What would it be like if Jesus was your neighbor? How would it impact your neighbor? In this message we learn how the art of neighboring by Jesus can impact our own neighborhoods today.

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OC Church of Christ

We're introducing

ourselves to the neighbors.

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Hopefully they won't say

there goes the neighborhood.

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All right, but we are

new neighbors in town.

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And as we were going around

meeting people in the area, that's

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how I would introduce myself.

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I said, Hey, we're your new neighbors

because our church is meeting right there.

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And we hope that we can be a

blessing to the neighborhood to the

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communities in which we worship in.

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And so we're going to talk about

this idea of neighboring because

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we've also had the opportunity.

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To read a book together called the art

of neighboring and this book has been

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really really good This is the the cover

right here And it really talks about the

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idea of when Jesus says that the second

greatest command is to love your neighbor

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as yourself What if we actually took that

literally and actually love the neighbor?

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That we live next to And so it was

really good because we can kind of

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over spiritualize it because Jesus

expands the idea and definition of our

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neighbor, but now sometimes we can make

it so far out that we forget the people

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that actually live right next to us.

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And so we've been learning a lot

and it's been encouraging and

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exciting and challenging in many

ways and very practical on how we

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can love our neighbor as ourselves.

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So let me ask you this question here

as we're thinking about neighbors.

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What would be the ideal neighbor for you?

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What would be the ideal neighbor for you?

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Let's go ahead, let's get a couple

people to answer that, alright?

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What would be the ideal neighbor for you?

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Yes, Jayden?

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Quiet.

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I appreciate that.

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See, if you're visiting here,

we keep it 100 up in here, okay?

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We're honest.

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I want them quiet.

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I don't want them making loud noise.

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Okay, alright, cool.

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Alright, yes, in the back.

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Who's that?

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Gabe?

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Yes.

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Lots of power tools that seem to

have some type of self serving

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intent behind that, right?

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You can help me out.

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Okay.

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All right.

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Yes.

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Others.

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Yes.

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Friendly.

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Okay.

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Yes.

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We want some friendly,

uh, neighbors there.

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Okay.

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Others.

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What else?

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Your, your ideal neighbor.

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What would that be like?

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Yes.

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A good cook.

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There you go.

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Invite me on over, huh?

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Every Thursday I'll be on over.

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Come on.

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All right.

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There you go.

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Yes.

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One with the boats.

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Okay, are you noticing a trend here?

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Man, we love the neighbors that will

somehow provide some benefit for us.

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Okay, alright, here we go,

alright, one more, yes.

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When you would get along with.

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Yes, yes, you definitely don't

want that neighbor that, mm hmm.

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Yeah, that makes you pray, right?

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Alright, so we want neighbors

we want to get along with.

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Let me ask you this.

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What would it be like if

Jesus was your neighbor?

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Wow, all those who might

not have heard that online.

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What would it be like if

Jesus was your neighbor?

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Think about that for a second.

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Some of us, we got scared.

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I, we were talking with the kids, uh, kids

class teachers earlier and I asked that

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question and she's like, I'd be scared.

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Why would you be scared?

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Uh, because Jesus is next door.

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And so basically like I gotta make sure

I act right, you know, and so some of us

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we might think that fear But let's think

about all of the ideal Characteristics

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of our neighbors with Jesus perhaps have

some of those Maybe not power tools.

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I don't know but it Earth

that was a carpenter, right?

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So he probably does have some right?

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I think he was friendly right quiet He

had a lot of people over probably you

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know to me And so you think about it,

Jesus, there's so many things, yes, maybe

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we're challenged, but also I think Jesus

would be a blessing to his neighbors.

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I think Jesus would be a

blessing to his neighbors.

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And so now as we start to think about

that, we can start to go ahead and hone

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in and funnel in and think about what

does that mean for us as a church and what

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does that mean for me and my neighborhood.

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And so the title of the lesson,

we'll just stick with the book

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here is The Arts of Neighboring.

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The Arts of Neighboring.

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Let's go to God in prayer.

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Father, thank you so much for

allowing us to worship you already.

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God, it's been encouraging to think about

the Holy Spirit filling up not only our

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lives but this room with your presence.

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Father, we've been able to think

about how you so love the world

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that you gave your one and only son.

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And father, we can think about

being in the river, how we come

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alive in spiritual waters that Jesus

provides, but also the river, the

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waters of salvation that saved us.

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God, we're already so grateful for

the encouragement, the fellowship

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that we've been able to have, the

new people that we've been able

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to engage in conversation with.

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God, I pray right now though, that

your spirit is not done working, that

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you will communicate your message.

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Father, that we will all come away

inspired by Jesus and father that we

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will make decisions to be more aligned

with your will in Jesus name, amen, amen.

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Let's go ahead.

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Let's get into it.

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So the first observation I

have here is that Jesus was

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a blessing to his neighbors.

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Jesus was a blessing to his neighbors.

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Let's go to Matthew chapter four church.

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Are you with me?

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All right.

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If you're not, if you first

time visiting here with this,

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this is an interactive time.

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And so we, we interact, right, that, I

don't just go over here and speak for a

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couple of minutes, but I'm, we're gonna

have some conversations, right, and so I'm

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gonna need you to say some good things.

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Uh, please don't say any bad things,

okay, like get off the stage, please

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don't say anything like that, alright?

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But let's go ahead, let's

get into the scriptures.

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This is Matthew chapter 4.

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Matthew was a letter, uh, written

by one of Jesus followers.

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He actually was a tax

collector, so think about it.

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He used to work for the local IRS.

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And so he was not a huge, uh,

uh, uh, you know, popular fan.

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Uh, not popular fan.

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He wasn't a popular

figure in his hometown.

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However, Jesus calls him

to be a follower of his.

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He becomes a Christian.

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And then he has the privilege and

honor of being able to write down

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a lot of Jesus Ministry in life.

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And so here we have this letter

that we call the book of Matthew.

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And so it says in Matthew chapter

4 verse 12 when Jesus heard that

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John had been put in prison He

withdrew to Galilee leaving Nazareth.

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He went up to live in Capernaum Which

was by the lake in the area of Zebulun

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and Naphtali, and Naphtali, excuse me,

to fulfill what was said through the

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prophet Isaiah Land of Zebulun and land

of Naphtali The way of the sea, beyond

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the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the

people living in darkness have seen a

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great light on those living in the land of

the shadow of death, a light has dawned.

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From that time on, Jesus began

to preach, repent for the

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kingdom of heaven has come near.

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So I wanted to get a little

picture here of the scene.

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So this is Galilee, this is the

area during the time of Jesus.

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And as you can see there, this is

where Jesus, he first was in Nazareth,

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but he says he moved up to Capernaum,

and here's the Sea of Galilee.

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And so he moves in there, and

so this is his neighborhood.

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He moves into town, he's like, uh, our

church, we're moving into Placentia.

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So this is his new neighborhood.

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And so we get a glimpse now of what he

was like as a neighbor in his community.

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And so what happens, he first

calls his, uh, first disciples.

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To follow him.

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And so now he has a group of people

that are following him and we take it

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up in verse 23 Church Are you with me?

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Okay, Matthew chapter 4 verse 23 Jesus

went throughout Galilee Teaching in their

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synagogues proclaiming the good news of

the kingdom and healing every disease

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and sickness among the people News about

him spread all over Syria and people

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brought to him all who were ill with

various diseases those suffering severe

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pain The demon possessed those having

seizures and the paralyzed and he healed

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them large crowds from the Galilee, the

Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and the

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region across the Jordan followed him.

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Let's stop right there.

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What's taking place?

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Jesus is going around.

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He's teaching.

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He's preaching.

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He's healing.

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And not only is he hitting up his own

local town of Capernaum, but he says

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he's going around all of Galilee.

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And what happens is that in this area,

now other people start hearing about him.

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And so we have another map right here.

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And so again, remember,

he is in Capernaum.

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But now it says people from Syria.

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So that's up here.

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Now Syria are coming.

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Then it says the Decapolis.

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There's a bunch of cities over here.

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Then it says beyond the Jordan River.

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So probably most likely the

east of the Jordan River.

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Then it says all the way down to

Judea, right here in this area,

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and all the way to Jerusalem.

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Now this is a nice little

trek, wouldn't you agree?

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And so Jesus, remember

he's just over here.

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He's going around being a

neighbor, hitting up this area.

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However, people from all around are

hearing about this and now want to

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know some more about this man who's

preaching, teaching, and healing.

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And so what do we see?

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What can we take note of?

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Well, let me ask you this question.

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What happened to the communities

and neighborhoods that Jesus

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lived in and was a part of?

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Well we see that there was healing,

there was teaching of God's

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truth, there was a message being

preached by Jesus of empowerment,

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of hope, and of transformation.

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And Jesus touched those who were lonely.

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He reached out to those who

were suffering emotionally.

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He helped those who were

hopeless and in pain.

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Those who had lost their faith

or maybe drifted in their faith.

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Those who maybe had money but yet

had family members that were now

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outcasts or maybe on the outside

everything looked good but on the

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inside things were in turmoil.

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And Jesus teaches, He

preaches, and He heals.

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People are affected.

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Lives are impacted.

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Lives are changed forever.

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People's faith in God is different now.

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Whoa, there's a God who is doing something

incredible through this carpenter's son.

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As we can see, neighbors

were blessed by Jesus.

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So what would it look like if Jesus lived

on your streets, lived in your complex?

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Live on your block.

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You know, it's incredible as I was looking

at this and thinking about this, and there

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was this song that we were in the car

the other day, and it hit me, I was like,

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you know, this is exactly what Jesus did.

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You know, he was in the public squares,

he was in the synagogues, he was out

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on the mountains, he was in the plains,

he was preaching to large people.

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However, what he did is that he went And

he turns living rooms into life rooms.

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Jesus turned living rooms into life rooms.

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You see, he did a lot of stuff in

the public arena like we have here.

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But then we know there were

countless times in which something

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incredible took place in a home.

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That's where much of

his teaching took place.

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Much of his training took place.

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And many healings took place.

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You can go ahead and

take a picture of this.

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Here are some, some examples.

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There's so many in scripture,

but here are some examples.

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With Peter's mother in law, he healed her.

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In Jairus house, he raised

his daughter from the dead.

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The paralytic was also healed

and as well as he taught there.

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Zacchaeus house.

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He brought salvation to

him and his household.

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Simon the Pharisee's house, he's

anointed by the woman there.

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And then he uses that opportunity

to teach about forgiveness.

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Mary and Martha's house, he teaches

and brings them to be disciples,

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which was radical to have women

disciples during that time.

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But he teaches them the

importance of following his word.

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And not only did he do this, but

then he called his disciples.

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To also turn living rooms into life rooms.

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You see, he goes and he,

he, he, he sends out 12.

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And the Bible records

where he sends out 12.

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And then he has another

time where he sends out 72.

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And they're supposed to go

preach and teach and heal.

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And look what it says here when he

gives them some direction about what

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they should do as he sends them out.

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When you enter a house, first

say peace to this house.

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If someone who promotes peace is

there, your peace will rest on them.

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If not, it will return to you.

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Stay there eating and drinking

whatever they give you, for

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the worker deserves his wages.

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Do not move around from house to house.

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When you enter a town and are

welcomed, eat what is offered to you.

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Heal the sick who are there and tell them

the kingdom of God has come near to you.

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You see, Jesus had modeled it.

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They were along with him, a

part of all of these things

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that he was doing in the home.

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And he says, all right, now when

it's your turn, I want you to go out.

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You're going to reach the masses, but

you also need to make sure that you

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turn those living rooms into life rooms.

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You see, there was perhaps in the public

square information or inspiration, but

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in the homes, it was transformation.

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And so we're out.

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Yes, I want to inspire the masses.

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And yes, there was transformation

in the public square.

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Don't get me wrong.

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But this is going to be where I give

information or I give inspiration, but

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it's in the home where we're eating

and breaking bread together, where

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we're talking, connecting, relating.

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That's when a transformation

is going to take place.

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That's when I'm going to heal those.

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That's when I'm going to give

these an opportunity to teach about

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the depth of the kingdom of God.

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And he says, not only me,

but you guys do the same.

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You see the art of neighboring

for Jesus was transformation.

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In the homes, life together,

service, God's word, and

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connection through relationship.

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So what would it be like for

Jesus to be your neighbor today?

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Well, in many ways, and definitely in

a spiritual sense, Jesus is present

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in your neighborhood and block today.

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Amen?

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Might not be recognized,

but he is present.

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But let me ask you this.

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What would happen if your neighborhood,

your street, Your block, your

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community had a neighbor like Jesus.

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What would happen then?

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It hit me so hard as I thought

about this question and I thought,

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Whoa, here's the crazy part.

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Here's the phenomenal part.

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Is that the church, God's people, Have

the opportunity to continue the legacy

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and example of Jesus By being a blessing

to our own neighborhoods as well.

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You and I have the opportunity to

continue the legacy, to continue

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the example of Jesus by being

a blessing to our neighbors.

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That was so incredible.

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It stood out to me.

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I thought, wow.

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Because think about this.

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What if a bunch of people, let's

say a bunch of people who, who,

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who follow Jesus teachings and

example decided, you know what?

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I'm going to actually love my

neighbor the way I love myself.

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What if a bunch of people in our

neighborhoods who claim to believe in

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Jesus and follow his teachings decided,

you know what, I'm going to actually

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love my neighbor as I love myself.

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What might happen in that community?

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What might happen on your

block and in your complex?

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If you, those in our church, those

outside of our church, what if

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we all decided, you know what?

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Let's follow Jesus teaching and example

and let's apply it to our neighborhood.

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You think there might be a difference?

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At worst case scenario, worst

case scenario, there's now a

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truer sense of community because

we're engaging with each other.

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We now feel a sense of

safety with each other.

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We now feel a sense of good

obligation for one another.

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Because we have a

relationship with one another.

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And we're looking out for the

greater good of the community.

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At best, many souls will

come to saving faith.

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But man, even if I just get the worst

case scenario, I'll settle for that.

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And you see, you and I, we

have a great opportunity.

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To be a part of something that can

impact communities and lives that will

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lead to change for all of eternity.

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And so what can you and I do today?

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I believe we can do this.

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Let's turn living rooms into life rooms.

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Let's turn our living

rooms into life rooms.

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Yes, in the physical sense, in our homes,

having people over, people in the church,

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our friends over, our neighbors over.

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Yes, let's apply that to this, to this

area of our lives very practically.

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But let's also apply it where it

becomes a mentality of hospitality.

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Or even if I'm walking down the street,

yes, I might not have the time or

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capability to invite you over for a

meal, but I want to be hospitable to you.

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What if we had that mentality?

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Well, we're going to share life together.

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We're going to break bread together.

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We're going to be

hospitable to one another.

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To those in my neighborhood, to

my neighbors, to my friends, to

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those in our churches, what we call

them, family groups and beyond.

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I believe we will see some change and I

think every soul will be blessed by it.

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And so how can we do this?

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Let's get real practical here.

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Engage, listen and offer support.

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The very first thing I appreciate

in the book is that, you know, it's

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hard to love your neighbor if you

don't know your neighbor's name.

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Hey, Johnny!

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Oh, your name is Eric.

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Alright!

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Now that's me.

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I mess up people's names all the time.

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At least I tell them, look, I'm gonna

mess up your name at least six times.

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So please forgive me.

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On the seventh time, if I don't

get it, then you can get mad, okay?

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But it's hard to love somebody if

you don't know their name, right?

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But it's so much easier to connect when

you know their name, but what, if you

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know maybe a little bit about them.

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And so if we just decided, you know

what, the way I can turn my, my, my,

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my lifestyle into a living, into a life

for me is let me just first engage,

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let me just say hello and allow that

to slowly but surely be able to grow

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and develop into a relationship.

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And then let me listen, let me

hear the joys, let me hear the

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successes, the triumphs, but let me

also hear your pain, your sorrow.

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And what you're struggling with.

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Because what does that do when you

hear somebody's joy and their pain?

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It draws you closer to them, doesn't it?

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And they are drawn closer to you.

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And we know there's so much going on in

Orange County, we can be a little deceived

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because we have nice homes or apartments,

and we think everybody has it together.

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But until we engage in conversation

and listen, we go, wait, there's

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a lot of deep waters here.

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Just like you have a lot of deep waters.

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And you're grateful for the people

in your life who have listened,

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therefore being the arms and feet and

hands of Jesus by providing supports.

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And that's the third thing you do is

offer support in a very tangible way.

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Hey, here's how I can maybe perhaps

help, but then also as Jesus told them

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to show people that the kingdom of

heaven is near to also offer support

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by pointing people back to Jesus.

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And this applies to us as individuals.

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But this applies to us

collectively as a church.

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We can invite people to do life together.

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We can invite each other

to do life together.

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Helping one another.

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Helping each other's kids.

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Serving in our communities

and our local family groups.

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Loving our neighbors as a goal in itself.

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And in preaching, teaching,

and healing of Jesus.

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All of that will be seen, heard.

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What if we became neighbors like Jesus?

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You know, we want to be

a blessing to Placentia.

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We want to be a blessing

where our family groups live.

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We go all the way from Santa Ana to Brea

to Fullerton, Placentia and everywhere

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in between Anaheim, Anaheim Hills.

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What if us, what if we decided,

you know what, let's just be

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like Jesus in our neighborhood?

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You know, this is the type of church

that I think you want to be a part of.

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This is the type of church I

believe Jesus wants us to be.

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This is the type of church that

the community needs us to be.

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And this is the type of church

that we are going to be.

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And if you're visiting here with us

today, we want to invite you to join

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us to be a blessing to our neighbors,

to be a blessing to our neighborhoods

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so that God can be glorified, our lives

around us can be changed, and people

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can be impacted for all eternity.

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Can I get an amen?

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Brothers and sisters, I'm excited about

what God is doing and what he wants to do.

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And so let's just get real practical here.

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Let me give you some action

steps here for the week here.

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And similar to last week, I want to

give you some questions to reflect upon.

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Maybe you can discuss here as you

get some cone of ice, alright?

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But here's some questions.

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Why has God sent us here?

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What are the possibilities?

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What do you envision or what can you

envision God doing with all of this?

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And then who is God calling

you personally to be?

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And what is God calling you to

do in this new era of ministry?

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Take some time today, tomorrow,

think about it, pray about it,

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reflect, answer these questions,

allow the Holy Spirit to guide you.

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And we'll all be amazed at our

true, living, most high God.

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And like we talked about

last week, it will lead us.

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To praise right now.

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We're going to take communion.

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This is where we remember Jesus death

upon the cross for our salvation.

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And hallelujah for his sacrifice.

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But hallelujah for his resurrection.

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And we take the emblems that

represent his body and blood that

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was sacrificed for our salvation.

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And we see here in this passage, it

says, this is how we know what love is.

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Jesus Christ for us.

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And we ought to lay down our lives

for our brothers and sisters.

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Let's pray.

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Father in heaven, thank you so

much for the example of Jesus.

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God, I'm inspired, I'm encouraged,

I'm challenged, but, but, but I really

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get, I get geeked thinking about all

the things that you want to do in

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my life, in the lives around me, in

our church, in our family groups.

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In our community, even in

my family who maybe doesn't

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have a relationship with you.

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God, it gets me excited to see

the example of Jesus and the

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opportunity to continue that.

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I thank you for that.

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But we thank you that

Jesus modeled this for us.

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Thank you that he was a

neighbor of all neighbors.

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Thank you that he was only

a blessing then, but he is

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a blessing to our lives now.

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Thank you that he lived a sinless life.

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Thank you that he went to the

cross, but thank you that he

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rose from the grave for that.

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We say hallelujah.

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We thank you for our chance to raise up

spiritually from our own life and that

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we can to raise up to a new life and look

forward to eternity in the name of Jesus.