Run It Back: Wl1 - Won't You Be My Neighbor

May 17, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Oil, Wine, and a Donkey

A bleeding man lay abandoned on the Jericho road. Robbers left him naked and half-dead. A priest crossed to the far side. A Levite averted his eyes. Then a Samaritan—hated for his mixed heritage—stopped. He poured oil and wine on wounds, lifted the man onto his donkey, and paid for his care. Jesus made the outcast the hero of neighbor-love. [52:13]

This story shatters categories. The Samaritan’s compassion cost him time, money, and ritual purity. He didn’t ask if the victim deserved help. Jesus redefined “neighbor” as anyone in need, regardless of background.

Your daily path holds wounded people: the cashier with tired eyes, the neighbor who votes opposite you, the addict at the gas station. Don’t spiritualize avoidance. Bandage wounds first; theologize later. When did you last interrupt your schedule for someone who couldn’t repay you?

“But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.”
(Luke 10:33-34, ESV)

Prayer: Ask Jesus to make your eyes quick to notice the wounded and your hands swift to help.
Challenge: Identify one practical way to assist someone in need today—buy groceries, pay a bill, or listen without rushing.

Day 2: The Lawyer’s Squirm

The religious expert stood to test Jesus. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” he demanded, quoting Deuteronomy and Leviticus. Jesus agreed: love God wholly and neighbors as yourself. But the lawyer squirmed, asking, “Who is my neighbor?” He wanted limits. Jesus answered with a story that expanded his world. [48:34]

Eternal life isn’t a theological exam. It’s embodied love for God through tangible care for others. The lawyer knew Scripture but missed its heart—God’s love flows outward, not inward.

We still draw circles. “My neighbor is my small group, my political tribe, my clean family.” Jesus erases lines. Who makes you uncomfortable? The ex-con? The immigrant? The online troll? Truth lives where love stretches beyond convenience. What group do you instinctively exclude from “neighbor” status?

“And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the Law? How do you read it?’”
(Luke 10:25-29, ESV)

Prayer: Confess any hidden boundaries you’ve placed on neighbor-love.
Challenge: Greet someone today who differs from you racially, politically, or economically—by name, with eye contact.

Day 3: Waitress Theology

A pastor sat in a diner where every employee knew him. He memorized their orders and stories. No sermons—just presence. Jesus did this: He touched lepers, ate with tax collectors, and honored women. His love wasn’t theoretical. It knew names and favorite foods. [01:07:53]

God’s faithfulness isn’t just for hymns—it’s for lunch breaks and school pickups. When we declare His faithfulness, it includes showing up consistently for the “unimportant” people the world ignores.

Your mission field has a zip code. The barista, mail carrier, and PTA president matter. Stop outsourcing “outreach” to programs. Jesus didn’t host events—He walked streets. Who serves you regularly that you’ve never truly seen?

“Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
(Luke 10:36-37, ESV)

Prayer: Thank God for three “invisible” people who serve you weekly.
Challenge: Learn your cashier’s or server’s name today. Ask one meaningful question beyond “How’s your shift?”

Day 4: Brotherhood in the Mud

Ten men stood soaked, shirts clinging, after a rain-drenched initiation. Brotherhood isn’t about comfort—it’s forged through shared struggle. They committed to six months of accountability, study, and leadership. Jesus didn’t call disciples to isolation but to locked-arm faithfulness. [01:22:25]

Biblical masculinity isn’t toxicity or passivity. It’s loyalty to God, honor toward others, radical worship, and sacrificial leadership. These men chose to fight apathy together.

Who fights for your spiritual growth? Passive men breed weak families and churches. Active love requires brotherhoods and sisterhoods. When did you last invite someone to challenge your blind spots?

“But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith.”
(1 Timothy 6:11-12, ESV)

Prayer: Ask God for courage to pursue authentic spiritual brotherhood/sisterhood.
Challenge: Text one person to meet this week for mutual encouragement—no small talk allowed.

Day 5: Sinner-Friend Joy

Religious leaders sneered, “Why does He eat with sinners?” Jesus replied, “The healthy don’t need a doctor.” He didn’t fear contamination—He contaminated others with hope. The Samaritan’s love scandalized; Jesus’ friendships disrupted hierarchies. [01:06:26]

Safe faith never changes anything. If your circle only includes believers, your love has flatlined. Jesus’ table was crowded with unlikely converts—because He prioritized mission over comfort.

Who’s your “sinner friend”? Not a project, but a genuine relationship. Not a Bible-bombing target, but someone you laugh and mourn with. When did you last risk reputation to love someone “unclean”?

“And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.’”
(Mark 2:17, ESV)

Prayer: Confess any fear of being “tainted” by non-believers.
Challenge: Invite someone far from God to share a meal or coffee this week—no agenda except listening.

Sermon Summary

We declare the steadfast love and faithfulness of God for all generations and we worship with everything in us. We trace the origin of the Run It Back series and pay attention to what neighbors mean in both ordinary and spiritual life. We name neighbors who live where we live, who work beside us, and who play with us, and we notice how Jesus redefined proximity by slowing for children, touching lepers, elevating women, and eating with people deemed unacceptable. The Good Samaritan story forces clarity. The lawyer frames the issue as a test about inheritance of eternal life and asks who counts as neighbor. The law’s command to love God and love neighbor functions not as two ranked duties but as a single test: the way we love God whom we cannot see becomes visible in how we love the neighbor we can see.

We confront the tendency to confine neighbor to spiritual family. The text insists that neighbor reaches beyond brothers and sisters in faith to include those who differ from us in race, religion, culture, and character. The priest and Levite in the story avoid costly compassion and ritual purity, while the Samaritan crosses entrenched boundaries to provide mercy, care, and ongoing provision. That contrast makes compassion a decisive marker of true devotion.

We receive three practical summons. First, love for God manifests in sacrificial, visible love for others. Second, we must stop narrowing the circle to people who already mirror our beliefs. Third, we must intentionally widen our circles so that relationships with nonbelievers become regular and redemptive. Practical examples push us toward small acts of intentionality: meet the person who serves your food, learn a coworker’s name, invest time in those who will not naturally enter our worship spaces.

We commit these convictions to corporate life and individual practice. We also celebrate a covenantal brotherhood that aims to form men in loyalty, honor, worship, and leadership so they can lead families, churches, and cities toward life. We pray for courage to live missionally, letting mercy reshape ritual, and we ask God to expand our circles until our neighbors increasingly become brothers and sisters in the kingdom.

Key Takeaways

1. Love God by loving neighbors The command to love God and to love neighbor operates as one embodied test. Our devotion to the unseen God reveals itself in the practical, costly acts we perform for those within reach. This means that worship becomes ethical when it produces tangible care. Loving God therefore demands visible, inconvenient mercy. [59:30]
2. Our neighbor includes everybody The story dissolves clean lines between insiders and outsiders. Neighborhood cannot be confined to those who agree with us or share our community markers. Embracing everyone challenges tribal comfort and requires humility to accept those whom society excludes. This expands holiness into hospitality. [63:32]
3. Widen your circle intentionally Spiritual maturity moves from separation to intentional presence among the lost. We should cultivate friendships that place our faith on the line so that our witness becomes relational, not merely theoretical. Intentional widening turns social acquaintance into opportunities for restorative engagement. [69:57]
4. Choose mercy over religious obligation Ritual concerns can blind us to urgent human need and become excuses for inaction. Mercy demands we cross barriers, incur cost, and provide sustained care rather than preserve ceremonial purity. Compassion becomes the truest measure of religious fidelity. [55:52]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[10:02] - Declaring God’s Faithfulness
[11:18] - Prayer into Worship
[41:36] - Introducing Run It Back
[44:11] - What We Mean by Neighbor
[46:24] - Jesus’ Radical Proximity
[48:34] - Lawyer’s Question in Luke 10
[54:26] - The Priest and the Levite
[55:52] - The Compassion of the Samaritan
[59:30] - How Loving God Looks
[64:07] - Widening the Circle
[69:57] - Practical Steps to Meet People
[73:54] - Brotherhood Commissioning
[78:26] - Marks of a Brother
[82:25] - Commissioning Prayer and Send Off

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Luke 10:25-37 (ESV)
25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” 29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

Observation Questions

In the parable, the Samaritan provided ongoing care for the injured man (Luke 10:34-35). What specific actions did he take that went beyond a one-time gesture?
The lawyer asks, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29). How does Jesus’ story redefine the term “neighbor” compared to cultural or religious assumptions of the time? [50:20]
The priest and Levite avoided the injured man to preserve ritual purity (Luke 10:31-32). What reasons might people today use to justify avoiding costly compassion? [54:52]
How did Jesus’ interactions with marginalized people (e.g., touching lepers, eating with tax collectors) challenge societal norms, as mentioned in the sermon? [46:46]

Interpretation Questions

Why did Jesus choose a Samaritan as the hero of the story, and how would this have shocked His original audience? What does this reveal about God’s view of “outsiders”?
The lawyer quotes Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 as the basis for eternal life. How does Jesus’ parable show that these two commands are inseparable? [51:14]
The sermon states, “Our devotion to the unseen God reveals itself in the practical, costly acts we perform for those within reach.” How does the Good Samaritan’s mercy reflect true worship? [59:30]
The priest and Levite prioritized religious rituals over human need. What modern “rituals” (habits, traditions, or priorities) might distract believers from showing mercy today?

Application Questions

Identify one person in your daily life (e.g., coworker, server, neighbor) whose name or story you don’t know. What is one step you could take this week to intentionally engage them? [01:09:57]
The sermon warns against narrowing our circles to people who mirror our beliefs. Who in your life is least like you in beliefs, background, or lifestyle? How could you intentionally show them Christ-like love?
Reflect on a time you avoided helping someone due to inconvenience, fear, or judgment. What would it look like to choose “costly compassion” in a similar situation today? [55:52]
The Good Samaritan used his resources (time, money, energy) generously. What is one practical way you could use your resources to meet a tangible need for someone this month?
Are your closest relationships primarily with people who share your faith? How could you build intentional friendships with those who don’t yet know Jesus? [01:04:07]
The sermon says, “Mercy demands we cross barriers.” What personal barrier (pride, busyness, prejudice) most often keeps you from loving others sacrificially? How can you address it?

Sermon Clips

46s

#LoveReflectsFaith

“It's not an order of importance kind of thing. It's not I have to love god and then I have to love my neighbor. It's god is going the way that you love me. Is shown. In how you love your neighbor. Now, what I have learned is that most of us, while we probably wouldn't put in the in terms of the way that the lawyer put it in the story, we would still begin to question, well, who's the neighbor? To which I would say, number two, where we get it wrong. Number two, my brother is my neighbor.”

40s

#KnownByPeople

“Can I tell you I was convicted this week? I went out with a pastor. I went to lunch with the pastor this week that if I said his name, everybody in the room would know him and we went and ate at this restaurant and every every employee of the restaurant knew him. And to my knowledge, not one employee of that restaurant went to church anywhere everybody knew him and it wasn't this like status celebrity kind of thing. It was like they knew the stuff he ordered off the menu”

45s

#NeighborsBeyondLabels

“Now, all of a sudden, it's like, woah, woah, wait a minute, wait a minute. I'm not sure he meant that. That's exactly what he meant. You think as extreme as you want to. That's exactly what he meant And you go, well, well, I just don't think they're my neighbor. He couldn't have gotten anymore extreme to prove to you. He wasn't talking about those who look like you or talk like you or dress like you or acted like you or went to church with you or even believed the same thing as you. Love your neighbor.”

44s

#LoveGodByLovingNeighbor

“The way that the lawyer would have heard that was to inherit eternal life, I must love god. But for me to love a god whom I cannot see or that I don't have the capacity just to see. I must love my neighbor whom I can see. So, he would he would have heard that not love god then love your neighbor. Love god's important. Love your neighbor's important but not quite as important as number one. He would have heard the way I love god.”

45s

#InviteNotIsolate

“I've told y'all this before. I was raised in a church. We had revivals twice a year. We had a summer or a spring revival and a fall revival. We we had we had a couple of revivals a year and all year long, I would hear preachers say, you know, separate yourself from the world. You need to be, you know, you need to sever relationships. You need to and they would do all that kind of stuff and then, all of a sudden, about a month prior to the revival, I would hear bring your sinner friends. But the rest of the year, I wasn't supposed to have any.”

51s

#MeetDontJustServe

“Because if I truly believe that my circle needs to be widened, if I look at my circle and everybody in my circle is also my brother and sister, everybody in my circle are believers my circle needs to be widened. So, here's what I want to encourage you to do today I encourage you. When you go out to eat today, meet your waitress Don't just give em your order. When you when you go out this week, maybe on your job and you meet somebody new, like meet them.”

36s

#WeepForTheLost

“He said, I I I kinda envy when when I see other other pastors like yourself and and and and man, you're just real compassionate. He said, you you weep over church folks. He said, I'm gonna be honest. I I really I I don't a lot but where I do weep is over the lost. I was convicted wasn't convicted to stop weeping over church folks but I was convicted for more of a heart for the lost.”

41s

#BuildRelationshipsFirst

“like they knew the stuff he ordered off the menu because he has spent enough time building the relationship with the staff. He didn't just go in and order but he got to know the staff. He knew the cooks. And he introduced me and I I you know, I'm I'm I'm I got to meet a lot of em but I sat back and and I I looked at him and I said, man, You know everybody in here and he says, because he said, when it comes to church stuff, man, I I like, I I get frustrated with Christians.”

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How does loving neighbor show love for God?

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Run It Back: Wl1 - Won't You Be My Neighbor

Devotional

Day 1: Oil, Wine, and a Donkey

Day 2: The Lawyer’s Squirm

Day 3: Waitress Theology

Day 4: Brotherhood in the Mud

Day 5: Sinner-Friend Joy

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Run It Back: Wl1 - Won't You Be My Neighbor

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