Participants: Shelley Quinn
Series Code: 17HC
Program Code: 17HC000007A
|
00:50 Hello and welcome to 3ABN Fall Homecoming
00:54 Camp Meeting 2017. 00:55 What a blessing we've been having this weekend so far, 00:58 haven't we? We're so glad each one of you are here 01:02 and so glad you have joined us at home. 01:04 I know the Lord has something very special 01:07 prepared for each one of us. 01:09 Our speaker of the hour is Shelley Quinn. 01:12 She is 3ABN's program development manager, 01:14 and what a blessing she and her husband J.D. are. 01:17 She's a woman of the Word... a woman of prayer 01:20 and a woman who walks out, who lives out what she preaches. 01:25 The message she will be bringing for us is 01:27 called With All My Heart. 01:30 Before she comes and ministers to us 01:32 we're also going to hear from another woman of God: 01:35 Sr. Yvonne Lewis. The song she will be bringing 01:38 for us is the same title as Shelley's title: 01:41 With All My Heart. I love to hear Yvonne sing 01:45 because she sings from her heart and her walk with Jesus. 01:49 So as soon as Yvonne shall have sung 01:51 the next voice you will hear is that of Shelley Quinn. 02:11 In this quiet place with You 02:16 I bow before Your throne 02:20 and bare the deepest part of me 02:24 to You and You alone. 02:28 I keep no secrets for there is no thought 02:34 You haven't known... 02:37 I bring my best and all the rest 02:41 to You and lay them down. 02:46 Oh... 02:50 With all my heart 02:56 I will love You, Lord, 03:00 and live my life 03:04 each day to know You more. 03:08 All that is in me 03:12 is Yours completely. 03:16 I'll serve You only 03:21 with all my heart. 03:37 You faithfully supply my needs 03:42 according to Your plan. 03:45 So help me, Lord, to seek Your face 03:49 before I seek Your hand. 03:53 I trust You'll do what's best for me 03:58 when I don't understand. 04:07 I will follow in obedience 04:13 in every circumstance. 04:21 With all my heart 04:27 I want to love You, Lord, 04:31 and live my life 04:35 each day to know You more. 04:38 All that is in me 04:42 is Yours completely. 04:47 I'll serve You only 04:57 with all my heart! 05:17 Thank you, Yvonne. God bless. 05:20 That's one of my favorite songs; it IS my favorite song 05:23 that Yvonne sings. 05:24 And actually we could go home if we just let those words 05:28 sink deep in our heart because there is a message 05:32 in that song. 05:35 Well, we're just so glad that 05:37 all of you are here. And thank you so much 05:39 for coming. I love Fall Camp Meeting 05:42 because Homecoming is so much more intimate 05:45 and it's a lot of fun to be with you all. 05:50 We are going today... If you have your Bibles, 05:53 you might want to open to I John chapter 4. 05:57 I John chapter 4. 05:59 What we will do in the next 45 minutes is 06:01 we will ask and answer five questions 06:07 about the interaction of love 06:11 between God and man. 06:14 And these five questions are very important for all of us 06:19 to know the answer to 06:22 and to be able to explain to others. 06:25 Let's pray. 06:27 Heavenly Father, we pause once again today 06:29 to come before Your throne of grace 06:32 to praise You, Lord, for You are worthy of our praise. 06:35 Lord, we thank you for the gift of Your Son Jesus Christ. 06:40 We thank you for the gift of Your Holy Spirit 06:43 and the gift of Your Word, Father. 06:45 How we praise You and thank you 06:48 that You did not leave us as orphans but Father, that 06:51 we may come to know You by the power of Your Spirit 06:55 through Your Word. And right now I pray in Jesus' name, 06:59 Father, that You'll get me out of the way. 07:02 Help me to be surrendered to You. 07:04 Speak through me by the power of Your Holy Spirit. 07:08 Please send Your Holy Spirit to be our teacher. 07:13 This is a message I need to hear as well, Lord. 07:16 And we ask in the name of Jesus that You will give us 07:20 ears to hear what the Holy Spirit has to say. 07:25 In Jesus' holy name we pray 07:27 thanking You for the answer, Lord, to the prayer of faith. 07:31 Amen... amen. 07:33 All right... I John chapter 4. 07:35 Let's look at verse 16. 07:38 I John 4:16 and John writes: 07:58 Love has its origin from God. 08:02 God is the source of love. 08:05 Do you know His love? 08:09 That word know is intimate. 08:11 Do you KNOW God's love 08:14 by not just observation but by experience? 08:19 Do you BELIEVE His love? 08:21 It is so critical that we know and believe 08:26 the love that God has for us 08:28 because if we don't we will keep God at arms' distance... 08:32 which I did for many years 08:35 because I had been taught erroneously 08:39 that God burned people in an everlasting, never ceasing 08:45 torment and I could not understand how God is love 08:50 and I kept Him at an arms' distance. 08:52 Now when I found the truth 08:55 that helped me embrace God and know that He is love. 09:02 When we think about people 09:05 who keep God at arms' distance 09:08 the first question I want to ask and answer is this,,, 09:11 because I can sit here and talk about the love of God 09:14 but if you haven't known the love of God, 09:18 if you don't believe the love of God, 09:20 then I'm just going to be talking over your head. 09:24 You're not going to pay any attention to me. 09:26 And a question that people often ask 09:30 and maybe you have asked this as well 09:33 is: "If God is love, 09:35 why does He allow us to experience pain? " 09:40 Have you ever wondered about that? 09:42 The answer is really quite simple 09:45 because God loved us so much... 09:48 He wanted us to be His children and He loved us so much 09:53 that He created us in His image. 09:57 He created us with free will. 10:00 He created us with intelligence and the ability to rule... 10:05 to go out and have dominion over the earth. 10:08 Without free will we would not be able 10:13 to achieve and accomplish things on our own. 10:16 Without free will we would not be like God. 10:20 We would not be able to love 10:24 because love by its very definition involves choice. 10:30 Love cannot be forced. 10:32 It cannot be coerced; it cannot be demanded; 10:36 it cannot be purchased. 10:39 Love includes the will. 10:42 And clearly scripture teaches that the will of God 10:46 is that He loves all mankind 10:50 so much that He wants all men to be saved. 10:54 And the greatest event of love 10:58 that ever happened or ever will happen 11:01 happened on the hill of Calvary 11:04 when Christ died for us on the cross. 11:07 As I was considering this question about pain 11:12 I did a little research. 11:14 And something that I learned that's really interesting 11:17 is the area of the brain that gives us free will 11:22 is the prefrontal cortex right here behind your forehead. 11:27 This is the area of the brain that functions with free will 11:33 giving us the power of choice. 11:35 But guess what else? 11:36 This is the area of the brain that identifies and experiences 11:42 pain. How many of you would like to be pain free? 11:45 No physical pain... no emotional pain? 11:48 Every hand is going up. Right? 11:52 Well, there is a remedy for pain. 11:55 In the late 1940's 11:58 doctors noticed that psychotic patients 12:02 who were receiving lobotomies experienced no pain afterward. 12:08 Now they really couldn't tell the effect of the lobotomy 12:12 on the psychotic patient 12:14 as much as they did later on when they began 12:18 doing this procedure on psychologically-normal patients 12:22 who had been suffering from severe pain 12:26 and that just wasn't responsive to any treatment. 12:29 And at first it seemed very successful 12:32 because they didn't experience pain, they didn't have anxiety 12:37 or fears. But it didn't take long 12:40 until the disastrous consequences were discovered. 12:43 What they found is that after a lobotomy 12:47 the patients lost their ability 12:50 to think or react quickly. 12:54 They were dull. They found that these patients 12:57 sometimes totally lacked any kind of emotional 13:03 expression or response. 13:05 They showed a striking reduction in driving energy 13:09 or in interest and they lost their personality. 13:14 So what lobotomies proved... 13:17 it gave us evidence that this area of our brain 13:21 that functions - this is the area where free will functions - 13:25 it gives us the ability to dif- ferentiate between good and bad, 13:30 better and best. It gives us the ability 13:32 to temporarily store and manipulate information 13:36 so that we can understand and reason and learn. 13:39 It gives us the ability to recognize 13:43 that our current activities have future consequences. 13:48 It gives us the ability to plan forward... 13:52 to develop a plan and work toward a defined goal 13:57 and predict the outcomes. 14:00 It gives us the ability to suppress unacceptable urges. 14:05 And yes, it also is the area that gives us the ability 14:10 to experience pain. 14:11 But all of those hands that went up earlier... 14:14 let me ask you this: 14:16 you want to be pain free. How many of you 14:19 would like to receive a lobotomy to be pain free? 14:24 You know, something that we need to remember: 14:28 God is NOT the author of pain and suffering. 14:32 God creates all things perfect. 14:37 God is the origin of love. 14:40 The origin of pain and suffering is rebellion 14:45 against God's authority. 14:48 When Satan rebelled in heaven 14:51 his rebellion raised this question: 14:55 does God have the right 14:59 to rule over His intelligent beings 15:03 and decide for them what's right and what's wrong? 15:08 Now God could have snuffed out the great controversy - 15:14 the controversy between good and evil - immediately. 15:18 He could have snuffed out Satan as soon as he rebelled. 15:21 Or even He could have snuffed out Adam and Eve 15:24 as soon as they rebelled. 15:26 But what would that have proven? 15:29 Only that He was more powerful than they. 15:32 So what God did is He allowed Satan to come to earth 15:37 to test the hearts of Adam and Eve. 15:40 Not for His benefit - not for God's benefit - 15:44 but for their benefit. 15:47 Adam and Eve made a wrong choice. 15:51 You know why? Because they had never learned 15:56 through the experience of hardship 15:59 what God's love really was like. 16:03 But what the devil intended for evil 16:06 God turned it around for their good. 16:09 Through their fall into temptation 16:13 Adam and Eve discovered and had a greater revelation 16:19 of God's goodness and His mercy and His faithfulness 16:23 and His love. 16:25 They learned that only God's purposes 16:29 lead to ultimate happiness. 16:33 Without knowledge of what life is like apart from God 16:38 how can we really come to understand 16:41 that His way is best? 16:44 You know, God's ways are higher than our ways. 16:46 His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. 16:48 We'll never fully understand them. 16:50 But what God ordained was that Satan 16:54 after Adam and Eve passed him the keys to the kingdom 16:58 He ordained that Satan would have a short, pre-determined 17:02 time on earth to try to prove his malicious lie against God: 17:06 that God was unfair and that God was not loving. 17:12 Now you may say: "Short? It's been nearly 6,000 years! " 17:17 But don't forget what Peter says in II Peter 3:8. 17:34 If we were to take the continuum of infinity... 17:40 if I had a line that never ended this way 17:42 and the line kept going and it never ended that way 17:46 and if we were to take 6,000 years 17:49 that the great controversy has been going on 17:51 and we were to mark it on that line 17:54 it would be a little pinprick on the line. 17:58 It doesn't seem short to us 18:01 but to God a thousand years is like a day. 18:05 So Christ is coming! 18:10 He will return soon. He will come as soon as every 18:13 person on earth has made a decision 18:17 either to reject or accept God. 18:19 And as long as there's one person left 18:22 that He knows will make that decision to accept Him 18:26 I believe He's going to hold His coming back. 18:28 But He will usher in an eternal kingdom 18:32 where there's no more sin, no more pain, no more suffering. 18:36 And this will be the Hallelujah time of no more tears. 18:41 The second question that we want to ask and answer: 18:44 how do we know that God loves us with all of His heart? 18:48 Let's look at Jeremiah 32:40-41. 18:51 It will be on the screen. Jeremiah 32:40-41. 18:56 This is the Lord speaking and He says: 19:27 That's God speaking to you today. 19:30 This is covenant love language. 19:33 The Bible describes God's love as being universal, 19:38 as being impartial. 19:41 He doesn't put one above the other. 19:44 It describes God's love as being self-sacrificing, 19:48 unconditional, faithful. 19:51 As being protective and corrective... 19:55 because He is the perfect Father. 19:58 As being patient and tender and merciful. 20:01 Forgiving and enduring. 20:02 God's love unifies... it brings together. 20:06 It edifies... it builds up. 20:09 God's love quells our fears. 20:12 It negates fear. 20:14 And God's love is beyond human understanding. 20:20 It transcends all human understanding. 20:23 But trust me when I say this: 20:26 somebody here needs to hear this. 20:28 God loves you with all of His heart. 20:31 His heart wells over with love for you, 20:34 and from that well of love flows all of the blessings 20:38 of His grace. And there is nothing 20:42 that God loves more than for us to come to receive 20:47 the goodness from Him. 20:49 In Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse 3- 20:52 again, this will be on the screen - 20:55 God says: 21:10 Again, this is covenant love language that expresses 21:14 God's enduring love and faithfulness for His covenant 21:18 people. Hesed is a word... 21:22 Are you familiar with what hesed means? 21:26 You know, we talk about agape all the time 21:28 and that's important. 21:29 But in the Old Testament the Hebrew word 21:34 hesed is the equivalent for grace. 21:38 It was used 240 times in the Old Testament. 21:45 I want us to look now at a definition from the Book 21:48 of the Dictionary of the Old Testament: 21:50 Wisdom, Writings, and Poetry. 21:52 This is the definition of hesed. 22:22 And I absolutely adore the way David 22:28 felt about God's hesed. 22:31 He says in Psalm 63 verse 3: 22:45 See, if we get to be like David... 22:48 David knew... he understood 22:52 that God's love, God's grace 22:56 was better than everything that this world had to offer. 23:02 And that's how God wants us to understand His love. 23:06 Now we are familiar with agape. 23:09 This is the term that is most frequently used 23:12 in the New Testament for love. 23:14 And this signifies a spontaneous, self-giving, 23:19 unconditional, unmerited love. 23:24 There's nothing that you can do to earn that love. 23:27 There's nothing that you can do to deserve that love. 23:30 But this is the way God loves you! 23:34 Jesus said in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world... " 23:38 He so agaped the world... 23:42 "that He gave His only begotten Son 23:46 that whoever would believe in Him would not perish 23:49 but have everlasting life. " 23:51 And then Paul turns around in Romans 5:8 23:54 and he says: "This is how God demonstrates 23:58 His own love for us 24:00 that He sent His Son to die for us 24:04 while we were yet sinners. " 24:07 Can you imagine how much more God will do for us now? 24:12 The God of eternity stepped out of heaven; 24:16 He condescended to become flesh. 24:20 And you know what? Christ - God in the flesh - 24:25 accepted the cruel cross - the cruel death on the cross - 24:31 to die for you and me... even though we were completely 24:36 undeserving. Totally undeserving! 24:41 What is the wages of sin? Death. 24:44 But the gift of God is eternal life 24:48 through Christ Jesus. 24:51 You are worth nothing less 24:54 to God than the price that He paid 24:58 with the precious life blood of His Son. 25:01 Don't ever forget that. 25:03 Don't ever feel that you're not good enough 25:07 because God puts great value on you. 25:11 Paul told the Ephesians in Ephesians 2:4-5 25:15 He said: 25:32 It's a gift! 25:34 God is the source of life but what does sin do? 25:38 Sin cuts us off from God. 25:40 It cuts us off from the source of life. 25:44 So without Christ 25:47 our future would be an eternal death. 25:51 But our loving and merciful God 25:53 provided forgiveness of sin... so the gift of eternal life 25:57 through Christ Jesus. 25:59 And our covenant Christ is with us always... 26:03 just as He was in the old covenant. 26:06 The messenger of the covenant. He went with them as the cloud 26:10 by day. In the heat of the day He was 26:13 their protection. He was the flame of fire... 26:16 the pillar of fire at night. 26:18 And in Hebrews 13:5 He Himself has said 26:22 "I will never leave you; I will never forsake you. " 26:27 You know, we pray: "Lord, be with us through the night. " 26:32 "Lord, be with us today. " 26:34 "Lord. be with us on this trip. " 26:35 You know what we should be praying? "Oh, Lord, 26:38 give us a... just give us a divine revelation 26:44 and an awareness of Your constant presence with us. " 26:49 God never leaves you; He never forsakes you. 26:52 And there should be no doubt in your heart 26:56 about God's love for you. 26:57 No matter who you are, no matter how bad you think you are, 27:04 He longs for you with all of His heart. 27:07 And the question is: will you receive His love? 27:13 Will you allow God to love you? 27:18 So now let's look at our third question. 27:20 What does He desire from us in return? 27:26 Turn to Mark chapter 12 please. 27:29 Mark chapter 12. 27:31 If God loves us so much that He created us in His image 27:36 to be His children, and He threw out the Bible... 27:40 The Old Testament and the New is trying to convince us 27:45 of this great love that He has for us... 27:48 this is His plan... what does He expect from us in return? 27:55 He desires that we would respond to His covenant love. 28:01 As He loves us with all of His heart 28:04 His desire is that we'll love Him with all of our heart. 28:07 Look at Mark 12:29 is where we'll begin. 28:10 Mark 12:29. 28:13 Someone asked Jesus: "What's the greatest commandment? " 28:15 and Jesus answered him saying: "The greatest of all the 28:19 commandments is 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, 28:21 the Lord is One. And you shall love the Lord your God 28:24 with all of your heart, with all of your soul, 28:27 with all of your mind, and with all of your strength. 28:31 This is the first... this is the greatest 28:35 commandment. ' " Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5. 28:41 This is a foundational truth of the old covenant. 28:45 It is also a foundational truth of the new covenant 28:49 because love for God is central to entering into 28:55 and keeping covenant with Him. 28:58 And what this summarizes... loving Him with all of our 29:01 heart, soul, mind, and strength... 29:03 it summarizes the first four of the Ten Commandments. 29:08 That we will have no other God before Him. 29:10 That we'll not make an idol and bow down to it. 29:13 That we will not take His name in vain. 29:15 And that we'll remember the Sabbath to joyfully celebrate 29:19 that time with Him. 29:21 Now then Jesus goes on in verse 31 29:27 and He says: "This is the second that is like it: 29:30 you shall love your neighbor as yourself. 29:34 There's no greater commandment - NO OTHER COMMANDMENT - 29:38 greater than these. " 29:40 Here He's quoting Leviticus 19:18. 29:43 See, genuine love for God naturally results in love 29:48 for our fellow human beings. 29:50 And what this summarizes 29:53 when He says: "Love your neighbor as yourself" 29:56 He's summarizing the second tablet of the Ten Commandments. 30:00 That you will honor your mother and your father. 30:03 That you'll not commit murder or adultery. 30:06 That you'll not steal. 30:08 That you will not bear false testimony. 30:10 And that you'll not covet! 30:12 So this is why then Jesus in Matthew 22:40 said: 30:15 "On these two commandments 30:18 hang all the law and the prophets. " 30:21 When you see all the law and the prophets together 30:24 that means the entire Old Testament. 30:27 And Jesus is saying: "This is what it's about, folks. " 30:31 Love is the root of God's Ten Commandments 30:36 and it is the fulfillment of the law. 30:39 You know, God's commandments are not 30:43 just about how we behave. 30:46 It's about who we are 30:49 when the love of God is in our hearts. 30:52 Now, how can God know 30:56 or how can we know 30:58 if God's love is being perfected in our hearts? 31:02 Let's look at I John 2:4-5. 31:05 I John 2:4-5. 31:07 John says: 31:29 True religion begins and ends 31:33 with loving God and loving humanity... 31:36 our fellow human beings. 31:38 When you are faced with a decision 31:42 here is what you should ask yourself. 31:46 Just choose whatever best 31:50 will exhibit love for God 31:54 and love for humanity 31:55 following God's Ten Commandments as your rule of thumb 31:59 and you'll never go wrong... ever. 32:01 Now turn to Deuteronomy chapter 4 32:03 because I want to show you some- thing that so many people miss. 32:09 You know, the Old Testament... 32:12 When we think of the old covenant - and Deuteronomy 32:15 is the book of the law - 32:17 this is the covenant that Moses wrote up... 32:22 the book of the law. It got put into the side of the ark 32:25 in the pocket. But most people think that 32:28 there was no grace in the old covenant. 32:31 The old covenant is nothing but grace! 32:35 And that's what the sanctuary was all about 32:39 was... this was theology in physical form to show them 32:43 the grace of God. 32:45 But God has always sought whole-hearted love 32:49 from His people and obedience has always been 32:52 just an expression of loving gratitude for God's love. 32:57 Even in the old covenant faith was essentially a matter 33:02 of the heart. So nine times in the book of the covenant, 33:06 the book of Deuteronomy, nine times the expression 33:10 "with all your heart" appears. 33:12 We're going to look at four of those because 33:14 the other five pretty much repeat. 33:17 So let's look at Deuteronomy chapter 4, look at verse 29. 33:23 Verse 29. 33:24 And here it says: 33:40 When you know how much God loves you 33:42 and the good plan He has for your life 33:44 that's how you will seek Him. 33:46 And then Deuteronomy chapter 6 if you'll turn there 33:49 and we'll look at verse 5. 33:52 This is what we just heard Jesus quote 33:56 when we were looking at Mark chapter 12. 33:58 Deuteronomy 6 and verse 5 says: 34:09 Now flip over to chapter 10 and let's look at verse 12. 34:13 In Deuteronomy 10 and verse 12. 34:18 This describes the evidence of our love. 34:42 So we're to walk in His ways... to love Him. 34:46 To serve Him with all of our heart and soul. 34:50 But here's the best one in Deuteronomy chapter 30 34:53 if you'll turn there. 34:55 Deuteronomy chapter 30 and verse 6. 34:58 Because I have to tell you: 35:00 I can't love the Lord my God with all of my heart, 35:04 my soul, my mind, and my strength... 35:07 not in my human ability. 35:11 But look at Deuteronomy 30:6. 35:14 It is God who enables us to love Him this way. 35:28 All of your heart... whole-hearted love. 35:31 An undivided heart. 35:34 In Ezekiel 11 and verse 19 35:39 God says this: 35:52 God's heart is undivided. He consistently 35:56 is demonstrating and expressing His love, 35:59 His faithfulness, His trustworthiness, 36:03 and His loyalty to His covenant people. 36:06 But our covenant-keeping God expects His people 36:10 to respond to this and to do the same. 36:14 He wants a reciprocal, whole-hearted love 36:18 and devotion to Him. So since we can't do this 36:22 in our own He gives us a new heart and a new spirit 36:27 that we might love Him in this way. 36:30 See, when you have a divided heart 36:33 it undermines your commitment to God. 36:37 So we must ask ourselves 36:40 "Is my heart undivided? " 36:43 "Is it? " How do we recognize a divided heart? 36:47 Paul describes three possible heart conditions 36:51 of man's relationship to God. 36:54 We find this in I Corinthians 2:14-16 36:59 and chapter 3 verses 1-4. 37:02 First Paul talks about the natural man. 37:04 He's hardhearted... no relationship with God. 37:07 He's engaged in earthly pursuits with all of his heart. 37:11 He's looking for fame and fortune and money and pleasure 37:15 and power. Then there is the spiritual man 37:20 who is at the polar opposite of the natural man. 37:25 The spiritual man has a united heart 37:28 whole-hearted love for the Lord. 37:31 He has a real and intimate love connection with God. 37:34 But then there is the flesh... 37:39 the carnal Christian who has a divided heart 37:44 and divided loyalty. One foot in the kingdom 37:47 and one foot in the world. 37:50 Loyalty is divided between God and self. 37:53 And here is what Jesus says about the carnal Christian. 37:57 Let's look at Matthew 15 and verse 8. 38:00 Matthew 15 and verse 8. 38:13 Our words are empty if we don't put things or words 38:19 into action. We can speak of loving God... 38:24 We can come to church and talk about loving God. 38:27 But if we don't have whole-hearted devotion to Him, 38:32 if we are not walking in obedience to Him, 38:37 if we're not loyal to Him we don't love Him. 38:40 When we love God we want to do what is pleasing to Him. 38:44 And obedience is the highest expression 38:48 of love and worship for God. 38:51 The carnal Christian is a hearer of the Word 38:56 not a doer. 38:57 Self is what sits on the throne of his heart. 39:02 With a divided heart, he's double-minded and unstable 39:06 in all of his ways. 39:08 And if we don't love God sufficiently, we won't remain 39:12 true to Him. Did you know 39:14 Paul is talking to Christians in the church 39:18 when he's talking about the carnal... the flesh... 39:23 the carnal Christian? You can be a regular churchgoer. 39:29 You can hold a denominational position. 39:33 You can be a pastor and still be a carnal Christian 39:38 if you don't have whole-hearted love for God. 39:43 That was the trouble with the church of Laodicea. 39:47 They were lukewarm, half-hearted Christians. 39:52 And I want to read this to you from Ellen White. 39:56 This is from letter 44 in 1903. 40:00 Here's what she has to say about that condition. 40:34 Wow! That's a wake-up call! 40:38 That is a wake-up call! 40:40 Whole-hearted love for God is necessary 40:44 to present an authentic and loving witness 40:49 to a skeptical world. 40:52 What do we do if we recognize that we're carnal Christians? 40:57 What if we are lukewarm? 40:59 I had to ask myself this question. 41:02 It is easy to get so busy serving the Lord 41:07 that you start kind of leaving Him on the outside. 41:12 Let me tell you what we need to do. 41:14 If you know that your heart is divided... 41:18 and so many of our hearts are... 41:21 all you have to do is cry out and say: 41:25 "Oh my Jesus... don't let my heart remain divided 41:29 and in darkness. " 41:31 And pray this beautiful promise 41:35 from Psalm 86 verse 11: 41:50 God can circumcise our hearts 41:54 and give us a new heart. 41:55 He can get self out of the way 41:57 and break the bondage of the sin cycle 42:01 and half-hearted service. 42:03 Now the fourth question I want to ask and answer is 42:06 this: how does whole-hearted love behave? 42:10 How do we know if we are loving God with all of our heart? 42:14 Well... our emotions, our thoughts, our decisions, 42:20 our deeds will be God-centered. 42:24 God will be enthroned in our hearts as our sovereign King. 42:30 We will love Him with all of our heart! 42:32 There'll be no other love that competes with our love for Him. 42:36 We'll delight in His love 42:39 and prefer Him before all things. 42:41 We will enjoy spending time speaking to Him in prayer. 42:45 We'll love Him with all of our soul. 42:47 We will be united to Him as one in spirit with Him. 42:51 We'll be surrendered and yielded, walking in submission 42:56 to Him.Crucified to the world and the world to us. 43:01 We will be ready to sacrifice for Him rather than 43:05 to dishonor Him. If we love Him with all of our mind, 43:08 we will apply our mind to knowing Him; 43:11 we'll receive His truth through Bible study; 43:15 we'll delight to obey Him. AND it is love 43:20 that gives us the power to keep His commandments. 43:25 If we love Him with all of our strength, 43:27 we will use all of our will, all of our energies 43:31 in service to Him to bring Him glory. 43:35 This summarizes the essence of scripture... 43:39 the whole duty of mankind. 43:42 You know, God removed Saul as king of Israel 43:49 because he had a divided heart 43:52 and He set up David as king of Israel saying: 43:56 "I have found David, son of Jesse, to be a man 44:01 after My own heart 44:03 who will do all of My will. " 44:07 When I read the Psalms 44:10 I used to say: "The love that David expresses is almost 44:15 sounds romantic when he's writing. " 44:19 Has anybody ever had that thought? 44:21 When he's writing about God there's such emotion! 44:25 I want to do something right now 44:28 and I want you to just - if you will - humor me here. 44:33 The Psalms are David's prayer journal 44:36 and we see how much he loved the Lord. 44:40 I want to read to you a few scriptures... 44:43 actually five verses... 44:45 from Psalm 119. But because this is a prayer 44:49 I'm going to ask you to close your eyes while I'm reading 44:52 this and see if this is your prayer. 44:56 "Oh, with my whole heart I have sought You. " David says. 45:02 "Oh let me not wander from Your commandments. 45:05 Give me understanding and I shall keep Your law. 45:08 Indeed I shall observe it with my whole heart. 45:11 I entreated Your favor with my whole heart. 45:15 Be merciful to me according to Your Word. 45:18 I cry out with my whole heart. 45:21 Hear me, O Lord. I will keep Your statutes. 45:24 I cry out to you. 45:26 Save me and I will keep Your testimonies. " 45:30 Amen! Amen! 45:34 When was the last time you cried out to God with your 45:37 whole heart? You know, something that we see 45:43 is that if we have an undivided heart like David 45:47 what we saw in those scriptures is we will totally depend 45:51 upon God for salvation. 45:53 That's His plan. We'll have a strong desire 45:56 to be in His presence... we will be seeking Him. 45:59 We'll recognize that His Word is the strength of our hope 46:04 and we'll have a strong reliance on His promises. 46:08 And we will understand that keeping His Word 46:12 puts a protective barrier around us. 46:15 Did you notice that David's whole-hearted cry 46:20 always included obedience? 46:23 He was wanting God... He had this desire to obey. 46:28 And you know, David knew that God gave us 46:33 His commandments for our protection. 46:37 I want you to look at this verse: Isaiah 48:18. 46:40 Isaiah 48:18. 46:42 God is lamenting here. 46:44 He's speaking and here's what He says: 47:02 See, God gave us His command- ments as a protective barrier 47:08 so that we would have peace. 47:11 And reverential love will foster a deep commitment 47:15 of obedience that will hold up in times of testing. 47:19 Now, David had failed that test before, had he not? 47:24 when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and then he 47:28 was guilty of murder of Uriah, her husband, the Hittite. 47:33 But after David's death 47:37 we have the most fascinating testimony of God. 47:41 And I want to read that to you. 47:44 This is when King Jeroboam sent his wife in disguise 47:49 to the prophet Ahijah to get word from the old man... 47:53 a word from God through the old prophet. 47:56 Look at I Kings 14:7-8. 48:01 And this is what it says: 48:25 What? This is God speaking! 48:28 David was guilty of murder, guilty of adultery 48:32 and God is saying "He only did what was right 48:36 in My eyes. " Do you know what this scripture proves? 48:39 When David realized his sin 48:42 he was so grieved over his sin he repented. 48:45 He confessed; he repented. And what this tells us 48:49 is that when we sincerely confess and repent 48:54 God forgets what we ask Him to forgive. Hallelujah! 48:58 Hallelujah! So how can we have an undivided heart? 49:02 It begins with Jeremiah 29:11-13. 49:06 Starts with the belief that God has a plan for your life. 49:10 Here's what the Lord says: 49:36 You have to believe what God has to say about you in His Word. 49:42 You've got to lean on God's Word 49:44 and not on your own understanding. 49:46 Hold fast to His promises. 49:49 Now we are helpless to do this 49:54 without the Spirit of God within us. 49:58 And I'm realizing my time is almost up 50:01 so I'm going to skip over a part of this. 50:04 And I want to get you to Romans... 50:09 Well, you don't have to turn there but we'll talk about 50:12 Romans 5:5. See, when God says "Love Me with all your heart, 50:16 soul, mind, and strength" I can't do it. 50:20 Not in my own strength. 50:22 It just makes me want to weep. 50:24 But remember this: that all of God's commandments 50:27 are His promises. So God will empower us. 50:33 He's going to give us a new heart. 50:35 He will empower us to do this. 50:38 And how does He do this? 50:40 Romans 5:5 says that God pours out His love into our hearts 50:46 by the power of the Holy Spirit. 50:50 Wow! Do you realize 50:53 the Holy Spirit is not just the spirit of holiness. 50:57 God is love; the Spirit is God. 51:00 He's the spirit of love, so when God pours His love 51:04 into your hearts He will enable you 51:07 when you have the Holy Spirit in your heart to love Him with all 51:10 of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 51:12 He will empower you to be able to love others 51:16 as yourself. Now let's look - skip several graphics - 51:21 but we'll go to graphic #25 and look at 51:24 I Thessalonians chapter 3 verses 12 and 13. 51:30 Because when this love is in your heart guess what? 51:34 As you grow in God's divine love you grow in holiness. 51:39 I Thessalonians 3:12-13. Paul writes: 52:09 So as you grow in love you become more like God. 52:13 God IS love, 52:15 and you become more separated from sin... more holy. 52:20 So let's wrap this up and put a neat little bow on it. 52:24 God delights in loving us 52:28 and He wants love and service of our whole heart. 52:34 You know, God says... In Ecclesiastes 3:11 52:38 Solomon writes... Ecclesiastes 3:11: 52:55 The Bible clearly teaches that man is mortal. 52:58 But we've got immortality... this desire for immortality, 53:04 this desire for unending love. 53:06 Blaise Pascal... have you heard of Pascal? 53:09 He's a famous mathematician, physicist, philosopher. 53:13 And he said that men... all men are seeking happiness. 53:19 They try in vain to fill that emptiness in their heart 53:24 with things of this world. 53:25 And now let me quote him. 53:27 He says: "But all these are inadequate 53:32 because the infinite abyss, 53:35 the eternity that is in your heart, 53:37 that God-shaped hole that is in your heart... " 53:40 the infinite abyss, he calls it... 53:42 "can only be filled by an infinite and a beautiful God. " 53:48 Only by God Himself. 53:52 So if you're feeling desperate you are desperate for God. 53:57 He longs for you with all of His heart. 54:00 And many of us started with whole-hearted love 54:05 but what happened is just what happened to the church 54:10 of Ephesus. Jesus says in Revelation 2:4-5 54:30 If you've forgotten your first love, don't spend time 54:34 feeling guilty and under condemnation. 54:37 Don't let that hold you back. You're wasting valuable time. 54:41 What we need is soul-searching repentance. 54:44 Just go to God; trust Him that He'll give you a new heart. 54:47 Trust Him that He will forgive you. 54:50 He is wanting to love you with all of His heart. 54:56 You know, the more that we actually acknowledge 55:01 and understand our sins the greater we will love God. 55:04 Did you know that? Let me read from Luke 7:47. 55:08 Let me set this up. 55:10 Mary was a disciple of God... of Christ... 55:13 and she was a sinner. She was what we would call a bad sinner 55:19 before she met Him. 55:21 But when she came to Jesus she absolutely 55:26 was turned around. Her life was turned around. 55:28 So right at the end - the week before He died - 55:32 she came to Him. He was reclining at a table 55:35 in a Pharisee's house, and she washed His feet 55:39 with her tears, she dried them with her hair. 55:42 She anointed His feet with oil. 55:45 And look what He says in Luke 7:47. 56:00 When we recognize the depth of our sin 56:03 and remember that we'll recognize His love. 56:06 Jesus said in Revelation 3:20 56:22 He desires to come into our hearts 56:25 and have the closest communion. 56:28 How long have we left Him on the outside? 56:32 Is Jesus standing on the outside of your heart knocking? 56:37 Let Him in today. 56:40 He will come in and change your heart. 56:44 And if you don't love Him with all of your heart, 56:48 soul, mind, and strength, faith it until you make it. 56:52 Not fake it... not F-A-K-E 56:54 but faith it... F-A-I-T-H. 56:57 Speak and say: "Oh, Lord, I love You with all of my heart. " 57:01 Because He will bring it into being. 57:04 But I want to leave you with this scripture. 57:07 Zephaniah 3:14 and 17. 57:09 When we love God and recognize His love, says: 57:28 Hallelujah! |
Revised 2024-10-24