Everything Hangs On This

“Everything Hangs on This”

By

Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr

PRAYER

SCRIPTURE: - Matthew 22:37-40 “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets”.

OPENING: - The other day my good friend Pastor Stan Roberts the Presiding Apostle of Restoratione Ministries of Greenville North Carolina Posted the following: - Some leaders in the church have been trying so hard to reach the world that we’ve stopped pleasing God. We’ve been trying so hard to reach the world that we’ve stopped allowing God to reach us. We’ve replaced Holy Ghost fire of the church with manufactured fog machines and light shows. We’ve replaced conviction with comfort; we’ve replaced holiness with hype. We’ve turned sanctuaries into stages and pulpits into platforms. We have replaced the holy dance of David with the boots on the ground of the world.

We’re trying to fit in with the culture instead of standing apart from it. We want influence without integrity. But the true church knows that there has to be a difference between the world and the house of God!

Practical Application: The true church needs to evaluate what she has allowed that God never authorized. What music are you listening to? What philosophies are you agreeing with just to seem relevant?

The Lord is telling the church to Consecrate yourself again. Shut down anything that feeds compromise, and start feeding your spirit the Word of God. Let your personal altar burn again!

Understand family, once consecration is gone, compromise creeps in. And it doesn't come through the back door—it walks boldly through the front door, right into the pulpit.

Leaders, Pastors, Teachers and Proclaimers of the Simplicity of the Gospel: when we blur the lines between sin and salvation, we are no longer a benefit to the kingdom, we no longer guide the lost—we confuse the ones we are meant to lead and draw.

I had to tell him to preach it and confirm what he was saying was what God was also saying in my spirit as I was working on this very message. A lot of the church of today is a culture that knows theology but has no affection, they have perfected praise on Sunday morning but can’t demonstrate passion on Sunday afternoon as they pass the one standing on the corner holding a sign begging for something to eat.

LISTEN CLOSELY: - I have often said that the most important part of a service is the worship, and I still believe that however there is something that will negate the worship if it is not there. As a matter of fact, every page of the Bible, every move of the Holy Ghost, every instance of speaking in tongues, every prophet, pastor, preacher, doctrine, and definition of Holiness hangs on this and that is Love.

1 Corinthians 13, which is called the Love chapter says in vs 1&2 “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing”. Without Love I am NOTHING. Then vs 4-12 describes how Love behaves and vs #13 sums it up by saying “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity”. WATCH THIS:- So you can have it all together, preach like no other, sing like an angel, have the best praise team, the best light show and smoke machines, draw the biggest crowds, be culturally relevant, socially acceptable, but if you don’t have love your nothing more than a tinkling brass and a sounding cymbal or to put it in today language a noise maker.

So often we have those that are loud and clap hard for sermons but will not even offer someone less fortunate then them a drink of water, failing to understand that the loudest worshipper is not the one with the loudest voice but the one who offers Love in silence when no one else is watching – Matthew 6:4 says, “That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly”.

TEXT: - The 2 greatest commandments of Jesus are: - Jesus was asked the question trying to entrap him what is the greatest commandment and He answered. Matthew 22:37-40 “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets”. Understand he didn’t say the greatest commandments are don’t lie, steal, cheat, although they are important, but He reached in and touched the very depths of our souls, He touch the essence of our emotions and gave these commandments, because to truly understand and live these commandments it causes you to have more than an agreement with scripture by shaking your head and saying amen, but it is going to cost you something. Understand real Love moves, bleeds, is sacrificial and cost if your version of Christianity doesn’t cost you something then you need to seriously ask yourself is this real. If your version of Christianity doesn’t lead to radical love, then it is simply hollow and not Holy.