Loving God

ReCAST Church of Mattawan iconReCAST Church of Mattawan

0 views

Bill Smith; Mark 12:28-34 Loving God

0 comments

00:20
You are listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan. Well, good morning.
00:27
Good morning. Welcome to Recast Church. I'm Don Felsick. I'm the lead pastor here. And we're going to go ahead and get started so those of you that are out in the hall can come on in.
00:35
And I just want to start off by welcoming you. I'm just grateful for this morning and for the many of you that have showed up here this morning.
00:42
I know that it's a little bit warm out there this weekend, and so just grateful that God has brought us together to worship him this morning.
00:51
I'm up here to give an announcement this morning, and then I'm going to pass it off to Bill Smith, who's going to be preaching.
00:57
Dave Bunt and I went to a worship conference this week, and so I was gone the majority of the week and didn't have time to prepare a message.
01:04
But we had a great time away at a conference that was focused on pastors and worship leaders, and so it was very beneficial.
01:13
We went there thinking we were going to get a lot of practical or hoping to get a lot of practical information, assuming it was going to be a lot of theory.
01:19
And then we found that it was a lot of theory, and we found that we needed a lot of theory. So it ended up being exactly what we needed, even though it wasn't what we thought it was going to be.
01:27
So at the end of the day, it was a great conference. The main announcement that I wanted to share with you is in a few moments after the connection time,
01:34
Rob Knold is going to be getting up to share his testimony, and I wanted to give you some context for that.
01:40
We are seeking to add two more to our board of elders here at Recast Church.
01:46
We've wanted to grow that towards the number of seven. It's kind of the number that we would like to be on the board.
01:52
We currently have five. And then Bruce French is going to be stepping off the board at the end of December, and so we wanted to add two more in his place.
02:00
So you could think of it all different kinds of ways. Bruce tends to like to think of it as two to replace him. I'm just kidding.
02:06
It takes two to replace Bruce French, and he has been doing an amazing job for us in that role, and I'm very grateful for his service beyond just the work that he's done out at the building, but just over the course of a couple of years here serving us greatly in that way.
02:21
So be sure to just say thanks to Bruce for the service that he's given us. But Rob Knold is up for as a candidate for eldership.
02:28
So he'll be sharing his testimony this week, and then Dan is up for it as well and has been willing to enter that process with us as a congregation.
02:36
And so he will be sharing his testimony next week, and then a couple weeks after that, those ballots will be available.
02:42
Now remember that it is not a competition. I say this every time, and several of us misunderstand this routinely and regularly.
02:49
It is not a competition. We are not looking for Rob or Dan. We are looking for Rob and Dan.
02:55
And so you're not trying to vote on which one you like the best. This is not dueling testimonies or anything like that.
03:02
This is a get -to -know -you time, and I would encourage you that beyond what he's able to share with us for three minutes in these testimonies, ask him questions.
03:10
Feel free to use the process to get to know them a little bit better if you don't already. And then also remember that what we're looking for in that process is not a strict vote per se, but we're looking for the congregation to give us feedback about the qualities that you see in their lives.
03:24
Obviously if you don't know them very well, then you're not going to be able to speak to a lot of the details. But what we do on our ballot, it's not a yes or no.
03:32
The ballot is all of the qualifications of eldership laid out. It can be an intimidating document, but we do this so that if you know some area that they need improvement, or you've identified problems in their lives, you can speak into that.
03:43
But equally, where they've blessed you, you can speak into that as well. So it gives them a good opportunity for feedback, and then at the end of the day, we are looking for, at the bottom of that sheet, if you don't know them very well, but you trust the elders to put them forward, we've vetted them as much as we can.
03:59
And so if you trust that, then you can just click the yes at the bottom of that as well, and take advantage of that.
04:04
But that's going to be in a few weeks. So I'm going to ask Bill to come forward, and he's going to be sharing an introduction to his message here for a moment.
04:11
I'm just very grateful for Bill Smith, who's willing to step up and preach in, not in my absence, but when
04:18
I don't have the time to do this. So thanks a lot, Bill. Thank you, Don. Good morning.
04:26
I'm excited to be sharing the word this morning. I do love God's holy word. I've been doing a little reflecting this last week.
04:37
Tomorrow I turn 21 ,900 days old. That means
04:48
I'm going to be 60. So, you know, I'm praising God for his faithfulness in those 21 ,900 or 889, whatever it is now.
05:02
Okay. He is so faithful, and he is so true, and he always knows what we need, doesn't he?
05:10
I came to Christ when I was 20 years old in 1978. When I was 15 years old,
05:20
I started taking a very bad path. It started with smoking marijuana with some of the boys in my neighborhood.
05:31
And then for the next five years, that just took me down a really, really dark path. By the time
05:37
I was 20 years old, my life was so empty, and I was so trapped, and so miserable that I often contemplated suicide.
05:51
And, you know, I'm so thankful that I never gave up hope. I always believed there was a God, but I didn't know if this
05:58
God loved me or not. But a miracle happened at the age of 20. My best friend, who was a drug addict, also on that dark path with me, he met
06:11
Jesus, and he was totally transformed and set free. It was so miraculous that, you know,
06:18
I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I knew this was a genuine miracle of God, the way my friend changed.
06:24
It was so amazing, and he told me it's Jesus. And he told me,
06:29
Bill, God loves you. And the very first verse he shared with me was John 3 .16,
06:35
for God so loved the world. And I began to think about that. Could God really love me?
06:44
I began to learn his story of what he did for me at the cross. I knew he loved my friend
06:51
John because he was so transformed and set free. And I said,
06:57
I know his story. He died for me now. I know he loves
07:02
John. We were just the same. He must love me. And so I asked him to come into my life at the age of 20.
07:12
And he began to lead me out of that darkness and fill me with hope and light. And I quickly learned that this book is a treasure, that it's the very word of God.
07:21
And I began to study it and really kind of devour it, just taking it in.
07:28
And I was discipled well. And, you know, I mean, not knowing the word, you know, not knowing the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant.
07:38
I was reading these Old Testament laws. And I so wanted to please
07:44
God because he had set me free and changed my life. I was trying to tell everybody
07:49
I could about Jesus. I discovered this bookstore in Kalamazoo, Christian bookstore.
07:57
And I went in, I was like a little kid in a candy shop. And I started, oh, I need to learn this truth.
08:02
I need to learn that truth. And I'm reading all of these different books that are telling me to do all these different things.
08:07
And I'm reading the commandments of God in his book. And this burden is coming upon me that God never meant to be.
08:18
This burden of obeying the law. This burden of feeling like I had to be perfect.
08:30
But God knows just what we need. And I was reading his word. And he brought me to a scripture that just so clarified what
08:39
God is looking for and longing for the most in our lives as his sons and daughters.
08:46
And I would like to read that scripture with you this morning. If you would turn in your Bibles to Mark chapter 12, we will start in verse 28.
09:07
Verse 28, it says, And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing he had answered them well, asked him.
09:19
So this scribe, this expert of the Old Testament law, had been listening to Jesus interact with other people concerning the word of God.
09:29
And this scribe had a question for Jesus, and he asked him, Which commandment is the most important of all?
09:37
Well, that immediately caught my eye. This is what I had been wondering.
09:42
What is it, God, that you want from me more than anything else? And so I knew in my heart what this guy was asking
09:50
Jesus. If you were to guess how many commandments are in the
09:55
Old Testament, how many would you guess? In Jesus' day, the scribes and the rabbis had determined that there were 613 commands in the
10:08
Pentateuch. 613 commands. That's a lot of commandments, right?
10:15
And he's saying, Jesus, which one out of all these is the most important one?
10:20
What does God want us to focus on above everything?
10:25
What should be the priority? I think is what this question really entails.
10:32
And look at what Jesus said to him in verse 29. And Jesus answered, The most important is,
10:39
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the
10:44
Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.
10:51
The second is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.
10:59
He was simply saying that the most important thing is loving
11:05
God. That's the greatest commandment out of all that we can give
11:11
God. The thing that he wants the most is our heart, our love. And this was freeing for me because he said,
11:18
Here's the top two, and we're going to talk about these as we come into the message after the worship time.
11:26
Let's finish our text, verse 32. And the scribe said to him, You are right, teacher.
11:33
You have truly said, He is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one neighbor as oneself is much more than the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
11:52
And when Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God.
11:58
And after that one, no one dared to ask him any more questions. Which is the first and greatest commandment?
12:07
It's simple, to love God. And that's what I want to explore with you this morning. What does it mean to love
12:13
God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength? And then what are the steps to see this become a reality in our lives?
12:22
And so with that, I'm just going to pray and then Dave and the band are going to lead us in worship.
12:29
Father, just thank you so much for your book, for your word, for your revelation to us.
12:36
Thank you that you love us and that you invite us into this amazing love.
12:42
I pray today that you would meet with us in a special way. Pray that even through the songs now, that the music would speak to our hearts and lead us closer to you.
12:55
That we could sing with understanding and in the spirit this morning. And then as we explore what it means to love you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
13:05
Father, I pray that you would just so draw us to you in such a way that we will want to know you in deeper ways,
13:14
Father. And that we will want to seek you more in our lives. So just bless our time together and just encourage discouraged brothers and sisters today.
13:24
Father, anyone feeling hopeless, just fill them with hope. And Father, just restore joy to us this morning if we have been in sorrow.
13:33
Just come and meet with us in a special way, we pray. We love you and we thank you in Jesus name.
13:39
Amen. If you would open up your Bibles back to Mark chapter 12.
13:47
And if anybody needs a Bible to look on with us this morning, mic around or somebody to pass those out.
13:55
Jay's got them. If you need a Bible to follow along, just raise your hand up and Jay would be glad to bring one out to you.
14:03
Anybody? Going once, going twice. Still not too late. Life is complicated.
14:14
You feel that? Human beings make things complicated, don't they?
14:24
Remember last summer, not this past summer, but we finally broke down and bought a play set for the grandkids.
14:36
Costco had a really sweet one and we took some of our income tax return and we bought it.
14:43
I went to pick it up. I needed a pickup truck and it came in like six boxes and there must have been 2000 pieces and oh my word,
14:51
I thought we'd never get that thing together. But it's there, standing strong and true.
14:57
But we just complicate things.
15:03
When it comes to knowing God, we do the same thing. We make it complicated.
15:09
That's what religion does. You've got to do this. You've got to do that. You've got to have this in order.
15:15
You've got to pray this many times a day or whatever it might be. And we complicate how to have a relationship with God.
15:25
And Jesus came on the scene and he shed his blood on that cross and died for the sins of the world to open up the way wide to God, to uncomplicated.
15:39
Well, I began to get confused at the beginning of my walk with Christ.
15:46
And it wasn't because of the Holy Spirit or the word of God. It was just everything that I was hearing from other human beings.
15:54
You know, this is what you need to focus on. This is what you need to. Oh, you need to read this book.
16:00
It'll change your life. 10 steps to walking in the spirit. Oh, I've got to do those 10 steps now.
16:05
Let's see. What were they again? And we complicate it. And Jesus comes along and he's asked out of all the commandments,
16:14
Jesus, out of all the 613, if that's how many there are indeed.
16:20
You know, this morning before I went into the juvenile home, I got there a little bit early and I sat in my car and I thought, how many commandments are in the
16:29
New Testament? So I said, okay, Google. And she said, listening,
16:35
I said, how many commandments are in the New Testament? Well, these different, you know, websites came up and the number that kept coming up now,
16:44
I didn't go into them, but I was like, this one looks reputable. That's number that kept coming up really surprised me.
16:52
1050 commandments. Now I wouldn't have never guessed that. And I don't know how they came at that number. But you add that to 613.
16:59
That's a lot of commandments, right? And Jesus comes along and he says, hey, I know that life is complicated here on earth.
17:10
He says, I'm going to simplify this. The first and greatest commandment is to love
17:15
God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second is to love others as yourself.
17:23
Now you look back, we're back in Mark chapter 12 and this scribe again, the scribes were the experts of the
17:30
Old Testament law. This scribe probably had every one of the 613 commandments memorized.
17:37
Also on top of that, they had a list of rules for each one of these 613 commandments.
17:44
And so they're the rules just keep piling up, right? But you know, this word commandment really is a good word.
17:51
We think of it as human beings. We think of it negatively because we don't like to be told what we're doing, right?
17:56
That's part of our fallen nature. Don't you tell me what to do. I look this up and I enjoy looking upwards in my
18:04
Strong's Concordance. And, you know, it just gives you a little more perspective on the word commandment.
18:11
And it's a Greek word, entole. And it says the definition was an injunction that is an authoritative prescription, an authoritative prescription.
18:25
So I had to think about that word prescription, right? Think about that word for a minute. Prescription. What's it make you think about?
18:33
The doctor writing something on a piece of paper and saying, this will make you better.
18:39
This will cure you. This will help you. This will do you good.
18:45
And you go to the pharmacy and you get your medicine and hopefully that's what it does, right? Okay. It's a prescription for your well -being.
18:55
It's something to help you. God's commands are for our good. They are to protect us.
19:02
They are to help us to be healthy and well. And so all the commandments are good. Of course, when you come to the
19:08
Old Testament, the Levitical law and those kind of laws, we're not under the old covenant anymore, are we?
19:15
We're under the new covenant. We're under grace. We're not under law. But from all of those laws and commands, we can learn important principles.
19:26
God has a divine prescription for you, for your good, for your well -being.
19:31
It's going to bring joy and focus and meaning into your life. And again, he puts it simple.
19:37
When asked that question, Jesus quoted out of the Old Testament, verse 29, the most important is, hear,
19:45
O Israel, the Lord our God. Hear the Lord. He's the one. He is the one that we should focus on.
19:52
Verse 30, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
20:02
What does God want us to focus on more than anything else? Our love for him.
20:09
A loving relationship. That's what God wants to be the focus and priority of our lives.
20:16
What is the greatest thing that I can do for God? Is simply love him, right?
20:23
There's nothing greater. There's nothing higher than to love God. What is the greatest blessing known to the human race?
20:32
To experience the amazing love of God in our lives. When I looked at this command and I began to think on it, really, to me, what came to my mind is, what does
20:45
God desire from me the most? What does he long for from me? He longs for me to love him in return.
20:54
He already loves us with a perfect love. And again, it comes down to the greatest thing that I can do is simply love him.
21:02
To be in this loving relationship with God that Jesus paid for with his life, with his blood on the cross.
21:12
That's how much God longs for us to know him and be his sons and daughters that Jesus paid such a price to bring us salvation and redemption and forgiveness.
21:26
What does it mean to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength? He could have said simply love
21:33
God, right? He could have said that. We would understand that. It's not okay to love God.
21:39
But he says, here's how I want you to love me. With all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
21:46
First of all, it simply means to love him with your entire being. With all that you are.
21:53
To love him first. To love him above all else. He's your creator.
21:58
He's the one who gave you life. He's the one that's sustaining you. He's the one that's giving you another day.
22:05
He is keeping our hearts beating. And he is the most gracious, loving, awesome being ever.
22:15
God's love is so amazing. This word heart here, it means, it's literally the word for your beating heart.
22:24
But figuratively, it means the core of who you are, the core of your being.
22:30
And it does include thoughts and feelings. And you know, we talk a lot about our heart.
22:36
I love you with all my heart. And it's the deepest core of who we are.
22:43
Proverbs 4 .23 says this. It says that from the heart flows the springs of life.
22:49
So it's what's in the heart that determines what comes out of you. What's your outcome of your life is going to be.
22:57
What your heart is focused on. In Proverbs 23 .26,
23:03
God says these simple words. He says, my son, give me your heart and let your eyes observe my ways.
23:12
So I want your heart. Open your heart to me. Give me your heart.
23:18
We talk about asking Jesus into our heart, right? He says, give me your heart.
23:27
I discovered early on in my walk with Jesus that if my heart is not right with God, nothing is really right.
23:36
Marriage taught me that. You know, it wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be. You know, it's great.
23:42
I mean, Cheryl and I have been together 36 years. She's up in the nursery now. She didn't hear I was preaching and stayed home.
23:48
That wasn't it. But she's upstairs. I discovered
23:55
I can't be the kind of husband God's calling me to be if my heart is not right with him.
24:01
And then we had kids. My dad, he was a yeller. I'm like, I'll never yell at my kids like he used to yell at us.
24:09
And all of a sudden, I heard my voice rising. I'm like, oh, God, I need you.
24:15
I can't do this. And I just discovered that if my heart is not right with him, then nothing is really right.
24:24
But when my heart is right with him and I'm in that right relationship, then everything falls as it should.
24:33
Not that there isn't struggles and temptations and things like that, because they're all they're all still there. You know,
24:39
I've learned in ministry with my work at Youth for Christ that if I don't get my heart right with him first thing in the morning,
24:48
I'm of no use to him. I can go through the motions and go on autopilot.
24:55
But it's it's not. There's no power in it. But when our hearts are right with him, then everything else begins to fall into place.
25:04
We are to love him with all our heart. We're to give him our heart. We're to open our heart to him at the beginning of every day and seek for his love to fill our hearts.
25:15
He says, love me with all your soul. Soul that speaks of your inner being, your inner man, your personality, the person that you are.
25:25
We see the outward appearance. But as you talk and communicate, we get to know you.
25:30
We get to know the real person inside of this earthly shell. Right. And he says, love me with all of your soul.
25:39
The soul includes our intelligence, our mind, our emotions. And probably one of the most important parts of our soul is our will, that God created us with a free will.
25:53
So to love him with all of my soul, I have to give consent to that.
25:59
I have to say yes to that. One of the verses that I've memorized, and I say this often, is
26:07
Psalm 18 .1. It simply says, I will love you, O Lord, my strength. That word will,
26:14
I will. It's a decision. God, I choose to love you. I want to know your love.
26:21
Sad person's tailgating me again. I will love you,
26:27
O Lord. Help me. Help me. Give me peace. Help me not to put on my brakes.
26:33
It's a decision. It's a constant decision of the will of turning our mind and our thoughts to God, to continually seek to love him.
26:45
We are loved him with our mind, it says, our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
26:51
I looked up the Greek word for this, and I'm not even going to try to say it, because I'll just say it wrong.
26:56
I know that. But it talks about deep thought. It talks about the faculty of the mind.
27:04
In the New Testament, it's translated by the word imagination, even, where we think of things in our mind.
27:11
It speaks of the understanding, and really what it means is with our thoughts, with our thinking.
27:21
Look with me at Isaiah 26 .3.
27:27
Isaiah 26 .3. We are to love him with all our mind.
27:40
This is another verse that I've memorized, and has really helped me through the years. I need this so much.
27:48
I need it today. I needed it yesterday. Isaiah 26 .3. You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
28:04
You will keep him in perfect peace, because why? Because their mind, their thoughts.
28:11
This word stayed means to lean against, to depend on. Our thoughts, we keep turning them to him.
28:18
So many distractions, and our mind goes everywhere, but we have to keep turning it back to the
28:26
Lord. Look at Psalm 63, verses 5 and 6. Psalm 63, 5 and 6.
28:45
Verse 5. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when
28:53
I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the night watches.
29:00
To meditate on, to think on, to dwell on, in the night watches.
29:05
I don't know if you're like me, but I'm not a very good sleeper. I find myself awake quite a bit, on and off, during the night.
29:14
And this is talking about meditating on the person of God. In verse 5, it says that my soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise with joyful lips, when
29:26
I remember you upon my bed. And it's saying that as we meditate on the names and the person of God, it's like a feast for our soul.
29:34
It nourishes us, and it builds us up. This meditation upon who
29:39
God is. Look at Psalm 77, verse 12. I will ponder all your work and meditate on your mighty deeds.
29:58
I will ponder all your work. Man, you know,
30:03
I'm just about done with the Old Testament, and then I'll start it again. And I try to do a chapter a night out of the
30:11
Old Testament. And then I try to do a chapter out of the Gospels after that, because I found that oftentimes, sometimes, especially when you get into some of the prophets, that it's not always necessarily uplifting in the
30:24
Old Testament. So I want to end on a good positive note of the Gospel, but wow, you see
30:31
God's names, and his beauty, and his glory, all through the Old Testament, and how he worked, and how he rescued his people out of slavery, and the mighty deeds of God, and to think on those stories, and to think what he can do to meditate upon him, to think on him, to love him with our mind, with our thoughts.
30:52
Jesus said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and then with all of your strength.
31:03
I probably didn't say it right, but that's the Greek word there for strength. And it means forcefulness, and ability, might, and strength.
31:13
It's the idea of our actions. And so we are to love him by what we do.
31:20
And to me, this really made me think of our service to God, seeking to do his will, seeking to follow his leading.
31:30
And it reminded me, you know, of our strength, our body, our loving him with our physical strength.
31:39
Romans 12 .1, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
31:53
So to love him in what we do, to love him with our strength.
32:00
So it starts in the heart, into the mind, impacts the soul, it's a decision.
32:09
I choose to love God, I choose to seek him. And then it should result in the way we live our life and in our actions.
32:20
So, you know, I raised kids, many of you have. Now my grandkids are even saying it to me.
32:28
Because, you know, they're all coming over today. And sometimes I have to tell them, hey, don't do that. Stop doing that.
32:34
Why? Right? Why? Right? It's a good question. You're telling me to do this, why? Okay, so I come to this question, why does
32:42
God tell us to love him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength?
32:47
Why should we do that? Because that's how he loves you. He loves you with his entire being.
32:55
He loves you with all that he is. He loves you with a perfect love. You are so loved by God.
33:04
In fact, he cannot love you more than he already loves you right now. There's nothing you can do to make
33:11
God love you more. Because he already loves you with a perfect love. If God is perfect being, what kind of love does he have?
33:20
He has a perfect love. Thank goodness he loves us so much.
33:25
He doesn't want to leave us just the way we are. He wants to help us and change us and transform our lives.
33:33
Jeremiah 31 .3, the Lord has appeared of old to me saying, yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love.
33:39
Therefore, with loving kindness, I have drawn you. If he's in your life, if you're his child, it's because he drew you into that relationship.
33:52
If this is resonating with you, like, man, I do want to love God more. I do want to grow deeper in this love.
33:58
That's his drawing. And he says, I love you with an everlasting love. It's never going to stop.
34:04
It's never going to fail. He still loves me when I sin. He doesn't love what
34:11
I'm doing, but he still loves me. And he knows that he can transform that in me. He can change that in me.
34:17
He can clean that up in me. Man, our carpet, oh my word, we have a light colored carpet in our house.
34:25
I finally bought a big throw rug for our living room with darker colors, you know, because grandkids, man, the spots everywhere, right?
34:34
Okay. And little guys and girls sure can make a mess. Sometimes when it's, after it's rained, guess what they like to play in?
34:43
The mud, right? They come in and they're muddy and they're dirty. And you're like, don't touch anything.
34:50
We don't love them less because they're dirty or they're muddy, or they made a mess on the carpet. I know what to do.
34:57
We pick them up. We carry them into the bathroom and we get the bathtub ready and we put them in the bathtub and all of that dirt comes right off, right?
35:06
God sees all of our flaws, all of our imperfections, our sin, but he knows
35:12
I can cleanse you from that. I can transform you. I can change you. I can set you free from that.
35:19
Be honest with him about your struggles. He knows them inside and out. You're not hiding anything from him.
35:26
Bring them to him. Talk to him about those things that are causing shame in your life and he can help change and transform and set us free from those things.
35:38
The night that Jesus was to be arrested and he knew what was before him, he knew he was going to be beaten that night and the next day that he would be brutalized and whipped in the crown of thorns and the nails through his hands and feet.
35:54
And that very night that he was arrested, he said these words, he says, greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends.
36:04
That's what he said and that's what he did. He gave his life for us.
36:09
That's how great his love is. But God demonstrates his own love for this in that while we were yet sinners,
36:16
Christ died for us. He loves you so much and he longs for you to love him back.
36:28
Now, you know, Jesus was just asked, what's the first one, right? And he gave us the second one.
36:34
He said, love your neighbor as yourself. If you read the same account in Matthew chapter 22,
36:40
Jesus says this at the end after he says this first and greatest commandment, second is like love your neighbor as yourself.
36:46
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. That's what he said. On these two commands hang all the law and the prophets.
36:55
What did he mean by that? He meant that these all the other commands are to teach you how to do those two.
37:02
That's what he said. Put it another way. If you're obeying those two, you will be fulfilling all the other commandments.
37:13
It says in Romans 1310, love is the fulfilling of the law. Oh, thank you,
37:19
Lord Jesus, because I'm not that smart. I need it simple. He says,
37:25
Bill, love me with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Love others as yourself. I said to the kids in the juvenile home this morning,
37:33
I said, what's the golden rule? Number of hands went up. Love others as you would have or treat others as you would have them treat you.
37:40
That's what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. Treat people the way you want to be treated. Help them the way you would like help.
37:46
Jesus says, if you'll do these two things, you'll be fulfilling all the commands.
37:56
You know, I thought about this and I thought if Jesus called this the greatest commandment and his greatest desire is that I should love him with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, what would
38:05
God's greatest disappointment be concerning me?
38:14
Me not loving him, not seeking that love, not knowing his love.
38:23
I think that would be God's greatest disappointment. He loves us so much. Think if you were a parent or parents.
38:31
Think about if your children didn't love you. How would that make you feel? Sometimes they act like they don't love us, right?
38:40
But we know they still do. Right, kids? Right? Even though, yeah. And sometimes you think mom and dad doesn't love you either, you know, but we still do.
38:50
Okay. But that would be heartbreaking, wouldn't it? To have children and they don't love you.
38:56
Because what do you desire as a parent more than anything else is that love relationship, right? And our
39:01
Heavenly Father is no different in that. So I just want to look briefly by way of application, just four steps as far as how can
39:12
I then love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. The first step is found in 1
39:17
John 4 .16. Turn there with me. 1
39:24
John 4 .16 simply says, so we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.
39:32
God is love. Whoever abides in love abides in God and God abides in him. John said we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.
39:45
The first step is by learning about his love. How do you do that? By learning his story, by gazing into his revelation, his word, by spending time alone with God, asking him to speak to you, asking him to teach you who he is.
40:06
This is how I've gotten to know the love of God is through his word, through his story, through the gospel.
40:16
I know and believe that love much stronger than I did 20 years ago.
40:22
I'm growing in it. It's a growing process. I still have a long ways to go, but it's as we learn who he is that we'll grow in that knowledge and understanding of his love because God is the most lovable of all being.
40:37
He is perfect in every way. His love is perfect. The second step is by having our hearts filled with his love.
40:45
Look at Romans 5 .5 with me. Romans 5 .5.
40:55
It says, and hope does not put to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the
41:01
Holy Spirit who has been given to us. How does God's love get into our heart?
41:07
According to this verse. It's poured in, right?
41:13
This morning at quarter to seven, I knew that I would need water because I was going to teach at the juvenile home and I was going to come here and teach and I got my water bottle and I took the nice pure pitcher, whatever it's called, you know, that we put the water in.
41:34
But it wasn't going in. What's the problem? Well, right now you couldn't pour anything in here, right?
41:41
It's not open. Okay? If we don't open our heart to him daily, if we don't come to him into his presence with an open heart, how can he pour out his love in it?
41:52
Oh, you know what? There was some old water in this bottle. I used it Thursday when
41:57
I was at the juvenile home. I took it with me because I knew I'd get thirsty there. You know, I talk a lot when I'm there, it seems like.
42:04
But it was, it was, there was still water in it. It was warm. You know, it had some of my spit in it from before.
42:11
You know, it's kind of defiled. It was defiled. How could
42:16
I fill it up with fresh water? I had to empty it out, right? Man, I have to come to him and empty my heart out before him.
42:24
That can mean confession. Lord, I come so short of your glory. Forgive me, Father, for this.
42:30
Lord, my mind is so full of anxiety. Help me. Lord, I bring this burden to you.
42:36
I bring that burden to you. I'm unloading my heart so that there's room. So my heart's so packed up.
42:43
And I literally say, Father, pour out your love in my heart by your Holy Spirit.
42:49
I pray that every day. I pray that over all my family, my grandchildren. Father, pour out your love in our hearts by your
42:56
Holy Spirit. Help me to know your love in deeper ways. Help me to, that's a daily prayer.
43:03
And I, and I think this really needs to be an hourly prayer because we are very leaky vessels.
43:09
Oh, I get my heart filled with his love and I go out into my day and the first rude person I encounter,
43:15
I'm like, uh -oh, now my heart is not filled with that love anymore.
43:21
It's, our hearts are leaky. Father, again, Father, oh, I'm sorry, Father, that was the wrong response.
43:27
Fill my heart with your love. Fill me with your love. And then he can pour it in.
43:34
He pours it in. The love of God in our hearts is a work of God. It's not something you can muster on your own.
43:42
It's impossible to love God in your own humanness. It's a work of God. I challenge you, pray that prayer.
43:50
Father, pour out your love in our hearts. The third step then is to walk in that love.
43:57
Ephesians, if you want to turn there with me, Ephesians chapter 5, verses 1 and 2.
44:05
Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us.
44:15
It says walk in love as Christ loved us. And so now I'm going to seek to walk out that love.
44:23
I'm going to seek to share that love with other people. I'm asking
44:28
God to love people through me and to stay in that love and to walk in that love.
44:34
I challenge you to memorize 1 Corinthians 16, 14. It's very short.
44:41
It simply says this, let all that you do be done with love. Wow, that's pretty straightforward.
44:48
Let all that you do be done with love. That's walking in this love. I cannot do that if I do not have his love in my heart.
44:55
That's the first step. And then the last step is from Jude 21. It simply says keep yourselves in the love of God.
45:03
That's what it says. This word in the Greek, it means to guard from loss or injury by keeping the eye upon.
45:11
It's like when you're watching something so that someone doesn't take it. You're guarding it.
45:16
You're guarding the love of God in your heart. You're trying not to let it leak out. And when it does, you're asking the
45:23
Father, Lord, I need you. My heart is not right with you, Father. Help me to walk in your love.
45:31
You're guarding this love because there are love killers. There are love killers.
45:39
When I was writing this message at this very point, I was sitting in my temporary office.
45:44
We're renting some space from the East Main Church of Christ while Youth for Christ looks for a new building. Well, an old building that we can fix up or whatever.
45:52
And as I'm contemplating this, my eyes land on a book in the youth section called
45:58
The Love Killer. And I immediately thought, what are the love killers in my life?
46:04
What is it that takes God's love out of my heart? Could it be bitterness?
46:13
Anger? What are love killers for you? Unforgiveness?
46:21
Sinful thoughts? Lust? Jealousy? Envy? Pride? Could it be what you're looking at on the internet?
46:29
Or what you're watching on television? Or the type of books you're reading? Are they killing?
46:35
Are they knocking the love of God out of your heart? We don't want to do that.
46:42
I pulled it off the shelf to see what it said it was about. And in this little description on the back, it said a team of hellish demons working around the clock have hatched an insidious plot to destroy their happiness.
46:56
A plot known as the love killer. And I thought about that.
47:02
I'm like, is that? Are the demons trying to keep me from the love of God? Is that part of the spiritual attack that I'm under?
47:10
Because if the enemy can keep me from knowing God's love or growing in God's love or having that love in my heart, is he getting the victory?
47:19
There is a spiritual battle. It says we love God that things become right and we can start shining as a light in this dark world.
47:29
He loves us with an everlasting love, and he loves you this morning. You know,
47:35
I've referred to the cross a number of times, because as Roman said, it demonstrates his love.
47:42
And when we come to communion, the cracker represents his body, which was broken for us the night that he was betrayed.
47:53
He took that bread and he broke it and he said, take it. This is my body broken for you. Well, that body was about to be torn apart as he went to the cross.
48:04
He took the juice and he said, this is my blood shed for you. And then he told us to observe this in his word.
48:16
And so we come to our communion time now and encourage you if you're a believer in Jesus, if he's in your life, that you come to one of these four stations and if you're new here, we just take it back to our seats and in your own quietness, you can take the bread and the juice that represent his broken body and his shed blood.
48:42
Really, it's a remembrance of his incredible love, right? That he loves us. And let's keep praying that we grow in that love, that our church keeps growing in that love and this church keeps being us, continues to shine brighter and brighter, reaching out into a dark world.
49:02
But the good news is you are loved. And he says, hey, love me back.
49:08
Let me pray and then we'll partake of communion. Father, just thank you for your amazing love for us.
49:17
And I think of my love like a little drip and your love, all of the waters of the oceans.
49:27
And just thank you that you do love us with an everlasting love. And thank you for the ultimate sacrifice that was paid so that we can know you.
49:36
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for all you have done for us. And I pray that we could know and grow in your love, that you would help us to go deeper in understanding and that we would know more of your love,
49:52
Lord, and that your love would shine through us. Thank you so much that we could be here today and just pray that you would continue to speak into our lives.
50:01
Thank you for the broken body and the shed blood, Father, for this communion time.