Pastor Tony Ashmore begins the new series "Really?" with part 1, "Love God" in this Sunday morning celebration.Really? PT1
Pastor Tony Ashmore
Sunday, February 12, 2012
www.mylifegatechurch.com
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Sermon Notes:
Matthew 22:36-39 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Matthew 28:19-20 “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Genesis 22:12 “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”
WRM—What Really Matters
The Great Commandment and the Great Commission define WRM:
* Love God
* Love Yourself
* Love Others
Week 1: Love God with all your heart, soul, mind. Don’t hold back or hold out. The foundation of Rich and Satisfying life is this. Our relationship with God will set the limits on our relationship with ourself and with others. Small, poor, struggling relationship with God = small, poor, struggling relationship with God. Our relationship with ourself and others is simply a reflection and magnification of our relationship with God. The areas where we struggle with loving ourself or others are symptomatic of the root cause of a flaw in our relationship with God.
The story of Abraham:
* No models for him to follow—the 1st to establish a covenant relationship with God.
* Pivotal moment on that mountain. Promise had been given, Isaac was no longer a dream but a young man. Now, the thing Abraham most wanted was what God asked for. Is the relationship going to an HNL or shrinking? That is the test.
* The Angel of the Lord (most probably Jesus here) says the relationship went to an HNL because Abraham did not withhold anything from God. He and Isaac (remember Isaac, described as a boy, is a young man strong enough to carry all the wood up this mountain and certainly strong enough to resist being tied up and laid on the altar as a sacrifice) faced their fears by trusting them to God. Abraham, standing with that knife poised over his beloved son, and Isaac, willingly submitting to his father and His Heavenly Father were both facing great fear. When we think of withholding we think of ‘stuff’, which is also a test, but Abraham had passed that test years ago with the tithe to Melchisidek. The withholding that was tested o that mountain was the withholding of our secrets and our secret fears. Abraham and Isaac withheld nothing—trusting God with their most secret and most awful fears. The result is history, something they didn’t have to lean on but something they left for us. (Note: that’s why he is the ‘father of our faith’).
* God proved His love that day. The test was not about Abraham’s love for God, it was about Abraham’s understanding of God’s love for him. How many of us can look in our spouse’s eyes, our parent’s eyes, our best friend’s eyes and tell them we are thinking about cheating on them? We are afraid of the reaction—the hurt, the anger, the pain and maybe the pulling away or rejection. Yet God proved Abraham could trust Him with anything and their relationship would handle it, even grow because of it! When we move into that kind of relationship with God, what will it do to our relationship with ourself and with others?
* 2 Samuel 24:24 “But the (David) replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the LORD my God that have cost me nothing." Same mountain—a threshing floor where David encounters God, where his pride is laid down. He will not build a temple—the thing he thought was his calling, his purpose, and what would be his greatest achievement. He is to prepare the way for another, Solomon, to do that.
* At Gethsemane, Jesus looks into the eyes of God, His Father, and says “I know this is Your plan. Does it really have to be my plan?” He is trusting that relationship and on the cross He is heard saying what God told Him in that moment that gave Him the strength to do what He was on this planet to do: A few days later on the same mountain where Isaac was offered, where David laid down his pride and built an altar, and where Solomon built a temple, Jesus is sacrificed. He carried the wood for His sacrifice up the mountain. And in His statement on that cross we see the result of looking into His Father’s eyes and trusting His love--“My God, My God, why have you forsaken me…” is part of Psalm 22—the Messianic Psalm that also says “I will fulfill my vows in the presence of those who worship you…His righteous acts will be told to those not yet born.
They will hear about everything he has done.” (vs. 25-31). Jesus trusted the love of God, withholding nothing. The result is history—His-Story and Our-Story!
John 17:23 “I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.”
What am I withholding from God? Today I will take my relationship with God to an HNL by following the example of Abraham and Jesus. I will look into His eyes and get honest about my fears, my secrets, my hesitation. God is for me, for my good. I can trust Him with everything. As a result, I will enlarge the foundation for all my other relationships and I will see WRM emphasized in my life! All the complications of “fixing” will fall away as I learn to trust the One who is able to simplify my life and fill it with WRM.
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