Living the Greatest Life Possible 1045

Intro

Talk about how you can lead the Greatest Life Possible.

There are 2 simple things Jesus told us to do to live the greatest lie possible.

Bell Curve

Business - start up with energy and struggle then it goes up and then it plateaus and decreases.

Health - You get stronger until it plateaus and then decreases. me playing softball

How do You Live the Greatest Life Possible?

… no matter where you are on the Bell Curve?

You live life outside the Bell Curve. Jesus talked about this. The things that are outside the Bell Curve are the things that last forever… to love God and love other people.

The greatest life possible isn’t discovering something new, it’s learning to live these two simple but difficult things Jesus taught us.

Jesus said to

1. LOVE THE LORD.

Mark 12:29–30 NCV

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

Jesus said these two things are the most important things we can do. To focus on these most important things, we have to recognize the power of lesser things, even good things that can intrude on these greatest things and keep us from living the greatest life possible.

Making Money - god to have but should never be the priority over your relationships.

Promotions at Work

God wants you to live the Greatest Life possible, but getting tasks done, even great things is not what he is talking about. It’s not 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

God has great plans for your life. He says that over and over again.

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

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?

Love Him with all of your heart.

Heart - center of your emotions. You are to love God with your feelings. It’s not an emotionless relationship.

Psalms - full of emotion. You always knew how David felt. Expressed Anger / sadness / fear / thankfulness / love…

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.

This next week. Talk to God with emotion. If you are angry about something - tell him. If you are sad - tell him. This is what David did and God said that “He was a man after His heart.”

You may think it’s disrespectful to talk to God with emotion. He already knows how you feel. What is disrespectful is hiding your feelings from God.

Love Him with All of Your Soul.

Soul - Your Will. Your mind says one thing and your heart says another, but your Soul or will is the ref. Your will needs to be committed to the Lord.

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.

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.

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

It’s our soul that makes us unique. Nothing else in creation has a soul. We have been give capicity to love God like no other creation.

Love Him with All of Your Mind.

Whenever you put the EWOG in your mind, you are loving Him with your mind.

Read Scripture. Meditate on Scripture. Memorize Scripture.

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.

Love Him with All of Your Strength.

Strength is our actions. We show God love in our actions.

We all have strengths and weaknesses. We are to love him with our strength and strengths.

singing / organization / hospitality / bible study / serving

Love Him with all of your Strength.

2. LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR.

Love God first… then love your neighbor.

Mark 12:31 NCV

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

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

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

Luke 10:29–30 NIV

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.

Good Samaritan Story

A Samaritan stops to help him.

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 we have to love everyone and if we are going to do that, we have a couple of choice s to make.

1. 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, … we are to love them.

There are hundreds of reasons we limit our love, but here are a coule.

We limit our love because of our DIFFERENCES.

It’s hard to love people who are not like me… don’t look like me… believe like me.

It doesn’t matter about differences in appearance, income, or politics… we are to love other people.

We limit our love 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

Caskets are for the dead… not you.

Some of you have been hurt and you are terrified of loving people… anyone. You have hobbies, etc, 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 NIV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and 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.

Choose to love SOMEONE as your neighbor.

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 The Message

“A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. 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? 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 Gov 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.

This is not easy stuff. You may be feeling overwhelmed. One last verse.

John 13:34 NIV84

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

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.

Jesus comes along side of us and says, let me help you.

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.

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 you 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.

CONTRAST I THINK I CAN AND PETER WALKING ON WATER TO JESUS