, and departed, leaving him half dead. But a certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, came where he was. .So he went to him and bandaged his
wounds, .set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of
him. .when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper,
and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come
again, I will repay you.' So which of these three do you think was neighbor
to him who fell among the thieves?" And he said, "He who showed mercy on
him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." - Luke 10:30; 33-37
(Please read all of the parable in Luke 10:25-37.)

Resul Mor is a modern day good Samaritan, who lives in Germany. He was on
his way home from work when a man flagged him down and told him he needed
help for his very ill wife. Resul took them to the hospital and at the
hospital, he was asked to sign a registration form while the husband went
with his wife. You can imagine his shock though when he received a $9,263
(6,000 pound) bill for the woman's treatment. According to the hospital, the
form Resul signed also committed him to pay for the woman's treatment if she
could not pay. A German court has ruled that Resul must pay the bill. Resul
says, " I didn't expect her to not pay anything. I'm just an ordinary man
who did someone a favor."

Reading the parable of the Good Samaritan now is somewhat troubling for some
but in the time of Jesus this must have been not just shocking but earth
shaking. Imagine two people thought of as having the ultimate in human
goodness, a priest, and a Levite, who did not stop to help. However, a
Samaritan, and Samaritans were hated by the Jews and were thought to be as
low as a half breed dog or worse, did stop to help. This person, this hated
Samaritan according to Jesus was the one who was acting like a "neighbor" to
the one who was "half dead".

The question now for us is, who is our neighbor and will we act as a good
neighbor ought to toward them? Will we be a good neighbor if it costs us
something? Would we be a good neighbor if we knew it would cost us $9,263?
It is unknown in today's dollars exactly how much the Good Samaritan of the
parable paid for the care of the man who was "half dead" but it would not
have been cheap. Would we be a good neighbor if it involved any possible
risk to our own safety or to that of our family? If you consider the
situation of the wounded man of the parable you can see that there is danger
involved for the Good Samaritan. The Priest and the Levite passed on the
other side because they did not want to risk being attacked as that poor man
had been. The Good Samaritan took a great risk to help a man who could do
nothing in return for him.

In many ways, you see Jesus Himself as being the ultimate Good Samaritan.
Jesus took the risk of putting on human flesh being born into a peasant
family and paying with the ultimate cost of his life on the cross. He did
that for us who have no way of repaying what He did for us. The question
then becomes will we be Jesus to those that we encounter in this life?

Copyright © 2010. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush website has
been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the
Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather began writing devotionals
in the early 1990s. The distribution of these first devotionals was
primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison facilities
throughout the United States and Canada.

Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer
Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there and they will be
forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer Group (Of course, I am always in need
of prayer - please pray for me.).

If you are not my friend on facebook or myspace you can be, just add me. The
devotionals are posted in my blogs on those two social networks and you can
leave comments, feedback about them there. There are other social networks
designed just for Christians, however, this is an outreach project to reach
those who may not know the Lord or may have wandered away. You can help me
reach out to them.

For information about how to hear my testimony in your church visit this
link: www.theburningbush.net/pages.asp?pageid=22160

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org

Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube (now Tangle) at:
connect.tangle.com/Wrather

You can listen to services at my son, Clark Wrather's church (First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma) live on Sunday mornings at 10:55am CST
www.kkbifm.com/

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net
http://www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170 countries.
Celebrating 11 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more
than 11,000 subscribers across the world.

Please join the Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998 and is
made up of more than 300 prayer warriors. Send prayer requests and receive
prayer requests. To join send an email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

If you love to send and receive inspirational emails the Burning Bush
Inspirational Group is for you. To join send an email to
bbinspire-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

You can now leave comments/feedback about the devotionals at
http://www.theburningbush.net.

Now available FREE OF COST for BIKER MINISTRIES is the "WORDS for the ROAD"
devotional booklet with 34 devotionals and 48 pages. It is 8 1/2 X 11" bound
in gray lightweight card stock and black plastic comb. I originally intended
to provide this to a ministry at the Sturgis Rally in South Dakota but that
has not worked out. So the booklet is available with the words "Sturgis
Rally Edition" on the cover or without it. Or if you have a ministry
directed toward a different rally I can add your rally name to the cover.
Just let me know. Send me an email at wrather@dobsonteleco.com or
edwrather@theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush Devotional
Welcome to the 781 new subscribers since January 1, 2010!!
There were 1367 new subscribers during 2009!!

07.23.10

The Good Neighbor

Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to
Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded
him, and departed, leaving him half dead. But a certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, came where he was. .So he went to him and bandaged his
wounds, .set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of
him. .when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper,
and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come
again, I will repay you.' So which of these three do you think was neighbor
to him who fell among the thieves?" And he said, "He who showed mercy on
him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." - Luke 10:30; 33-37
(Please read all of the parable in Luke 10:25-37.)

Resul Mor is a modern day good Samaritan, who lives in Germany. He was on
his way home from work when a man flagged him down and told him he needed
help for his very ill wife. Resul took them to the hospital and at the
hospital, he was asked to sign a registration form while the husband went
with his wife. You can imagine his shock though when he received a $9,263
(6,000 pound) bill for the woman's treatment. According to the hospital, the
form Resul signed also committed him to pay for the woman's treatment if she
could not pay. A German court has ruled that Resul must pay the bill. Resul
says, " I didn't expect her to not pay anything. I'm just an ordinary man
who did someone a favor."

Reading the parable of the Good Samaritan now is somewhat troubling for some
but in the time of Jesus this must have been not just shocking but earth
shaking. Imagine two people thought of as having the ultimate in human
goodness, a priest, and a Levite, who did not stop to help. However, a
Samaritan, and Samaritans were hated by the Jews and were thought to be as
low as a half breed dog or worse, did stop to help. This person, this hated
Samaritan according to Jesus was the one who was acting like a "neighbor" to
the one who was "half dead".

The question now for us is, who is our neighbor and will we act as a good
neighbor ought to toward them? Will we be a good neighbor if it costs us
something? Would we be a good neighbor if we knew it would cost us $9,263?
It is unknown in today's dollars exactly how much the Good Samaritan of the
parable paid for the care of the man who was "half dead" but it would not
have been cheap. Would we be a good neighbor if it involved any possible
risk to our own safety or to that of our family? If you consider the
situation of the wounded man of the parable you can see that there is danger
involved for the Good Samaritan. The Priest and the Levite passed on the
other side because they did not want to risk being attacked as that poor man
had been. The Good Samaritan took a great risk to help a man who could do
nothing in return for him.

In many ways, you see Jesus Himself as being the ultimate Good Samaritan.
Jesus took the risk of putting on human flesh being born into a peasant
family and paying with the ultimate cost of his life on the cross. He did
that for us who have no way of repaying what He did for us. The question
then becomes will we be Jesus to those that we encounter in this life?

Copyright © 2010. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush website has
been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the
Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather began writing devotionals
in the early 1990s. The distribution of these first devotionals was
primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison facilities
throughout the United States and Canada.

Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer
Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there and they will be
forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer Group (Of course, I am always in need
of prayer - please pray for me.).

If you are not my friend on facebook or myspace you can be, just add me. The
devotionals are posted in my blogs on those two social networks and you can
leave comments, feedback about them there. There are other social networks
designed just for Christians, however, this is an outreach project to reach
those who may not know the Lord or may have wandered away. You can help me
reach out to them.

For information about how to hear my testimony in your church visit this
link: http://www.theburningbush.net/pages.asp?pageid=22160

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org

Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube (now Tangle) at:
connect.tangle.com/Wrather

You can listen to services at my son, Clark Wrather's church (First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma) live on Sunday mornings at 10:55am CST
http://www.kkbifm.com/

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.