Transformative Love: Prioritizing Our Relationship with God

Devotional

Sermon Summary

Sermon Clips

"We want to be like Jesus. That is the goal of discipleship. And as we go through this series and we talk about different topics each and every week, we need to be asking ourselves, holding a mirror up to ourselves, and asking, do I look like Christ in this area of my life?" [00:31:58] (22 seconds)


"Jesus knows what they're doing and there is no greater response I believe that Jesus could have given so Jesus verse 37 he said to him love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind this is the greatest and most important commandment and the second is like it love your neighbor as your neighbor and love your neighbor as your neighbor and love your self all the law and profits depend on these two things so Jesus takes two specific quotes from the Old Testament one and the one that we're looking at today is the first one comes from Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 5 and Jesus quotes it and says love the Lord your God with all your heart all your soul all your mind this is the great and most important commandment and the second is that you this is the great and most important commandment and the second is that you commandment and then he gives the Second is like it love your neighbor as yourself all the law and profits depend on these two commands Jesus takes the entirety of the Old Testament law and condenses it down into these two letters and self and profits depend on these two시�Dotsjes take the entirety of the Old Testament law and condenses it down institutions love God love your neighbor and Jesus says all of the law sentence instructions love God and 황h your name and Jesus says all of the law all of the Old Testament hut on these two things, points to these two things. Listen, these are two things that God wants us to have in our lives. These are very important to God. He gave them to the Jewish nation." [00:38:15] (104 seconds)


"primary love for god your love for god should come first in your life there should be nothing else in your life that you love more than god listen there are going to be things in your life that are going to try and come and take the throne away from god in your heart and you need to make the decision whether or not you're going to allow them to supplant god from his throne in your heart your love for god needs to be unconditionally primary there is no question in your mind who comes first there is no doubt in your life who you love the most it should be god first and foremost every single time there is another passage of scripture that i want you uh to turn to this morning when i'm talking about an unconditionally primary love for god it's found in luke chapter 14 a portion of this will be on the screen so if you can't turn to it too quickly this morning that is completely fine but luke chapter 14 verses 26 through verse 30 says this and again this is jesus talking to his disciples and jesus says in luke chapter 14 verses 26 through 30 jesus says if anyone wants if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother wife and children brothers and sisters yes even his own life he cannot be my disciple whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple for which of you wanting to build a tower doesn't first sit down and calculate the cost of it um he has and and see if he has enough to complete it otherwise after he has laid the foundation and cannot finish it all the onlookers will begin to ridicule him saying this man started to build and wasn't able to finish now in this passage there are many people who will take this and they will misrepresent what jesus is saying there are people who will teach you and tell you see jesus is telling you that you've got to hate your father and mother you've got to hate your wife you've got to hate your children you've got to hate your brothers your sisters your family in order to love god that is not what jesus is teaching but what jesus is teaching in this passage is a love for god must come first and foremost and be the primary love in your life up and above every other relationship that you have here on the face of this earth jesus is saying your love for god your passion for god ought to make it look like you hate your father and mother make it look like you hate your spouse you hate your kids because you love god so much jesus isn't saying to hate your wife hate your kids hate your mother and father jesus is just comparing our love for him to our love for these other things in our life our love for god needs to be unconditionally primary in our lives here's my illustration when it comes to my wife obviously i love god first i should love god first but when it comes to her are there other ladies in my life that i ought to let myself love more than i love her" [00:43:57] (0 seconds)


"Listen, a couple of weeks ago, it was on a Wednesday. I know that it was on a Wednesday. I was thinking about the psalm that we were going to be going over that Wednesday night in our Wednesday prayer service and our journey through praying through the psalms that I was in my office and just that day got overwhelmed with the presence of God and the love for God that He has for us and our lives and that He had for me. And I had a moment there in my office that I have been desiring to get back. And when we completely understand His love for us, man, it overwhelms us. When we completely realize what He's done for us, it overwhelms us. And our natural response to that ought to be an overwhelming love for Him in return." [01:11:02] (52 seconds)


"How can you see that kind of love and not respond in kind? How can you experience that kind of love in your life and not want to love Him back? And yet we get distracted in so many ways. And yet we are selfish in so many ways in our lives. And we forget about how overwhelming His presence is, how overwhelming His love is. And we don't keep Him in the primary place in our lives. And we don't keep Him, we don't obey Him in the areas of our lives that He wants us to obey Him. And when we experience His overwhelming love, He wants us to overwhelmingly love Him in return." [01:12:15] (43 seconds)


"That in our sinful depravity, we cannot understand what genuine real love is until we experience His love in our lives first. I'm moving towards that time of response just so you know. If you've never experienced God's love in your life, I'm just going to tell you right now, you don't know how to love others. You've got issues at home. You've got issues at work. You can't find love in your heart for other people. Maybe it's because God's love isn't in your heart first." [01:13:11] (47 seconds)


"It's coming to Him and asking Him to save you, asking Him to forgive you, putting your faith and trust in Him and letting His love overwhelm you in your heart today. Maybe you don't have a love in your life for others because you've never loved others. Maybe you've never experienced it or maybe because as a Christian you're not living in His love. Maybe this has been the self -checkup that you need to look at your life and go, you know what? I can't love my spouse the right way because I don't love Him the right way first." [01:14:39] (41 seconds)


"Listen, you're not going to fix stuff. You're not going to change stuff. You're not going to be different. You're not going to allow yourself to be a deeper disciple, be more conformed into the image of Christ, until you love Him the way you ought to love Him. And you're not going to love Him the way you ought to love Him until you are overwhelmed with His love for you first." [01:16:00] (22 seconds)


"How much do I love Him today? Am I overwhelmed with His love for me? Am I overwhelmed with His love for me? Am I overwhelmed with His love for me? And we're going to sing this song this morning. And I'm going to let the Holy Spirit do His work in our hearts. But as you respond, you respond out of His love for you today." [01:16:36] (30 seconds)


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