May 2, 2021
Sunday AM
Matthew 22:34 But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
Every part of you. This is what God wants. You can be in church with your hands lifted and singing, but your mind be somewhere else. This is not true worship. Imagine what it is like when you are having a conversation with another individual and they are not listening. They are miles away in their mind. This is that same example when your mind is not on God while worshiping Him. Like you have to discipline an unruly child, you have to discipline your soul. It too is unruly. It wants to do its own thing, its own way, when it wants to. You have to drive that foolishness out by disciplining it. Make it do what you want rather than it ruling you and what you do. Worship brings everything that God is, into your life. And just because you don’t worship God does not mean you don’t worship something. You are giving your time, money, and energy to something, and that is what you are worshiping. It’s the way we are made. You have to consciously make a decision to worship God every single day. Worship is not just something you do at church on Sunday morning or Wednesday night. Worship should be something that you do every single day. You are going to worship something or someone. Why not let it be Almighty God? Worship Him because it is right, and because He is good. You have to keep your mind on Him. Because your heart is not in, what your mind is not on. You can’t worship God and stay broken and sick and hopeless. It’s impossible! Don’t wait until you are in trouble to worship Him! Worship Him now while things are good and when the problems come, you are fully equipped to handle everything thrown your way! That’s how it works! Anyone can do it! It is not just for preachers! Put your face in its place before the throne of grace!
Matthew 22:38-40 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
All the 10 commandments found in Exodus are found in the two mentioned in this chapter. If you love God with all of your heart, soul, and mind, you won’t have any other Gods before Him. You won’t have idols. You won’t take His name in vain. And you will remember the sabbath. If You love your neighbor as yourself, you will honor your father and mother. You won’t murder nor commit adultery. You won’t steal. You won’t bear false witness and you won’t covet! See how every one of the 10 commandments are covered by the very two we are speaking of in Matthew chapter 22. It goes even further. If you do love God with your whole heart, soul, and mind, you will love your neighbor as yourself. If you don’t love your neighbor, you don’t truly love God. It’s impossible to love God and not love your neighbor. You can’t love God and hold grudges to someone else. Don’t let people live in your head rent free day and night because of something they did to you years ago! How silly! You have a choice! You can live like that, as many others do, or you can choose to get those people and what they’ve done out of your head and heart. Don’t live that way! It brings torment, fear, and anxiety. You cannot be in a right relationship with God and be in a wrong relationship with people. Your relationship with God is mirrored in your relationship with other people. That’s why this is SO important.
Deuteronomy 23:12-14 “Also you shall have a place outside the camp, where you may go out; 13 and you shall have an implement among your equipment, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and turn and cover your refuse. 14 For the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you; therefore, your camp shall be holy, that He may see no unclean thing among you, and turn away from you.
When people come in the church and they’re all upset and full of anger and offense, God cannot operate. It stinks! It should have been left outside and left behind, so it won’t come into the church house and affect the whole congregation. Bury it! Leave it outside the camp!
So, going back to Matthew 22, You have a love for God that is seen through your love for people. When you get caught up in offense and unforgiveness, you develop bitterness and take on a victim mentality. Everything in life is about you and what happened to you. You don’t even consider other people. You become consumed with what’s happened to you. The definition of insanity is to do the same things over and over and expect a different result. It’s true! Until the suffering of staying the same outweighs the suffering of change, you won’t change. You must refuse to accept things the way they are. Don’t hold on to these things because of your pride! Humble yourself and change! God isn’t concerned with how people treat you; He is concerned with how you treat others. That’s what love does. It denies itself on the behalf of others. Its total focus is the well-being of others. A human being cannot generate that on their own. Love is a big deal! It’s the most powerful weapon God has given us. If you just start worshipping God for who He is, things will turn around. Make it about Him! Forget about yourself and focus upon who God is. Let Him become God to you! You will start to believe He is who He is, and He will do what He says He will do! It starts with you! Pride and unbelief and doubt work together seamlessly to hinder every forward motion of your life. Get it out! Do it through worship! As you continue to worship, your desire for Him will begin to increase! The heaviness of life will lift off of you! You don’t know how much fear is in your life until His peace enters in. You have nothing to compare it to!
God’s love is limitless. It has no end! He came from forever and He will go until forever! You think He don’t have time for you? Time is in abundance to Him! We have a capacity to contain the love of God! The word says it like this, “You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over.” A cup contains! It has the capacity to pool. When you were born again, the love of God came into you in a measure. As much as you could contain in that moment. Every time you go into the presence of God and worship Him, the love always comes. He is love! His presence is love! But He can only come in the capacity that you can contain. Every time you go into His presence, He will increase your container. If you keep going consistently and long enough, It will spill over into your soul and affect you. It will deal with the fears and the torment and the unforgiveness. It drives the inner anxiety out of you. If you’ll stay with it, it will affect you physically. It will start to show up externally! It can increase! It is up to you!