WEBVTT 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:11.679 You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:20.719 The key to greatness in the kingdom of God is loving God and experiencing God's love. 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:37.439 And I believe this with all my heart that until we really get this down deep in our heart, you gotta work at it, believe me, you gotta work at it, then what we will all transgress towards, the direction we will all go is outward activity. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:46.320 Doing outward stuff, and we have a dutiful Christianity instead of a devoted, faith, and love relationship with Christ. 00:00:47.679 --> 00:00:53.280 At The Road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ. 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:57.759 For more information on The Road, visit theroad.org. 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:03.200 We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt. 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:09.840 So here's what I want to do this morning is I want to look. 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:13.280 I'm continuing this series on being a disciple. 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:17.439 This is the third part, and I believe it's the most important part. 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:20.159 So in the first part, I talked about come and follow me. 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:24.159 So I talked about following Jesus and what that means. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:28.319 And if you recall, I talked about the fact that God initiates with us. 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:32.239 We looked at the story of Levi, Matthew, who's a tax collector. 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:35.840 Jesus comes to Matthew and says, Come and follow me. 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:40.400 Matthew doesn't come up to Jesus and say, How do I receive you into my heart? 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:45.040 Jesus initiates, and he is initiating with you here right now. 00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:48.239 You're here because he's initiating with you because he loves you so much. 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:51.280 Then in the second message, we talked about our treasure. 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:53.200 We talked about the talents. 00:01:53.359 --> 00:01:58.239 We talked about there's an investment that God has put into you. 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:14.080 And you have a spirit-anointed, God-blessed opportunity to give your gifts and your talents back to the Lord and multiply them. 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:20.879 And he is actually gonna come and bring a reckoning with what he gave you. 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:23.360 He expects a return. 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:26.159 And you remember the guy who got one talent? 00:02:26.879 --> 00:02:27.919 He buried his. 00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:33.439 He said, Well, I knew you to be a man who reaps where he has not sowed and sowed where he has not reaped. 00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:35.199 And I was fearful. 00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:41.599 And I've heard messages on that, like how we walk in fear and all that, and that's true, it's absolutely true. 00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:44.240 But Jesus doesn't comfort the guy. 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:47.280 Jesus is really mean sometimes in the scriptures. 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:53.759 I don't know if you figured that out, but he's a little different than the surfer boy Jesus in Sunday school class. 00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:56.240 He is a warrior. 00:02:57.039 --> 00:03:02.879 He is a warrior in his heart with fierce love for us. 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:06.400 But he also wants a return. 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:08.240 He wants a return. 00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:10.159 So he says, You wicked. 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:11.599 That's not very nice. 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:14.319 Poor guy, he's got an inferiority complex. 00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:17.280 He was probably hurt by his mom and dad when he was a kid. 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:27.280 And he's just, he's had a lot of worries in his life, and he's struggling, and I mean, he's probably taking, you know, a lot of aspirin. 00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:28.800 I mean, he's got issues, you know. 00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:32.479 And Jesus says, You wicked and lay servant, you knew that about me. 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:34.639 Why didn't you invest it with the bankers? 00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:36.319 So God wants an investment. 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:38.240 So what is the investment? 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:40.159 What is it? 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:48.479 Because what we've been taught in our culture, it's about achievement, it's about getting more stuff, it's about the American dream. 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:53.919 And I'm here to tell you that Jesus is not interested in the American dream. 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:56.800 He's interested in his dream for you. 00:03:57.360 --> 00:03:59.520 He's got a dream for you. 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:09.599 And right there, in the midst of a situation where first it's the Pharisees, and that's the conservatives of the time, and they begin to challenge him theologically on stuff. 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:11.439 Turn in your Bibles, let's look at it. 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:14.560 Look at Mark chapter 12. 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:16.959 Mark chapter 12. 00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:18.240 It's about taxes. 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:21.439 Of course, conservatives would be talking about taxes, right? 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:23.680 Because that's what they do. 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:25.279 That's what I'm a conservative. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:26.480 That's what I do. 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:28.079 I was like, ah, more taxes. 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:32.399 So right there in verse 13, he says, Are we how do we about paying taxes to Caesar? 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:33.839 And that's their question. 00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:41.360 And then by verse uh 18, the Sadducees, which would be the liberals of the time, they're talking about is there a resurrection or not? 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:42.800 So he's just getting hammered. 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:48.959 And if you if you compare this with Matthew and his account, he's getting hammered with all these questions theologically. 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:56.160 And then look at now verse 28, he gets asked this question: what's the greatest commandment? 00:04:56.399 --> 00:04:57.920 So, okay, we heard what you have the resurrection. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:04:59.360 We know what you say about the taxes. 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:01.439 But now this, and this is what he says. 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:04.240 And men and women, this is really important this morning. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:11.279 You get this, because this begins to define to us what really matters to God. 00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:16.240 What really matters to him is what we do with this. 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:19.040 And so here's what Jesus says. 00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:25.519 So the verse 28, when one of the scribes, so first it's the Sadducees, then it's, I mean it's the Pharisees, then it's the Sadducees, and now it's the scribes. 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:27.600 Everybody, can you imagine? 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:35.920 Every major leadership influential group in Jerusalem is on Jesus' case. 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:38.160 So now let's move down to this question. 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:47.920 So, scribe says, having heard them reasoning together and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, which is the first commandment of all? 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:51.680 And some of your translations, as well as in Matthew, what's the greatest commandment? 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:59.199 And Jesus said, The first of all the commandments is this hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:07.040 And you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all your soul, with all of your mind, with all of your strength. 00:06:07.279 --> 00:06:08.959 This is the first commandment. 00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:21.439 So, men and women, again, I'm not very smart, but when I read something that says, This is the greatest commandment, this is the first commandment, this is the most important commandment, we gotta get this, and the problem is we've heard it too many times. 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:22.399 I really do. 00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:31.199 I believe that we've heard this too many times, and we don't take it to heart, and we're not contending for it. 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:34.399 We gotta contend for the first commandment. 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:35.680 Here's my thesis today. 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:46.079 My thesis is the greatest man who ever lived gave us the greatest command ever given that we might experience the greatest love ever offered. 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:55.839 The greatest man who ever lived gave us the greatest command ever given that we might experience the greatest love ever offered. 00:06:56.240 --> 00:07:05.040 And we and we fill our life with doing stuff, and we fill our life with achievements and accomplishments, especially men. 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:13.759 We're just driven that way, and you know from the last message I gave, I think achieving and accomplishing is important. 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:18.480 It's very important, but it's not the most important. 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:33.519 And when Sean Accor wrote his book, The Happiness Advantage, which all my staff team were all reading it together, he said he's defining happiness as happiness is the joy of reaching your full potential. 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:36.160 It's the joy of reaching your full potential. 00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:49.279 And here's what they found in all the happiness studies and in all the positive psychology studies that are being done at Harvard and Yale and Stanford over the last 20 years, they found that it's not success that makes people happy. 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:55.439 Matter of fact, that's usually short-lived because you've got to have another goal and another goal and another goal. 00:07:55.519 --> 00:07:56.720 You're never happy. 00:07:57.040 --> 00:08:01.759 But that the people who are successful year after year are happy people. 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:22.399 In other words, you're flipping it upside down that people who have an inner joy and an inner security, and I've shared so many times from Brene Brown, an inner sense of belonging in their heart become successful because they're ministering, they're leading, they're working out of the fullness of something within. 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:24.399 Only Christ can give you that. 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:26.959 Only Christ can give you that. 00:08:27.519 --> 00:08:56.720 And there are a lot of pastors, and there are a lot of Christians, and there are a lot of people who go to church who do not get this because we and it's a struggle, believe me, it's such a struggle, because we get bombarded all the time on TV, media, even in the church, in our family, with these outward things being what's gonna make you happy, and that's really what success is, and Jesus saying, This is success. 00:08:57.279 --> 00:08:59.279 Right here is what success is. 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:00.559 Love me. 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:05.840 Love me with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:06.879 Start there. 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:09.200 And you know what he's quoting? 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:12.480 He's quoting the greatest passage in the Old Testament. 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:16.799 Turn if you have your Bibles with you, turn to Deuteronomy 4, just real quick. 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:19.679 Deuteronomy 4 is the great Shema passage. 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:29.840 And the Shema passage, Jesus is quoting from this because this is so important, because this is when Israel was going into the promised land. 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:32.080 They're gonna go into Canaanite territory. 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:35.519 They're gonna go into a territory where there's idols and stuff. 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:38.559 And he's saying, look, this is how you keep your family intact. 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:41.279 This is how fathers, you lead your families. 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:44.639 So he's saying, fathers, wake up, smell the coffee. 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:47.840 Smell, smell the, I guess you're supposed to say, smell the green tea. 00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:49.279 Green tea extract. 00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:50.399 I've heard so much about green. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:55.200 All the nutritional stuff that all you nutritional people is hang out with me all the time and I hear stuff. 00:09:55.279 --> 00:09:58.960 So anyway, wake up and smell the green tea. 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:02.159 Here's what he says in verse 4 of Deuteronomy 6. 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:05.759 Moses says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:13.200 You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:14.399 Now look at verse 7. 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:25.039 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:28.080 He's not talking to the mothers. 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:34.080 He's talking to the dads, and he's saying, Look, you get it first, and then I want you to teach it. 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:35.600 I want you to live it. 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:37.440 I want you to model it. 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:42.879 I want you to build up your family because that's the only way you're gonna handle the Canaanite religions. 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:52.559 It's the only way that you're gonna keep what Yahweh has given us as the dictates of success in our life. 00:10:52.639 --> 00:10:54.639 You've got to love me with all your heart. 00:10:54.720 --> 00:11:03.519 And so Jesus is simply saying to the Jewish leaders the same thing, and he's saying that to us today, that men and women, this is success. 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:07.519 You are loved by God, and you get to love him back. 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:09.759 It's as simple as that. 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:11.440 That you are beloved. 00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:28.320 And many of you know my story of what happened in Mountain Springs three years ago, and that whole thing, and that was what inaugurated the planting of the road, and and so I won't go through all the details, but I discovered that I was beloved. 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:32.320 I discovered that's where the whole heart advance came from. 00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:47.440 The whole heart advance is literally my journey with shame and breaking off the power of worldly success to discovering godly success from the great commandment. 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:56.559 And so here he is, and he starts off, look at verse 29 back at Mark 12, and it's the same thing actually in Deuteronomy 4. 00:11:56.720 --> 00:11:59.039 He says, first of all, this is what I want you to get. 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:02.080 The Lord our God is one. 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:04.320 Now, this is really important, folks. 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:05.200 Don't miss this. 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:06.879 Why does he start there? 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:09.759 Why does he start with the Lord our God is one? 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:17.200 Because the Lord our God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit passionately love each other. 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:22.159 The Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Spirit, Spirit loves the Father. 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:26.799 They've been madly in love with each other since the beginning of time. 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:30.320 We're entering into a love relationship. 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:36.320 We're entering into community that's been happening for billions of years and eternity past. 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:38.240 Millennials. 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:45.600 Oh folks, before you discovered God's love, he was in love with himself. 00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:48.240 And the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were in love. 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:49.200 They were loving each other. 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:53.279 Look at one of the most amazing passages in Scripture is John 17. 00:12:53.519 --> 00:13:03.120 John 17 called the high priestly prayer, but I want you to look at this one set of verses that gets missed sometimes. 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:07.519 John 17, look at verse 24. 00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:09.919 He says this. 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:11.519 This is Jesus praying. 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:13.120 This is before he, right before he goes to the cross. 00:13:13.279 --> 00:13:28.879 He says, Father, I desire that they, meaning his disciples, and he's saying that about us, also whom you may give me, may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which you have given me, for you love me before the foundation of the world. 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:35.440 God the Father loved God the Son before the foundation of the world. 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:37.120 They were already in a love relationship. 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:46.240 And then he goes to this, O righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I've known you, and these have known that you have sent me. 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:47.440 Now look at verse 26. 00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:49.840 Underline it, highlight it, star it, whatever you want to do. 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:50.639 It's really important. 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:54.480 And I've declared to them your name and will declare it. 00:13:54.559 --> 00:13:55.120 But look at this. 00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:56.240 This is really important. 00:13:56.480 --> 00:14:02.639 That the love with which you loved me may be in them. 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:04.159 That's us. 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:06.240 And I in them. 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:20.000 Now that little conjunction, I, is super important because he's saying here, yes, I want your love to be in them even as I am in them. 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:27.360 What that says to me is that it's possible for Christ to be in you, but you're not experiencing his love. 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:29.120 He says, I want them to experience. 00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:36.720 Here's the fullness of everything that really matters, and this is what effectiveness and success in life is, is to know Jesus, but also to know his love. 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:39.440 To experience his love. 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:42.639 I and the Father are one. 00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:45.360 That's before he says, love the Lord your God with all of your heart. 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:49.279 So Jesus is in love with the Father, and they just dig each other, you know? 00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:52.960 And the Father loves the Spirit, the Spirit loves the Son. 00:14:53.440 --> 00:15:01.840 And when you receive Christ, you get to enter into that community, but you don't have to, and many believers don't. 00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:06.080 Because here's the deal: love is unity, unity is love. 00:15:06.320 --> 00:15:10.720 You show me a family that loves each other, and I'll show you a unified family. 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:15.600 You show me a church that loves one another, I'll show you a unified church. 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:23.120 You show me a group of men and women at their job who care about each other, who love each other, I'll show you a unified company. 00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:27.840 I mean, dude, when you get around, when you get around Marines, any Marines in here? 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:30.240 I mean, a few of you. 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:32.639 That's a unified bunch. 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:42.000 I'll tell you what, you if you're in a bar and had a few too many drinks and somebody takes a slug and they find it, you just hit a Marine brother, oh, you just got yourself a bar room brawl. 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:45.919 I think we should be that way. 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:48.480 For Jesus. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:53.039 Unified with him, ready to battle with the enemy. 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:58.000 And so, and so this unity of love is the key. 00:15:58.159 --> 00:16:00.960 He says at the very beginning, it's the key to everything. 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:02.320 So here, don't miss this. 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:12.080 Here's what I want you to get: the key to greatness in the kingdom of God is loving God and experiencing God's love. 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:15.200 It's loving God and experiencing God's love. 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:34.000 And I believe this with all my heart that until we really get this down deep in our heart, and you gotta work at it, believe me, you gotta work at it, then what we what we will all transgress toward, the direction we will all go is outward activities. 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:42.960 Doing outward stuff, and we have a dutiful Christianity instead of a devoted faith and love relationship with Christ. 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:45.759 Isn't duty a bummer? 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:52.799 Now, a duty, duty is, I mean, I'd rather have du let me believe me, I'd rather have people who have duty than people who don't. 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:55.840 Okay, so I like dutiful people. 00:16:56.080 --> 00:17:03.519 But if that's primarily the way we live is out of duty, that is a drag, and that's religion. 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:09.359 We want people who are devoted to Christ and they're loving what they do. 00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:12.079 We talk about this on the staff team from time to time. 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:14.480 Are you guys loving what you're doing? 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:16.640 Are you passionate about it? 00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:19.759 Because we want passionate people around here. 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:33.519 And passionate people can break through barriers, and we need a breakthrough faith in a breakthrough God because we have a passion, and men and women, we have a passion because we're saying we love the Lord each day. 00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:38.799 We're loving him with all of our heart. 00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:48.000 So in our passage, with the shame of passage in Jesus speaking here, he then gives us five ways to love him. 00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:50.799 And for the next several weeks, I'm gonna cover these. 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:53.200 And today we're gonna talk about loving God with all your heart. 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:56.720 Then we're gonna talk about soul, mind, strength, and our neighbor is ourselves. 00:17:56.880 --> 00:18:01.519 But let's focus on this idea of wholehearted love. 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:04.480 You can't do it. 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:08.240 Don't you love it when Jesus commands you to do something you can't do? 00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:09.599 It's really encouraging. 00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:11.039 Jesus thanks a lot. 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:13.440 You can't love God with all your heart. 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:15.359 Impossible. 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:16.720 Don't even think about it. 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:18.559 All right, let's all close in prayer. 00:18:18.720 --> 00:18:20.000 Lord, we just think of the thing. 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:21.279 No, you can't. 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:22.079 You can't. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:23.759 No, you can't. 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:27.279 But guess what Jeremiah says? 00:18:27.599 --> 00:18:28.880 Guess what Jeremiah says? 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:30.240 Jeremiah says this. 00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:46.240 Jeremiah, prophesying of a new work of God, said, Listen, then I will give them, meaning us, and I believe he's prophesying about the church to come, a heart, I will give them a new heart to know me. 00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:47.839 What? 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:53.680 That I am the Lord, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to me. 00:18:53.759 --> 00:18:55.519 Listen, with their whole heart. 00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:57.359 Jeremiah 24, 7. 00:18:58.480 --> 00:19:01.680 Well, if that's not good enough, Ezekiel says it this way. 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:12.559 Then I will give them a one heart, I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh. 00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:14.000 Guess what? 00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:21.200 If you're born again, if you put your faith in Christ, you have a new heart. 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:24.000 You don't have the old heart. 00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:26.480 Quit living in the old heart. 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:38.720 The old heart is stony, it's mean, it's gossipy, it's selfish, it's a lot of us sometimes. 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:45.039 But the new spirit, the new heart is when we surrender the Lord to God today, I'm gonna love you with all my heart. 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:47.039 God, I thank you for this new heart. 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:48.799 Ezekiel says, I've got a new heart. 00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:55.200 Devil, get out of here because I'm not gonna listen to that old heart anymore, because that old heart is gone, and I've got a new heart. 00:19:55.359 --> 00:19:58.400 Quit resurrection, quit resurrecting the old heart. 00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:02.400 I mean, some of you guys got this stony heart, and you keep pulling it up. 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:05.119 Trying to live with that heart. 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:08.079 That's a drag, man. 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:14.799 God's giving us a new heart, a heart that's sensitive, a heart that's loving, a heart that's kind. 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:16.880 That's what he means by heart that's full of flesh. 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:20.000 It's soft, it's subtle, it's caring. 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:26.079 And I know what's happening right now, because some of the women are you you're elbowing your husband right now. 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:28.640 Would you quit living in that stony heart? 00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:35.279 Well, the reality is, is that we all do that, but that's what discipleship is. 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:57.839 That's what being a disciple is, is we start making a choice to do what really matters to God, because here's what the goal of the greatness of God is, is that that greatness is found in what God the Father and God the Spirit and God the Son are doing right now, and they're loving each other, and he's saying, Love me with all of your heart. 00:20:58.559 --> 00:21:00.160 Your new heart. 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:03.359 Church, your new heart. 00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:09.759 Now, if you don't know Christ, if you don't have a personal relationship with Christ, if you're not walking in intimacy with Christ, you don't have a new heart. 00:21:10.079 --> 00:21:12.319 You got an old stony heart. 00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:15.920 And I can promise you, your life's really boring. 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:18.319 It is. 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:24.960 And you start living in the heart of the flesh, in the heart of the spirit, joy starts to come. 00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:28.480 Happiness starts to come, freedom starts to come. 00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:31.839 That's the heart that he says to love him with. 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:34.880 That's what he means by loving him with all of our heart. 00:21:35.279 --> 00:21:38.559 He talks about being wholehearted. 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:40.480 What is this word? 00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:48.240 You understand, church, that to go to the whole heart advanced takes courage. 00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:51.440 It takes courage. 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:59.119 To love your wife and serve your wife takes courage. 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:09.119 To begin to get in a D group with some men and begin to start working on your porn addiction takes courage. 00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:16.160 And if you're in an adulterous relationship right now, it takes courage to go in there and break that thing off. 00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:24.480 Because courage comes from the word core, C-O-U-R, which is Latin for heart. 00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:28.079 That's where we get the word cardiologist. 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:29.519 It takes heart. 00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:35.599 When he says wholehearted, he's saying, love me with courage. 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:39.440 Courage is where it's at. 00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:47.200 I'd rather have a courageous man that fails than a lazy man who succeeds. 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:50.480 We need courageous men. 00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:51.759 It takes courage. 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:53.519 Courage means wholehearted. 00:22:54.720 --> 00:23:07.599 And some of you men maybe never had a dad, or possibly never had a coach, who told you that being courageous is important in life. 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:20.000 So I'm going to tell you today, as your pastor, dad, friend, peer, it takes courage to make something of your life. 00:23:20.400 --> 00:23:25.759 And some of you in this room have never been courageous. 00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:28.000 And I'm going to tell you, you can be. 00:23:29.119 --> 00:23:30.960 Through the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:36.640 Through the power of this new heart that God's given you, He can make you courageous. 00:23:38.079 --> 00:23:52.880 Noah Webster in defining the heart says, an inner part of anything, the core of everything, vital, vigorous, the seat of our affections. 00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:54.799 So here's what he's saying. 00:23:55.119 --> 00:24:02.319 Saying that, well, Noah Webster's saying this, but what Jesus is saying is, I want you to love me emotionally. 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:14.559 I was had the privilege of being at the Air Force Academy and speaking there a couple weeks ago, and I told the guys there, I said, you've got to learn to experience the emotional heart of God. 00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:21.759 Because most men and women live in a mental ascent, but not an emotional response to the Lord. 00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:23.039 You say, well, how'd I do that? 00:24:23.119 --> 00:24:24.640 Well, I think it begins in worship. 00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:26.720 It begins with worshiping the Lord. 00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:29.839 When we go into worship in a few minutes, we're going to worship the Lord. 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:37.839 And you can either just kind of go through the songs and say, well, that's a little too loud, or that's, I wish they was louder, or I don't know the words to this song. 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:41.920 Or you can go, I'm worshiping the Lord. 00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:44.799 I'm going to worship the Lord. 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:47.200 Rain, snow, sleet, whatever. 00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:48.799 I'm going to worship the Lord. 00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:50.799 I'm going to emotionally try to connect. 00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:52.160 And you won't. 00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:54.000 You won't. 00:24:54.400 --> 00:25:03.279 But if you keep doing it every week, if you start putting on the iPod and you start doing it when you do a prayer walk, you start doing it in your time with the Lord, it'll start to come. 00:25:03.359 --> 00:25:06.319 You'll start to have an emotional relationship with Jesus. 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:09.680 You'll experience Him at the emotional level. 00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:13.680 And when that begins to happen, God changes us. 00:25:13.839 --> 00:25:16.079 Do you realize that's what enthusiasm means? 00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:18.960 Enthusiasm is a 17th-century word. 00:25:19.440 --> 00:25:21.440 Enthusiasm. 00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:22.160 In thu. 00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:23.440 That means in God. 00:25:23.599 --> 00:25:28.799 You know what the word enthusiasm meant in the old Webster dictionary from the 1700s, the one my wife always uses. 00:25:28.880 --> 00:25:29.119 Is that right? 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:30.240 Is that 1700s? 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:31.200 Yeah, she uses that. 00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:33.920 Sucker's like massive. 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:38.720 And I see my wife, she got a Bible on one arm and she's got this big old dictionary. 00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:40.640 Steve, you know what this word means? 00:25:40.799 --> 00:25:42.880 I'm like, no, and I don't want to know. 00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:44.400 Well, let me tell you anyway. 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:45.519 Isn't that cool? 00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:47.759 Not really, but she loves it, you know. 00:25:47.920 --> 00:25:52.160 It's like, oh, because she's really into words and stuff, mislinguistics here. 00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:54.559 I probably learned this from her. 00:25:54.880 --> 00:25:57.519 Enthusiasm, thus, is where we get from the Greek. 00:25:57.759 --> 00:25:59.759 It's the idea of in God. 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:01.920 You know what enthusiasm means in the 17th century? 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:03.680 It means possessed by God. 00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:06.880 We need enthusiastic believers. 00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:08.559 That's loving God with all your heart. 00:26:08.720 --> 00:26:19.119 They're in God, and they're so into God that you get around them, and then you go, whoa, I want to follow whatever they're following because they seem to be pretty darn happy. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:21.920 Some of you are way too sad. 00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:24.400 I mean, it's okay to be sad. 00:26:24.480 --> 00:26:26.880 I've been sad half my life. 00:26:27.759 --> 00:26:37.119 But I'm telling you, God can give us a possession by Him to love Him the way we fall in love with another person. 00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:44.079 And when I fell in love with my wife, we were thousands of miles apart, but I couldn't wait for that phone. 00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:49.119 We used to have, there used to be these things that were called, they were called rotary phones. 00:26:49.279 --> 00:26:53.839 Now I know many of you have never seen these, but you have an index finger. 00:26:54.079 --> 00:26:54.400 Okay? 00:26:54.799 --> 00:26:55.839 It's the index finger. 00:26:55.920 --> 00:26:57.519 This is the index finger. 00:26:57.759 --> 00:26:58.079 Okay. 00:26:58.799 --> 00:27:04.720 And you stick it in a hole, and it had a number on it, and you went like this. 00:27:05.279 --> 00:27:13.519 And then you you had a number, you memorized it, or you had it on a piece of paper that you had written with a pen. 00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:27.119 And you did this thing, and there was this little funny kind of banana-looking thing in your hand that had this kind of squirrely looking cord that went into the machine. 00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:34.160 And then you there was a voice on the other end from very, very far away. 00:27:34.559 --> 00:27:42.319 And so we could only afford, while I was in Japan and she's still at UCLA, was a dollar a minute phone call once a month. 00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:43.440 That's all I could afford. 00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:44.400 60 bucks a month. 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:46.400 Now that's big time money back then. 00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:51.279 And and that, and there's another thing. 00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:56.480 And I'll spell it out because you probably don't know what the word means, but it's called a letter. 00:27:57.599 --> 00:28:00.400 And that's not like a letter on a keyboard. 00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:06.480 That's actually a letter where you lick this piece of this little thing, and you actually don't put any money in it. 00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:09.359 It's not a bill, it's a letter. 00:28:09.599 --> 00:28:12.799 And you would, and it didn't have a window on the envelope. 00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:18.720 So that when you put it in and it says you, you know, utilities bill, and that it's already ready to go. 00:28:19.279 --> 00:28:24.000 You actually wrote the address of someone that you were writing, the letter to. 00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:26.720 And that would take five days. 00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:34.960 And then and then she would write me, and then five, so ten days if she's on it and I'm on it, it took, and then one call a month. 00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:35.920 That's it. 00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:39.440 But I was madly in love. 00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:42.960 And I just couldn't wait. 00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:49.359 And every once in a while, Liz would get one from me, or I'd get one from her before the other one got there. 00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:51.519 Now that's a problem at times. 00:28:51.680 --> 00:28:53.200 I I figured that out. 00:28:53.440 --> 00:29:13.519 You might have said something in response to something she asked you, and you you settled whatever this thing was, and then she wrote you again, elaborating more on the thing that you responded to, and then so now that the thing you respond to is totally different than it was with the first letter that you got, and you are way down deep in the hole. 00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:19.279 So I got real smart and realized I'm not I'm not writing a letter until I get that next one back. 00:29:19.519 --> 00:29:24.480 Because I said I was sorry in the last one, but then I got, you know, you know what I'm talking about. 00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:27.279 Everybody over 45 knows what I'm talking about. 00:29:27.359 --> 00:29:28.799 Everybody else is like, man, he's weird. 00:29:28.880 --> 00:29:29.200 I don't know. 00:29:29.359 --> 00:29:30.559 He's he's an old guy. 00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:31.920 Glad we don't do that anymore. 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:34.559 I can just text it and get it rid of that thing. 00:29:35.039 --> 00:29:35.680 Right? 00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:43.200 But I wanted to be with her because I was emotionally charged by Liz. 00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:47.839 And God, I believe, wants us to be a church that's emotionally charged by the Lord. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:53.519 Now, I don't mean that we live in emotion, and I'm not saying that we should uh live in emotionalism. 00:29:53.759 --> 00:29:58.400 I'm saying, though, that the engagement we have emotionally heals us. 00:29:59.599 --> 00:30:00.880 It heals us. 00:30:01.359 --> 00:30:06.559 If you don't feel emotionally close ever to your spouse, you really need counseling. 00:30:06.720 --> 00:30:09.359 You need to get some work, do some heart work. 00:30:09.599 --> 00:30:11.759 I mean, I don't feel that way all the time. 00:30:11.920 --> 00:30:14.559 Most of the time, maybe I even don't, but a lot of times I do. 00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:16.559 Still do, but we have to work at it. 00:30:16.640 --> 00:30:19.440 We have to work at it, we have to work at it. 00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:30.240 And I have to work a lot harder than she does because I think women in general are more emotionally and spiritually in touch than us guys, and we have to work harder at it. 00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:45.359 And so, women, be nice to us because, you know, God grabbed one of our ribs, and so, you know, we're missing some stuff. 00:30:45.680 --> 00:30:48.160 We're missing some stuff, man, I'm telling you. 00:30:48.319 --> 00:31:01.359 And all those studies showing those babies and everything, it's kind of like there's this wash that happens on that guy's brain when he becomes a male, and it messes us up. 00:31:01.599 --> 00:31:06.559