009: Greatest Commandment

What matters most to God? In Episode 009, we explore Jesus’ answer to that question: love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Along the way, your family will enjoy a car-friendly game, investigate the Bible story, and discover how disciples follow Jesus by loving God and loving others.

Listen together, talk about it, and find one way your family can show God’s love today!

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hey! Hey! Climb on in, let's roll! Three points miles all in a row. Snack backpack, hands on the wheel, we're headed out and it feels real.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

North side, it's drive time. Come ride, come ride, north side, it's drive time. Buckle up, let's roll!

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Hey, drive time crew. Hey kids, I'm so glad you're here for another episode of the North Side Kids Drive Time podcast. Whether you're headed home from church, maybe you're grabbing some lunch, maybe you're riding to grandma's house, or maybe you're getting ready to go to school. Thanks for bringing me along. Every Sunday, we look at what we talked about on Sunday morning. We want to remember what we learn from God's word because we want to learn to be with Jesus and then we want to discover how we can live sin wherever God takes us this week. And today we learn something really important. We've been talking all month how you were created for a purpose, and part of that purpose is worship. But worship might mean something different than you think. And we're gonna talk about that here in just a minute. Alright, let's have a little bit of fun. Are you ready to have some fun? Alright. Last week we played a game that was a ton of fun. And so we're gonna play again. This is the wrong answer only game. So I'm gonna throw something out there and then you get to re-answer, you get to respond, but it has to be the wrong answer. Moms and dads, I want you to play too. Alright, let's get our creative hats on. Let's get uh um ready to go. Here we go, ready, set go. What color is the grass? Remember, wrong answers only. If you said purple, polka dots, macaroni and cheese, any one of those would be acceptable answer. All right, the next question: what animal says moo? Did you say a chicken, a goldfish? Or maybe you said your dad before he's had some coffee? All right, what do you wear on your feet? Pancakes, squirrels, something like that? Those are good. Alright, what can you put in your backpack? Alright, last question. What do you hope your mom makes for dinner tonight? Alright, all of those are fun. Wrong answers only. It's not often you get to get the wrong answer and be right. I'm glad you played with us. Alright, it's time to have our detective's hat on. Here we go. You want to get your imaginary magnifying glass out. You're gonna have to listen really close today, you're gonna have to pay attention to all the details because you are a Bible detective. Here we go. In today's story out of the book of Mark, chapter 12, a man asked Jesus a really important question. He wanted to know which command was the most important, and Jesus gave him an answer. And so here's the mystery that you need to listen for today in the Bible story. According to Jesus, what matters most? Is it A knowing more Bible facts than anybody else? B loving God with everything you are and loving your neighbor, or C never eating broccoli again? Hmm. Don't answer yet. Listen carefully to today's story. All right. In today's story, we are looking at what is the greatest command of the book Mark chapter 12. Now, can you tell me, is the book of Mark in the Old Testament or the New Testament? That's right, it's in the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Those four books make up what we call the Gospels. And the Gospels tell us about the life of Jesus. It's here that as disciples we learn what Jesus did because do you know what? Disciples do what Jesus did, and so that's what we learn in these gospels. In Mark chapter 12, here's what we find. Jesus was in Jerusalem, and different people had been asking him questions all day. And then one of the scribes, who was a religious leader like the Pharisees, one of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him a question. Now we have to know a scribe was someone who knew God's law very well. Now, God's law was the first five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch. Can you say that word? Pentateuch. First five books of the Old Testament. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. And the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees and all these religious leaders, they studied those books and they knew those books inside and out. And so this man had heard Jesus answering questions. And he asked Jesus a question. He said, Which of the commands is the most important of all? Now think about it. God had given his people many commands. And the first five books contains many, many, many commands and laws that God gave his people. So this man was actually asking Jesus, what matters most? Of all of these things, what matters most? And so Jesus answered him. And he answered them by pointing back to something God's people had been taught for generations and generations and generations. Jesus said, the most important command is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength. Did you hear how many times Jesus used the word all? Let's count on it. All of your heart, one, all of your soul, two, all of your mind, three, all of your strength, four. You see, Jesus wasn't just saying, let's give God some of your life. No. He wasn't saying, let's give God your life when you're at church. No. He wasn't saying worship God when you're sing only when you're singing. Jesus said, all. God deserves all of us. But Jesus wasn't finished. And he said there's another command connected to the first command. He said, love your neighbor as yourself. In other words, you love God. And because you love God, you're going to love people. And then Jesus said, there is no greater command than these. And the man agreed with Jesus. He understood that loving God and loving others was more important than just going through the motions. Now drive time crew. Let's go back to our Bible detective question. According to Jesus, what matters most? Was it A knowing more Bible facts than everybody else? Or was it B loving God with everything you are and loving your neighbor? Or C never eating broccoli again? If you said B, love God with everything you are and love others, then you got it correct. Case closed. Now I'm not sure that broccoli thing might uh uh that might be in there somewhere. I'm not sure. I don't it's it's not, but I'm just saying. Alright, it's now time for our big word alert. Alright, drive time crew. We've got a big word alert. And today's big word is worship. Everybody say it with me. One, two, three, worship. You see, sometimes when we hear the word worship, we immediately think about music, singing, maybe a worship service. And one of the things you need to know is singing is worship. When we sing to God, that is part of our worship. But worship is so much bigger than music. Here's a simple definition: worship is showing God how much He is worth with all of our lives. There's that word all again, and today's story helps us understand that. Jesus said, love God with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your mind, and all of your strength. That's worship. Worship says, God, you are worth more to me than anything else. So you can worship God when you say, but you can also worship God when you obey Him. You can worship God when you thank Him. You can worship God when you pray. You can worship God when you obey your mom or your dad. You can worship God when you're treating your brother or your sister with kindness. You can worship God when you help a classmate. You can worship God anywhere. And that's why the main idea for today is I am here to worship God. Say that with me on the count of three. One, two, three. I am here to worship God. Now, I want to make a connection today because there's something super important. This is a Jesus connection. We don't worship God so that He will love us. No. You see, God loved us first. The Bible tells us that all of us have sinned. That word all again, all means every one of us. None of us have loved God perfectly with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And none of us have loved each other perfectly either. But Jesus did. Jesus perfectly loved and obeyed his Father. Jesus perfectly loved people. And then Jesus willingly went to the cross and died for our sins. He rose again. And the Bible says that everyone who repents and trusts in Jesus can be forgiven and have a new life. So worship isn't saying to God, God, look how good I am. Worship says, God, look how good you are. We love God because He first loved us. We worship because He is worthy of our worship. Now, we're almost towards the end of the month, and so I want to go over our memory verse, but by now you ought to be getting this verse stuck in your head and stuck in your heart. The Bible says that we put God's word in our heart so that we won't sin against him. So our Bible verse this month is Matthew 5, 16b, and it says, Let your light shine before others, so they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Did you see that? We are to shine our light so that other people will see what we do, how we do it, the things we say, our attitudes. And so, kids, I hope that you are memorizing this verse. So, as we come to the end of our time today on the Drive Time Podcast, here is the question of the day. I want you to go around the car and let everybody answer. That's right. Everybody answer. What's one part of your life where you want to do a better job putting God first? Maybe it's how you treat people. Maybe it's how you use your time. Maybe, kids, it's your attitude. Maybe it's the things you think about. Or maybe it's how you respond when you're angry. Parents, you're answering too. Then here's a second question. A bonus question for your family. What's one way your family can worship God together this week besides singing? I want you all to talk about it. And then I want you to do it. Hey, don't forget we are back at midweek on Wednesday night. That's right, midweek is Wednesday night, 6 to 7.15. We have a lot of fun. We eat pizza and we learn how to be a disciple. This week we are talking about how we can read the Bible. That's right, we're gonna talk about how kids can read the Bible right now. Kids, you don't have to wait till one day. You can read the Bible for yourself today. So I can't wait to see you Wednesday. And then we're gonna come back again for another Sunday. September is gonna be loaded with some fun stuff on Sunday morning. And so I can't let the cat out of the bag just yet, but just know after Labor Day, after Labor Day, we are gonna have three Sundays that you don't want to miss. Mark your calendar, invite your friends. It's gonna be a ton of fun. All right, that brings us to the end of this week's Drive Time podcast. I hope y'all have a fantastic week, and I'll see you again here at the uh on the podcast on Thursday. Pastor Rich and I'm out of here.