Live the Greatest Life Possible

Businesses start up with a lot of energy and growth and then plateau and then often decrease. It’s the same with our health. You get stronger until you plateau and then decreases. me playing softball - tell the story of doing good and then falling chasing a fly ball,.

How can we life the Greatest Life Possible?

You live life outside the Bell Curve. Jesus talked about this. This is life outside the Bell Curve which is living for things that last forever. When we can do this, we will be living the best life ever.

Mark 12:28–31 NLT

28 One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” 29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

We live to love god and other people. That’s living the best life possible.

If you are just getting started, choose love and you will live the greatest life possible.

If you are at the pinnacle of success, choose love and you will live the greatest life possible.

If you feel like you have peaked out and are on the downside of the bell curve, choose love and you will live the greatest life possible

For the next few minutes let’s look at what Jesus said about how we can love God and other people. Living the greatest life isn’t discovering something new, it’s doing these two things.

Jesus said to

1. Love the Lord (Mark 12:29-30)

Mark 12:29–30 NCV

29 Jesus answered, “The most important command is this: ‘Listen, people of Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’

As you look at this, you will see that Jesus didn’t just tell us what to do, he told us how to do it. He told us to love the Lord with our heart, soul, mind and strength. IOW we are to love god with everything in us.

The most important thing we can do in this world… in this life is to love God. That is more important than anything else in life… jobs, families, possessions, friendships…

To be able to love the Lord with everything or more than everything else, we have to learn the power of lesser things. Lesser things may be good things or bad things. These are things that can intrude on the greatest things. Many of these need to be in our lives, but not at the top of our list.

Making money - You have to work and make money to live in our society.

Promotions at work - these are good unless they keep you from your relationship with the Lord

Relationships - Never be un-equally yoked.

I believe God wants us to live the greatest life possible, but he is not talking about achieving your goals or completing things on your task list. Nothing is as important as loving God and others.

“God does not demand of the that I accomplish great things. He does demand of me that I strive for excellence in my relationships.” Ted Engstrom, YFC

God has great plans for each of us and he tells us this over and over.

Jeremiah 29:11 NLT

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

He wants you to be successful, but the greatest plan He has for your life is to Love God. That’s the most important thing.

Jesus not only tells us what to do … love God. But he tells us how to do it. What does it mean to love Jesus with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength?

We are to love God with all of our heart

In the bible, the heart is the center of your emotions. IOW, we are to love God with emotions. It’s not an emotionless relationship.

If you read the Psalms, they are full of emotions. You always knew how David felt. He expressed anger, sadness, fear, repentance, happiness thankfulness, love etc.

Often times David would start out angry that things were not going his way, but by the end of the Psalm, he was saying something like, God you are my rick… the one I depend on… the one who is slow to anger but quick to forgive.

For the rest of the week when you talk to God, express your emotions to him. If you are angry, express it to God… happy, express it to God… That’s what David did and he was know as a man after God’s heart.

In case you are one that thinks it disrespectful to speak to God full of emotion, He already knows how you feel. What is disrespectful to God is trying to hide your emotions from him.

We are to love God with all of our soul

The soul is where your will is. Your heart may say one thing, and your mind another, but your soul or will makes the decision.

Your soul is the essence of who you are. It’s where the decisions are made.

It’s our soul that makes us unique. No other creation has a soul. We have been given the capacity to love God like no other creation.

Our will’s need to be committed to loving God. Jesus showed us how to do this.

Jesus in the Garden. He wanted to avoid it if possible, but submitted to the Father’s will. His feelings did not want to go through it, but his will was committed to do what the Father wanted.

We need to pray that way too. We pray for what we want to happen, but say, not my will but yours. That’s loving God with all of your Soul.

We are to love God with all of our mind.

When ever we put the WOG in our minds, we are loving him with all of our minds. read it… meditate on it… memorize it…

Your mind is where the battlefield is. Your thoughts can betray you so you must put the WOG in your mind to combat the enemy.

Jesus fought the enemy with the WOG. He wrote it. We have to memorize it. When we do, it put’s in us so that God can use it.

You will be amazed at how verses you have not thought of in a while will pop up when you need them.

We are to love God with all of our strength.

Strength refers to our actions. We show our love for God in our actions. We all have strengths and weaknesses. We are to live him with our strength.

singing… organization… hospitality… bible study… serving…

Love Him with all of your Strength. God wants us to Love Him with everything in us... our strength, our talents, our treasure, our desires, our words, our actions... everything.

2. We are to love our neighbor.

So we love God first and then love our neighbor.

Mark 12:31 NCV

31 The second command is this: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ There are no commands more important than these.”

If you want to live a great live, learn to love God and love others.

The religious leader who asked Jesus these questions tried to get technical with Jesus…

Luke 10:29–30 NLT

29 The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.

Good Samaritan Story

A Samaritan stopped to help

Jews hated Samaritans. Jesus said a Samaritan stopped to help… that a Samaritan was your neighbor. Jesus is saying everyone is your neighbor

Jesus is saying that we must love everyone and that if we are going to do that, we have a couple of choices that we have to make.

Choose to love everyone as your neighbor.

No one is outside of Jesus definition of Neighbor. It doesn’t matter who, what nationality, sexual orientation, sins they are committing, what political persuasion they are … we are to love them.

There are hundreds of reasons we limit our love, but here are a couple…

We limit loving others because of our differences.

It’s hard to love people who are different that we are. Politically… looks…. nationality… beliefs…

None of those matter to Jesus. he said to love them all.

We limit loving others because of our fears.

Loving others is scary sometimes. For one, you don’t know if they will receive or if they will love us back. They might try to hurt you… ignore you…

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. You love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket of your selfishness." CS Lewis

Some of you have been hurt and you are terrified of loving people… anyone. You have hobbies, etc, that keep you busy, but you are not living your greatest life possible because you are afraid. You are ok with loving God, because you know He will always love you… but others....

I know it’s scary, but ask God for strength! God is bigger than your fears.

Just before Jesus left for heaven, he talked to his followers about who to love… who to take the message to… the message of God’s Grace.

Acts 1:8 NLT

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jerusalem - where they were living.

Judea - counties or parishes around them

Samaria - people different that you

Ends of the Earth - all around the world. There is not a single place on this planet where there are people that God does not love. He loves every people group, every nationality… everyone and wants them to know His son.

Why? Because Jesus is the only way to heaven and God does not want anyone to go to hell.

3. Choose to love someone as your neighbor.

It’s easy to say I love everyone, and never do anything about it.

Like a funnel, narrow down everyone to someone. Pick an individual. Pray for them. Talk to them. Witness to them. Help them.

The hard part of this is it takes time and energy. It takes time to build relationships. Making people a priority means YOU ARE AVAILABLE.

That’s what the Good Samaritan did.

Luke 10:33–34 MSG

33 “A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. 34 He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable.

We always need to be prepared to respond to the needs of people around us. Why do you think God allowed you to see the need in the first place? He wants you and those you lead involved.

Here is what happens...

We see a need and we think, “someone should do something about that.” “The church should do something about that.” “The Government should do something about that.”

God wants you and me to do something about that...

We are to be first responders.

In Relationships. WOG says that if you have a problem with someone else, to go to them and make it right. If you have been hurt by someone, you go to them and make it right.

Some of you are thinking… “I do this all the time.” it’s time for them to come to me. Let me ask you, have you read anything in the Bible about taking turns to show love… to show forgiveness?

You take turns in games, not in life. In life, God wants us to be First Responders. Stop cheating yourself our of the relationship that God wants for you because of petty things such as turns and games.

Conclusion

Loving God... Loving Others...This is not easy stuff. You may be feeling overwhelmed. One last verse. Look what Jesus says...

John 13:34 NLT

34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.

This verse takes loving others to a new … higher level.

We are to love them like Jesus loved them. Now that’s an impossible task, but the good news is that we don’t have to do that on our own. He does not expect us to do it on our own power.

If this discourages you, Jesus wants to come along side of us and says, let me help you.

Couple of stories that show us the secret to being able to love God and others…

The Little Engine that Could

It’s a good story, but don’t get your theology from it. the little engine made it up the mountain saying, “I think I can, I think I can.” He makes it up the mountain. You may be able to think you can for a while, but what about the next day and the next.

Some of you are weary from thinking you can.

There is a different way to live! Disciple who couldn’t. Story of Jesus walking on water and calling Peter out.

Peter was doing good walking on the water until he took his eyes off of Jesus. When Peter gets out, he focuses on Jesus and when he begins to sink, he doesn’t repeat “I think I can.” He screams Jesus save me. Jesus reaches out and pulls him up.

Which kind of life are living?

Are you worn out by “I Think I can Living?” Maybe it worked for a little while, but you are worn out. No one here may know that in the inside you are hurting, but God does and he cares.

Turn to Jesus… When you reach out to him, he takes you and pulls you up.

Love God. Love other people. We choose to do this every day.

If you want to join me in loving God and loving others, raise your hands… Let me pray.

Altar Prayer Time

Jesus Christ, right now I say to you I want to live the greatest life possible, so I'm making a choice this moment, this day to love God. Teach me how to love God with all my heart, all my mind, all my soul, all my strength. I'm making a choice right now to love my neighbor, to love everyone. No one is outside the limits of my love and to love the person you put in front of me today. God help me to be available when the opportunity to love comes today. I need your strength. I can't do this without your strength. I can't love like you, Jesus, without you in my life. Come into my life and strengthen me to love.

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