Love your neighbor as yourself.  Matthew 22:39

WHO IS YOURNEIGHBOR?

Who Is Your Neighbor?

• GET TO KNOW THEIR NAMES• EXCHANGE SIMPLE GREETINGS

• PASS ALONG A COMPLIMENT

Who Is Your Neighbor?

• WELCOME NEW NEIGHBORS• MEET OBVIOUS NEEDS• SHARE A SKILL• ASK FOR HELP

Who Is Your Neighbor?

• WATCH SPORTS TOGETHER• PLAY SPORTS TOGETHER• SHARE A MEAL

Matthew 22:37-39

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

Matthew 22:37-39

38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 

Who Is Your Neighbor?

Our neighbors are not projects, they are people, people made in God’s image who we are called to love and not for what they may become but simply for who they already are.

Who Is Your Neighbor?

BALANCING THE GREAT COMMANDMENT AND

THE GREAT COMMISSION

Matthew 28:19-20

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,  baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 

Matthew 28:19-20

20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Romans 5:8

8 But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

1 John 4:19

19 We love because He first loved us.

Who Is Your Neighbor?

The Great Commandment fosters an environment where the Great Commission can best be carried out.

1 Thessalonians 2:8

8 So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves,...

1 Thessalonians 2:7

7But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.

1 Thessalonians 2:11-12

11For you know now, like a father with his children,… 

1 Thessalonians 2:11-12

12we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charge you to walk in a manner worthy of God.

Luke 19:1-3

1He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich…

Luke 19:1-3

3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature.

Luke 19:5-7

5When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today…”

Luke 19:5-7

6So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. 7All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

Robert Karris

In Luke’s gospel, Jesus is either going to a meal, at a meal

or coming from a meal.

Luke 19:8

8But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor,…

Luke 19:8

…and if I have cheated anybody our of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.

Who Is Your Neighbor?

THE PROCESS OF TELLING YOUR STORY

Who Is Your Neighbor?

The more you love Jesus, the more He will just naturally come up in your conversations with others.

Acts 4:20

20As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.

Acts 4:2-3

2greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead,…

Acts 4:2-3

3And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 

Acts 4:13

13Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men,… 

Acts 4:13

they were astonished and they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

Who Is Your Neighbor?

The more you love Jesus, the more He will just naturally come up in your conversations with others.

Who Is Your Neighbor?

STEP #1CROSSOVER

INTO THEIR TERRITORY

John 4:1-6

1Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John…

John 4:1-6

2(although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3he left Judea and departed again for Galilee…

John 4:1-6

4And he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph…

John 4:1-6

6Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

John 4:4

4And he had to pass through Samaria.

Who Is Your Neighbor?

STEP #2ENGAGE IN A CONVERSATION

John 4:7-8

7A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8(For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.)

John 4:9

9The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans

John 4:10

10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’…

John 4:10

…you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.

Who Is Your Neighbor?

STEP #3IDENTIFY THEIR

CRAVING

John 4:16-18

16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

John 4:16-18

17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 

John 4:16-18

18for you have had five husbands and the one you now have is not your husband.  What you have said is true.

Psalm 63:1

1O God, you are my God. Earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

Who Is Your Neighbor?

STEP #4EXPECT A CURVE BALL

John 4:19-20

19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet…

John 4:19-20

20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.

John 4:21

21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

John 4:23

23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth,…

Who Is Your Neighbor?

STEP #5OFFER THEM CHRIST

John 4:26

26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

Who Is Your Neighbor?

Who Is Your Neighbor?

• CROSSOVER INTO THEIR TERRITORY

• ENGAGE IN CONVERSATION• IDENTIFY THEIR CRAVING

Who Is Your Neighbor?

• EXPECT A CURVE BALL• OFFER THEM CHRIST

TAKING IT HOME:1. How naturally does Jesus

come up in your conversation with your neighbors?

Who Is Your Neighbor?

TAKING IT HOME:2. What needs to happen for

His name to come up more naturally?

Who Is Your Neighbor?

Acts 4:13

13Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men,… 

Acts 4:13

they were astonished and they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

TAKING IT HOME:3. What step(s) will you take to

share the gospel with your neighbor?

Who Is Your Neighbor?