Part 1 - 02/04/2024 Love Month (Love God With All Your Soul)

Pastor Wayne D. Mack Sermon Notes February 4, 2024 My dad’s B-day Love Month Began February 1 Celebration of Black History Month Mother Kendall – gone to be with the Lord Uncle Willie Dawkins (sister Nealy’s uncle) – gone to be with the Lord Love God with All Your Soul Principle 1 Place the Highest Value on Relationships Mark 12: 28-31 28 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the [j]first commandment of all?” Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 29 So the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. 33 And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all 32 1 the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” But after that no one dared question Him. Start We have embarked upon Love Month 2024 Two major events kicked off on February 1 here at GP: 1. Our Love Month officially kicked off on Thursday, February 1 and; 2. Today, officially launches our Black History Month Celebration with special Historical Features each Sunday through February. In celebration of Love Month our entire church family, along with interested community residents, will be participating in a Relationship Enrichment Campaign called The Relationship Principles of Jesus. This is not exclusive to husband and wife relationships, but all relationships including: family, children, coworkers, neighbors, teachers, church, and on and on. It’s 40 days of Love. All 29 days in February plus 11 days in March . . . to equal 40 days. Thank you Sis. Anita for spearheading and facilitation this event. Extra Books available. How to get them? Meeting in person here in the Fellowship Hall where we will be twice fed: Spiritual Food from the 40-days of Love Interactive Teaching; and a second full course hot meal for in-person attendees catered by Professional Restauranters and Caterers: WW Catering (Wright and Williams Manna From Heaven Catering) Our other big celebration is Black History Month. Thank you, John Bellamy for coordinating celebration. This celebration will feature a variety of presenters who will highlight a significant fact or bring a creative rendition of something commemorative of Black History. Still time to sign up?? 2 Now, let’s focus on today’s message -- a lesson already in progress. I say already in progress because today’s message is Day 4 out of 40 that we will be following over the next several weeks. The message is entitled Love God with All Your Soul. It falls under principle 1 of our first week’s 40 Days of Love studies. So far, our 40 Days of Love installments have covered: • Nothing is More Important Than Relationships. Day 1 • Day 2 – The Attraction of Lesser Things – Day 2 • Day 3 Love God with all your heart Day 3 And now, Day 4 [TODAY] Love God with All Your Soul. The operative word here is ALL. On yesterday, Day 3 of our 40-day journey, we began looking at the importance of the word ALL in making a relationship with God our first priority and at loving God with all of our heart. The passage of Scripture Day 1- 7 focuses on is Mark 12: 28-31 [and 32-34] Listen to how it reads: 28 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?” Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 29 So the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. 33 And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the 32 3 strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” But after that no one dared question Him. 34 In this passage, we see the encounter of Jesus stressing to one of the scribes what is the greatest commandment. Ironically, this scribe was genuinely impressed with how Jesus handled His critics questions – the sinister Pharisees and Sadducees. That led the young man to ask his own question of Jesus: Which is the most important commandment? It was an honest question, and in some ways, life’s most basic question. He was really asking for a concise statement of the chief aim of man’s existence. Here’s Jesus’ response: “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” The one thing Jesus is stressing in the passage is that the Lord Our God, the Lord is ONE. In other words, He is not like other nations who have multiple gods who do only one thing at a time: like The god of the moon, the god of the sun, the god of fertility, the god of the harvest, the weather, the climate, the sea, the livestock and on and on. Jesus here is reminded the young man and all who are listening that there is only ONE God who is the Supreme Creator and Maker of Everything. Everything is by Him and Through Him. There is no other God, besides Him. Given that, Jesus emphasizes FOUR ALL: all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. What He is conveying to mankind is that there is no need or reason to divide your relationship with God between Him and other so-called gods. Rather that ALL of you completely – you 4 LOVE and RELATIONSHIP should be given to God. all your heart not some, with all your soul not half, with all your mind not part of it, and with all your strength not a portion of it every bit of it. Total allegiance. So, in Thursday Night’s launch of the 40-day love celebration, the facilitator stressed three words: ALL, Relationships, and LOVE. She made it clear that in order to have a right fulfilling relationship of LOVE – each one of us has to be committed to giving our ALL to God. Yesterday, on Day 3, we began looking at the importance of the word ALL in making a relationship with God our first priority and at loving God with all our heart. Nevertheless, it will not happen unless each one of us is intentional about making our Love Relationship with God a priority. When Jesus spoke about the priority of relationships, he could not have been clearer. He taught that relationships must be given the highest of values—and thankfully He also taught us how to give our relationships the highest value. Here Jesus leaves no doubt as to the value he places on relationships: “The most important [commandment]… is this: … ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Based on Mark 12:28–34 Why did Jesus say this? : Because If we love God, we will experience God’s love within and will express that love to others. (We do not live by rules but by relationships, a loving relationship to God that enables us to have a loving relationship with others). The ultimate relationship is with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Having a true relationship with Him enriches and enables our relationships with each other. The 40 days of Love is the compliment of the message introduced last week entitled: Remembering Others. To Be Continued. 5 By choosing these two commands as the most important of all of the Old Testament commands, Jesus tells us how deeply he values relationships. He values our relationship with God, and he values our relationships with each other. Lesson one in Jesus’ teaching about relationships is simply this: than relationships! Miss out on relationships, and you’re missing the core reason for which God put you and me on this planet. And in the end, nothing is more important, because nothing will last longer than relationships. From beginning to end, nothing is more important than relationships. In the beginning, God created us for relationships. He made you to relate to Him and to others. Nothing is more important! Now some key points from the lesson at hand, Day 4. Day 4 emphasizes the SOUL. As in . . . Love the Lord your God with all your soul! The SOUL represents the second ALL in what God expects from those who worship Him, love Him, and who crave a relationship with Him. In order, the first Love we bless the Lord with is Love the Lord your God with all your heart. That was yesterday’s focus. In the days ahead, we’ll learn about MIND and STRENGTH. For the today, let’s talk about the SOUL. Pop Quiz: “Where is your heart?” In your chest. “Where is your mind?” For most of us, That’s easy. [over here, over there?:)). But now, where is your soul? We don’t know where to point. A better question is: What is your soul? A study of the Old and New Testament words for soul gives a glimpse at what Jesus means when he says, “Love God with all your soul.” The Old Testament uses the Hebrew word nephesh, which means “to breathe.” Behind this word is the idea that God breathes life into us. You’re a living soul. You have an awareness held by nothing else in creation because God himself breathes life into you. 6 The New Testament uses the Greek word psycheē, which we get the word psychology. It has to do with your will, your drive, the passion of your life, the power by which you live. Put these Old and New Testament words together, and you get a fairly good idea of what the soul is. Your soul is your desires and passions. The seat of your emotions. Your soul is your God-given personality. Your soul is your will to decide; it has to do with the direction your life is taking. In essence, your soul is your LIFE—life in capital letters because we’re talking about the kind of life that only God can give—the Creator life. Your soul is the passion with which you’re living, the personality you’ve been given, the path your life is taking, the power in your being. To Love God with All Your Soul means to seek Him Passionately. Because our soul is the expression of our life passion, a relationally healthy soul will passionately seek to express love for God. Each one of us is called to love God with ALL Our Soul and seek him passionately. A relationally healthy soul will passionately seek to express love for God. We are also called to love God with All our Soul, and love Him personally. No one can love God for you. Your love is unique to Him and cares deeply for it. One moment stands above all others in history as the greatest example of loving God with all one’s soul. It took place on the night before Jesus died, as he talked to his Father in the garden of Gethsemane. Knowing that the next day he would face the physical, emotional, and spiritual torture of the cross, Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Jesus set aside anything and everything He may have desired and determined – so as to do only what the Father directed. 7 How do you set your soul to make such a radical decision? Jesus shows the way. You set the direction of your soul by talking to God. The power to follow Jesus’ example is found in being able to pray the prayer that Jesus prayed: “Not my will, Lord, but yours be done.” That prayer is heavier at times than at others. Nevertheless, we must condition ourselves to pray it until it becomes a natural extension of our desire to know God as ONE And to love HIM, the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” To Love God with All Your Soul, each one of us must Decide that I, too, want nothing more than to not cater to my own will in life, but sincerely submit to God’s will. Remember: A life without relationships might be a simpler life, but it is also an empty life. The path to the greatest life possible and the greatest joy possible is found in the priority that Jesus taught us to keep at the top of the list: Place the highest value on relationships. Not on money, but on relationships—first with God and then with others. Not on time, but on relationships—first with God and then with others. Not on things, but on relationships—first with God and then with others. Not on your work, but on relationships—first with God and then with others. Love God with All Your Soul Principle 1 Place the Highest Value on Relationships 8