The Way: RLC Values (1- We love God)

with me to Mark, chapter 12.

Mark 12 · chapter mention

We are beginning a brand new series entitled the Way what it looks like to make disciples the Jesus way, and we're going to be diving into that.

And so, yes, pastor Brandon is here, which means you've got more notes than you know what to do with today.

The guys the past couple of weeks have been nice to you.

I am not nice to you.

I got all the notes, all right, so make sure you get those ready to go.

And while you are getting all of that set up, I want to.

All right, so make sure you get those ready to go.

And while you are getting all of that set up, I wanna tell you about something that is coming up in the next, about three weeks away, and that is the RLC Conference.

We are so excited about this.

We did this the first time last year and loved it so much that, before the day was even over with, we said, hey, we've got to do this again.

And so it's coming up on August 23rd and it is just a full day of just digging in deeper to God's word.

And if you look, you can just scan that QR code or you can stop by the Welcome Center.

We have so many different topics that we want to talk about, and just different things about family, about cultural issues, all this stuff just digging in deeper to what it is to be a disciple of Christ.

Make sure you make plans to be there.

It is very quickly becoming one of my favorite things we do, and that is saying something because I love our Christmas Eve services.

This one might be edging it out.

This is just so much fun.

I love this, and so make sure you get signed up for that while registrations are open.

Okay, all right, I have been thinking about something as we get into this series, and that is like have you ever something as we get into this series?

And that is like have you ever, have you ever like noticed that you can sometimes tell where people are from based on the things that they do or don't do?

Like, like, you must not be from round here, as we would say in Alabama, we don't use the A, we ain't got time for A, we got round here, like, for instance, just a couple of weeks ago, I was in Alabama and I was standing outside minding my business and all of a sudden, some rando comes walking by and just waves at me.

Hey, and my first thought was I don't know you fool.

You know what I mean.

I mean like Jesus, I'm sorry, that wasn't kind, but in my mind I was like stalker alert.

I don't know you, you know.

And then I went wait a minute, I'm in Alabama, you don't have to know anybody to wave, you just wave.

That's just part of Southern hospitality.

And so by the time I did all the math in my head, that poor soul was gone.

I wanted to like rewind that and go.

I'm sorry, hi, how are you?

You know, but there's just certain things you do Like.

I was thinking through this and this may not be your experience, but my experience is like if you are like somebody who just Southern hospitality, like, like sweetest sugar, you know, and you tell everyone sweetheart and all this kind of stuff, and you only drink your tea sweet, that means you are probably from the deep South.

It's just the characteristics that let me know where you're from.

How about this one?

If you have a more laid back attitude, you're probably from the West Coast.

I'm telling you, if you have someone who is just so laid back, they're almost asleep, they're like from Oregon somewhere and they're awesome, they're so much fun, like they just calm you down as soon as you're around them.

Maybe you're like you don't know my friends, okay, but the ones I've met, okay.

And then if you're a fast talker, you're either me or you're from the Northeast all right, because people in Northeast they got to, they got to hurry and get to the subway I don't know what it is, but they're super fast and I love it so much.

I feel like I'm around family.

And then if you're depressed, it means you're a cat owner.

Yes, all of you, cat owners.

You've been missing me.

You've been missing me.

I'm back.

I'm back.

Okay, I'm going to make sure you have a lot of fun somebody.

And so I've been thinking about that in this series, because the Bible says Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life.

No one can come to the Father except through me.

And here's the thing.

Actually, did you know that before we were called Christians, back in the book of Acts, we were called the followers of the way?

That's what they would call us.

And so I got to thinking about that.

What are some characteristics of being a follower of the way?

What are some things, some characteristics, some like if we were to put who we are into, one like like mantra or motto or one big idea.

What would it look like that if somebody saw us, and they saw us doing that, they would go.

They must be from the kingdom of God, they must be followers of Christ, because that's our goal.

As a matter of fact, the Bible says Jesus said go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

And then he said this.

He said teach these new disciples to obey all, say the word all to obey all the commands that I have given you.

And guess what I'm going to?

I'm going to be with you as you go into all the world.

That's where we get our mission statement that we exist to make disciples.

But here's the question what does that look like?

What does it look like that if somebody sees you doing a thing, they immediately go.

They must be from the kingdom of God.

I can tell by the way they live their life.

And so here's the big idea that I think maybe what it is to be a disciple and that is that the way of a disciple is all of Christ in all of life Like that's what it looks like to be a disciple, that if you see someone and they have just oriented their life to say, man, I want all that God has for me in every part of my life, that's someone from the kingdom of God.

And if they're from the kingdom of God and they've watched Star Wars, they would say this is the way.

Yes, absolutely, I had to like get that in there just a little bit, right.

But that's the big idea of what that looks like.

But here's the thing like cool, but what does that mean?

How do you do that?

How do you somehow encapsulate this entire Bible into the idea of all of Christ, for all of life?

Well, the good news is someone asked Jesus this one time In the New Testament the book of Mark is actually in three of the four gospels.

One day, somebody comes up to Jesus and says if we were to try to put all of life and all of that into one big movement forward toward God, what would that look like?

What does it look like for all of Christ, for all of life, and big movement forward toward God?

What would that look like?

What does it look like for all of Christ, for all of life?

And it looks like this the Bible said that one day, some of the teachers of religious law were standing and they were listening to this debate between Jesus and these different ones, and they realized that Jesus had answered well, because of course he did.

He's Jesus right.

And so one of them asked the question which, in the context of the day, this was a question people asked all the time, because there were 613 Old Testament laws good and bad, 613.

And so they just say, hey, listen, if I wanted to be all of God for all of life, if I wanted that, of all the commandments, which one is the most important?

Like, how could I find a way into living life that way?

And then Jesus answers the question and he says this the most important commandment is this listen, o Israel, the Lord, our God, is the one and only Lord.

You must love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.

Okay, I mean that that sounds good, but here's the thing that like that's so subjective, like what does it mean?

What does it mean Like to love God?

What does it mean to love him with my heart, my blood pumping muscle, my soul, whatever, that is, my mind, my brain and then my my ability to do a bench press right.

Is that what it means, or is that even more?

Well, here's the amazing thing about this is there is something that Jesus is actually saying that because of us reading it 2000 years later, we don't realize that we see that and we go.

Okay, I think I get it, but to the people who would have heard this originally from Jesus, it would have actually meant so much more than we understand.

Like as soon as they heard this verse, it opened up just a mountain of information where they would have said, oh, now I get it.

And so we're gonna talk about what was he saying, because he was saying so much more.

He was indicating a whole section of the Bible that we're not aware of.

That actually helps us to know what that looks like.

And so the first mark of a Christ follower that would say all of Christ, of all of life.

What he's saying is, is that the first mark of a disciple is that we love God, that we love God.

If you see somebody and you go, they must be from the kingdom of God.

That means that there's something about them that they have all of Christ and all of life and they love God.

Try it on real quick.

I want you to look at your neighbor and say it about 25% of how loud you could say it.

Look at them and say we love God.

That's about 5%, I think.

I know you haven't been doing that in a few weeks.

You got to get that muscle going again.

That's just the way I do.

Look at somebody else and give me 35%.

Look at him and say we love God, we love God.

And that's the amazing thing about it is that?

Here's the thing is that when we hear Jesus say love God with all the things, like all the things, that's actually what he's saying is he is not saying that we should compartmentalize our life.

He's saying he's covering every single thing to know that we're supposed to love him with all things.

But here's the thing he was referring to something that tells us exactly how to love God, how we can have all of Christ in all of life by loving him.

But here's the thing when is he quoting from and what is he talking about?

Well, in the Bible you've got Genesis, exodus, leviticus, numbers, deuteronomy, and Deuteronomy was given to the nation of Israel.

Right before they're going into the promised land, they've been wandering around the desert with God for 40 years and now they're about to cross over and go into the land they've been hearing about for 40 years.

And what God does is, just before they go, he says let me give you some rules for the road so that we can do this together.

And what Jesus is actually quoting is in the book of Deuteronomy the rules for the road.

And he's talking about the chapter before it, and he's talking about what we know of as the 10 commandments.

You know that Charlton Heston brought down from the mountain, you know, in the 10 commandments.

You know, and, and he listened to God going Moses.

You know that's how.

That's how God speaks.

And he listened to God going Moses.

You know that's how God speaks, apparently according to Hollywood.

Right, but a better way to look at it is the 10 rules of relationship.

Like it's not just the 10 commandments, it's the 10 rules of relationship, because way back then, what the Jewish people understood and what we know now is that God was actually telling them hey, listen, we're about to go into the promised land and I don't want you to kill each other, I want you to actually thrive in all of this.

So I wanna make sure you know how to live with me and also how to live with your neighbor.

And so the first four commandments were all about how to love God.

The final six commandments were how to love people, and we all know why because it's easier to love God than it is to love.

No, I didn't say that I'll let you do that right there, but I only need four to love God, I need six.

Nevermind, anyway, but what Jesus is actually doing is is he is starting with Deuteronomy, chapter six, and he's covering all of this when he's talking and so this is the verse that he's actually referring to, that is talking about all of this.

He says listen, oh Israel, this is Deuteronomy.

The Lord, our God, is Lord alone.

You must love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and mind.

Those words were together, all your soul and all your strength, and you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly, completely, to these commands that I'm giving you today.

Repeat them, talk about them, tie them on your hands, write them as reminders, for the Lord, your God, will soon bring you into the land he swore to give you.

So what he's saying is is I need you to do these rules for the road so that you can love me and you can love your neighbor, so that we can be identified as the people of God.

And so you can already tell from the beginning if we love God.

We need to make sure we define the word love, and so the word love, according to God from this scripture, is love means complete loyalty to God in all things.

Someone say all and the rest of you going.

I can't say all.

I'm writing all.

Give me a minute, right, I got you.

But that's important that we remember, because isn't the word love, if we don't define it so very squishy, like what does that even mean?

You know, because here's the thing that I've learned, and if you've been married longer than 30 minutes, you have learned love is not primarily an emotion, it's a commitment.

Because here's the thing Eventually you, you're gonna lose that love and feeling, and then you gotta have that love and commitment.

That happens, and that commitment is what brings the emotion around.

And so when God is telling us to love him, he is not saying that we must live according to how greatly we feel all the time.

He's saying we remember the commitment that we made and the commitment that he made to us.

And so when we say we love God, what we're saying is we are committed to him in just the way that he is committed to us.

And when we love God in that way, we actually look like the characteristics of someone that say I know where you must be from.

You must be from the kingdom of God.

I can tell by the way you live.

You live like you love God.

But then here's the question what does love look like?

What does it look like to love God?

I put it like this the idea of if God were to take a five love languages test, what would be his results and would we be surprised?

Now, if you don't know what that is, you can actually go to a website called I think it's called fivelovelanguagescom, and what they discovered is is everybody gives and receives love differently, like there's five different love languages.

It's like words of affirmation, physical touch, gifts, acts of service, and then one more that I don't remember, but there's five of them.

All right, and here's the thing is they say everybody gives and receives love in these ways, but there are some primary ones that mean the most, like, for instance have you ever tried to give somebody a gift?

And they go oh, thank you, and you were expecting excitement, because you love to receive gifts.

But if you were to tell them, hey, thank you so much for what you do, they just start crying because their love language is words of affirmation.

They love the gift, but if you actually speak life to them, that means something to them, and we all have that.

What did you know?

That God told us his love language, that if we were to give God a love languages test, we would know how we should give and receive love to him.

You know what they are?

They're the first four commandments.

He says these are not commandments as much as they are rules for fellowship.

You got six for how to put up with each other and four for how to give and receive love for me, and so what I wanna do is is I want us to realize that the characteristic of a disciple is that we love God, and if I were to add something to it, it's that we love God God's preferred way.

We love him in a way that he enjoys and he gives to us, and so that's what we're gonna go through today.

So, and he gives to us, and so that's what we're gonna go through today.

So I want you to look at your neighbor and I want you to say I can tell where you're from, but we're gonna change it to God before it's like no, not that I can tell where you're from, you must be from the kingdom of God, because we love God and we love God in these four ways.

Here they are, and that is number one is we show that loyal love, that commitment, commitment to God, with our complete allegiance.

With our complete allegiance and if you find the word allegiance as hard to spell as I do, then put the word commitment, because it's basically talking about the same thing the word allegiance.

Jesus is telling them this verse and if you double click on that verse, for the people of the Old Testament, it opened up the first four commandments of the Old Testament and that whole idea of relationship looks like this and the first love language of God is our complete allegiance.

Remember, jesus said this.

He said the most important commandment is you must love, be loyal to the Lord with all your heart.

Now, in heart, that meant all of your commitment.

It wasn't just your feelings, it was your decision on who you were going to follow and that was so very important because that resembles the first commandment.

The first commandment says this.

It says I, the Lord, your God.

I am the Lord, your God, who rescued you out of the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.

Here's the first one you must not have any other God but me.

That's what he's talking about.

He said you want to show me.

You love me.

You want to love me in the way that I give and receive love.

Be as committed to me as I am to you, because God is completely committed to us.

Well, I don't know about that, pastor.

Remember what Jesus did for all of us, that he came into this earth, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on a cross, rose again, just so that we could receive salvation.

And you know what he says Be committed back to me.

That's amazing and that's what we are aiming at.

And you can say well, that seems a little bit possessive.

No, that's commitment, I mean.

Imagine this, if you think about it in the terms of relationship.

Imagine that you were to go to a wedding.

Can you imagine what this would be like?

And the minister is up there and would say hey, would you take this so-and-so to be your lawfully wedded husband, wife, to have and to hold from this day forward for richer, for poorer, sickness and health till death.

Do you part?

And one of them is like, yes, absolutely Can't wait, absolutely.

Then the next one.

They get to it and they go.

Maybe I mean I like you as a friend and all, but I had to keep my options open.

First of all, that would be hilarious.

Second of all, the wedding is over because you know all the friends of the other ones like you ain't marrying that guy.

Get over here Absolutely.

But isn't that what we have?

To be so careful that we don't do to God, that we say, god, I love you as long as you work for me, as long as it all is kind of working out.

But that's not what we do when we give our lives to God.

That actually the word of God says if you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

That open declaration is to announce before the whole world that's what baptism is.

Is we announce to the whole world that I don't belong to me anymore, that I now am a follower of Christ.

In a healthy marriage you don't go in 50-50.

We go in 100-100.

And when it comes to the kingdom of God.

That's what God is saying.

I went 100 on you.

I want you to go 100 in for me, and that's important to realize, because one of the things I've noticed is there is no more miserable person than an uncommitted Christian.

Have you ever noticed that?

Like, the most miserable people in the world is the people that know what to do but then they don't do it, and so they.

They can't actually be happy in either way, and as a pastor, it breaks my heart because one of the things that and there's a thousand reasons why, but one of the reasons is because people come to God to give him their troubles but they don't wanna give him their life, and that's the reason why it is so very difficult is because God doesn't wanna just be God of your bad days.

He also wants to celebrate with you in your good days.

He wants to be Lord in your life and that allegiance.

That goes both ways.

But the amazing thing is is that miracles come with full surrender.

When we surrender our life to him and we say, god, I want all of you for all of me, it is amazing what begins to happen as we begin to worship the Lord and allow him to have his way in our life.

And that's the love language that God speaks, because the reality of it is is that we love.

We love God when we commit to him the way he has committed to us.

That's the love language test of God that he looks at that and he says I can tell that they love me because they're committed to me, and it brings the heart of God joy.

And when we go through this life and we look at life and we say, man, I want all of God for all of life, the first thing we do is that we say we are committed to God in all things.

Can we pause just a moment?

That sound, is that the HVAC or is that the bass?

Don't pay attention to me right now.

Talk amongst yourselves.

Is that?

Is that the HVAC?

Okay, I didn't know if it was the presence of God, just getting stronger in here.

All right, can we just go with a yes, okay, yes, yes, I feel it too.

Jesus, all right, okay, all right.

So the first thing is is all of Christ for all of life?

I know, wake up, wake up, wake up.

Pastor Brandon's back, okay, hey, wake up.

The first thing is is that we give him all of our allegiance.

Here's the second thing If we're gonna have all of Christ for all of life and that is number two is that we love him with our primary identity, that, above all the other things that we do say, think, feel.

If God were to take a five love languages test, his first would be allegiance, like be loyal to me, be as committed to me as I am to you.

And then the second one would be our identity, that you identify proudly as mine and that you have other hats you wear, but that's the primary one.

He said it like this.

He said you must love the Lord, your God, be loyal to the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul, all of your intentions, all of the inward thoughts of your life, your heart and your soul.

All of Christ for all of life.

And now that sound is gone I should just get my mouth shut and it would have been gone.

Okay, back to it.

But the idea of it is is it our primary identity?

And that's so very important that we realize that, because here's the thing that we don't always realize, and if we're not careful, I think all of us can be guilty of this because the second commandment says this.

It says you must not make for yourself an idol of any kind, whether an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God and I will not tolerate your affection for any other gods.

In other words, what he's saying is don't take anything in your life and make it so that you put it on the same level as me.

So the first one was I want you to stay committed to me, to be committed to me.

The second one is stay that way.

And he's warning them be so very careful, because good things in our life can steal our freedom when they get out of whack.

And so if your primary identity is in him, he likes it because he's able to keep you free, he's able to keep me free and all these things, and it's so hard to do.

Let me, let me give you an example, like, give you an example the different identities or hats that I wear personally, and you probably would have the same and maybe a whole lot more.

But give you some ideas.

And that is this like, like I'm a son.

I'm a son, I'm a husband, I'm a friend.

I'm a pastor, I'm a father, a leader, I'm a football fan praise the Lord.

I a coffee connoisseur and a cat boycotter Okay, I've got t-shirts, you can have one, okay, but here's the thing so many times it's difficult to know which one.

I should be right, like I'm, all these things, but they sometimes can feel in chaos a lot of times.

And so the difficult thing is is that we're always struggling with different things and seasons of life, and then we come to Jesus and we, if we're not careful, we add on to it that we're also a child of God.

And if we're not careful, if you notice being a child of God, if we're not careful, it doesn't fix any of the chaos, it just adds a whole nother level, because I'm all of these things and I now I'm supposed to love God as well.

But here's the great thing about God is that God does not want to be part of our lives.

He wants to be the Lord over our lives, and so what he says is is you want to show love to me in a way that I receive it?

Number one, be committed to me, and then number two, let's keep it that way, because what happens is when we put God as number one in our life, we have this thing that's not true, and that is that we think that if we put God first, he just destroys everything else.

That's not true.

That when we put God first in our life and show him love, that way he actually orders our life so that it actually makes sense.

And I do see that cat boycotter is number two on the list.

Okay, I know it's been a long time.

Did I just hear a meow?

Okay, yes, I did.

All right, that messed me up.

I lost my train of thought.

I know exactly who did that too.

All right.

But the reality of it is is that he actually brings order to our life.

All right, he doesn't want to take away so many like.

He doesn't want you to stop being a friend, stop being a husband, stop being a father, stop being a cat boycotter.

He just wants to put it in the proper perspective so that you can ask who wouldn't want to follow a God who says this about you that you are a chosen people, you're royalty in the heavenlies, that you're a holy nation.

In other words, you have special access to me.

You are God's very own possession.

As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light.

In other words, god wants to show you off to the world and say, look, that's my baby right there.

I know they don't get it right, they got skint knees, they got chocolate on their face, they ain't got it all figured out, but that's my baby.

Who wouldn't want to serve a father like that?

I think one of the number one things the enemy wants to do is he wants to distort our view of God so that we don't want to love him completely because we're afraid of what he'll do.

But the reality is is when we serve God completely, we can be excited about what he's going to do, because he's going to set us free of everything that wants to bind us.

And the reality is is when we love God his way, he brings life to everything else, and that's the mark of a Christ follower.

And this is that's my hope is that for all of us, when people see us in our world, that we're walking around with that, without even saying a word, they look at us and in the inside of their mind they're going.

I know where they're from.

They must be from the kingdom of God, because they have oriented their life for all of Christ, for all of life, and I can tell they love God.

I want you to look at your neighbor and say we love God, we love God, but how.

I love God with my commitment.

I love God with keeping that commitment, that primary identity being in him.

Here's the third one that he tells us, if you want to love me, the way that I give and receive love.

The third one is is with all our decisions and that's a hard one that we love God with all of our decisions, not just our feelings, not just our intentions.

Because, isn't it true we judge others by their actions, we judge ourself by our intentions, but the idea is God knows both.

And he says, man, you know, what really just makes me realize how much you love me is with those actions, with those decisions that you make in life.

Jesus said it like this.

He said love me with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, the decisions that lead to actions in your life.

And remember we're double clicking this to go all the way back to the Old Testament that the original audience would have fully understood what he was talking about.

And he was talking about a lifestyle with God, where God tells us this is how you love me.

Like I took the five love languages test, this is how you love me, and if you want to show me the love that you want to show me, then we're committed.

We're committed to each other.

And then he says this.

On the third one, he says I am the Lord, your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.

You must not misuse the name of the Lord, your God.

The Lord will not.

The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.

Now, here's the thing about this verse.

Let's go ahead and get this out of the way so nobody can say otherwise.

Pastor Brandon is saying it is not a good idea to use God's name as a cuss word.

Okay, when you stump your toe, don't say the precious name of Jesus.

If you want to say a God that doesn't exist, say oh, allah.

Wouldn't that be weird?

Okay, yeah, no one does that.

All right, we say you know.

Or?

Or?

If you want to curse someone to the underworld, don't put God in the middle of it.

Okay, use your discernment to know what I was trying to say there Okay.

So pastor Brandon is saying don't use God when you are cussing at someone.

But that's not what that means.

Don't send the emails, okay, don't cuss with God's name, use something else, don't cuss at all, be great, but that is.

That is not what this means.

But, pastor Brandon, that's what I've always known.

I know me too, but I started studying it to realize it actually means something harder than that, but more beautiful than that.

Because when he says, don't misuse my name, they're getting ready to go into the promised land around a whole bunch of idol worshipers and they are carrying the name of God with them.

What this verse means is when you are carrying my name as a follower of Yahweh, a follower of God, don't act in a way that's gonna embarrass me, because the first Bible those people are gonna read is gonna be you, and so make sure you wanna show love to me.

Don't misuse my name as you are going through the promised land.

In other words, that designation actually creates expectation.

Great representation creates that expectation.

For instance, here, designation actually creates expectation.

Great representation creates that expectation.

Like, for instance, here's three different people.

Like, if you were to see this guy right here, you automatically, because of his representation, how he looks, you assume he is a doctor yes, very good.

And because of that, whether he's a good one or not, you look at him and you automatically think, okay, this is the guy I go to If I have a physical problem, if I'm hurting, something like that.

He's at least going to point me in the right direction, because the representation creates an expectation.

How about this guy in the middle?

He obviously looks like a police officer, cop, yeah, all of those things.

And here's the thing, because he is wearing a uniform with a badge on, that representation automatically creates the expectation that if I am in need, if I need to know about justice or something like that, this guy is supposed to help me with that.

If you see someone with a Kentucky basketball jersey on, follow me for a second.

Okay, that means he's at least better at basketball than I am.

Okay, because I didn't get no jersey when I graduated high school.

Which means if I want to get better at basketball, I'm not going to go see these guys because I don't have an expectation.

I'm definitely going to go see him because Kentucky hires better basketball players than me.

They didn't call me Okay, so there's an expectation.

Here's the hard part.

Do you know what we are in the world?

We're ambassadors of Jesus, which means with representation creates expectation.

And what God is saying is you want to show love for me.

Remember that.

Remember that the first Bible some people will ever read is going to be you.

And that doesn't mean that we're perfect.

That just means we're always falling forward into grace.

We're always falling forward into grace.

We're always falling forward into God.

We're always remembering and we're always working to be more a part of the kingdom of God.

And he's saying that you want to show love to me.

Then, with all of your decisions, remember that it's about me and that we're in this thing together.

And here's the reality is, people don't just see us, they're supposed to see God through us.

And can I tell you something that just lives in my brain all the time?

It's a question that bothers me, and so now maybe it will bother all of us and we can all just think of it together, and that is would you do, say or post something if we realized Jesus was writing his name beside ours?

If you were to do, would you press, send and post it if it was from Brandon and Jesus?

No, I used to tell this to my girls.

Would you do something if I posted a picture of it on my TV on Sunday mornings?

It's amazing how quickly the line started to develop.

No, I'm not going to do that.

I will do that.

But the thing is more importantly is when you are among your world people that are hurting, people that are starving for truth, people that don't know God but really needs to.

You have no idea how many times that they may not know where you're from until they see the way you love God, they go.

They must be from the kingdom of God.

Why?

Because they love God.

How do you see that they love God?

Because the way they give their commitment to God, the way they do their best to keep their commitment to God and I can tell by their decisions they realize it's not just about them, but they're representing their best friend.

They're representing their Lord and their King, and God's word even says it like this to trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Don't depend on your own understanding.

Seek his will in all you do and he will show you which path to take.

God is not trying to stop your fun.

He's trying to help us see what is fun and what is not, what brings freedom and what brings bondage, what brings joy and what brings wounds and addictions and trouble down the road?

His interest in us is freedom, and that's why he says follow me in all things.

And the reality is is we love God by the way we represent him to others?

And so, once again, the goal of this is is that we want to live a life that is all of Christ in all of life, that everywhere we go, everything we do, we think I am part of something so much bigger than myself.

I'm part of the kingdom of God, and the first mark of a disciple is that we love God.

What does that mean?

That means, according to God, love is described as loyalty to him, commitment to him in all things, and the way he said, if he were to take a five love language test, he would say let me tell you the top ways I give and receive love, and that is to be committed to me, the way I'm committed to you.

Then make sure you fight and you strive to keep our relationship as the primary identity in your life and then, when you go into all of your world, realize that I'm going with you, and so don't take my name in vain, but take my name out of a sense of honor.

And then, when you do that, you will show that you love God.

Look at your neighbor one more time and say we love God, we love God.

And we do that.

You will show that you love God.

Look at your neighbor one more time and say we love God, we love God.

And we do that in all those ways.

And here's one more, and this is the one you probably expected, and that is we love God with our worship, because of course we do.

One of the ways we show love is with our worship.

We, we worship God because we love him, and it's because of the other things.

What we begin to see is, as I give my allegiance to him, I realize that he's given all to me and it causes me to worship.

When I realize that when I organize my life and he is the primary identity and the motivator man, I realize how it sets me free and I give him my worship.

Then, when I realize that and I start formulating my decisions around him and I realize how much he keeps me out of trouble because he wants freedom for me, man, it makes me want to worship, and that's why Jesus said that we love him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.

How do we do that?

Well, remember that first.

Original audience would have been able to double click that and realize they're kind of going through it.

Have no gods, have no other gods in front of me, no other idols.

Then there's the one of don't carry the name.

And then the fourth one was observe Sabbath day and keep it holy.

Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord, your God, brought you out with a strong hand and a powerful arm.

That is why the Lord, your God, has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day.

Now, a Sabbath meant a lot of things to the early Israelites, and they were all good we're all really good things but the main thing they were supposed to do on the Sabbath day is not just rest, but fellowship with God.

They were supposed to engage in the relationship with God.

Remember that they weren't always so free and now, because of him, they are free.

It was meant to be a day where you reorient yourself, to remember.

All of this is because of God.

I'm so thankful for him and I am resting because what I do is not what God is concerned with, it's who I am, and that is that I'm his.

And so it reminds them every seven days.

It's because of God that all this is possible and he is so good.

And they would rehearse the thankfulness of God, rehearse their gratitude toward God, and so, once every seven days, they would party with God and they would have a good time with God, they would rest in his presence and remember that it's not about what I produce, it's all about who he says I am, and it's a reminder over and over again.

And that's what worship is.

Worship is a reminder of who God is.

That's why we start our service, by the way, with worship.

Do you know when we do this?

Like?

Our hope is that you enjoy the songs, our hope is that you like them, our hope is that you know that you're able to sing along.

But primarily, the goal is not to give you a concert.

Did you know that, like, sunday morning at Real Life Church is not a concert, it's a worship service.

And, honestly, if we were to do this, it would more look like one hand headed this way and one hand that way, and we were trying to escort you into the presence of God, like.

The ultimate goal of our worship team is that they become invisible and all you do is look up and see the very presence of God.

That's the goal is to take a moment, get outside of ourselves and remember.

It's not about what I've produced this week, it's not about where I went.

It's all about who.

I am in him and we take a little bit of time every Sunday and we reorient ourselves to remember the goodness of God.

That's why it doesn't really matter what songs we sing, as long as it's about Jesus and reminding me of his goodness and reminding me of how wonderful he is.

It reminds me of those.

This lady she passed away not too long ago that I grew up with.

Her name was Linda, linda Bright, and I remember one time we were at some school event and they were singing America the beautiful, and as soon as it said, god, you know, spread your light on thee.

Her hands shot straight up and I was like Linda, we're not in church, we're singing about America, you know.

And Linda didn't care, she heard God, I'm praying, I'm thankful for Jesus, you know.

And it was just.

She oriented her life to go.

I'm so thankful for Jesus.

That's why worship is not just a moment.

It's a lifestyle, because as we think about the goodness of God, it brings us back to him over and over again, which is why, like David at the end of his life, david's one of my favorite people in the Bible and we think about the good things that David did.

Like you know, he killed Goliath.

He became a king.

You know these things.

There's a lot of bad things that happen in David's life too, like he was overlooked by his family.

They were in a position that he had to fight Goliath.

His mentor, his king, tried to kill him a multiple, multiple times.

When he finally became king, the whole nation didn't want him.

At first he was just the king over Hebron and then later he became king over that, and then his family was a mess.

He had a guy killed because he had an affair, messy.

But at the end of his life he writes this song and he says let all that I am praise the Lord With my whole heart.

I will praise his holy name and may I never forget the good things that he does for me, Because he forgives all my sin, he heals all my diseases, he redeems me from death, he crowns me with love and tender mercies and he fills my life with good things.

In other words, when it's all said and done, as I'm getting toward the end of my life, what I find that really matters is that I've been forgiven, that I've been healed, that every time I forget, he restores me every time and he continually transforms me with his love and with his tender mercies.

And I've got so much in my life to be thankful for.

One of the ways that we show God love is that we come back often and we say God, I'm so thankful for you.

And so we show God love when we spend time with him in thankfulness.

And when you do that, I think people look at you and go.

I know where you're from.

You must be from the kingdom of God.

Why?

Because I can tell in your life you're doing your best to make all of Christ and all of life and you're loving God.

Because I see that you are now committing your life to God, that you're doing your best to make sure God is number one in your life, that you're doing your best to make sure all of your decisions follow after him.

And then I can tell that you truly love God, because I see you being thankful in your worship of God.

And can I tell you that's what Jesus came to do.

Notice how in we've been reading through.

If you've been reading the Bible with us, we've been reading through the book of Matthew.

I don't know how many of you guys you've been reading through God's word one chapter at a time.

How many of you, when we got to Matthew, just went oh, I thought we were through this.

No, we're going to go back through it eventually, but we've how.

All through chapter five, six and seven that we covered recently.

Especially in chapter five, jesus would say you have heard it said, but this is what it means Jesus came to remind us about the kingdom of God and that the kingdom of God was at hand.

And what we're going to get into this week is we're going to get into where Jesus starts telling these things called parables.

And if you were with us, we were covering Matthew.

We talked about how a parable is a complex spiritual principle wrapped in a story so we can understand it better.

And over and, over and over again, what we're going to read this week is Jesus is giving all these different stories to bring home the point, and that is that if you could just see the kingdom of heaven, it would change how you see everything else.

He said it like this and one of his parables he said the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls.

When he discovered the, a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and he bought it.

And he's saying that's what the kingdom of heaven is like is that you're on the lookout for something, but then when you discover the kingdom of God, it takes over everything and you completely sell yourself out to it because you find what you've always been looking for.

And can I tell you that, as a pastor, I see a world around me and I get so excited because I see a world that has so many questions.

But the number one thing that we all need is Jesus.

We live in a world where people want to know that they matter.

They want to know what is my identity, they want to know how should I live my life and what deserves my attention.

And the whole thing is we look at it and we go that's the kingdom of God.

Like way before we had the question, god already had the answer and he said you want to know that you matter.

Realize that I gave everything I had to you.

That's how much you matter.

You know.

What I ask in return is to give all you have to me.

And then he says do you want to know what your identity is, child of God?

And then, when you orient your life as a child of God, watch how it starts to order everything else.

He said do you want to know what you're supposed to do with your life?

Follow me and I will lead you.

The Bible says from glory to glory, from freedom to freedom, and everything we bind ourselves up in is everything that God wants to set us free from.

And then what should have my attention?

The King who saved me.

And that when I begin to think about all the good things that God has done, I can't help myself but pause and just say God, I'm so thankful, I'm so thankful for all you're doing.

And that's what Jesus kept saying is, if you can just discover the kingdom of heaven, then nothing else will satisfy.

And that's why my hope for us over the course of this series is you know, a lot of times I don't want to put this on you, but a lot of times for me I go through summertime and I get, I get busy and I'm thinking about this, I'm thinking about that, and if I'm not careful that identity part there's other things that start creeping up toward the top.

And I still love God, I haven't stopped loving God.

But if I'm not careful I start loving other things as well and it all kind of gets confusing and all this kind of stuff.

And then you kind of go well, I guess I need to go back to him and if that's, you don't feel ashamed.

We're hearing this together.

But my hope is in this series as we begin to reorient our lives and realize I want to be a follower of the way.

I want to be the kind of person that you know when someone waves, they go oh, they must be from the South, because I don't know them, but they act like they know me.

I want it to be that when I live my life, people go you must be from the kingdom of God.

Why?

Why would you say that?

I can tell by the way you love God.

I can tell that you're committed to him.

I can tell that you work really hard to make your primary identity to be a child of God.

I can tell that you realize that you're representing him to the world.

And I can tell, because when you talk about all the good things that's happened, you give glory to him, and when we do that, we're showing that we love God.

And I want to ask you this question which one of those do you need to ask God to help you with today?

In just a moment, the band's going to lead us through a song of worship and give us an opportunity to take a next step.

Maybe you're in here and maybe it's that first one, maybe it's that commitment piece and you would say you know what?

I'm not committed to God, I don't have a relationship with him.

Well, can I tell you I'm so glad you're here.

You've never been more loved than you are right now.

God's not mad at you.

I think he orchestrated things so you could be here this morning, so you could hear somebody tell you one more time he's never going to give up on you.

You, you.

You've tried everything else.

It's time to come home.

It's time to come home to Jesus.

In just a moment, as the band leads us in a song of worship, your next best act of worship is on your connect card.

On the back of it is the plan of salvation, and that prayer is the words of allegiance.

Jesus, I believe you died on the cross for me.

I ask you to wash away all my sin, be my Lord and my Savior, but we don't want you to do that by yourself, and so, as soon as the song of worship begins, I want you to step out of your seat, step back to the back right, where our prayer team is, and we would love to lead you and be with you as you enter into the kingdom of God.

Jesus himself said the only way to describe it is like being born again and discovering the kingdom of God for yourself.

Maybe that's your next best step.

Maybe you're in here and maybe you found yourself drifting over the course of summer.

That's okay.

It's time to course correct.

It's time to say God, I wanna reorient my life again to remember that you're number one.

Maybe it had to do with some decisions, or maybe you just need to take a moment and just, instead of thinking about the next problem, remember the goodness of God and remember that I may not be where I want to be, but thank goodness, I'm not where I used to be, and it's all because of Jesus.

What next step do you need to take so we can show God love today.

Let's pray together right now, god, thank you.