Plan for: Thanksgiving | Advent | Christmas
Plan for: Thanksgiving | Advent | Christmas
This sermon explores the depth of Mark 12:30, urging believers to fully love God by desiring His glory, accepting His terms, and dedicating to His acts.
Good morning, it is a blessed day, a day the Lord has made, and we are here to rejoice and be glad in it. We gather here today, not as strangers under a roof, but as brothers and sisters in Christ, bound by His love and grace. We are here to seek His face, to know His will, and to grow in our understanding of His Word.
Our focus today is on a verse that we all know, a verse that is so familiar that we often recite it without truly understanding the depth of its meaning. It is a verse that speaks about love, about the greatest love we can ever know, and the greatest love we can ever give: our love for God. The verse is Mark 12:30, and it says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."
This verse, dear friends, is not just a command; it is an invitation. It is an invitation to love God with everything we have and everything we are. But what does it really mean to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength? How can we live out this command in our daily lives? These are the questions we will seek to answer today.
In the words of John Piper, "Loving God with all our mind means that our thinking is wholly engaged to do all it can to awaken and express the heartfelt fullness of treasuring God above all things." Indeed, our love for God is a response to who He is, to what He has done for us in Christ, and to what He continues to do in us through the Holy Spirit. It is a response of faith, a faith that moves us to action, a faith that compels us to love God with all that we are.
When we think about our lives, our goals, our dreams, what is it that we truly desire? Is it success? Is it happiness? Is it comfort? Or is it something greater, something more eternal? For us, as followers of Christ, our greatest desire should be the glory of God. This is not just a nice idea or a lofty goal. It is the very purpose for which we were created. We were created by God and for God, to bring glory to His name.
Now, you might be wondering, what does it mean to desire God's glory? Well, it's not about seeking glory for ourselves. It's not about trying to make ourselves look good or trying to earn God's favor. It's about recognizing who God is, recognizing His worth, His majesty, His holiness, and responding in worship and obedience.
When we desire God's glory, we recognize that He is the Creator of all things, the Sustainer of all things, and the Redeemer of all things. We recognize that He is the source of all good, the source of all truth, the source of all life. And we respond by giving Him the honor and the praise that He deserves.
It's also about obedience. When we desire God's glory, we seek to live in a way that reflects His character, His goodness, His love. We seek to live in a way that brings honor to His name.
And this is where it gets challenging. Because living for God's glory often means going against the flow of this world. It means choosing God's ways over our own ways. It means choosing sacrifice over comfort. It means choosing obedience over convenience. It means choosing faith over fear.
But here's the thing. When we choose to live for God's glory, we find true joy, true peace, true fulfillment. Because we were created to live for God's glory. And when we live for His glory, we are living in line with our true purpose, our true identity.
As we move forward, let's consider the terms set by God ... View this full PRO sermon free with PRO
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