Love God: Love People

Good Morning Church! I’m so glad to see all of you here today. You bless my heart by being here and I know you especially bless the heart of God by your presence. Speaking of blessing the heart of God isn’t what God is doing in our church just awesome. And the great thing is, he has just begun to do what he wants to do.

In case you missed last week, the Lord spoke to our hearts and said that there was a “seed of greatness” in this church. But the seed has been held back and not planted because the enemy doesn’t want to happen what God wants to happen in this house. So we dedicated ourselves to a time of fasting and prayer. Literally hundreds of hours of prayer have gone into this service today. People you don’t even know have been praying for you, almost non-stop night and day since last Sunday.

I believe that it is time for us to humble ourselves, come with a broken heart before God and say “Lord, we want the seed of greatness that you have put in this church to be planted”. We spent a great deal of time asking the Lord about what that seed of greatness is this week. And I believe the “seed of greatness” is none other that Jesus. And God wants our individual personalities to move out of the way and allow the true presence and essence of Jesus Christ to rule in this place. Amen?

If you have your bibles, please turn with me to 1 John 4, verses 7 and 8. Then keep your finger on Matthew 22, verses 36 through 40. Everyone got it?

7Dear friends, let us continually love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born from God and knows God. 8 The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love

Matthew 22:36“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37Jesus _said to him, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ _ 38This is the greatest and most important _commandment. 39The second is like it: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’

Let’s pray.

Father, I thank you for allowing us to be here today. I thank you so much, Father, for loving us enough to change us, to break us, to mold us into your image. I pray that everyone here today would sense the presence of Almighty God; that we would be touched and changed before we leave here today. I thank you for the hunger that you have placed in all of us. And I thank you for what your Word says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. Fill us all today Lord. I pray in Jesus name. Amen!

Illustration: One of my favorite Saturday morning radio programs is the Neil Sperry Gardening Hour on KRLD. Neil is an expert in gardening, especially Texas gardening. If it has anything to do with plants or gardens or trees, Neil Sperry is going to have an answer for the caller. He really know his stuff. Several times I have heard callers talk about a certain plant or tree that they had planted in their yard or garden. They call Neil to ask him why the plant is thriving; why it is sickly, and apparently, even close to dying. And Neil will almost always ask that person, “well, where do you live”, and the person will tell him. And let’s just say it’s East Texas. And Neil will say, “well that’s why the plant isn’t making it, it’s planted in the wrong type of soil. That kind of plant, that kind of seed has to have the right kind of soil.

And it’s true for the church as well! God spoke to me during my times of prayer this week and he said, “Tommy, there IS a seed of greatness in this church, but I want to show you what the right kind of soil is”. He said, “The soil is this ‘Love God and Love People’. That is the soil that God wants this “seed of greatness” planted in. And if Calvary Christian Center will do that, the seed will get planted and it will begin to grow”.

Now let’s go back to our text this morning. A man came to Jesus and asked, “What is the greatest commandment” And Jesus (paraphrasing) said “Love God with all your heart”. And I can almost see Jesus, as the man was about to walk away…. I could see Jesus taking him by he arm and saying “And Love Others Too”. You know, I realized this week that in life things get really complicated. We have jobs to work, bills to pay, stress to deal with, spouses to make happy…But when it is all said and done, the two most important things in life are to “Love God: And Love People”