Loving God with Your Muchness

Introduction

Who I am

EDH Local

Marries, 2 Kids

LMFT

Adjunct at Western

Story re: Erich asking to preach

Pray?

Where you’ve been So far

Life altering, Worldview centering scripture

post on doors

Phylacteries

“Shema” - listen as to actually do

Lord you God - “Yahweh Elohim”

“Love” - “Ahava” deep purposeful, alignment

Heart - Levav

Soul - Nephesh

Deuteronomy 6:4–5 ESV

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

What does it mean to love the Lord with all your might?

No real English equivalent

NAS/EV= Might

Oxford Dictionary, Might: great and impressive power or strength, especially of a nation, large organization, or natural force

NIV/NET= strength

Its a noun, buts its meaning, really, we only have adjectives for

USage

Gen 1:31 - “Very Good”

Genesis 1:31 ESV

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Gen 4:5 - Cain - “Very” Angry

Genesis 4:5 ESV

but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

Numbers 11:10 - God’s anger burned “hotly”

Numbers 11:10 ESV

Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased.

Enhances a noun as its highest or higher level

But how do you capture in a nouns?

Invent English words - Muchness, Veriness, Exceedingliness

Greek translation - Dunamis - power potential/power capacity

3 Realities I think Meod Teaches us

We already are MEOD

Not “Be all you can be”

Already ARE Meod

Gen 1 - Made in Image of God TREMENDOUS MEOD

Gen 3 - Meod realized, in horrible ways

We must BELIEVE that we are Meod

Eve - didn’t think she was smart

We must CHOOSE what we build with our Meod

Biblical Examples

King David - 2 Samuel 11:1-21

2 Samuel 11:1–21 ESV

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.” So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king. But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.” Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, so that he made him drunk. And in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.” And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died. Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting. And he instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king, then, if the king’s anger rises, and if he says to you, ‘Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?’ then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’ ”

Paul Acts 9:1-9

Acts 9:1–9 ESV

But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

To Love the Lord Your God with all of your Might means that I use my life’s MEOD to build Gods’ kingdom, not my own

Question: Whose kingdom are you building with your Meod?

2 examples

1 - Jim Jones - Peoples Temple

2- Beau and the Family

Things to Reflect on

In the next week, what opportunities fo I have to live out my Meod to build GODS kingdom, NOT my own??

Different roles

Parent, sibling, friend, employee, employer, church member, neighbor

Opportunities abound!

World is breaking

The church has abdicated its role as the hope of the world

2.6 billion christians in our world, think about that power potential!

This week I will use my might, my strength, my MEOD, to Love God by building HIS kingdom. . .

Let’s pray