Kindness shouldn't be rare.

Yet in a culture marked by busyness, distraction, and growing division, slowing down to genuinely care for another person often feels harder than it should.

In Part 5 of the Life on the Vine series, Dr. Gregg Marutzky explores kindness as one of the fruit of the Spirit and why biblical kindness goes far beyond good manners or random acts of niceness. Through the story of the Good Samaritan, personal stories of unexpected generosity, and practical everyday applications, this message challenges us to become people who notice others, extend compassion, and reflect the kindness God has shown us.

Whether you're trying to strengthen your relationships, become more present with the people around you, or simply bring a little more hope into a world that often feels rushed and divided, this message offers practical encouragement and a timely challenge.

Chapters

00:00 Why Kindness Matters

01:47 Stories of Everyday Kindness

05:19 Kindness as Fruit of the Spirit

06:13 Defining Biblical Kindness

11:27 Empathy and Listening

13:48 Guerrilla Kindness

16:39 The Good Samaritan

21:03 Loving Your Neighbor

24:35 Obstacles to Kindness

28:19 Cultivating Kindness

32:16 Practical Applications

35:06 Closing Prayer

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OC Church of Christ

Dr. Gregg Martuzky:

2

Today we're talking about kindness.

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I don't know if you're

naturally a kind person.

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There's not that many.

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Most of us have to work at it.

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Think about the kindest person you know.

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Melody Wooten.

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All right.

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We've been- we're gonna have a little

call and response this morning.

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Amen.

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Go for it.

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Sounds good.

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I like that.

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Julie Barber.

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Julie Barber.

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All right.

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Tina Cook.

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Tina Cook.

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All right.

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A lot of elders' wives.

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Come on.

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Whoo.

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All right.

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And, and, uh, you know, as I

was thinking about this too,

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guys, uh, it's usually women

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Yeah, you sort of fell

into that, didn't you?

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But I thought about it, too.

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The kindest person I know, frankly, is

my, my wife, especially the way she's

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talked to people all these years, the

way she talks to children, the way she

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talked to our kids, the way she talks to

the grandkids, the way she talks to me.

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So very kind.

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My mother was a very kind person.

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You know, a lot of kind

people are soft-spoken.

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They, they, they don't

mind being, uh, gentle.

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They don't mind being softer.

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And not that many people, especially

guys, are taught and raised to be kind.

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Boys are raised to be strong, to be

tough, in some ways even hard, streetwise.

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And so this doesn't come

natural for all of us.

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Who has a kind smile in here?

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Raise your hand if you th- Go ahead.

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Affirm yourself.

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All right.

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All right.

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You can go ahead and put

that down there, bro.

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All right

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Raise your hand.

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I'll make it a little easier.

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Raise your hand if you have long arms.

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Go ahead.

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Raise, raise your hands

if you've got long arms

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Some of the random acts of kindness in my

life have been by people with long arms.

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Just this week I had to put the

topper on my bed of my truck,

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and my arms are just the…

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My torso and everything, I couldn't

reach up over the bed and back

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there far enough to tighten it up.

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So a fella comes by with

his two dogs walking.

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He's tall.

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He's got long arms.

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I go, "Sir, would you help me?"

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He said, "What do you need?"

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And I said, "Well, I need someone to

tighten this underneath here for me so my

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t- my, my bed t- topper won't fly off."

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He goes, "Oh, sure."

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"W- and will you hold my dogs?"

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And all they did was

bark at me the whole time

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And he tightened up one side.

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He says, "You need the other side?"

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I says, "Yeah."

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He goes around and he

tightens up the other side.

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Usually I have my son-in-law, he's

got long arms, do it, but he was,

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he was busy working late that day.

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So I love people with long arms.

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I have to use a person with

long arms whenever I'm checking

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the oil in my c- my, my truck.

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Again, uh, Honda makes great vehicles,

but, but, uh, the spout for the

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oil is way up over down, and I can

barely touch it with my fingers, and

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I don't have strong enough fingers.

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You know?

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If I, if I could get more leverage on

it I could get it undone, but I can't.

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And so I, I just sort of take

a while at the pump, look

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around- … and then I spot 'em.

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And I go over and I say, "Sir,

can I ask you a big favor?

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Please, can I ask you a big favor?"

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And you know, I don't look evil.

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I don't look nice, but I don't look evil.

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And they usually go, "Well,

okay, what do you need?"

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And I go, "I just need somebody to

take off the, the oil spout so I

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can s- add some oil to my truck."

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"Oh, yeah."

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And they come over and they do it, and

they hand it to me, and they look at me

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like, "So you couldn't do this yourself?"

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I said, "Well, you know, I'm

a little shorter, and you're

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tall, and oh, you did awesome.

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Thank you so, so much."

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And so I love random acts of kindness.

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You know, one of the teens gave me

a random act last Wednesday night.

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He gave me a, a card, a thank you card.

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He graduated, and, and my wife

was thoughtful to buy a card

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and a gift card for him, and

I took it to their, his party.

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But what he wrote was very meaningful,

and cards seem to get to my heart.

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And so I, I, I, I put it in

the, the drawer beside my bed.

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You know, that's where I collect them.

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And then after that gets full, I

put them in this little box that,

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uh, one of the churches gave us

years ago with a bunch of cards.

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Kindness makes such a difference.

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And so I wanna inspire us this

morning to be kind people, to work

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at it, to strive for it, to let the

scriptures inspire us to be kind.

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Please buy this book if you get a chance.

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You don't have to read it right away, but

keep it in your library, try to read it.

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It will inspire you.

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It's been inspiring me.

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And then our theme verse, Galatians

5:22 and 23, "For the fruit of

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the Spirit," the Holy Spirit.

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Not the fruit of our spirit, but the fruit

of God's spirit, "is love, joy, peace,

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patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness,

faithfulness, and self-control."

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And today, we're talking about kindness.

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So let's define it a little bit.

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Let's get, like get, get some

of the, the world's thoughts.

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Kindness begins with the

understanding that we all struggle.

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When you've struggled, when

you've needed kindness, you

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tend to then be a kinder person.

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I don't wish cancer on

anybody, but I'm glad I had it.

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I'm a…

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I, I think it changed me.

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It helped me to empathize.

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I care more about people

who are sick because of it.

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And then I, I wrote this after reading

a lot of things on kindness, "Giving

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from the mind is trading, while

giving from the heart is a gift."

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So often people give to receive,

a reciprocal kind of relationship.

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But if you just give from

the heart, it's a gift.

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When you have a choice to be right

or to be kind, choose to be kind

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So often we want to be right

when we should be kind.

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"Never be too busy as not to

think of others," Mother Teresa.

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"You can always, always give something,

even if it is only kindness," Anne Frank.

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And Plato, "Be kind.

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For everyone you meet is

fighting a harder battle."

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That may not always be

true, but it's often true

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We don't know what other people

are going through, and it

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may be tougher than we think.

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This is a feeling of the heart.

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It's a, the fruits of the spirit

are feelings, love, joy, peace.

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They describe virtues for relationships,

patience, kindness, goodness, and

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relationship with God, faithfulness,

gentleness, and self-control.

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We'll define the difference

between kindness and gentleness.

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But kindness, the opposite of it is rude.

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We've n- if I ask you to think of a rude

person, you can think of one, can't you?

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You maybe saw one this week.

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You maybe witnessed some

rudeness this week, right?

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But kindness isn't

always as self-infinite.

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You know, the goal of this series, guys,

is for us to be more spiritual people.

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Are we spiritual enough?

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Not yet.

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We're growing spiritually

though, aren't we?

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Yes.

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And the Bible says we are changing

from one degree of glory to another,

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so we're always changing as Christians.

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The Spirit is always taking more root in

our lives, and that seed of the Spirit

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that we got at baptism is growing.

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Today, even by coming to church, hearing

God's word, singing God's praises, praying

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to God, taking of communion, remembering

the death, burial, and resurrection of

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Jesus feeds the Spirit so we're becoming

more spiritual just by being here.

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Way to go.

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Amen.

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Way to go.

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You showed up.

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Wow.

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And that's part of being there.

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Yeah.

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Just showing up.

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We need to become spiritual.

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Yeah.

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Spiritually-filled people have

a hungry heart to be spiritual.

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Spiritually-led people

have a honest heart.

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They know how much they need it.

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They're desperate to be changed by God.

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Spiritually-minded people are humble.

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They're just, they just

know they need to change.

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They know they don't have all the answers.

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They know that they struggle with

pride, and so there's, they have a

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humble heart, and spiritually-driven

people usually are happy.

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Because they're growing and they're

changing, and it's very, very obvious.

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Let's define kindness.

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From scripture, Old Testament

and New, kindness is hesed.

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You've heard me sh-

share this word before.

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And usually I've shared

it as steadfast love.

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But at its root, it's, it's kindness also.

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It's the kind of love that shows

the right spirit towards people, the

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right tone, the right empathy, the

right compassion, the right heart.

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And in the New Testament,

it's so close to Christ.

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Christotis.

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It's so close that sometimes it even

gets mistranslated as Christ, 'cause it,

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it is Christ-like being kind, isn't it?

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Kindness is showing

mercy, extending devotion.

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Kindness is helping those who what?

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Need help.

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Whether they deserve it or not.

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Kindness is an outwardly visible

fruit by action, not an inward

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attitude or invisible mindset.

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It's not just an intention.

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It shows itself.

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Kind people reveal themselves as kind

by what they do and how they act.

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Kindness is being gentle,

compassionate, and empathetic

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I don't know when I learned

the definition of empathetic.

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It wasn't as a young man, though.

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It was later on in life.

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And it's seeing other

people's point of view.

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Wow.

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It's understanding how they're

thinking and living and their struggle.

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It's walking in their shoes.

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And I'm so glad that I've spent time

as a chaplain, and they emphasize

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this in our training to, to get

the other person's perspective.

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You know, a lot of times in conversations,

what I would see, we'd have to write

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verbatims after we'd visit a patient.

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Uh, we're supposed to remember

everything said, everything they

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said, everything you said, and we'd

go through it in class with the other

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students and with the, the, the teacher.

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And all of a sudden the

teacher would, "Stop."

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You're reading along and they say, "Stop,"

and you're thinking, "I was doing good.

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It was a good conversation.

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I was really listening.

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I was responding.

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I was an active listener."

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He goes, "Do you see your

perpendicular there, Greg?"

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Go, "This isn't geometry.

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No, I don't see a perpendicular."

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You know?

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He says, "You turned the conversation.

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They were talking about how they were

feeling, and all of a sudden you ask

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a question about a different subject."

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Oh

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Huh.

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And it was amazing how often

I would do it perpendicular.

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And so often I've seen it even in

conversations with people where

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I change the subject to talk

about what I wanna talk about.

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World Cup, you know?

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Or something.

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But we need to listen and go where

they're going, 'cause people give

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hints, small ones, subtle ones,

not very direct ones at all.

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But they tell you what they wanna

talk about if you really listen.

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But too often we don't, at least I didn't.

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I had to learn this, and I'm still

learning this, and it comes from a

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heart of kindness to be empathetic.

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There's a guy that wrote a

book called Gorilla Kindness.

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Now, that's an oxymoron, isn't it?

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I don't consider gorillas kind, all right?

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But he wanted to start a

movement and, and there's…

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If you, if you go on Amazon or Google,

you'll see so many books about,

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you know, random acts of kindness.

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You know, there's probably 20, 30

books entitled Random Acts of Kindness.

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So I think he wanted to talk about

random acts of kindness, but he didn't

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want that title 'cause everybody had

been using it and it was overdone, and

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so he called his book Gorilla Kindness.

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And he really wanted to start a movement

where people just randomly were kind.

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You ever been at Sta- Starbucks and

somebody paid it forward in front of you?

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Oh, you wished you ordered more.

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I'm just saying what I think.

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You know?

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I'm like, "Wow, it is so nice."

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And then you'll s- you'll, you'll,

you just feel this obligation to

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do the same when you get to the,

the, the, the, the drive, uh, when,

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when you pay and you think, "Ooh,

I hope they don't order too much."

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You know?

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But you drive away feeling good

that you received and you gave.

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You received and you gave.

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You paid it forward.

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But Gavin Witt said, "My aim is only

to remind people of the kind impulses

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that all of us have, to remind people of

something they already know, which is that

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it feels good to act on those impulses."

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We have impulses to say something nice.

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We have impulses to smile, to wave, to nod

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Follow up on those impulses.

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Amen?

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Amen.

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Give in to those impulses.

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But you know, I, I was reading a little

bit of this book, Random Acts of Kindness,

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and some super in- inspirational stories.

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It's sort of like Chicken

Soup for the Soul.

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This is a series by this publisher,

and, uh, you know, you can get several

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of them, and he can give you ideas.

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I love these word clouds that talk

about random acts of s- of kindness,

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encouraging other people, being more

positive, to speak kindly, to thank,

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write a thank you note, to write a

gratitude email, to befriend somebody

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new, to bake cookies to surprise somebody

with a treat, et cetera, et cetera.

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But you know, the story in the

Bible that we all recognize

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as good is the Good Samaritan.

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Yeah.

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And we know the story, don't we?

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Yeah.

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All those religious hypocrites.

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That priest that walked by.

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That Levite, that temple servant

that walked by on the other side.

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And you know, I was doing

some study last night.

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I, I, I had three books on parables

in my library, so I took them home

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yesterday, and I was reading late.

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Should've gone to bed earlier, and that's

why I look like I look this morning.

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Don't look at the dark

circles under my eyes.

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But I couldn't help but read through all

of them about the parable of the Good

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Samaritan, and I learned a few things.

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That the guy that came up to

him, you know, we, we, we, we…

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He's called a lawyer, but he was a, an

expert in the law of Moses, so he was a,

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a Old Testament theologian is what he was.

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He was a Bible student.

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He was a rabbi's student, and he, he wants

to come up and ask Jesus, 'cause he's

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heard Jesus say, "Love your enemies,"

and that just didn't make sense to

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him, because the Jews only loved Jews.

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They had a very tight circle.

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They, they've been a persecuted

people, and they've been an attacked

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people, and so they only loved their

neighbor, which was a fellow Jew.

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In fact, if they reached outside of the

Jewish community, they, it became unclean.

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And especially a priest or a temple

servant, they didn't wanna be unclean,

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'cause then they couldn't do their job.

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They couldn't do the temple service.

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So then it made more sense why they

just walk on by, because they didn't

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know whether this was a Jew that had

been beaten up or a Samaritan, but they

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even thought, probably self-righteously,

"Well, they got what they deserve.

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They shouldn't have been

on this road by themselves.

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They didn't have any fri- friends, and it

was probably s- God's judgment on them."

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Oh, that's a sad judgment.

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That's a rationalization.

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And so often we rationalize

instead of doing what's kind.

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And so who does what's kind?

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The irony of this story, the,

the backstory is a Samaritan.

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And the Samaritans, the Jews

really kept their distance from

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because they were seen as traitors.

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They had intermarried.

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They had, they had

forsaken the pure blood.

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And so this is even about racial prejudice

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And you know, there's so much

racial prejudice in our society.

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Yeah.

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You know?

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Yeah.

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And it's, it's every direction.

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It's not just whites prejudice

towards people of color, it's

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people of color towards whites.

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Yeah.

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It's, it's people of color

towards other people of color.

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It's towards different nationalities.

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There's so much.

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Are you kind to people

that don't look like you?

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Or are you afraid of them?

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Those are microaggressions.

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Let's give people the

benefit of the doubt.

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Let's be nice to everybody.

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Amen.

345

Let's let them earn the distance if

we need to protect ourselves or set

346

a boundary, but let's go ahead and

give people the benefit of the doubt.

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Amen?

348

Amen.

349

Let's be kind people 'cause, you know,

the moral of this story, at the end of the

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story, Jesus says, "So who showed hesed?

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So who was the good neighbor?"

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Lawyer, theologian, student, think

for yourself, think critically.

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You can come up with the answer.

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And he says, "Well, I guess

the one who ministered to the

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beaten up, left for dead person."

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And Jesus says, "You've

answered correctly.

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Now just go do likewise.

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Go treat people like neighbors."

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I'm so glad I lived in Nebraska.

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Nobody claps, nobody hollers.

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You know.

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Nebraska.

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Yeah.

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Right.

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It's just one of those flyover states.

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They have great corn, incredible corn.

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It's very flat.

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It's very, very cold in the

winter, wind chill below 25.

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You know, we've got some of the best, uh,

warm weather clothing in our closets that

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we'll probably never need living the rest

of our life here in Southern California.

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Aww.

372

But I wouldn't let Cathy

give them away yesterday.

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I said, "Just put them in the…

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Uh, put them in the garage," because I,

I love being able to stand out there and

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pump my gas in that 40-below weather.

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I'm not cold.

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I'm not cold.

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I'm getting cold, but I'm not cold.

379

But what I loved about Nebraska,

everyone's your neighbor

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You pull off the side of the road,

three or four people pull over

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You know?

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And you're out there shoveling your

snow, three or four neighbors come over.

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You're mowing your grass.

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So my random act of kindness, I'm gonna

lose my reward in heaven for this, but

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I bought a riding lawnmower from one

of the brothers that was moving away

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'cause I had a pretty big backyard.

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The front yard was very small.

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But I mowed my neighbor to the

left and neighbor to the right.

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It just was a nice big circle.

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Oh, I had fun, and it

only took 30 minutes.

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I wish I had a smaller riding lawnmower

so it would take a little while longer.

392

And it only took 30 minutes to

even cross-cut it, and only a

393

few of you know what that means.

394

But I loved it, and, and, and

then my neighbor next door, he

395

got his own lawnmower, and I

said, "You don't need to do it.

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I'll do it."

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And he goes, "No, I need the exercise."

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But I need the reward in heaven

399

And then the neighbor next door,

they had a ki- a child and a, a

400

dog, and so they built a fence so

I couldn't do their yard either.

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I was so bummed out.

402

So I just did mine several times.

403

Amen.

404

I did.

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Nobody…

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You should've laughed.

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I mean, uh, sounds stupid, but it was fun.

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You, when you really have a nice rider

lawnmower, you'll know what I mean.

409

Micah 6:8.

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Going forward

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Somebody put something in

there that shouldn't have

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What are you doing, guys?

413

Anyway, Micah 6:8, "He has

shown you, O man, what is good.

414

And what does the Lord require of you?"

415

To act.

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"To act justly, and to love mercy."

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You know what that word is?

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Hesed, kindness.

419

"And to walk humbly with your God."

420

Amen.

421

To love kindness.

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And then Proverbs 21:21, this is

a great verse, "He who pursues

423

righteousness and love," but this

is the same word, kindness, "finds

424

life, prosperity and honor."

425

Amen.

426

You need, we need, especially as

Christians, to be known for our kindness.

427

I love this book 'cause it tells

us the obstacles to be kind, and

428

I resonate with all of these.

429

And I could probably add to this list.

430

Promoting self-sufficiency.

431

We learn at a young age, do it

yourself, be independent, rely

432

on nobody, don't ask for help.

433

Not asking for help keeps people

from showing you kindness.

434

You know, Cathy mentioned that, uh, she

broke her mirror on her car this week, and

435

after church, one of the brothers, Tony

Siebert, came up to her and said, "Hey,

436

I know how to fix that kind of thing.

437

Can I come over and, and fix it?"

438

And she goes, "Sure, I

already ordered a, a new one.

439

My son-in-law ordered it for me."

440

So he came over, and, and I

looked at the YouTube video and

441

I was thinking about doing it.

442

And I thought, "No, I think

I'll learn from Tony."

443

And you know, when I fix something,

I usually do it wrong the first time.

444

I have to do it twice.

445

And so it take, what should take about

a 30 minutes, takes me two hours.

446

Wow.

447

And Tony comes over, and he literally

fixes this mirror in 15 minutes.

448

Wow.

449

And I, I was just…

450

I, I, d- my, my jaw dropped.

451

I was like-

452

Guy on YouTube took a

lot longer than that.

453

It was so amazing.

454

He goes, "Yeah, I didn't even have

to use all the tools I brought."

455

A random act of kindness.

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Just that's what a good Christian does.

457

And we didn't even ask him

for help, but we accepted it.

458

Amen?

459

Amen.

460

Nurturing autonomy, living

independent as a non-neighbor.

461

You know, in, in California, we go

in and out of our garages, don't

462

we, or in and out of our driveway.

463

You know, we need to get

a dog or something to walk

464

it around the neighborhood.

465

You know, we need to bring our

grandkids down and walk around the

466

neighborhood to meet our neighbors.

467

You know, sometimes I'll see my

neighbors outside, I'll just run

468

out of the house just to be able to

start up a conversation 'cause you

469

don't get that many opportunities.

470

And I even live in one of these

neighborhoods where the houses

471

are inches apart, you know?

472

There's a lot of neighbors.

473

There's a lot of them- Yeah

474

but you don't get to

meet them very naturally.

475

We just go in and out of our house, and so

there isn't that opportunity to be kind.

476

Exalting productivity, times too

precious to help other people.

477

Are we too busy?

478

That's the next one.

479

Compartmentalizing life,

over scheduling our time.

480

You know, I did this for years, and now

I try to leave breaks in my schedule,

481

afternoons where I can be interrupted.

482

And I used to, whenever I had a plan

even for the day, and I got interrupted,

483

I'd go home and I'd be just be anxious.

484

"Oh, I didn't get as much

done as I planned on it."

485

And now I go home and think, "Hey," I say,

"I got interrupted, and I was able to help

486

somebody or do something for someone."

487

And most of my interruptions now are

phone calls, phone calls I don't expect.

488

They come from all over the country

sometimes or just from different members.

489

Don't hesitate to call, guys.

490

That can be my act of kindness.

491

Don't steal my reward from heaven.

492

Interrupt me, all right?

493

So I can get, do what I'm preaching.

494

Amen?

495

Amen.

496

How do you cultivate kindness?

497

Remembering our story.

498

None of us are fully, completely

self-made men and women.

499

We needed help.

500

College students co- uh, high school

students going off to college, let

501

me give you the very best advice

from somebody that went to college

502

for about 30 years, all right?

503

You don't get by without help.

504

You know?

505

Almost dropped out of engineering.

506

And then I found a guy, an

upperclassman, in my dorm.

507

He was an electrical engineer.

508

He didn't even study civil engineering,

but he could do, help me do my homework.

509

Instead of me just knocking my head

against the wall for hours upon hours, he

510

could explain it in ways the professors…

511

Most of my professors never turned,

turned around and looked at us.

512

They just wrote on the board.

513

They talked to the board.

514

Th- th- most of them were foreign.

515

They had accents.

516

I couldn't understand them anyway.

517

I needed help.

518

And then I found that you could go

talking to TAs, and that they would

519

open their door, and they had office

hours, and they would help you.

520

Every time I'd go to a professor,

they'd just use the Socratic method.

521

I'd say, "Hey, I need some help

understanding this," and they'd say,

522

"Well, what do you know about it?"

523

Not enough.

524

"Well, what have you

tried to do to learn?"

525

"Well, I read the book."

526

"Well, read it again."

527

And they'd send me away.

528

But the TAs, they'd even tell

you what was on the test.

529

So anyway, that wa- that's, uh- … just

a thought to think about, all right?

530

None of us are self-made.

531

Nurturing connections.

532

Seek out ways to help and be helped.

533

Listening to one another.

534

It's com- can be one of the kindest things

you do to validate each other's reality.

535

Af- affirmation, advice, admonishment.

536

And then practice statio.

537

Benedictine, this is one of

Victine- Benedictine's rules.

538

Stop doing one thing

before you start another.

539

Uh-oh, I'm in trouble.

540

For all you multitaskers,

I'm in trouble, right?

541

But if you really are gonna

give yourself fully, just focus.

542

Be in the moment.

543

Don't have your mind

wandering all over the place.

544

You can't be kind unless

you're present with people.

545

Some of the kindest people you

know, it, they, they'll, you'll

546

say a- about them later, "It seemed

like I was the only person in the

547

room when they were talking to me.

548

They gave me their full attention.

549

They looked me in the eye.

550

They focused on me.

551

They made me feel so heard, so special."

552

My campus minister, Tom

Brown, had that gift.

553

Come on.

554

You could talk to him for 30

seconds, and you just felt different.

555

Yeah.

556

How he made you feel.

557

One of the quotes I read, "Kindness

is making people feel better

558

after they've talked to you."

559

Stop one thing before beginning another.

560

Guys, let's be more spiritual, amen?

561

Amen.

562

Let's have hungry hearts, honest

hearts, humble hearts, happy hearts.

563

Not hard hearts, hollow hearts,

half hearts, or hidden hearts.

564

Lack of prayer means you don't need God.

565

You got a hard heart.

566

Lack of silence and listening to

God think is a hollow heart, meaning

567

you think you have the answers.

568

Lack of gratitude is a half heart, and

a lack of purpose is a hidden heart.

569

Let's have full hearts.

570

Yes.

571

Here's where we start.

572

Help people in your family first

573

Sometimes those are the hardest people to

help, 'cause then they're gonna expect it.

574

That's okay.

575

Help those in your household.

576

Help a brother or sister.

577

Somebody in this room's gonna

need your help this week.

578

Help them.

579

Find out who they are, even in fellowship.

580

Don't take off before you

find someone you can help.

581

Help a neighbor.

582

You might have to knock on a few doors.

583

You may have to search around.

584

You may have to ask a few neighbors,

"Who maybe needs some help?"

585

You know?

586

Everybody needs a little help.

587

Takes two people to move a dresser.

588

All right?

589

Lot of people need help,

lot of neighbors, strangers.

590

This is the hardest.

591

Try to help a stranger.

592

Try to help a stranger.

593

You know, most people that are working

for minimum wage, give them a big tip.

594

Shock them one of these days.

595

Not just the 10 or 20%.

596

I mean, blow it out.

597

I mean, give them so much they wanna

give you change, and then don't take it.

598

Amen?

599

Help a stranger.

600

Why?

601

Because Jesus said the one who

had mercy, kindness on him,

602

that's who we wanna imitate.

603

So go and do likewise.

604

Amen?

605

Kindness to all.

606

I'm not naturally a kind person.

607

It's why God gave me a

great wife that's so kind.

608

She's always kind.

609

I can g- I can be grumpy at times.

610

I know.

611

I know you can't picture it, but yeah.

612

And she's always kind in return.

613

And then that makes me feel bad

and guilty, and then I'm kind.

614

It's good.

615

Keep those burning coals, you kind people.

616

It's good for us.

617

Kindness.

618

Even in worship, guys, when we take of the

Lord's supper, we're giving and receiving.

619

That's kindness from God.

620

In worship, we're expressing how grateful

we are t- for God's kindness to us.

621

When we're serving other people

and sacrificing and helping

622

others, we're becoming more kind.

623

And then as we struggle with being kind,

we get to know ourselves better and how

624

much we need to be more spiritual, amen?

625

Amen.

626

Amen.

627

Let me bless you with a

prayer and then we'll close.

628

God and Father, we bow before

you at this time because we need

629

and want and desire the fruits

of the Spirit with all our being.

630

We wanna be like your Son.

631

We wanna be our best selves.

632

We want to be radiant

lights in this dark world.

633

Father, we see things sometimes going

from, from, from better to worse,

634

and, Father, we, we want things to get

better, and we wanna be a part of that.

635

We want to do random acts of kindness.

636

We want this guerrilla

kindness to take effect.

637

We want to pay it forward.

638

And so, Father, give us the thoughts, give

us the desire, give us the heart, give us

639

the spirit to be able to do these things.

640

We need you in Christ's holy,

holy, holy, sacred name we pray.

641

And the people said, amen.

642

Amen.

643

God bless.