1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,860 Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest 2 00:00:15,860 --> 00:00:21,060 questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search 3 00:00:21,060 --> 00:00:27,300 and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Meador, lead 4 00:00:27,300 --> 00:00:32,440 pastor of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth 5 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:43,920 for the life we're searching for. Thanks so much for being with us today. If you have 6 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:47,720 your Bibles, please take them and turn to the Gospel of Matthew today. The Gospel of 7 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:54,800 Matthew chapter 22 today, a message I'm calling the greatest love. This new series, Out of 8 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:59,400 the Shallow, has to do with moving out of the shallow end of relationships and getting 9 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:04,560 into the deeper parts of what it means to have great relationships with God and great 10 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:08,960 relationships with each other. Please stand with me as we read what I consider one of 11 00:01:08,960 --> 00:01:13,720 the greatest passages in the New Testament, Matthew chapter 22. It might be one of the 12 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:20,180 more popular verses that we know of. Probably everybody in the room has at least heard a 13 00:01:20,180 --> 00:01:26,800 message on this or has studied this text. Many of you have this memorized by heart and 14 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:30,960 it's a great text, but I don't know that we always dig deeply enough in a text to find 15 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:35,240 out all the things we need to see and today we're going to attempt to do that in Matthew 16 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:42,220 chapter 22, beginning in verse 35. If you know the context, you know that the lawyers 17 00:01:42,220 --> 00:01:48,400 are asking Jesus a question, attempting to entrap him. The Sadducees have asked Jesus 18 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:52,720 questions, the Pharisees have asked him questions, now the lawyers are getting in on the conversation 19 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:56,440 and of course they believe that they're going to trip Jesus up. They're trying to falsely 20 00:01:56,440 --> 00:02:02,240 accuse him of breaking the law or in some way disregarding the law and so they ask him 21 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:06,200 the question about the greatest command of the greatest law. It says this in verse 35. 22 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:11,040 It says, one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question testing him. Teacher, what is the 23 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:16,320 great commandment in the law? And he said, you shall love the Lord your God with all 24 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:21,560 of your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost 25 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:26,720 commandment. The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two 26 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:31,920 commandments depend the whole law and the prophets. Now we'll stop there, we'll look 27 00:02:31,920 --> 00:02:35,720 at more in just a few moments. Would you bow with me today and ask the Holy Spirit just 28 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:40,120 to illuminate this in each of our hearts. Father today, what a privilege to take this 29 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:47,120 text, these words that Jesus shared, harkening all the way back to the Old Testament, to 30 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:53,080 answer a tough question that was meant to entrap him and yet giving us the wisdom and 31 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:58,420 the truth that we today hold so tightly today, illuminate this for us so that we might see 32 00:02:58,420 --> 00:03:03,680 what it means, what Jesus intends it to mean for us. Lord, we ask this in Jesus' name 33 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:08,680 and all God's people said, Amen. Please be seated if you would. 34 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:13,960 You know when I think of out of the shallow, when I think of moving out of the shallow 35 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:18,680 end of the pool into the deep end of the pool, or out of the shallow of relationships into 36 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:24,120 the deep end of relationships, I think about growing up. I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, 37 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:28,600 and in that small town there was one pool that I knew of in all of the town of about 38 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:33,280 3,000 people. There weren't many homes with pools, none that I knew of. None of my friends 39 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:38,920 had one. No one had one that anybody knew. But there was a city pool, and this city pool 40 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:43,840 was rather large. It was on the top of a hill called Red Hill, and everybody in terms of 41 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:49,520 kids went there in the summer. And I remember being 8 or 9, 10 years old, and just learning 42 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:54,300 how to swim in the shallow end of the pool, and being a little bit frightened about the 43 00:03:54,300 --> 00:03:58,640 deep end of the pool. And this was one of those situations where parents come and drop 44 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:02,800 you off, hope you survive, but they're leaving and going someplace else all day long while 45 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:08,400 you're in the pool. And as I learned to get more confident in the shallow end of the pool, 46 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:16,500 then one day I got up, my boldness, my confidence, I got up my courage, and I went to the deep 47 00:04:16,500 --> 00:04:22,240 end of the pool. And I remember jumping off the low board into 12 feet deep of water. 48 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:26,240 And that was intimidating. I was obsessed with the idea of swimming in the deep end 49 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:31,520 of the pool, but I was also terrified to swim in the deep end of the pool. Now I knew how 50 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:35,520 to swim. It wasn't that I couldn't swim. It was that this was over my head. This was 51 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:39,680 out of my comfort zone. Plus there was that dark thing in the water at the base of the 52 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:43,520 pool that we know as the drain, and it looked like a shark to me when I was on the driving 53 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:48,200 board. And while the water moved back and forth, it also looked like an octopus. So 54 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:53,040 I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but I knew people had survived before. So I dove 55 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:57,680 in with all the fear that I had in my heart, and I managed to get through the first time, 56 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:02,560 and then the second time, and for for long, I was swimming in the deep end of the pool 57 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:06,680 with regularity and safe. Obviously I survived. You know how the story ends. I'm still here 58 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:13,520 today. Unfortunately, some of us never get into the deep end of the pool with relationships. 59 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:18,440 We stay in the shallow side where our feet can touch the bottom. We stay in the side 60 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:22,500 that we can walk away if we need to walk away because we're not really sure what it means 61 00:05:22,500 --> 00:05:28,280 to get in over our heads when it comes to the kinds of relationships that God calls 62 00:05:28,280 --> 00:05:35,360 us to. We're not even sure we can do the kind of relationships that marriage calls us to, 63 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:41,160 or that community calls us to, or that friendship calls us to. My challenge to you over these 64 00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:46,320 next six weeks is get out of the shadow and into the deep of relationships, and we're 65 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:50,440 starting with our relationship with God. You know, your relationship with God is going 66 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:54,720 to be something that really flavors everything else that you do, and what Jesus gave us that 67 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:59,160 day is one of the most important verses we could possibly have. I want to challenge you 68 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:03,520 to invest more. I want to challenge you to explore more of what it means to have great 69 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:08,000 relationships beginning with a relationship with God. Now you've heard me say this over 70 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:12,440 and over if you've been around for a while. You hear me quote a guy named Oscar Thompson 71 00:06:12,440 --> 00:06:17,040 all the time. Oscar was the evangelism professor at Southwestern Seminary back when I was there. 72 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:20,960 He was the interim pastor at this church at one point, and other churches that I'm aware 73 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:27,120 of. Wherever Oscar went, he made this statement. He's known for making this statement. For 74 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:31,440 standing up in front of people and saying, the greatest word in the English language 75 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:36,360 is the word relationships. Now he told me that when I was a student at Southwestern, 76 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:41,600 and he said, it'll be one of the most important things I ever say to you. And I wasn't impressed 77 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:46,800 with what he said at first, but now 40 years later I'm quoting him from that classroom 78 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:52,520 and realized the depth of that statement. The most important word in the English language 79 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:57,840 is the word relationships. Everything good in your life comes through relationships. 80 00:06:57,840 --> 00:07:01,600 Everything bad in your life comes through relationships. Everything you will ever have 81 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:06,840 with God comes through a relationship with God. And that's what we want to focus on this 82 00:07:06,840 --> 00:07:12,160 morning, the importance of relationships. And that brings us to Matthew chapter 22 where 83 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:17,000 Jesus says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your 84 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:21,600 mind. And the second command is like unto that, that you love your neighbor as yourself. 85 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:27,840 And again, this conversation comes about because of an attempt to entrap Jesus by the Sadducees, 86 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:33,480 the Pharisees, and at this point the lawyer who came to him and asked the question. And 87 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:37,880 they were hoping that Jesus would pick one of those 10 commandments that we're all so 88 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:42,720 familiar with. And by picking one, it would be the wrong one and they would argue the 89 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:47,640 fact that he wouldn't be really a representative from God because he was somehow denying the 90 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:53,200 10 commandments as a whole. And yet what Jesus said is so profound that it's a statement 91 00:07:53,200 --> 00:08:00,200 we still talk about today as the signature statement on love and relationships. In fact, 92 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:04,240 not only did Jesus say that and not only did they go silent at that moment, he asked them 93 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:09,200 another question which they could not answer. And it's rather humane for me to read the 94 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:13,960 very last verse of chapter 22. And if you want to look at your Bible, it says this in 95 00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:20,960 Matthew chapter 22 verse 46, no one was able to answer him a word, nor did anyone dare 96 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:28,000 from that day on to ask him another question. That's how profound Jesus' answer was. So 97 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:35,000 profound that everyone that had any desire to entrap him all of a sudden went silent, 98 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:40,000 ghosted, nothing else to say to this man because he's ahead of us on everything. And I would 99 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:45,000 say to you today, one of the great indications of the sovereignty of God and the idea that 100 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:52,000 Jesus is fully God and fully man is this answer to this question that we still see as so profound. 101 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:57,000 He's always fully on the throne. He's always fully sovereign and he shows us here. But 102 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:03,000 he also gives us some great insight into relationships from this passage. So I want to give you three 103 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:10,000 truths today that this text helps us discover from how it was given, when it was given first 104 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:14,000 and actually what it says, which will be the third point that I give you, the third truth. 105 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:18,000 The first truth has to do with background and context and that is that we were created 106 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:22,000 for love. I want you to write that point down and I want you to look with me at the text 107 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:29,000 itself and I want you to recall that whenever you see all caps in the Bible, it is a quotation 108 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:34,000 in the New Testament of an Old Testament passage and that's what you find in Matthew 22. Jesus 109 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:41,000 literally in this question and his answer quoted the Old Testament in Deuteronomy chapter 110 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:48,000 6 verse 4. We'll talk about that in just a few moments. But I want you to see that his 111 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:53,000 answer has a context of thousands of years before that moment where the question was 112 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:57,000 asked. And here's what he says, it's the Shema, we'll look at that in a moment, but 113 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:01,000 he says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and 114 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:08,000 with all your mind. And from the beginning, that is a phrase and a word that meant much 115 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:12,000 to God's people. And I want you to take you back all the way back to the beginning to 116 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:17,000 the fact that you were actually created to have this kind of relationship with God and 117 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:23,000 we're not always aware of it. We're created to have love in our life. We're created to 118 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:27,000 be able to fellowship with God in an amazing and a supernatural way. Now we're going to 119 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:32,000 be using the word love over the next few weeks a lot. And so as we use the word love, please 120 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:37,000 keep in mind in New Testament texts, there are four different words for love. And I'll 121 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:40,000 explain those four very, very quickly. We won't spend time on many of them, but we'll 122 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:45,000 spend time on the last one. The first word I'll introduce to you is the word eros, which 123 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:50,000 is erotic love. It basically is erotic love or sexual love. It's the love of passion. 124 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:55,000 It's a passion that seizes and absorbs itself in the mind and emotional involvement based 125 00:10:55,000 --> 00:11:00,000 on body chemistry. That's what the word eros really stands for. And it's the love of 126 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:03,000 passion that seizes and absorbs itself in the mind and emotional involvement based on 127 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:07,000 body chemistry. That's what the word eros really stands for, what it means. And you'll 128 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:12,000 find this in various places in scripture. The second Greek word is the word phileo. 129 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:17,000 Phileo is brotherly love. It's friendship based on commonality. It's the kind of love 130 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:22,000 you have with a buddy that you have common interests with. If you've got someone that 131 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:27,000 loves the Dallas Cowboys, well, good luck to both of you, but you're in it together. 132 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:30,000 If you've got your dog lovers or your cat lovers, it's amazing what happens when you 133 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:34,000 go to a dog park and you have a dog and all of a sudden all these buddies show up. I'm 134 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:39,000 not talking about the other dogs. I'm talking about the other dog owners. And you have phileo 135 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:44,000 love. You care about them on the basis of commonality. It has appreciation involved. 136 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:50,000 It has liking something involved. That is what brotherly love is all about. It doesn't 137 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:55,000 weather all the storms, but nonetheless it's pretty good while it lasts. Then there's 138 00:11:55,000 --> 00:12:00,000 more, uh, storgay love. And that's family love. That's the natural affection you have 139 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:06,000 for a spouse or for a biological family member. It's also mutual obligation that we love 140 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:11,000 each other because we've committed ourselves to each other. It's kind of a natural movement 141 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:16,000 of the soul to a spouse or to a child. And it's not used often in scripture, but it's 142 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:21,000 basically family love. And then there's this word that we all know something about because 143 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:27,000 it's the most important word. It's the word Jesus actually used here in Matthew chapter 144 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:32,000 22. And I think you probably know what it is, don't you? It's agape love. Somebody say 145 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:39,000 agape. All right. We have three of you say that. All right. Let's all say it. Agape. 146 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:48,000 Agape is loving unconditionally. It's loving with favor and goodwill. It's the intent to 147 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:55,000 give the best that a person possibly could need. You give your best to meet that need. 148 00:12:55,000 --> 00:13:02,000 It's loving someone even if they are unresponsive, unkind, even if they are unlovable and unworthy. 149 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:10,000 And we use the word unconditional more than any other word. It's unconditional love. It's 150 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:15,000 really powerful love. And it really is originating in God's own loving nature. There's three 151 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:19,000 words that describe part of the character of God in the Bible. And those three words 152 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:28,000 are God is love. Say those three words with me. God is love. Now that's the kind of love 153 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:34,000 Jesus is talking about when he uses the word agape. God's character is that of unconditional 154 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:39,000 love. Now Jesus defined agape as the highest, most important love on the planet. That's 155 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:45,000 what this verse essentially does. The greatest priority in your life according to Jesus, 156 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:51,000 the greatest command in the law and the prophets is for you to love God with your whole heart 157 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:57,000 and then for you to love others out of that vertical love that you have for the Lord Jesus 158 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:04,000 Christ. It also involves you being loved by God because God is love. His unconditional 159 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:11,000 love for you exists and never ceases. That's a pretty good feeling right there. To know 160 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:16,000 I am unconditionally loved by God tells me I will always be in his favor. Even when I 161 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:21,000 do something wrong, God still loves me enough, maybe sometimes to discipline me, certainly 162 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:26,000 always to steer me back on the right path. But my love and relationship with God and 163 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:31,000 his love for me is not based on my perfection. Aren't you glad that your relationship with 164 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:38,000 God is not based on your perfection? We are all in trouble if it is based on our perfection. 165 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:45,000 But the word agape, God is love, is an incredible part of what healthy relationships are. In 166 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:50,000 fact, God created us this way and that's why this phrase that we call the Shema that 167 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:55,000 is found in Deuteronomy chapter 6 that Jesus quoted in Matthew chapter 22 goes all the 168 00:14:55,000 --> 00:15:01,000 way back to the beginning because we were created exactly in our DNA to need and to 169 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:08,000 have this love. Go back to the creation account. Genesis chapter 1 verse 26 is one of those 170 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:12,000 great verses that kind of capsulizes that. It says, then God said let us make men in 171 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:19,000 our image according to our likeness. Now one of the parts of the details of what God says 172 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:23,000 in the beginning, and we walked through Genesis earlier this year and had a great time walking 173 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:29,000 through it, was that God created us to have a fellowship and have a relationship with 174 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:34,000 him. We are created in his image so that we might know him and might know his character 175 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:40,000 and be able to understand him and know him by way of his revelation. Now get this picture. 176 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:45,000 God created the first man, the first woman and began to relate to them, began to talk 177 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:52,000 to them. He walked with them in the garden. He gave them responsibilities to do. He warned 178 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:56,000 them about things that they should avoid doing. I mean this is an intimate relationship between 179 00:15:56,000 --> 00:16:03,000 God and the first man and the first woman. And it gives us a pattern for our own DNA, 180 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:09,000 our own design. You need fellowship with God and God has created you for this fellowship 181 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:14,000 and for this love. That's why you need to know about it because God has created you 182 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:21,000 for this kind of love. So look at our loving, our relating God and learn from that. He formed 183 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:26,000 everything for us before he created us and put us in it. He made us in his image. He 184 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:30,000 was talking to us. And it's expressed even further in the New Testament that he wants 185 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:37,000 a relationship with us. John 3.16. I mean if that's not a famous one, which one is? 186 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:42,000 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in 187 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:49,000 him should not perish but have eternal life. The love of God is something that every single 188 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:54,000 one of us need and we're created for that love. And God designed it and created it that 189 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:58,000 way so that we would have that love. Did you know that when you are born, you're born into 190 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:07,000 a biological family, hopefully among people that will love you. I've got a brand new grand 191 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:13,000 baby. Yeah you can say amen. I didn't work hard for it but I sure am glad to have it. 192 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:18,000 This little girl. And of course I've got six kids. Some of you know from all the stories 193 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:23,000 I tell about my family, six kids, and this is our first grandchild. But it's amazing, 194 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:29,000 it's amazing how all six of these adult kids are just focused on this little baby girl. 195 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:35,000 She was born into a biological family that's going to be loving her and holding her and 196 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:39,000 challenging her and everything else her whole life. You are born into a biological family 197 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:44,000 because of this need for love, this need for relationships. God has set this up for you. 198 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:51,000 You are born again into a spiritual family where you have brothers and sisters in Jesus 199 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:57,000 Christ. You have spiritual teachers you sometimes call father but you have a heavenly father 200 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:05,000 who is God. We need this love. We're created for this love. God has brought us on this 201 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:08,000 earth for this love. And when you come to faith in Jesus Christ, the Bible says you 202 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:14,000 were adopted, you are loved, you are given inheritance, you're co-heirs with Jesus Christ 203 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:19,000 the son, you have a future home, you're no longer slaves but you're children of God. 204 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:25,000 And that part of love is all about the receiving end of the agape love that is exemplified 205 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:34,000 by God is love. You're created for it. It's in your DNA. It's why God has you here. It's 206 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:40,000 how I love you. It's pretty powerful. I remember a few years ago we baptized a young woman 207 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:49,000 who wanted to help us get her message out. She was raised in Islam and was a great student 208 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:54,000 of world religion. She had read the Quran and then she had read the Bible through a 209 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:58,000 faithful witness of a man that later became her husband. She said, you know I came to 210 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:07,000 faith in Jesus because I read the Quran and could find no place where Allah left me. But 211 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:13,000 many places where I was obligated to love and obey him. And then I read the Bible. And 212 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:18,000 as I read the Bible I realized that many places about love in the Bible were about God loving 213 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:24,000 me and then the opportunity just to respond to that love. And she said when I saw that, 214 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:30,000 that's the God I knew I needed to worship and when I saw his son Jesus I followed him 215 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:35,000 by putting my faith and trust in him. What an incredible testimony. So you are created 216 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:41,000 for love. That's in your DNA. You are made for love. That's truth number one. Number 217 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:47,000 two, the scripture also tells us we can learn to love. We can learn to love. So I want you 218 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:52,000 to go to the text now. We look kind of behind the text of the timing of where this verse 219 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:57,000 was first given back in the Shema, back in the Old Testament, near creation time. And 220 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:01,000 now we are going to look at the words themselves. It says you shall love the Lord your God. 221 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:05,000 Notice the phrasing of that. You shall love the Lord your God. And then again in that 222 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:10,000 second command, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is a fact and there is 223 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:15,000 a future tense here. First of all, this is what you ought to be doing. Secondly, this 224 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:20,000 is something you are going to learn to do in the days ahead. This is something you must 225 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:25,000 learn to do. It is a command but it has a future sense to it. So the idea is God commands 226 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:29,000 you to do something. And I know this from experience and you do too from the scripture 227 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:35,000 as well. God never commands us to do something that he doesn't help us do. If God tells you 228 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:39,000 to do something, if he gives you command to love the Lord your God with all your heart, 229 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:45,000 with all your soul, with all your mind, then he is going to help you do that. Nevertheless, 230 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:55,000 so many of us don't do this. We don't love. We haven't learned to love. Now let me take 231 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:59,000 just a couple of minutes to give you some reasons why I believe that is true. You may 232 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:06,000 be here today saying I don't understand why I can't love others unconditionally. I don't 233 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:12,000 understand why I don't seem to have that unconditional love from God that we are talking about today. 234 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:16,000 Let me just give you two or three things. First of all, some have been betrayed or hurt 235 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:21,000 or wronged and haven't healed and we can't love because we are still wounded or hurt. 236 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:28,000 I think that is common today. I think it has always been common. We struggle to trust because 237 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:34,000 of some distrust created in the past by somebody in our lives. Or maybe we misunderstood what 238 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:40,000 God was doing and so therefore we are a little concerned about God loving us and his reputation 239 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:46,000 because we don't understand. God would never do anything that would cause you to distrust 240 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:52,000 him, but the bottom line on it is he is trustworthy, but sometimes we don't understand that. So 241 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:55,000 there are some who have been betrayed, hurt or wronged and they haven't healed and so 242 00:21:55,000 --> 00:22:01,000 they struggle to have loving relationships. It is just a fact. Secondly, some may love 243 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:07,000 ourselves and our ways too much to give life. If you are so full of loving yourself, is 244 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:14,000 my microphone going out? Alright. It sounded just fine to me. I don't know. 245 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:22,000 Some may love ourselves so much in our ways too much to give love to God, to give love 246 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:27,000 to others. When we are focused on ourselves there is no way that we are really going to 247 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:32,000 be able to get our eyes off ourselves and love anybody else especially with the kind 248 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:39,000 of agape love that we are called to. But here is the big point about those who struggle. 249 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:45,000 Some have not experienced unconditional love and so therefore can't give unconditional 250 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:51,000 love. That is what really trips so many people up. Until you have learned what it means to 251 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:56,000 be loved in this way, until you have understood what it means to know God and his love for 252 00:22:56,000 --> 00:23:00,000 you, you are going to struggle to give that unconditional love to anybody else. You see 253 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:05,000 the source of unconditional love and that well full of unconditional love comes from 254 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:13,000 God himself. You have to learn it. It is something you can actually learn and grow in if you 255 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:19,000 understand how you get it and receive it. There is a great verse in 1 Thessalonians 256 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:24,000 chapter 4 verse 9. I hope that you will grasp that verse and kind of hold on to it because 257 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:28,000 there is so much in it. It says, Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need 258 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:35,000 for anyone to write to you. Then Paul says to the church at Thessalonica, For you yourselves 259 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:43,000 are taught by God to love one another. Now the first love in that first line there is 260 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:48,000 brotherly love, love of the brethren, phileo. But that last love, you have been taught by 261 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:54,000 God to love one another is agape love. In other words, you not only have experienced 262 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:59,000 agape love from God the Father but you can also have that brotherly love with everyone 263 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:03,000 else because God has taught you how to love one another. And I have come to the conclusion 264 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:07,000 in my own life that you can love others only to the degree that you know your Father's 265 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:13,000 love for you. You may not fully comprehend it but for you to acknowledge that God loves 266 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:19,000 you in an unconditional way is the beginning steps for you to be able to love others like 267 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:28,000 he loves you. I remember the woman who I was in a counseling situation with along with 268 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:32,000 another lady in our church and this other lady and myself were counseling this third 269 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:36,000 person, this woman who had gone through such a horrendous background, such a hard time 270 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:41,000 in her life that she could not fathom that God would love her because of all she had 271 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:46,000 done and experienced. I mean we spoke with her for an hour or more talking about the 272 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:51,000 love of God and the expressed love of Jesus Christ, the demonstration of Jesus dying on 273 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:57,000 the cross on and on. This woman would not even acknowledge that God loved her. We just 274 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:02,000 made it our point through prayer and encouragement, reading the scripture and everything else 275 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:07,000 to help her come to the place of believing that God loved her. And finally about an hour 276 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:12,000 into that conversation something just went on in terms of a light bulb in her mind and 277 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:17,000 heart and she realized, okay, if what you say is true that changes everything about 278 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:21,000 my life and we said that's the point and she said, okay, I will acknowledge, I will 279 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:26,000 agree, God loves me. God loves me in spite of the fact that I can't love myself. God 280 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:31,000 loves me and sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for me. That was a moment of her 281 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:37,000 salvation and her life began to change immediately as a result of knowing the unconditional love 282 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:48,000 of God for her. That same thing is true for you. That's true. That's why we want everybody 283 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:52,000 to know the gospel of Jesus. We want everybody to come to faith in Jesus. We want everybody 284 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:56,000 to experience the unconditional love of God through Jesus Christ because there's nothing 285 00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:04,000 like it. Nothing will change your life like that will change your life. Learning to love 286 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:10,000 changes your life and learning to know God's love for you changes the way you love. So 287 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:20,000 first of all, we are created for life. Secondly, we can learn to love. Alright, I want you 288 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:25,000 to notice thirdly now, I've got this secret system where they tell me my mic is good now 289 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:36,000 so we're all good again. Truth number three, we can actively love. We can actively love. 290 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:40,000 I want you to notice what Jesus said in verse four after saying the things we've already 291 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:45,000 read and considered. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your 292 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:48,400 soul, with all your mind. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now then in verse four, 293 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:54,600 Jesus says something that we don't often take time to consider. He says, on these two commandments 294 00:26:54,600 --> 00:27:02,600 depend the whole law and the prophets. I'm sure that this line is what silenced the lawyers 295 00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:09,360 and the Pharisees and the Sadducees. But Jesus says something profound for us in this verse 296 00:27:09,360 --> 00:27:14,080 that helps us know how to practically love God. Loving God more than the feeling, loving 297 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:19,200 God more than the emotion, loving God more than some confessional statement that we make 298 00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:25,160 about how we love God. On these two commandments, depend the whole law and the prophets. When 299 00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:32,000 you dig into the context of Deuteronomy chapter six, what you're going to find is that this 300 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:38,440 statement Jesus makes is a statement that follows the recording and the giving of the 301 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:42,720 Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy. So you have Ten Commandments and then you have what's 302 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:48,840 called the Shema. Now the Shema is the statement that the Jewish people have been reading for 303 00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:55,840 thousands of years before Christ came. Here over Israel the Lord our God is one God, they 304 00:27:55,840 --> 00:28:00,640 said, harkening back to his creative power and the fact that he was just one God. There 305 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:06,600 were no other gods but him. And then Jesus' statement was in chapter six, verse four of 306 00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:10,640 Deuteronomy, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, 307 00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:15,560 and with all your mind. So we're taking this context all the way back to Deuteronomy chapter 308 00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:21,240 six and then Jesus said on these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets. It's 309 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:29,680 always been about this, Jesus said, all of it. So the Shema, Deuteronomy chapter six, 310 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:34,920 is a liturgical prayer that Jewish people quote even today. And that liturgical prayer 311 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:39,620 is a memory of the fact that God created heavens and the earth and that they were called to 312 00:28:39,620 --> 00:28:46,600 know him and love him. I was doing some background research to the Shema and read a rabbinical 313 00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:51,480 scholar who said this about that statement Jesus made, which was a quote of Deuteronomy 314 00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:59,360 chapter six, the Shema. He said, this describes a love that is unreserved, all demanding, 315 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:05,880 at all times, in all places, in all circumstances. Nothing is excluded. Thoughts are to be focused, 316 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:11,200 thoughts are to be spoken, deeds are to be done. He goes on and says it's an immense 317 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:15,320 meaning. It has immense meaning and emotion for the Jewish people for these thousands 318 00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:20,160 of years. So imagine if you would, Jesus making this statement which carries all that emotion, 319 00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:24,720 all that weight for all the people that would look at it and say that's the way it's always 320 00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:31,080 been. It's always been based on love and still true it's based on love. We've got this big 321 00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:37,320 statement called the Shema. By the way, rabbis still do this twice a day, morning and evening. 322 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:41,160 If you've ever been on an airplane going to Israel, you know they stand there with their 323 00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:46,480 phylacteries in their boxes and in that box is a little scroll with the Shema written 324 00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:52,960 on it and they do this over and over in a very legalistic way to remind them of God's 325 00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:58,180 place in their life. But Jesus gives the heart and the soul behind all this. This is how 326 00:29:58,180 --> 00:30:04,120 you love God. Remember He created this world, placed you in it and loves you with an everlasting 327 00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:10,360 love so you love Him with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. That's 328 00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:20,640 what's behind this. It's a pledge of your life to Him. I mean Creator God puts you here. 329 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:25,920 Creator God has a purpose for you. Creator God relates to you. He speaks to you. He loves 330 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:31,000 you with an everlasting love. Your pledge to Him is I will love you with my whole heart, 331 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:36,920 my mind, my strength. So the Shema follows immediately the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 332 00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:42,000 and the first four of the Ten Commandments speak to our response to God. So I'm going 333 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:47,320 to take a moment and just make application to the first four commandments there that 334 00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:53,240 Jesus referenced back to when He gave this statement. By the way, in a practical sense, 335 00:30:53,240 --> 00:31:00,080 loving God wholeheartedly is more than affection. Affection says I love you because there's 336 00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:05,800 something lovable about you. Affection says you've done me well so I'm going to love 337 00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:13,520 you well. But devotion goes beyond affection. Devotion says I love you beyond all that. 338 00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:19,520 I'm committed to what you value. That's basically a Godly love in the sense of our love for 339 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:24,360 God. We love Him and we want to value what He values. Let me give you those first four 340 00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:28,400 commands very quickly. As you write them down you'll see some practical application. The 341 00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:34,760 first commandment in the Ten Commandments, the first one is have no other gods before 342 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:40,480 me. Practically speaking that means that we are to love God exclusively. If I'm going 343 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:44,520 to love God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my might and all my strength, 344 00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:51,600 I'm going to love Him exclusively. No other being, no other value, no other thing can 345 00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:57,560 take the place of God on the throne of my heart if I'm going to love Him with my whole 346 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:02,280 heart. Love Him exclusively. There should be no competition for the title of God in 347 00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:07,960 your life. When you consider decisions that you need to make, when you consider thoughts 348 00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:13,680 that you need to think, no one and nothing needs to take precedence over God who loves 349 00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:20,080 you with this unconditional love. It means God owns the exclusive title of God and Lord 350 00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:24,080 and Master and Heavenly Father in your life. There's no one else but God. Someone say it 351 00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:29,600 with me. There's no one else but God. No one else but God in your life. Loving Him completely 352 00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:35,820 means that. The second command is that there should be no idol or likeness of God, no graven 353 00:32:35,820 --> 00:32:41,680 image as we often say it. That basically means love God personally. Exclusively and then 354 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:47,480 personally. What do you mean? Well, the reason that God did not want a graven image made, 355 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:52,880 the reason He didn't want carved images made is because it would limit what a person thought 356 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:57,800 about God based on what could be made with human hands. God is invisible. You can't see 357 00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:02,920 Him. In fact, no one can see God and live at this moment. Only after you die will you 358 00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:07,360 see Jesus face to face and you'll be in the presence of God and all that will be incredibly 359 00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:11,360 powerful but you can't see God and live right now. He's invisible. He's everywhere at once 360 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:16,760 in the world. He's omnipresent. He's all powerful. All those amazing words but you know Him by 361 00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:22,680 His character and by His words and by His actions. And that's how He wants you to know 362 00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:28,560 Him personally through what He said, through what He's done, through what His character 363 00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:33,400 is like. He wants you to have that personal relationship with Him that would be minimized 364 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:38,520 if you have some little idol that you carry around in your pocket to remind you of God. 365 00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:44,440 You've got to be reminded about God by what you read, by what you see, by your answered 366 00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:51,160 prayer, by how God moves in your life. That's how you need to be reminded about God. Also, 367 00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:56,400 this commandment also helps us know we don't need to make God after our own image as some 368 00:33:56,400 --> 00:34:00,860 people are prone to do today. They say, well, my God would only do this or my God would 369 00:34:00,860 --> 00:34:05,160 only do that. Listen, there is only one God and He acts as He will independent of your 370 00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:14,360 desire. So we love Him personally as well as we love Him exclusively. Tom LeVorn said, 371 00:34:14,360 --> 00:34:22,980 nothing should take the place of the personal presence of the invisible God in your life. 372 00:34:22,980 --> 00:34:28,440 Nothing should take place of that. The third command is don't take His name in vain. And 373 00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:34,840 by that I apply it this way. Love God honorably. Love God honorably. You know, the Bible contains 374 00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:39,400 so many different names for God and all those names reveal His character in so many different 375 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:45,000 ways. At various times in the past we've walked through the Hebrew compound names for God 376 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:52,200 and you remember Jehovah Rafa, Jehovah Nisi, Jehovah Sitch Canoe. Some of those names are 377 00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:56,600 somewhat familiar to you because we take those Hebrew names and we break them down in order 378 00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:02,360 to say, oh, this is another part of the personality and the character of God. But here in the 379 00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:07,200 Ten Commandments it's commanded that we not take His name in vain. In other words, we 380 00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:12,960 honor His name in every way. His name reflects His nature. We don't ever want to somehow 381 00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:18,280 dishonor the nature and the character of God. We hold it in highest esteem. That's one way 382 00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:26,080 we can love God. The Bible says in Psalm 8 verse 1, oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is 383 00:35:26,080 --> 00:35:32,160 Your name in all the earth. We're constantly called on to elevate the name of Jesus. You're 384 00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:36,560 splendor is above the heavens, the scripture says. Jesus in the Lord's prayer said it like 385 00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:43,920 this, hallowed be Your name. May Your name be hallowed in the earth. I'm loving God well 386 00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:50,440 when I give reverence and honor to His name in my words and speech and when I do not carelessly 387 00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:56,640 use His name about meaningless things. Don't bring God's name up if you're not worshiping 388 00:35:56,640 --> 00:36:00,520 Him. If you're not talking about a testimony of what He's done in your life, don't bring 389 00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:06,160 His name up like that. Honor His name. Give reverence to His name. It wouldn't go well 390 00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:12,280 for me if I used my wife's name in vain. It wouldn't go well with you if you used your 391 00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:19,880 closest friend's name in vain. Why do we think that this is different? It's even more important. 392 00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:25,340 Honor Him with your words about His name. Then finally, the fourth commandment is to 393 00:36:25,340 --> 00:36:31,520 observe the Sabbath, which essentially means to love God by being with Him. This is, I 394 00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:37,480 think, the most intriguing invitation we can get. The living God, the creator of all the 395 00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:43,240 universe wants to spend time with you. Now you remember the Sabbath was that seventh 396 00:36:43,240 --> 00:36:48,120 day where God rested. Six days He created, then seventh day He rested. Christians celebrate 397 00:36:48,120 --> 00:36:51,560 that on the first day of the week because it's resurrection day. We call it the Lord's 398 00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:57,200 Day and we set aside time to be with God, to worship Him. One of the greatest ways we 399 00:36:57,200 --> 00:37:03,320 can love Him is to give Him time, spend time in His presence. It's such a big deal. The 400 00:37:03,320 --> 00:37:06,680 principle is that spending time with God is one of the ways we love Him with all of our 401 00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:11,920 heart, with all of our soul, and with all of our mind. Listen to me. God doesn't need 402 00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:16,860 our gifts. He doesn't need our financial gifts. He doesn't need us to serve Him even though 403 00:37:16,860 --> 00:37:22,840 we have the privilege of doing all those things, but God wants us to be with Him. Now this 404 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:26,920 is a John Metter statement and I didn't find it in the Bible, so don't quote me saying 405 00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:34,360 it came from the Bible, but God's love language might be quality time, the thing we struggle 406 00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:40,600 most to give Him. And instead of saying it's hard for me to give time to God, it should 407 00:37:40,600 --> 00:37:47,960 be more like it's amazing that God the universe wants me to spend time with Him. It's amazing 408 00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:53,400 that He wants to reveal Himself. It's amazing that He wants me to learn from Him. It's amazing 409 00:37:53,400 --> 00:38:00,280 that He calls me to Himself. So you love God well when you create margin in your life to 410 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:07,600 do that very thing and that's what Jesus did. When I look for how Jesus loved the Father, 411 00:38:07,600 --> 00:38:13,480 I find these verses. Luke 5 16, He would withdraw to desolate places to pray to be with His 412 00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:19,000 Father. Matthew 6 6, He instructed them, when you pray, go to your room, shut your door, 413 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:25,720 pray to your Father who's in heaven. John 15, abide in me and I in you. James 4 8, draw 414 00:38:25,720 --> 00:38:31,440 near to God and He'll draw near to you. Over and over the scripture says, make time for 415 00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:40,040 God. And if we make time for God, and if we honor His name, and if we consider that He 416 00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:46,920 is our exclusive God, and that we have a relationship with Him personally and not through some image, 417 00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:52,640 then we're learning to live out of our faith in a deeper way. We're loving God in a committed, 418 00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:56,720 compassionate way. We're living faith out. Bob Gough who writes books about love made 419 00:38:56,720 --> 00:39:01,800 a statement that I want to use in this context. He says, love is never stationary. In the 420 00:39:01,800 --> 00:39:06,280 end, love doesn't just keep thinking about it or keep planning for it. Simply put, love 421 00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:12,840 does. I want to challenge you to love God with all your heart, with all your mind, with 422 00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:18,120 all your soul, with all your strength. The Gospel of Mark adds the word strength. Actively 423 00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:27,200 love God. Find ways to devote yourself to God. Four questions for you. Are you loving 424 00:39:27,200 --> 00:39:35,000 God exclusively as a God of your life? Are you loving God personally? That is His character 425 00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:40,400 and His ways. Are you loving God with the honor and respect due to His name? Are you 426 00:39:40,400 --> 00:39:46,200 loving God and giving Him time in worship or prayer? Are you loving Him with all your 427 00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:52,120 heart, all your soul, all your mind? You know, I still enjoy diving to the deep end of a 428 00:39:52,120 --> 00:39:57,400 pool whenever I get a chance to do it. I read the other day when I was reading about swimming 429 00:39:57,400 --> 00:40:02,740 pools, it's remarkable what you can find when you do sermon research, that the deepest swimming 430 00:40:02,740 --> 00:40:10,040 pool in the world is in Dubai and it's 200 feet deep. 200 feet deep. I'd like to dive 431 00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:14,600 into the depths of that pool. Now I'd like for you to imagine with me just a few moments 432 00:40:14,600 --> 00:40:20,520 what that might look like for you to dive into the depths of such a pool. Except it's 433 00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:24,720 not a pool of water that I want to urge you to think about. I want you to think about 434 00:40:24,720 --> 00:40:33,160 diving into the depths of His grace, the depth of His love, the depth of His forgiveness. 435 00:40:33,160 --> 00:40:42,000 And let that make you buoyant. Let that surround you on all sides. Let that cool you, comfort 436 00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:49,600 you. Experience the depths of His love. It takes the risk. You're going to have to have 437 00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:57,160 courage. But He beckons us, He calls us by saying, you shall love the Lord your God with 438 00:40:57,160 --> 00:41:03,200 all of your heart, with all of your soul, and all of your mind. Let me tell you what 439 00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:11,920 you can't do. You can't love God well until you accept His Son as your Lord and Savior. 440 00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:17,560 That's the beginning part. You see, when you see Jesus dying on the cross for you and realize, 441 00:41:17,560 --> 00:41:22,440 okay, that's God's love poured out for me. He demonstrates that. That's that's undeniable. 442 00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:27,760 He loves me. He loves me. He died on the cross for me. And when you put your faith and trust 443 00:41:27,760 --> 00:41:34,000 in what Jesus Christ did on the cross to forgive you of sin so that you might have that barrier 444 00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:39,520 removed and the ability to have a relationship with Him, when you start by responding to 445 00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:45,520 Jesus Christ, then you learn the love of God and you learn to love others with it. That's 446 00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:49,920 where you begin. If you haven't begun that journey, we want you to begin it today. I 447 00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:54,680 have three invitations for you. Number one, at the end of our service, after I pray, we'll 448 00:41:54,680 --> 00:42:00,240 have decision stations that are open at the back. Stop by and talk to one of those men 449 00:42:00,240 --> 00:42:05,480 or women who are there for one purpose to help you know what it means to have a relationship 450 00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:10,800 with Jesus Christ. They'll talk with you as long as you want to talk and we'll be excited 451 00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:15,240 to find out how that works for you and if you stop today, I promise you they're ready 452 00:42:15,240 --> 00:42:19,120 to talk to you. Secondly, I invite you to our guest reception room just outside the 453 00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:23,240 center exit doors and across the hallway. Love to visit with you about our church. By 454 00:42:23,240 --> 00:42:28,080 the way, this may not interest you but I've got free tickets to first-time guests to the 455 00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:34,360 food trucks. Alright, they got a lot of response right there. If you're a first-time guest, 456 00:42:34,360 --> 00:42:37,840 come by because I really want to tell you about our church but also want to have lunch 457 00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:42,920 with you and I'd look forward to that. Thirdly, I want to invite you to invite somebody else 458 00:42:42,920 --> 00:42:47,600 to come with you next week. We're going to talk about the importance of relating to other 459 00:42:47,600 --> 00:42:54,400 people based on what we learn in our relationship with God vertically. And if you think that 460 00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:59,600 the world is not struggling in relationships, you're not in the same world I'm in. They 461 00:42:59,600 --> 00:43:05,080 are struggling like never before but the church can be light when it comes to that. Let's 462 00:43:05,080 --> 00:43:11,320 stand together for a closing word of prayer. Father, I'm so thankful for this day and this 463 00:43:11,320 --> 00:43:17,160 opportunity that we have. Thank you for your word. Thank you so much for this great, great 464 00:43:17,160 --> 00:43:22,440 response that Jesus gave the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Thank you for loving us so 465 00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:26,880 that we can respond to that love, Lord. I pray today that you will speak to us in a 466 00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:33,320 powerful way and allow us, Lord, allow us to experience your love in a life-changing 467 00:43:33,320 --> 00:43:37,400 way and share it with others. Lord, I pray for those in the room today that need to make 468 00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:42,080 decisions, let them make these decisions that are so important to their lives right here, 469 00:43:42,080 --> 00:43:58,880 right now. And I ask all this in gratitude that Jesus made me pray. Amen.