Study Questions for May 3, 2026

Go and Do for One by Pastor Dale Beaver
Read Luke 10:25-37; John 16:5-9; and Matthew 25:40.

1. Pastor Dale opens with a story about a retired farmer who drove slowly to survey the fields, noting that “because you’re a farmer, you see farms.”. How does your current "identity" (your career, hobbies, or passions) shape what you notice—or what you ignore—as you move through your daily routine?
2. Read John 16:5-9. Jesus told His disciples it was best for Him to go away so the Advocate (the Holy Spirit) would come to convict the world and empower the church. How does it change your view of your weekly activities to realize you are a citizen of His kingdom, currently “passing through with purpose” under the leadership of the Spirit?.
3. Read Luke 10:25-28. A religious expert asked Jesus what he must "do" to inherit eternal life, yet Pastor Dale notes that an inheritance is usually about who you belong to rather than what you earn. Why are we so often tempted to try to be “worthy” of God’s grace through our own performance?
4. Jesus affirms that the Law is summarized by loving God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and loving your neighbor as yourself. Why is it impossible to truly have one of these loves without the other?
5. Defining Love. The sermon defines loving your neighbor as a “compassionate, righteous, and responsible” response for their good. How does adding the words "righteous" and "responsible" challenge the modern idea that love should always just "make me feel good"?
6. Read Luke 10:29. The expert in the law asked, “And who is my neighbor?” because he was looking for a “loophole of exemption” to determine who was undeserving of his love. In what ways do we still try to narrow the definition of "neighbor" to only include people who are like us or convenient for us?
7. The Parable Breakdown. Read Luke 10:30-32. Both the priest and the temple assistant (Levite) saw the wounded man but crossed to the other side. What are some of the "modern justifications" (being in a hurry, fear of "defilement," or assuming someone got what they deserved) that cause us to pass by those in need?
8. The Despised Hero. Read Luke 10:33-35. A Samaritan—someone the Jewish audience would have despised—became the one who felt compassion and sacrificed his own clothes, donkey, time, and money to provide care. Can you share a time when you had to receive help from someone you previously looked down upon or considered an "enemy"?
9. Verb vs. Noun. Jesus shifted the focus from "Who qualifies as my neighbor?" to "What does it mean for YOU to be a neighbor?". Pastor Dale notes that "neighbor" is a verb more than a noun; how does this shift the responsibility from the person in the road onto your own character?
10. The Best Samaritan. The "sucker punch" of the sermon is the realization that we are all the "bloody man lying in the road" and Jesus is the Samaritan who came to us in our deepest need. How does seeing yourself as the one who needed rescue—rather than the one who is doing the rescuing—transform your motivation for serving others?
11. Close in Prayer: Thank Jesus for being the one who didn't "pass by" when you were wrecked by the consequences of sin. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you “neighbor” someone this week—to do for one in the name of the One.

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Analogy for Understanding: Being a neighbor is like the "farmer seeing the farm.". A tourist driving down a country road only sees a mode of transportation from point A to point B, but a farmer sees the cattle that need inspecting and the gardens that need care. In the same way, we only truly "see" a neighbor when we have the heart of a neighbor; until then, we are just travelers looking for loopholes.