GOING ALL OUT
Mark 12
28 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”
29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
INTRO:
Have you ever went all out for something? Really giving it your all in every way. Doing something with passion, or really being passionate about something. We can be passionate about a hobby that we have, or a ball game, or most anything. Some people are very passionate about their jobs. When we first got married we were passionate about each other. Have you ever heard the term the honeymoon is over? Why is that? We start out like gang busters, and then it fizzles out. When we were saved we were so excited and felt so renewed, and slowly that passion fizzles and becomes non existent. There are some areas in our life that we need to be passionate in.
Passionate Love
Ephesians 3:17-19
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Loving the Lord with all your heart is what we are supposed to do. Just like loving your spouse we are supposed to put our all into it. That is loving Him without any hidden agenda. When you tell your spouse you love them, they know if you really mean it. The same holds true with God. He knows if we have something else on our mind. Passionate love should spill over into everything that we do. When you really love someone you want to spend time with them, and that’s what God desires, is for us to spend time with Him in Praise and Worship, and in the Word so that he can communicate with us. If you love someone you want to communicate with them.
Passionate Worship
We are to worship God with all our heart. That means giving it our all. Open up your heart and give God glory and praise. When you are in worship, God knows if there is something else on your mind. Just like when you are having a conversation with your spouse they know if you have something else on your mind. Some people come into the house of God and they feel obligated to worship. Everyone else is lifting their hands, I don’t want to be the only one that isn’t. This should be a choice that we make on our own and not feel obligated to. Some lift there hands just because they don’t want to feel out of place. We need to come with a desire to worship Him.
Acts 2:1-4 Pentecost
1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
They came to worship without anything else on their mind. Don’t you think that God knows when we are pre occupied with other things. Passionate worship is lifting up the name of Jesus with our whole heart.
Revelation 4: 8-11
8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:“Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!”
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
11 “You are worthy, O Lord,To receive glory and honor and power, For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”
This is a picture of the throne of heaven and the Lord is being worshipped and without any reservation. Total passionate worship is what He wants. Not having anything else on our minds, just total and absolute worship.
Passionate Study
2 Timothy 2:14-15
14 Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. 15 Be diligent to present (study to show)KJV yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
We need to be passionate about the study of God’s word. This is another way for God to communicate with us. The study of the word is how we are molded into what God wants us to be. Being passionate about the study of the Word, means we have to set aside tome to get into the word. We have become too busy in our daily lives to do what we know we should be doing.
Conclusion:
We are passionate about many things, but the thing we need to be most passionate about are the things of God. Let’s come to God’s house with one thing on our mind and that is Loving and worshipping God, not preoccupied with other things. Going all out for Him.
