Love Your Neighbor

 

Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis, and this is “Multiply,” the podcast

that provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

Jesus’ command teaching us to love our neighbors as ourselves may seem

pretty ordinary if, like me, you grew up going to church attending children’s

classes and youth group. But, like so much of what Jesus taught, the command

to love our neighbor as ourselves is pretty radical. To see just how challenging

this command is, remember the story Jesus told to help a self-righteous

listener understand what it means to love our neighbors.

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by

robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him

half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he

saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came

to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he

traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on

him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then

he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of

him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper.

‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra

expense you may have.’

This story teaches us that our neighbors are not just the people who live nearby

and who know us well. We are to love strangers, just like the Samaritan did.

Jesus’ story teaches us that loving our neighbors will interrupt our plans. And

loving our neighbors is costly. If we are to love others, we must be generous.

Finally, we learn from Jesus story that loving our neighbors means loving people

who are not from our ethnic group or nation, just as the Samaritan loved the

Judean man who was beaten.

The love Jesus commands is not a romantic or emotional love. Neither is it a

self-serving love that Jesus calls us to. It is not easy to obey Jesus' command to

love our neighbors as ourselves. The love Jesus expects us to show to our

neighbors does not arise from our sense of duty as family members or as

members of a tribe. Jesus calls us to love our neighbors with a sacrificial love.

This may come as a shock to new believers, especially if they came to Christ

looking for him to solve their problems. Jesus, of course, does solve many of our

problems in this world and all of our problems in the world to come. But he

 also expects us to reflect his character, his mercy and his grace. He expects us

to love our neighbors sacrificially. Even so, it’s not easy to obey all of Jesus’

commands. We need his strength, his presence, his very love at work within

us.

So, teach your disciples well about the great, immense, sacrificial love of

Christ. Teach them that he will never leave them or forsake them. But be sure

to teach them to trust in him for power to love their neighbors as themselves.

This has been “Multiply,” and I’m Dean Davis asking, “Who will you share this

encouraging word with today?

#EncouragementForVillageChurchPlanters #LoveYourNeighbor

Leadership Development - Jesus Spent Time with His Apostles

 

This is Chuck Rapp with Multiply, a podcast that provides a word of encouragement for village church planters and leaders.

Our topic for 2026 is Leadership Development. In my last podcast, I began to explore Jesus’s approach to leadership development. We observed that when it was time to appoint his 12 apostles, he did so prayerfully. Related to this, his call was selective.

Today we want to look at the way Jesus spent time with His apostles, and how this impacted their leadership development.

Mark 6:32 tells us that “they [Jesus and the apostles] went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.”

Matthew 10:1 says, “Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” We will return to this scripture in a future podcast.

As the time approached for Jesus’ time on earth to conclude, he prepared the apostles for what was to occur. We read the following in Matthew 20:17-19. Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside [emphasis added] and said to them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!””

Jesus spent time with his followers and much time with the 12 Apostles. I find it quite interesting in the Gospel of Luke that it is not until chapter 6 that Jesus selected the Twelve. By this time, he knew his followers well. As leaders, if we are going to invest in emerging leaders, we must spend quality time with them. While books, conferences, or other resources can assist a young leader’s development, these cannot substitute for spending substantial time with them. Where distance is a challenge, frequent calls are a good starting point. Personally, I have regular 1:1 calls (monthly or more frequently) with five leaders or emerging leaders.

Personally, these calls (and face-to-face meetings when possible) are a blend of mentoring and coaching. In some situations, as I mentor, emerging leaders may need my assistance in things like time management or in leading a team, and I share (or I tell) some ideas that have worked well for me. In coaching, by contrast, I ask. I ask questions that help the emerging leader think through situations to arrive at their own conclusions.

Let us follow Jesus’ example and intentionally invest time in the lives and development of new leaders.

This has been a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters and leaders.