Love God and Neighbor Wholeheartedly

Thank you for joining us today. We're excited you came across this message. The sermon you're about to watch is from our verse-by-verse study through the Gospel of Mark. Up to this point in our series, we have seen the first half of the book. In chapters 1 through 8, Jesus demonstrated through his life miracles and teaching that he truly is the Son of God. And through the second half of Mark, we'll see Jesus establishing his kingdom by going to the cross. Our entire study through the Gospel of Mark thus far is available in our feed. We would love for you to join in. If you're joining us for the first time, I want to be the first to say, welcome to Hope Church. Go ahead and open up the Hope Church LV app or visit hopechurchlv.com and click connect with us to fill out a short digital connection card. Once again, thank you so much for joining us today. Hello, Hope Church. Or as Pastor Ricky would say, good morning family, good morning. And I'd like to say, as Michael Bennett, along with my lovely wife Carla, and beautiful daughter Kirsten. We are your cousin's family from Michigan. And we've been here for two years now. Discovered Hope with Pastor Gene. and we are loving it. I have the privilege of being able to serve on the Hope Care Team along with the Hope Counseling Ministries. It is my honor today to be able to read the scripture verses from the book of Mark 12 verses 28 through 34. The great commandment and one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another and seeing that he answered them well asked him which commandment is the most important of all? Jesus answered, the most important is here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord. Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said to him, you are right, teacher. You have truly said that he is one and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength. And to love one's neighbor as one's self. And must. It's much more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God. And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions. May the Lord add a blessing to the reading of his word. Hey man, thank you Mike. Family, what's up? How y'all doing? Man, it's good to see y'all. Man, I've been on a little vacation, but I'm back now. I got a little tan, but it's all good. It's all good. True story here of a well-known pastor in Los Angeles who was asked to preach on the East Coast. The church that was hosting him said that we would have everything laid out for you, even a ride from the airport. The pastor lands on the East Coast and grabs his bags, and now he's waiting in the baggage claim for his ride. Ten minutes go by. No ride. People keep passing him back and forth. Now the clock hits about 25 minutes and still no ride. And people keep passing him back and forth. Now about 35 minutes hit. Still no ride. And now the airport is empty. But there's one man who keeps walking past the pastor. The man finally stops and looks at the pastor up and down and gawks at him. And then he has a picture in his pocket and pulls it out. and puts it right beside the face of the pastor. He looks at the picture, and the pastor, and the pastor, and the picture. He says, excuse me, sir, is this you? The pastor says, yes, it's me. He says, pastor, please forgive me. He said, for the past 35 minutes, man, where have you been? I've been trying to find you. He says, but pastor, they gave me a picture of you, but in real life, you look nothing like your picture. He says, pastor, please forgive me. I've been trying to find you for 35 minutes, sir, but you look nothing like your picture. What a crazy thought to have a picture of someone, and yet when you approach them, they look nothing like their picture. Has it ever dawned on you, Hope Church, in the kindness and love of God? He's used the Scriptures to paint a beautiful picture of what his people are supposed to be, a beautiful picture of what his people are supposed to resemble. One of the saddest things is... God has given the world a picture of his church, but the church keeps walking past the people of God because they look nothing like their picture. Ever dawned on you there's a picture floating around that says how you and I are supposed to look? And what breaks my heart is most of us don't even realize that our lives look nothing like the picture that God has painted for us. Hear me, I'm not trying to be rude this morning. I'm just trying to encourage and remind us that God indeed has painted a beautiful picture of what his people are supposed to be. Ricky, what is this picture? Well, let me tell you first what this picture is not. It's not a picture of people who just endure the gospel and no longer enjoy it. It's not the painting of people who just come to church on Sunday morning to go through the muscle memory of singing and never connect with God. from their hearts. But the picture is a picture that is of the life of Christ Jesus. And when you look through the gospel of Mark, what screams at you is that Jesus says, the most important, precious thing and person to me is God the Father. Hope Church, that's the picture of what this church is supposed to be like. People who are consumed, passionate, passionate, isn't it, about loving God and nothing else. And if Christ is saying, this is a portrait in which I hang up on my eternal mantelpiece, and the question we have to ask ourselves is, does our life match that portrait? Let me ask you a real question. What picture does your life actually paint? Is it one that says, I love comfort, love money? I'm driven, so I love meeting all my goals. Hear me. Jesus says, God says, what should hang upon the hallways of my people's hearts is that they have an all-consuming love for me. that's the painting that should hang up on our hearts. And today, Christ will, in three ways, show us a portion of our lives. Today we'll be in Mark chapter 12. So as you turn to Mark chapter 12, verse 28, let me ask you this question. Anybody like boxing? Okay, okay. This side, that's my side over here, man. All right. But listen, if you love boxing, you've had to enjoy the past two chapters of Mark. Christ has been in a nonstop verbal boxing. He's been, I mean, he's been fighting. I mean, he's fought the chief priests. He's knocked them out of the temple. He's fought the Pharisees, giving them gut punches of paying taxes to Caesar. And last week, Pastor... time priest that he's even knocked out the Sadducees because they're trying to ask him a question in which they don't even believe the resurrection. And every time Christ says, he knocks them out. Now, Ms. Rose, if I watch a guy knock out multiple people, wisdom says, leave that brother alone, right? But there's been one who's been watching these boxing matches. And he's been waiting for his moment to hop in the ring. with Jesus. Who is this one who was so bold to step into the ring with Christ? You find it now in Mark 12, verse 28. He is a scribe. And it says, and one of the scribes, now to appreciate this, a scribe is a theologian, a lawyer. He's been training how to parse out the oral and written law of God. His job is to help people understand what God desires for them to live out. That was his job. And so So he steps into the ring now. A theologian, a lawyer, he's going, Christ, since you've knocked everybody else out, let me just ask you a question since you're so smart. And he asks him in verse 28, he says, And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another. Here it is. And seeing that he answered them well, asked him, Which commandment is the most important of all? Now, to appreciate this, the Jew. leaders had taken from the Old Testament that God had given them 613 laws, 613 rules. I can't keep one of them. And they... broke these rules out into two categories, 248 positive saying you should do this and 365 negative saying you should not do that. And the scribe says, well, Jesus, since you're so smart, you got so much swag with you. Tell me out of all 613, which is the most important? He, ksss, throws a jab at Jesus. But I love Christ. He's never ran from a fight. And this brings us now to our first point where Christ is going to, mm, jab him back verbally. He's going to go hope church and to this scribe. the most important thing, direction for you and I to go is to love God wholeheartedly. When the scribe says which commandment is the most or is the most important, this word commandment means What's the most important direction for all of mankind to go towards? Christ goes to love God. Verse 29 says this. Jesus answered, the most important is, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. He's going out the gate, Hope Church. The most important direction for all. all of mankind. The most important thing in our life, in person in our life, is loving God with all we have. Jesus now takes this scribe and takes us back to the Old Testament where this all began. He quotes an Old Testament scripture of Deuteronomy. It says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. This is what is called the Shema. The Shema simply means love. for Israel to listen up. It was as if it was said to Shammam morning and night. When Shammam was read, it was as if God was going, Israel, listen up. I'm your God. I am the lover of your soul, and all of your affections should go only to me. The Shema was not only to remind the people of Israel what God had done for them, but also who God was. I love this. It says, who is God? He is the Lord. This is Yahweh. This is the amazing, exalting name of God. It's a name that means that he's the lover of your soul. Who is God? He is Yahweh. No other God but him. Then he said, says, our God. This is Elohim. He is the one and only God deserving of worship. Christ says, I'm showing you that God, Yahweh, is your God. He is the lover of your soul. There is no other God deserving of worship but him. And Christ says, since he is your God, the lover of your soul, the only one true God, it makes sense that you should love him with all you have. When you Think of who God is and what he has done. That is the driving force of giving him our entire life. Amen? Now, before I begin to break down the ways in which Christ, and we all call to love God, there's two important words we can't skip over. In this text, in verse 29 and 30, it's the word with and all. The word with in Greek means out of or from out of. The word all is the word olos. It means complete or full quantity. Christ is saying, Hope Church, listen to me. When you think about how good God has been to you and you remind yourself that he is the one true God, what should come out of your body is that you shall love the Lord out of complete heart, out of complete soul, out of complete mind, out of complete strength. I'll break it down. what Christ says here, heart, soul, mind, and soul. He says, Hope Church, you're called to love God from the center of who you are, your thoughts and your words and your deeds. He says, you're called to love God by your emotions. An emotionless Christian makes no sense. It's oxymoronic. Next, he says, you're called to love God with the way you think. What should consume your life is not your checklist. It should be how I love God with my thoughts. And lastly, he says. With all of your strength, this is your body. It breaks my heart that we have to occasionally pull out a thank you Jesus from people who have been saved from much. All your strength. Now, you're saying, Ricky, that's a lot. Does it take really all of that to love Jesus, love God? I mean, listen, I'll come to church a few times. I'll pray if I have the time. I'll read some scriptures if I feel good. But does it take all of that to really love God? And what breaks my heart is, if that's the question you're asking, then you have not tasted and seen that the Lord is good. Do you not know how much God loves you? That when you sinned against him, A pure and holy God. It wrecked him so much that he bankrupted heaven by sending his son to die for broken, messed up, jacked up people. And not just that, but his son would have the audacity to agree. He says, God, send me down to them. And so Christ walked down the stairway of heaven. And put his deity in human flesh. Just to mount a cross for people who occasionally say thank you. Do you not know how much God loves you? He gave everything for you. Wholehearted love. In fact, when I think about wholehearted love, oh man. I go to my babies right here. Man, I love my baby. Man, this is Tripp, this is Ryan. I love my, ooh, listen. These two right here, man, all the feelings, all the feelings. In fact, I catch myself sometimes on my phone just scrolling through pictures, just sitting down and letting that love just fester in me. But what about this next picture? When's the last time you found a chair and found a cross? And let the love of God just sit in you richly, that God loves you so much. It didn't bother him to give you the only thing he's ever loved, his son. Listen to me, listen to me. We're about to step into a new series next week called the Jesus Follower Series. And what I begin, the question I get all the time is, Ricky, how do I get close to this kind of God who loves me this way? Listen to me. It's not that hard to get close to God. Just spend time with him. When you open your Bible and read your word, the one thing that jumps out from the pages is that the heart of God is to love you. And the fact that he loves you is the driving force for us to want to completely follow him. I love this. Wholehearted worship. Now, I've been around the church for a while, and I've come to realize that there's kind of two types of Christians. All right, the first type is what I call the headless Christian. Headless meaning that they have no desire to actually read their Bible, no desire to actually learn the deeper things of the faith through the scriptures. They just want passionate preaching, great worship, and they're good. And the other side of the spectrum is what I call the heartless Christian. They love their Greek. They love their Hebrew. They love the study of the scriptures. They love to have all their defenses for their theological debates, but they have no desire to ever come neck with God who die for them emotionally. Christ says, Hope Church, both are wrong. If you are going to love me, you're going to live with all you have. Wholehearted worship. Hear me. The purpose of Scripture first aims at my heart that the God of the universe would die for me. And that strips up now to my mind that I'm going to think about the incarnation. God shoving his flesh, his deity into human skin to walk with me and to talk with me and to die for me. And that good news for me now shoots up through my mouth when I say, when I think about the goodness of Jesus. And. All he has done for me. My soul cries out, hallelujah. Whole hearted, passionate worship. When's the last time you've been that on fire for Jesus? Christ is brilliant here because when he says love God with all, he sums up the first four of the Ten Commandments. Hear me, hear me, hear me, hear me. We don't love God this way for God to love us. Because if you do that, you've missed the good news. The good news is Jesus died, and when you accepted him, this love was poured out on you. And now I find myself enjoying how I get to love God with all of me. Amen? All right. Y'all kind of quiet. I'm going to keep going. All right. Okay, amen, amen. All right, here we go, here we go. Talk back to me now, you know, I love it. All right, now, we love God wholeheartedly. It then produces that we love others genuinely. The next verse, it says, and the second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Let me ask you this question. How do you treat people? Because God is simply saying, you can't say you love me and treat people terribly. Yeah, I'm going to go this side of the way. I'm going to go this side of here. Clearly, they are mean over there. I'm on this side. No, no, no, no. So, so, so hear me. When Christ quotes this Old Testament verse again, it's found in Leviticus 19, 18. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. When the scribe heard Christ quote this, he understood that the way Christ quoted it, he was making history. Now, first of all is this, Christ takes this law and connects it now to the great commandment to say, that now loving people is no longer based off your emotions. Yeah, yeah, I ain't feeling no. It's a command. That means that you put your emotions to the passenger seat and God's word in the driver's seat. Okay? Next, he disrespected his word neighbor. Now, for the Jew, neighbor was all about ethnicity. If you were ethically Jewish, they loved you as they should. should. But if you are not ethnically Jewish, this law per se did not apply to you. And Christ goes, let me take an Old Testament law and dump some new meaning on it. Now neighbor is not about ethnicity, but it's all about proximity. Yeah, okay, proximity. You and I think about proximity as, oh, my neighbor is the one who stays beside me or down the street. No, your neighbor is now the lady bumping you in the back and Costco line with her basket. That's your neighbor. Your neighbor now is the one behind you as Smiths. That's your neighbor. Neighbor is no longer based off ethnicity, but anyone who's around you, Christ says, love them as I would love them. Stop putting restrictions on love. You don't get to dictate who you love. You lost that right when Christ became your Savior. Okay? Now, why would Christ say this? Because Christ understands that the heart of God has always been about loving people. Hear me, if it was not the heart of God, you wouldn't be saved. You thought you were that good? No, no, no one is, no one is. In fact, 1 John... Says, but if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, that closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. You know, I'm from the South, and on the South... Growing up, we had what we called front porches. Oh, man, a front porch, man, get your little rocking chair, a little sweet tea, you know what I'm saying? I would watch my grandparents just on their rocking chair, man, talk to their neighbors, be all involved with them. If they needed something, you need some help? They were looking to serve. The front porch says, I welcome the world. But now our houses have patios. A patio says, I've been working all day. Don't you bother me. I'm tired. I'm tired. Hear me, Christ is saying, if we're going to love people well, hope church, we must have a front porch mentality, even though we live in a patio driven city. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I know that some of us live in a gay community and that's okay. Just make sure your heart does not close when that gate closes. Okay, now hear me. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Y'all stop clapping. You're in trouble. Then he says, love your neighbor as yourself. Now, now, most of us take good care of ourselves. We spend time grooming and making sure we take care of ourselves. Nothing wrong with that. Just know that one day all of us are going to die, so keep in your kale. Amen. But we all going to die. All right. But back to the point, back to the point, is that Christ is saying the same energy you spend on taking care of yourself Now spend that energy on taking care of other people. Think about other people. Your life is no longer your own. I believe what Christ is saying here is that when you and I said that we love God and yet treat people not in God's image, we preach two different gospels. Let me tell you a time where I did this in my own life. If I say anything to offend you, I'm not trying to offend you, but I do want to tell you what really happened. 2018 me and my wife we are staying back east in the south in the city in which I grew up in in North Carolina and and we just bought our first house now I didn't know that when you buy your first house Tony you have to have a house on the party I might so I was bought a house I got paid come and see it? Oh, no, no. The party is come pay these bills. That's the party. Come join. But anyway, so I'm back in my home city. I'm pastoring a predominantly white church, and yet I grew up in an all-black family. And now word gets out that Pastor Ricky has bought a house, and they want to come and celebrate. I don't have to tell you the racial history of the South between white and black. And in 2018, there was a spike in racial injustice, and it caused these two to... And now, they're all coming to my home. I don't know what's going to be said. I don't want anyone to feel offended. So I'm pacing back and forth about a few days before the event, and I'm just saying to myself, I don't want anybody to be hurt. I'm just going to have two separate parties. This solves the problem. I'm pacing back and forth, and my wife wakes up. Fellas, be careful you have a godly wife. My wife wakes up. She says, babe, what are you doing? I said, I'm about to just email and cancel this. It's just too much. It's too much. I don't want anyone to offend it. She looks at me, she says, Ricky, you're not canceling our party because you're afraid to be who God called you to be. That's just not for me. That's for you too. If we're going to love people the way God has called us to love people, it's going to take courage and boldness. The very one who's been waving the flag of diversity because I was a coward in the moment I dropped it. Because I allow the social issues to dictate my obedience to scripture. And I'm sure I'm not the only one in the room who's done this. I preach two different gospels. I don't have to tell you that November is coming. And this is going to be tested. Do we allow the social climate to dictate our obedience to scripture? Or do we allow our obedience to scripture to begin to change the social climate? What I did in that moment was, I did what I would not want anyone to do to me. To not invite me somewhere because of how I look, or how I dress, or dare I say even voted. You can't preach two different gospels. You can't say you love God, and yet when the rubber hits the road because the society has a different story, we then now believe their narrative. The gospel must take precedence. 1 John 4 says this way, if anyone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, hear me Hope Church, hear me Hope Church, whoever loves God must also love his brother. Christ says you can't separate the two. You can't say you love God and treat people terrible. And when Christ says these two commandments, he sums up the entire ten commandments. The first four deal with how we relate to God, love him with all we have. The last six deal with how we relate to each other. And now to our last point, which is we follow Jesus completely. The scribe now is in a boxing ring. He's seeing Christ paint this portrait of what it means to follow God, and he drops his dukes, and he says... Well said. He says, you are right, teacher. He says, you have truly said that he is one and there is no other beside him. And to love him with all of the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength. and to love one's neighbor as oneself is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. He's going, I'm beginning to understand. I'm beginning to get it. He's beginning to understand that what's the most important thing in life is loving God and loving people. And if he understands that, the question is, do we? I ask you again, what picture does your life paint? Did your life paint a picture that says, nothing is more precious to me than God? And because I love God, I have a tendency to treat people with respect, value, and worth. Does that paint your life? By the scribe saying this, he's telling us and telling those around him that the most important thing to God is loving him and loving people. That's even more important than the sacrifices. In fact, look at what it says in 1 Samuel. 15, verse 7, 15 says this. Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to listen than the fat of rams. He's going church tradition submits to loving God and loving people. Did you hear what I just said? But Christ said something to me that kind of is off the cuff. It's almost like he kind of snuck a little, you know what I'm saying? My arms hurt. A lot of boxing, a lot of boxing. He says, scribe, you may ask your wife. well, you are not far from the kingdom. Now, wait a minute. That makes no sense. When Christ says this, Ed, he shows us that he has another picture in mind. The scribe is trying to figure out the law, but Christ is aiming for the scribe's heart. Ah, I love this about Jesus. He always has another mm that you don't see coming. He says you're not far from the kingdom. He says, though you are understanding what it means to follow God, there's still some ways to go. I love this. What he's saying is, scribe, you're beginning to understand what it means to follow God. You're now beginning to unknowingly wrap your hands around the rope. salvation. He's going, you're beginning to understand the law and heart of God. He goes, keep coming this way. I came down to bring the kingdom close. Keep coming. this way. I am the one who changes your heart. Keep coming this way. But he also goes, while I'm encouraging you, I'm also warning you that just because you know facts about God. That does not mean you trust in him. Let me ask you a question. What would you say is the furthest distance in this room? You say from floor to ceiling, door to door, wall to wall. I would say the furthest distance in this room is about 12 to 14 inches. That's how far it is from the head to the heart. He's going, you may know facts about God. But that does not mean that you are his child. You may know the book, but you don't know the author. You know what breaks my heart? Is that heaven and hell are separated by 12 to 14 inches. Tasting God's goodness versus tasting God's wrath is separated by 12 to 14 inches. Just because you know facts about God, that does not mean it has traveled down to your heart to say that you actually trust him. When Christ says you're not far from the kingdom, he's not going. Try harder. No, he's going, but just because you follow some rules, that does not mean that you're going to be inside the kingdom. It comes from basing your faith in me. I came to close the gap. In fact, Ezekiel says it this way, speaking of a new heart that believes in God, he says, I will give you a new heart, a new spirit I will put within you. Remember, removing the heart of stone, the heart of unbelieving, the heart of sin, and giving you now a heart of flesh, a heart that beats for me. Hear me, hear me. Heaven and hell is separated. 12 to 14 inches. And the crazy part about the story is, the way it ends, we don't know if the scribe actually closed the gap. We don't know if he actually believed. And the text ends this way. Verse 34 says, And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions. I bet not. I mean, he would have knocked all y'all out. I wouldn't ask him no question either. Yeah. True story of a pastor in Cornwall, England named Pastor William Haslam. He was the new pastor of a new church, and like any new pastor, he spent his time getting to know his parishioners, his members. He would give his time to get to know them. and for them to get to know him. But one of his members had a suspicion about his new pastor, a brother of Billy Bray. Billy Bray believed that his new pastor, though he was nice, was actually not saved. And being a good member, he walked up to his pastor and let him know his thoughts. Naturally, Pastor William Haslam hearing this would be upset and would avoid Brother Billy Bray at all costs. Until November of 1837, Pastor William Haslam now stands behind the sacred desk preaching from Matthew 22, 42, and he entitled his sermon, What Think Ye of Christ? Whose son is he? What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? The members thought that he was doing this to just reinforce his point. But no, all the while, Brother Billy Bray was right. Pastor William Haslam did not know Christ. He went to the best of schools. Heard the gospel from a Christian family, studied the scriptures, but all the while he did not have an intimate personal relationship with the Savior. Story goes, true story, that as he's preaching, he keeps asking this question, what think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? And the more he preaches, the more he asks the question, he says that he finds himself trusting in Jesus all the more, so much so that Pastor William Haslam was saved while preaching his own sermon. Oh, the grace of God. To say that my heart is to draw people to myself. I'll even take a pastor who is blaspheming because he does not know me and that is not enough sin to keep me away from his heart. In that moment, Christ closed the gap. The grace of God, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. Hear me. If Christ has enough grace to save a pastor while preaching his own sermon, He has enough grace to save you while listening to this one. This is the grace of God. I don't know how worse it can be than a pastor who's in the pulpit, who's not even saved, and yet God has enough grace and mercy for him. What makes you think he does not have enough grace and mercy to cover your sin? Hear me, I'm not standing up here because this is just what we do. If you don't know Christ, you are not far from the kingdom. If you don't know Jesus... You are not far from the kingdom. Hear me, hear me, hear me, hear me. I'm not up here preaching because it just sounds nice. I'm sweating up here because someone's soul is at stake. Heaven and hell is separated by 12 to 14 inches. Come to God. This is why we preach. that his word would draw lost souls to himself. Don't forget that once was you and I. Oh, with the grace of God. If you don't know Christ Jesus, I'm begging you, because if not, instead of tasting God's goodness, you will taste his wrath. Come to him. I'm not foolish enough to think that everyone in this room is actually a Christian. Who cares who's watching? Who cares? Can't nobody judge you? Because all of us at one point were the exact same place. We're not far from the kingdom. Place your life and trust in Christ Jesus. and let him close the gap. Let's pray. Father, I thank you, God, for your word. It's a good word. It's a saving word. I thank you for the picture that it has painted for us. So, Father, in your kindness, would you do what only you can do? Save souls and remind us who are your followers who we're called to be In Christ's name Amen Right now for those of us who are believers hear me before you were out of here Please stop running out of here. Enjoy worship man. Come on. All right. All right. All right. All right. Um What do I do with this sermon Ricky Aaron what I do with this sermon well I take the picture in which Christ is painted in the Word, and then I take my life, and I ask the hard question, does my life match the picture? Hear me, I got some good news for you. If you're going, Ricky, I just don't love God in some areas of my life the way I should. That's fine. Confess that to Him. Receive His grace and ask God to give you the strength to love Him the way He deserves. Maybe it's the fact of I don't love people as I should. Hear me, there's no reward in loving people who love you. Even non-believers do that. We're called to love people who even don't like us. Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, all right, all right, all right, that's fine. But if you have a person in your life, you're going, God, I just don't love him the way I should or love them the way I should. I keep preaching two different gospels. Confess it. Accept God's forgiveness. And ask God to give you the strength to love in the way he is called. And lastly, all of us in this building, if you are a Christian, Know people who know a lot of facts about God, but have not actually trusted Him. Why have we grown cold in praying for them? They are not far from the kingdom. Dig up those names that you have just given up on. Pull it back out. Flood this place, we're going, God, they are not far from the kingdom, so draw them to yourself. Maybe it's your husband, maybe it's your kids. Don't give up. As our prayer team comes, listen, if you don't know Christ, we would love to introduce you to a God who loves you with all he has. But then also, if you just need prayer, we're up here. We're available, all right? So listen, when we begin to sing, respond as you see fit. Amen. Respond as you see fit, but please, leave here understanding that the cross is a perfect picture of loving God and loving you. On the cross, Christ said, I love you enough to hang my body from three nails. just because I love you. And I love you enough to stay on there long enough for all your sin to be forgiven. All right? So as you sing, it's our time to respond. Respond how God loves you. All right? All right.

Thank you for joining us today. We're excited you came across this message. The sermon you're about to watch is from our verse-by-verse study through the Gospel of Mark.

Up to this point in our series, we have seen the first half of the book. In chapters 1 through 8, Jesus demonstrated through his life miracles and teaching that he truly is the Son of God. And through the second half of Mark, we'll see Jesus establishing his kingdom by going to the cross.

Our entire study through the Gospel of Mark thus far is available in our feed. We would love for you to join in. If you're joining us for the first time, I want to be the first to say, welcome to Hope Church. Go ahead and open up the Hope Church LV app or visit hopechurchlv.com and click connect with us to fill out a short digital connection card.

Once again, thank you so much for joining us today. Hello, Hope Church. Or as Pastor Ricky would say, good morning family, good morning. And I'd like to say, as Michael Bennett, along with my lovely wife Carla, and beautiful daughter Kirsten. We are your cousin's family from Michigan.

And we've been here for two years now. Discovered Hope with Pastor Gene. and we are loving it.

I have the privilege of being able to serve on the Hope Care Team along with the Hope Counseling Ministries. It is my honor today to be able to read the scripture verses from the book of Mark 12 verses 28 through 34. The great commandment and one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another and seeing that he answered them well asked him which commandment is the most important of all? Jesus answered, the most important is here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord. Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said to him, you are right, teacher. You have truly said that he is one and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength.

And to love one's neighbor as one's self. And must. It's much more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God. And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.

May the Lord add a blessing to the reading of his word. Hey man, thank you Mike. Family, what's up?

How y'all doing? Man, it's good to see y'all. Man, I've been on a little vacation, but I'm back now.

I got a little tan, but it's all good. It's all good. True story here of a well-known pastor in Los Angeles who was asked to preach on the East Coast. The church that was hosting him said that we would have everything laid out for you, even a ride from the airport.

The pastor lands on the East Coast and grabs his bags, and now he's waiting in the baggage claim for his ride. Ten minutes go by. No ride. People keep passing him back and forth. Now the clock hits about 25 minutes and still no ride.

And people keep passing him back and forth. Now about 35 minutes hit. Still no ride.

And now the airport is empty. But there's one man who keeps walking past the pastor. The man finally stops and looks at the pastor up and down and gawks at him.

And then he has a picture in his pocket and pulls it out. and puts it right beside the face of the pastor. He looks at the picture, and the pastor, and the pastor, and the picture.

He says, excuse me, sir, is this you? The pastor says, yes, it's me. He says, pastor, please forgive me. He said, for the past 35 minutes, man, where have you been? I've been trying to find you.

He says, but pastor, they gave me a picture of you, but in real life, you look nothing like your picture. He says, pastor, please forgive me. I've been trying to find you for 35 minutes, sir, but you look nothing like your picture.

What a crazy thought to have a picture of someone, and yet when you approach them, they look nothing like their picture. Has it ever dawned on you, Hope Church, in the kindness and love of God? He's used the Scriptures to paint a beautiful picture of what his people are supposed to be, a beautiful picture of what his people are supposed to resemble. One of the saddest things is...

God has given the world a picture of his church, but the church keeps walking past the people of God because they look nothing like their picture. Ever dawned on you there's a picture floating around that says how you and I are supposed to look? And what breaks my heart is most of us don't even realize that our lives look nothing like the picture that God has painted for us.

Hear me, I'm not trying to be rude this morning. I'm just trying to encourage and remind us that God indeed has painted a beautiful picture of what his people are supposed to be. Ricky, what is this picture? Well, let me tell you first what this picture is not.

It's not a picture of people who just endure the gospel and no longer enjoy it. It's not the painting of people who just come to church on Sunday morning to go through the muscle memory of singing and never connect with God. from their hearts. But the picture is a picture that is of the life of Christ Jesus. And when you look through the gospel of Mark, what screams at you is that Jesus says, the most important, precious thing and person to me is God the Father.

Hope Church, that's the picture of what this church is supposed to be like. People who are consumed, passionate, passionate, isn't it, about loving God and nothing else. And if Christ is saying, this is a portrait in which I hang up on my eternal mantelpiece, and the question we have to ask ourselves is, does our life match that portrait? Let me ask you a real question. What picture does your life actually paint?

Is it one that says, I love comfort, love money? I'm driven, so I love meeting all my goals. Hear me. Jesus says, God says, what should hang upon the hallways of my people's hearts is that they have an all-consuming love for me. that's the painting that should hang up on our hearts.

And today, Christ will, in three ways, show us a portion of our lives. Today we'll be in Mark chapter 12. So as you turn to Mark chapter 12, verse 28, let me ask you this question. Anybody like boxing?

Okay, okay. This side, that's my side over here, man. All right.

But listen, if you love boxing, you've had to enjoy the past two chapters of Mark. Christ has been in a nonstop verbal boxing. He's been, I mean, he's been fighting. I mean, he's fought the chief priests.

He's knocked them out of the temple. He's fought the Pharisees, giving them gut punches of paying taxes to Caesar. And last week, Pastor... time priest that he's even knocked out the Sadducees because they're trying to ask him a question in which they don't even believe the resurrection.

And every time Christ says, he knocks them out. Now, Ms. Rose, if I watch a guy knock out multiple people, wisdom says, leave that brother alone, right? But there's been one who's been watching these boxing matches. And he's been waiting for his moment to hop in the ring. with Jesus.

Who is this one who was so bold to step into the ring with Christ? You find it now in Mark 12, verse 28. He is a scribe. And it says, and one of the scribes, now to appreciate this, a scribe is a theologian, a lawyer. He's been training how to parse out the oral and written law of God. His job is to help people understand what God desires for them to live out.

That was his job. And so So he steps into the ring now. A theologian, a lawyer, he's going, Christ, since you've knocked everybody else out, let me just ask you a question since you're so smart. And he asks him in verse 28, he says, And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another.

Here it is. And seeing that he answered them well, asked him, Which commandment is the most important of all? Now, to appreciate this, the Jew. leaders had taken from the Old Testament that God had given them 613 laws, 613 rules. I can't keep one of them.

And they... broke these rules out into two categories, 248 positive saying you should do this and 365 negative saying you should not do that. And the scribe says, well, Jesus, since you're so smart, you got so much swag with you. Tell me out of all 613, which is the most important? He, ksss, throws a jab at Jesus.

But I love Christ. He's never ran from a fight. And this brings us now to our first point where Christ is going to, mm, jab him back verbally. He's going to go hope church and to this scribe.

the most important thing, direction for you and I to go is to love God wholeheartedly. When the scribe says which commandment is the most or is the most important, this word commandment means What's the most important direction for all of mankind to go towards? Christ goes to love God. Verse 29 says this.

Jesus answered, the most important is, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. He's going out the gate, Hope Church.

The most important direction for all. all of mankind. The most important thing in our life, in person in our life, is loving God with all we have.

Jesus now takes this scribe and takes us back to the Old Testament where this all began. He quotes an Old Testament scripture of Deuteronomy. It says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

This is what is called the Shema. The Shema simply means love. for Israel to listen up.

It was as if it was said to Shammam morning and night. When Shammam was read, it was as if God was going, Israel, listen up. I'm your God. I am the lover of your soul, and all of your affections should go only to me. The Shema was not only to remind the people of Israel what God had done for them, but also who God was.

I love this. It says, who is God? He is the Lord.

This is Yahweh. This is the amazing, exalting name of God. It's a name that means that he's the lover of your soul.

Who is God? He is Yahweh. No other God but him. Then he said, says, our God. This is Elohim.

He is the one and only God deserving of worship. Christ says, I'm showing you that God, Yahweh, is your God. He is the lover of your soul.

There is no other God deserving of worship but him. And Christ says, since he is your God, the lover of your soul, the only one true God, it makes sense that you should love him with all you have. When you Think of who God is and what he has done.

That is the driving force of giving him our entire life. Amen? Now, before I begin to break down the ways in which Christ, and we all call to love God, there's two important words we can't skip over.

In this text, in verse 29 and 30, it's the word with and all. The word with in Greek means out of or from out of. The word all is the word olos.

It means complete or full quantity. Christ is saying, Hope Church, listen to me. When you think about how good God has been to you and you remind yourself that he is the one true God, what should come out of your body is that you shall love the Lord out of complete heart, out of complete soul, out of complete mind, out of complete strength. I'll break it down. what Christ says here, heart, soul, mind, and soul.

He says, Hope Church, you're called to love God from the center of who you are, your thoughts and your words and your deeds. He says, you're called to love God by your emotions. An emotionless Christian makes no sense.

It's oxymoronic. Next, he says, you're called to love God with the way you think. What should consume your life is not your checklist.

It should be how I love God with my thoughts. And lastly, he says. With all of your strength, this is your body.

It breaks my heart that we have to occasionally pull out a thank you Jesus from people who have been saved from much. All your strength. Now, you're saying, Ricky, that's a lot. Does it take really all of that to love Jesus, love God?

I mean, listen, I'll come to church a few times. I'll pray if I have the time. I'll read some scriptures if I feel good.

But does it take all of that to really love God? And what breaks my heart is, if that's the question you're asking, then you have not tasted and seen that the Lord is good. Do you not know how much God loves you? That when you sinned against him, A pure and holy God.

It wrecked him so much that he bankrupted heaven by sending his son to die for broken, messed up, jacked up people. And not just that, but his son would have the audacity to agree. He says, God, send me down to them. And so Christ walked down the stairway of heaven.

And put his deity in human flesh. Just to mount a cross for people who occasionally say thank you. Do you not know how much God loves you?

He gave everything for you. Wholehearted love. In fact, when I think about wholehearted love, oh man. I go to my babies right here.

Man, I love my baby. Man, this is Tripp, this is Ryan. I love my, ooh, listen. These two right here, man, all the feelings, all the feelings. In fact, I catch myself sometimes on my phone just scrolling through pictures, just sitting down and letting that love just fester in me.

But what about this next picture? When's the last time you found a chair and found a cross? And let the love of God just sit in you richly, that God loves you so much. It didn't bother him to give you the only thing he's ever loved, his son. Listen to me, listen to me.

We're about to step into a new series next week called the Jesus Follower Series. And what I begin, the question I get all the time is, Ricky, how do I get close to this kind of God who loves me this way? Listen to me.

It's not that hard to get close to God. Just spend time with him. When you open your Bible and read your word, the one thing that jumps out from the pages is that the heart of God is to love you. And the fact that he loves you is the driving force for us to want to completely follow him. I love this.

Wholehearted worship. Now, I've been around the church for a while, and I've come to realize that there's kind of two types of Christians. All right, the first type is what I call the headless Christian. Headless meaning that they have no desire to actually read their Bible, no desire to actually learn the deeper things of the faith through the scriptures.

They just want passionate preaching, great worship, and they're good. And the other side of the spectrum is what I call the heartless Christian. They love their Greek.

They love their Hebrew. They love the study of the scriptures. They love to have all their defenses for their theological debates, but they have no desire to ever come neck with God who die for them emotionally. Christ says, Hope Church, both are wrong. If you are going to love me, you're going to live with all you have.

Wholehearted worship. Hear me. The purpose of Scripture first aims at my heart that the God of the universe would die for me. And that strips up now to my mind that I'm going to think about the incarnation.

God shoving his flesh, his deity into human skin to walk with me and to talk with me and to die for me. And that good news for me now shoots up through my mouth when I say, when I think about the goodness of Jesus. And.

All he has done for me. My soul cries out, hallelujah. Whole hearted, passionate worship.

When's the last time you've been that on fire for Jesus? Christ is brilliant here because when he says love God with all, he sums up the first four of the Ten Commandments. Hear me, hear me, hear me, hear me.

We don't love God this way for God to love us. Because if you do that, you've missed the good news. The good news is Jesus died, and when you accepted him, this love was poured out on you. And now I find myself enjoying how I get to love God with all of me. Amen?

All right. Y'all kind of quiet. I'm going to keep going. All right. Okay, amen, amen.

All right, here we go, here we go. Talk back to me now, you know, I love it. All right, now, we love God wholeheartedly.

It then produces that we love others genuinely. The next verse, it says, and the second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Let me ask you this question. How do you treat people? Because God is simply saying, you can't say you love me and treat people terribly.

Yeah, I'm going to go this side of the way. I'm going to go this side of here. Clearly, they are mean over there. I'm on this side.

No, no, no, no. So, so, so hear me. When Christ quotes this Old Testament verse again, it's found in Leviticus 19, 18. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. When the scribe heard Christ quote this, he understood that the way Christ quoted it, he was making history.

Now, first of all is this, Christ takes this law and connects it now to the great commandment to say, that now loving people is no longer based off your emotions. Yeah, yeah, I ain't feeling no. It's a command. That means that you put your emotions to the passenger seat and God's word in the driver's seat.

Okay? Next, he disrespected his word neighbor. Now, for the Jew, neighbor was all about ethnicity. If you were ethically Jewish, they loved you as they should.

should. But if you are not ethnically Jewish, this law per se did not apply to you. And Christ goes, let me take an Old Testament law and dump some new meaning on it.

Now neighbor is not about ethnicity, but it's all about proximity. Yeah, okay, proximity. You and I think about proximity as, oh, my neighbor is the one who stays beside me or down the street.

No, your neighbor is now the lady bumping you in the back and Costco line with her basket. That's your neighbor. Your neighbor now is the one behind you as Smiths. That's your neighbor. Neighbor is no longer based off ethnicity, but anyone who's around you, Christ says, love them as I would love them.

Stop putting restrictions on love. You don't get to dictate who you love. You lost that right when Christ became your Savior. Okay? Now, why would Christ say this?

Because Christ understands that the heart of God has always been about loving people. Hear me, if it was not the heart of God, you wouldn't be saved. You thought you were that good?

No, no, no one is, no one is. In fact, 1 John... Says, but if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, that closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. You know, I'm from the South, and on the South...

Growing up, we had what we called front porches. Oh, man, a front porch, man, get your little rocking chair, a little sweet tea, you know what I'm saying? I would watch my grandparents just on their rocking chair, man, talk to their neighbors, be all involved with them. If they needed something, you need some help?

They were looking to serve. The front porch says, I welcome the world. But now our houses have patios.

A patio says, I've been working all day. Don't you bother me. I'm tired. I'm tired.

Hear me, Christ is saying, if we're going to love people well, hope church, we must have a front porch mentality, even though we live in a patio driven city. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I know that some of us live in a gay community and that's okay. Just make sure your heart does not close when that gate closes. Okay, now hear me.

Oh, oh, oh, oh. Y'all stop clapping. You're in trouble.

Then he says, love your neighbor as yourself. Now, now, most of us take good care of ourselves. We spend time grooming and making sure we take care of ourselves.

Nothing wrong with that. Just know that one day all of us are going to die, so keep in your kale. Amen. But we all going to die.

All right. But back to the point, back to the point, is that Christ is saying the same energy you spend on taking care of yourself Now spend that energy on taking care of other people. Think about other people. Your life is no longer your own.

I believe what Christ is saying here is that when you and I said that we love God and yet treat people not in God's image, we preach two different gospels. Let me tell you a time where I did this in my own life. If I say anything to offend you, I'm not trying to offend you, but I do want to tell you what really happened. 2018 me and my wife we are staying back east in the south in the city in which I grew up in in North Carolina and and we just bought our first house now I didn't know that when you buy your first house Tony you have to have a house on the party I might so I was bought a house I got paid come and see it?

Oh, no, no. The party is come pay these bills. That's the party. Come join.

But anyway, so I'm back in my home city. I'm pastoring a predominantly white church, and yet I grew up in an all-black family. And now word gets out that Pastor Ricky has bought a house, and they want to come and celebrate. I don't have to tell you the racial history of the South between white and black. And in 2018, there was a spike in racial injustice, and it caused these two to...

And now, they're all coming to my home. I don't know what's going to be said. I don't want anyone to feel offended. So I'm pacing back and forth about a few days before the event, and I'm just saying to myself, I don't want anybody to be hurt. I'm just going to have two separate parties.

This solves the problem. I'm pacing back and forth, and my wife wakes up. Fellas, be careful you have a godly wife.

My wife wakes up. She says, babe, what are you doing? I said, I'm about to just email and cancel this. It's just too much. It's too much.

I don't want anyone to offend it. She looks at me, she says, Ricky, you're not canceling our party because you're afraid to be who God called you to be. That's just not for me. That's for you too. If we're going to love people the way God has called us to love people, it's going to take courage and boldness.

The very one who's been waving the flag of diversity because I was a coward in the moment I dropped it. Because I allow the social issues to dictate my obedience to scripture. And I'm sure I'm not the only one in the room who's done this.

I preach two different gospels. I don't have to tell you that November is coming. And this is going to be tested. Do we allow the social climate to dictate our obedience to scripture?

Or do we allow our obedience to scripture to begin to change the social climate? What I did in that moment was, I did what I would not want anyone to do to me. To not invite me somewhere because of how I look, or how I dress, or dare I say even voted. You can't preach two different gospels.

You can't say you love God, and yet when the rubber hits the road because the society has a different story, we then now believe their narrative. The gospel must take precedence. 1 John 4 says this way, if anyone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar.

For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, hear me Hope Church, hear me Hope Church, whoever loves God must also love his brother. Christ says you can't separate the two.

You can't say you love God and treat people terrible. And when Christ says these two commandments, he sums up the entire ten commandments. The first four deal with how we relate to God, love him with all we have.

The last six deal with how we relate to each other. And now to our last point, which is we follow Jesus completely. The scribe now is in a boxing ring. He's seeing Christ paint this portrait of what it means to follow God, and he drops his dukes, and he says... Well said.

He says, you are right, teacher. He says, you have truly said that he is one and there is no other beside him. And to love him with all of the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength. and to love one's neighbor as oneself is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. He's going, I'm beginning to understand.

I'm beginning to get it. He's beginning to understand that what's the most important thing in life is loving God and loving people. And if he understands that, the question is, do we? I ask you again, what picture does your life paint? Did your life paint a picture that says, nothing is more precious to me than God?

And because I love God, I have a tendency to treat people with respect, value, and worth. Does that paint your life? By the scribe saying this, he's telling us and telling those around him that the most important thing to God is loving him and loving people.

That's even more important than the sacrifices. In fact, look at what it says in 1 Samuel. 15, verse 7, 15 says this.

Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to listen than the fat of rams. He's going church tradition submits to loving God and loving people.

Did you hear what I just said? But Christ said something to me that kind of is off the cuff. It's almost like he kind of snuck a little, you know what I'm saying?

My arms hurt. A lot of boxing, a lot of boxing. He says, scribe, you may ask your wife. well, you are not far from the kingdom. Now, wait a minute.

That makes no sense. When Christ says this, Ed, he shows us that he has another picture in mind. The scribe is trying to figure out the law, but Christ is aiming for the scribe's heart. Ah, I love this about Jesus.

He always has another mm that you don't see coming. He says you're not far from the kingdom. He says, though you are understanding what it means to follow God, there's still some ways to go. I love this. What he's saying is, scribe, you're beginning to understand what it means to follow God.

You're now beginning to unknowingly wrap your hands around the rope. salvation. He's going, you're beginning to understand the law and heart of God. He goes, keep coming this way.

I came down to bring the kingdom close. Keep coming. this way.

I am the one who changes your heart. Keep coming this way. But he also goes, while I'm encouraging you, I'm also warning you that just because you know facts about God. That does not mean you trust in him. Let me ask you a question.

What would you say is the furthest distance in this room? You say from floor to ceiling, door to door, wall to wall. I would say the furthest distance in this room is about 12 to 14 inches. That's how far it is from the head to the heart. He's going, you may know facts about God.

But that does not mean that you are his child. You may know the book, but you don't know the author. You know what breaks my heart? Is that heaven and hell are separated by 12 to 14 inches. Tasting God's goodness versus tasting God's wrath is separated by 12 to 14 inches.

Just because you know facts about God, that does not mean it has traveled down to your heart to say that you actually trust him. When Christ says you're not far from the kingdom, he's not going. Try harder.

No, he's going, but just because you follow some rules, that does not mean that you're going to be inside the kingdom. It comes from basing your faith in me. I came to close the gap. In fact, Ezekiel says it this way, speaking of a new heart that believes in God, he says, I will give you a new heart, a new spirit I will put within you.

Remember, removing the heart of stone, the heart of unbelieving, the heart of sin, and giving you now a heart of flesh, a heart that beats for me. Hear me, hear me. Heaven and hell is separated. 12 to 14 inches. And the crazy part about the story is, the way it ends, we don't know if the scribe actually closed the gap.

We don't know if he actually believed. And the text ends this way. Verse 34 says, And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.

I bet not. I mean, he would have knocked all y'all out. I wouldn't ask him no question either.

Yeah. True story of a pastor in Cornwall, England named Pastor William Haslam. He was the new pastor of a new church, and like any new pastor, he spent his time getting to know his parishioners, his members.

He would give his time to get to know them. and for them to get to know him. But one of his members had a suspicion about his new pastor, a brother of Billy Bray.

Billy Bray believed that his new pastor, though he was nice, was actually not saved. And being a good member, he walked up to his pastor and let him know his thoughts. Naturally, Pastor William Haslam hearing this would be upset and would avoid Brother Billy Bray at all costs.

Until November of 1837, Pastor William Haslam now stands behind the sacred desk preaching from Matthew 22, 42, and he entitled his sermon, What Think Ye of Christ? Whose son is he? What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he?

The members thought that he was doing this to just reinforce his point. But no, all the while, Brother Billy Bray was right. Pastor William Haslam did not know Christ.

He went to the best of schools. Heard the gospel from a Christian family, studied the scriptures, but all the while he did not have an intimate personal relationship with the Savior. Story goes, true story, that as he's preaching, he keeps asking this question, what think ye of Christ? Whose son is he?

And the more he preaches, the more he asks the question, he says that he finds himself trusting in Jesus all the more, so much so that Pastor William Haslam was saved while preaching his own sermon. Oh, the grace of God. To say that my heart is to draw people to myself.

I'll even take a pastor who is blaspheming because he does not know me and that is not enough sin to keep me away from his heart. In that moment, Christ closed the gap. The grace of God, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. Hear me. If Christ has enough grace to save a pastor while preaching his own sermon, He has enough grace to save you while listening to this one. This is the grace of God.

I don't know how worse it can be than a pastor who's in the pulpit, who's not even saved, and yet God has enough grace and mercy for him. What makes you think he does not have enough grace and mercy to cover your sin? Hear me, I'm not standing up here because this is just what we do.

If you don't know Christ, you are not far from the kingdom. If you don't know Jesus... You are not far from the kingdom.

Hear me, hear me, hear me, hear me. I'm not up here preaching because it just sounds nice. I'm sweating up here because someone's soul is at stake.

Heaven and hell is separated by 12 to 14 inches. Come to God. This is why we preach.

that his word would draw lost souls to himself. Don't forget that once was you and I. Oh, with the grace of God. If you don't know Christ Jesus, I'm begging you, because if not, instead of tasting God's goodness, you will taste his wrath.

Come to him. I'm not foolish enough to think that everyone in this room is actually a Christian. Who cares who's watching? Who cares? Can't nobody judge you?

Because all of us at one point were the exact same place. We're not far from the kingdom. Place your life and trust in Christ Jesus.

and let him close the gap. Let's pray. Father, I thank you, God, for your word.

It's a good word. It's a saving word. I thank you for the picture that it has painted for us. So, Father, in your kindness, would you do what only you can do? Save souls and remind us who are your followers who we're called to be In Christ's name Amen Right now for those of us who are believers hear me before you were out of here Please stop running out of here.

Enjoy worship man. Come on. All right.

All right. All right. All right. Um What do I do with this sermon Ricky Aaron what I do with this sermon well I take the picture in which Christ is painted in the Word, and then I take my life, and I ask the hard question, does my life match the picture? Hear me, I got some good news for you.

If you're going, Ricky, I just don't love God in some areas of my life the way I should. That's fine. Confess that to Him. Receive His grace and ask God to give you the strength to love Him the way He deserves.

Maybe it's the fact of I don't love people as I should. Hear me, there's no reward in loving people who love you. Even non-believers do that.

We're called to love people who even don't like us. Yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, all right, all right, all right, that's fine. But if you have a person in your life, you're going, God, I just don't love him the way I should or love them the way I should.

I keep preaching two different gospels. Confess it. Accept God's forgiveness. And ask God to give you the strength to love in the way he is called.

And lastly, all of us in this building, if you are a Christian, Know people who know a lot of facts about God, but have not actually trusted Him. Why have we grown cold in praying for them? They are not far from the kingdom. Dig up those names that you have just given up on. Pull it back out.

Flood this place, we're going, God, they are not far from the kingdom, so draw them to yourself. Maybe it's your husband, maybe it's your kids. Don't give up.

As our prayer team comes, listen, if you don't know Christ, we would love to introduce you to a God who loves you with all he has. But then also, if you just need prayer, we're up here. We're available, all right?

So listen, when we begin to sing, respond as you see fit. Amen. Respond as you see fit, but please, leave here understanding that the cross is a perfect picture of loving God and loving you. On the cross, Christ said, I love you enough to hang my body from three nails. just because I love you.

And I love you enough to stay on there long enough for all your sin to be forgiven. All right? So as you sing, it's our time to respond.

Respond how God loves you. All right? All right.

Transcript for:Love God and Neighbor Wholeheartedly

Transcript for:
Love God and Neighbor Wholeheartedly