Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #20250305 - The Transforming Power of Love - Matthew 22:37-40

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#20250305 - The Transforming Power of Love - Matthew 22:37-40 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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  Welcome to the study of God's Word recorded live at Calvary
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  Church in Aurora, Co. To learn more about the many
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  resources available through Abounding Grace Media or to tune
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  into our live stream services, visit us online at Calvary Co
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  dot Church or download our free Calvary Church app.
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  Now let's open our Bibles and study God's Word.
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  Welcome tonight. So for a lot of you guys that
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  don't know me, my name is Enrique.
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  Excuse me, I'm one of the assistant pastors here.
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  I do, you know, a few things around the church.
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  If you've ever served at Family Fest, I thank you for serving.
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  You'll probably get an e-mail from me soon.
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  You know, we're already planning things out like that.
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  Another thing that I do here at the church, and it's such a
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  privilege is that I'm the high school pastor.
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  So shout out to the high schoolers that I see here
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  tonight. OK Where are you guys at?
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  OK. Hey, high school.
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  They're a little nervous. No worries.
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  Hey, guys. Yeah.
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  So, yeah. So.
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  So it's a privilege tonight. You know, we welcome you guys.
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  If it's your first time here, we say welcome.
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  If if you're coming back, welcome back.
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  And so so tonight we're going to be in the book of Matthew
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  starting in chapter 22 and verse 34 through 40.
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  And we're going to be talking tonight about love.
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  And so for a lot of us, love looks different.
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  Love can be something that we share with our spouse, with our
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  kids, with our friends, with our family.
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  I know the other day for Valentine's Day, I took my wife
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  to go get a heart-shaped Taco and that was awesome.
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  So I love you Nelly. OK.
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  But tonight we're going to kind of bounce around and see, you
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  know, what the Lord has for us as far as what is biblical love
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  look like amongst us here in the world and the Saints and, and
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  how we would be transformed. But let's go ahead and pray and
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  then we'll jump right in. So Father God, we thank you,
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  Lord, for tonight. We thank you for those that are
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  here. We pray, God, that you would
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  just go before us, that you would bless this time.
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  And your word, Lord, I pray that it wouldn't be me, but it would
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  be you through me speaking to everyone's hearts tonight, Lord,
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  just seeing your transformative love and just the power, Lord,
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  that we see behind that. And so we pray God that you
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  would again, just continue to change lives.
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  Lord, we we seek you in Jesus name, Amen.
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  All right, so Matthew chapter 22, verses 34 through 40.
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  And so before we actually jump in, I wanted to give you guys
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  some context. So the context to this story,
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  just so you know, Jesus is questioned by the Pharisees and
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  the Sadducees. If you don't know who the
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  Pharisees are, the Pharisees are the guys with the interesting
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  hats. I don't know if I could ever
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  wear something, you know, over. But they were the ancient Jewish
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  sect. They were distinguished by their
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  traditional and written law. One thing that the Pharisees
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  were known for is just, you know, they, they had these,
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  these these rules that they would just implement amongst the
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  people. And so one of them was just
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  taxes. And so taxes was something that
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  they were going to ask Jesus about.
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  But the Pharisees, they didn't like at this time, in this
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  moment of time, the, the Roman Empire was they owned Israel.
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  And so the, the Pharisees, they didn't like to submit really to,
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  to, to Gentile power. They didn't like just the things
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  that the Romans were implementing.
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  So they wanted to to trap Jesus and asking him a question.
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  And so with doing that, they wanted to to have two things
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  happen. They wanted will Jesus appear to
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  be against the Roman government right, because they end up
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  asking him, Hey, Jesus, what, what would you do?
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  Or or he says he says in verse, in verse 34, it says, but the
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  Pharisees heard, I'm sorry, here we are in verse in verse 15, the
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  Pharisees ask him, they say, Jesus teacher, we know that you
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  are true and teach the way of God in truth.
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  Nor do you care about anyone, for you do not regard the person
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  of men. Tell us, therefore, what do you
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  think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to
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  Caesar or not? But Jesus perceived their
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  wickedness and said, why do you test me, you hypocrites?
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  Show me your tax money. So what does Jesus do?
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  He asks them for Denari denarius.
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  And so with that, that he's, he's telling them, well, whose
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  image is on there? And, and he, and he tells them
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  or the, the, the Pharisees answer him and they say, Jesus.
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  Well, we see that it's Caesar's. So Jesus then says, you know,
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  give to Caesar's, what is Caesar's and give to God, what
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  is God? And so who comes on the scene
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  next is the Sadducees. And the Sadducees are another
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  religious group. The Sadducees are those that
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  really they didn't believe. They only believed in the five
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  books of the Bible and they they did not believe in the spirit
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  world. They also didn't believe in the
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  resurrection. So they asked Jesus a question.
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  They said Jesus, if a man dies having no children, his brother
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  shall marry his wife and raise up an offspring for his brother.
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  And so they asked this question all the way down to the 7th
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  brother. So they're basically saying
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  Jesus, if this brother dies and the next brother dies and the
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  next brother dies, who will she be married to come the
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  resurrection? And so Jesus answers in verse
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  29. He says you are mistaken, not
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  knowing the scriptures nor the power of God.
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  And so then Jesus has all these responses to the Pharisees, to
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  the Sadducees, and then we get to this place where Jesus is
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  kind of like, we'll keep it coming because I'm here all day.
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  And so with that, they wanted to question him.
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  And in questioning him, they act.
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  They just wanted him to stumble. They wanted to to scream
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  blasphemy. They wanted to to just take him
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  out and and so then so who came to to ask him a question was a
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  was a teacher or sorry, was a Pharisee that was also a lawyer
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  and another translations that says ascribe.
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  So this is this was someone that knew the law.
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  This was someone that was well versed that memorized the law
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  and then this person asked Jesus, he says, teacher, what is
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  the great commandment in the law?
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  And so in that we know that this religious leader, right, this
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  lawyer, he came to know 613 commands, right?
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  Because we have those 10 unique commands from Moses.
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  And then if you read the Bible there, there is a total of 613,
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  There are 365 negative commands. There are 248 positive commands.
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  And so already that sounds overwhelming.
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  And so then Jesus is getting asked this question to see what
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  he would say. And as we know, Jesus answers
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  and he says you must love the Lord your God with all your
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  heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
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  This is the first and greatest commandment.
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  A second is equally important. Love your neighbor as yourself.
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  The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are
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  based on these two commandments. So tonight what we're going to
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  go ahead and explore is this big picture.
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  And what is that big picture for us?
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  It's to be transformed by the love of Jesus and to allow his
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  work through you so that others can also experience this same
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  love. So tonight we'll we'll tackle
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  and we'll go through things like knowing true biblical love.
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  We'll also see how it is that we're transformed through this
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  love. And we'll also see how we can
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  navigate life through this love. And so the first one, if you're
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  taking notes, is knowing true biblical love.
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  So you were created to love God and to love other people.
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  It's not an easy thing because nowadays we use this word love
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  just in about everything. And so for me, I have a tendency
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  to love a lot of things. I love tacos, as you can tell.
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  I love hot Cheetos, OK. I love the Dodgers.
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  OK, Go Dodgers, woohoo. OK.
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  And one thing now starting this year, I've never drink and I've
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  never drank coffee, but I love coffee now.
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  And that's, and that's for another story.
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  But we throw that word around and everything and it's not
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  entirely bad. But here's the thing.
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  The thing is, if I love food like I love my own wife, then
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  that's a big problem. Why?
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  Because when you love food or you love sports, you love it for
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  what it gives you. That's not the love that the
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  Bible is talking about. Most of the things in our
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  culture are things that we love, things that we want.
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  What can we get from it? All these conditions.
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  If you, if you, if you see this, then then you, then we, we start
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  to see more conditions in the world.
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  And so if you don't get what you want, then you start to love
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  that less or you say, hey, I don't love that anymore.
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  So the Bible talks about a love that gives, though the Bible
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  talks about a love that brings change, a love that transforms.
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  It even says in First Corinthians 1313, it says, and
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  now abide in faith, hope and love these three.
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  But the greatest of these is love.
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  So where does this love come from?
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  And so as you Bible students know, in first John chapter 4
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  verse 19 through 21, it says if we love him or we're sorry, we
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  love him because he first loved us.
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  If someone says I love God but hates his brother, he is a liar.
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  For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how
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  can he love God whom he has not seen?
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  And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God
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  must love his brother also. So we know how to love because
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  God loved us first. We are.
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  And how are we pursuing that in our life now?
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  Are we just going through life or are we receiving it or are we
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  giving it freely? The world's definition is a lot
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  different. The world's definition of love
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  is the pursuit of temporary pleasure or the pursuit of a
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  feeling. And so it says in first John
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  chapter 2 verse 15, it says, do not love this world nor the
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  things it offers you. For when you love the world, you
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  do not have the love of the Father in you.
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  For the world offers only a craving for pleasure, for
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  physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see and a pride in
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  our achievements and possessions.
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  They're not from the Father, but are from this world.
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  And this world is fading away along with everything that
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  people crave. But anyone who does what what
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  pleases God will live forever. So as we see here, love is
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  repeatedly or sorry is is really repeated all throughout
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  Scripture. We see Jesus in Jesus's
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  teachings. But this biblical love that we
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  talk about, I'm going to give you guys for tonight and and #1
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  being there's a Greek word. So as you guys know the the
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  Bible we have it in in translated form starting with
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  the Greek and then in English. But in in Greek the word Eros is
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  a love that refers to a romantic or sexual love reserved for
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  marriage. Another type of love that the
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  Bible talks about is storgay. Storgay refers to familial love
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  like that of a mother for her baby.
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  And so another, another example to Storegate is like like a
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  storage room. A storage room.
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  You have your possessions in there because you care about it
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  so much. So it's a familial love of
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  caring. The next one is the word phileo,
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  which refers to a friendship and camaraderie.
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  And so we get words like Philadelphia.
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  OK, shout out to Josh. Where you at since the Eagles
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  won? The next one is the one that
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  we'll talk a lot about tonight, and this is agape.
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  And agape is used to speak of God's love that he has for the
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  world and that Christians are supposed to emulate.
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  This is the word for love that is most commonly seen in the New
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  Testament. So what do we see?
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  We see that agape is a sacrificial love with no
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  conditions. It's unconditional love, just
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  like the love that we see at the cross when Jesus came.
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  Jesus died for your past, your present, and your future sins.
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  It even says in John 1513. Greater love has no one than
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  this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.
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  Jesus gave us so much love. He invited us into real love
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  that sacrifices. Jesus loves so relentlessly.
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  He loves so passionately and he loves so personally personally
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  that he gave his own life for us.
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  So remember as it says in verse 2237, Jesus replied, you must
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  love the Lord your God. And so we're going to break that
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  down a little bit and it means to be personalized for you.
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  It doesn't say Jesus says love the Lord the God.
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  It says love the Lord your God, wanting and desiring this
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  personal relationship with you. For some you might say, you
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  know, well, I know there is a God, but I don't know if he is
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  my God. And so we'll tackle some of that
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  tonight. But but with that, you know,
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  many times we're wondering, you know, as God is transforming us,
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  as God is doing all these things in our lives, you know what,
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  what is it that we do next, right?
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  We, we, you know, the Bible reminds us that that he gives us
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  Our Daily Bread. It's not a bread for the week,
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  it's not a bread for the month, but it's a daily bread that he
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  sustains us. And with that same relationship,
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  he's moving us forward. And but many times people say,
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  well, I'm just waiting on God, but many times God is waiting on
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  you. And so how are we pursuing this
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  life? So, so that we're not, so then
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  this life that we're giving it and we're not just taking.
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  And so we move on to our second point.
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  And our second point tonight is we are transformed through this
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  love. So through this relationship
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  with Jesus, we see that he is the way, the truth and the life
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  and, and in this love that he has for his creation, that love
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  is not just this feeling, but love is an action.
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  And in this action it talks about again our heart.
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  And so we know that our heart, right?
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  Obviously our heart is a vital organ.
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  It's a muscle that pumps blood throughout our body.
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  But biblically, the heart is mentioned 1000 times and, and
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  there's a problem though. The problem is that the human
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  heart has a natural condition that is evil and it's deceitful.
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  Jeremiah 17 chapter 17, verse nine through 10, it says the
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  heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.
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  And who can understand it? In other words, the fall has
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  affected us to the deepest level.
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  Our mind, emotions and desires have been tainted by sin and we
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  are blind to just how persuasive the problem is.
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  Jesus also mentions it in Mark 721 through 23.
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  He says from for, from within, out of the heart of men proceed
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  evil thoughts, idolatries, fornications, murderers, thefts,
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  covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness and evil eye,
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  blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All of these evil things come
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  from within and defile a man. So you're probably sitting here
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  tonight. Well, what's the good news?
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  And the good news is that Jesus transforms our heart.
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  It says in, in Ezekiel, and you don't have to turn there.
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  I'll read it to you. But it says in, in Ezekiel, it
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  says in Ezekiel 36, verse 25, it says, then I will sprinkle clean
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  water on you and you shall be clean.
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  I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your
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  idols. I will give you a new heart and
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  put it a new spirit within you. And I will take the heart of
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  stone out and give you a heart of flesh.
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  And so Jesus does this transformative work in our
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  heart. And as we consider that we, we
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  come to know, just like the Pharisees, right?
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  Do we know this power that God has, right?
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  God wants to change us from the inside out, right?
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  We're we're reminded from our, our pastor in, in one of the Old
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  Testament books that says, you know, man sees the outward
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  appearance, but God sees what God sees the, the, the heart.
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  And so with that, as we're being transformed, it says in Romans
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  10/10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and
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  with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
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  For the Scripture says whoever believes in him will not be put
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  to shame. It's a work that God does.
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  And so in Psalm 51, it reminds us that Lord create in me a
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  clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
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  God often in our life, he tests our heart.
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  He also fills our heart with new ideas, with new wisdom and new
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  desires. And so as we move on to number,
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  the second part of that of that verse is he's as Jesus is
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  talking about the soul, right? It talked about the heart and
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  how the Lord is transforming that.
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  It also talks about the soul, and the soul is a part of a
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  person that is not physical. It is a part of every human
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  being that lasts eternally after the body, Body experiences death
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  and moves on. So what we come to know from the
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  Bible is that there's an enemy of our souls, right?
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  The Bible tells us that for our fight is not against flesh and
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  blood, but against principalities, against powers,
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  against the rulers of darkness in this world, and against
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  spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
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  So if you turn your Bible to Matthew 1128, I want to talk
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  about this familiar verse and how the Lord does the work when
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  he is restoring our soul. So Jesus says here come to me,
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  all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
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  Take My yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and
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  lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for My
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  yoke is easy and My burden is light.
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  And so when you come to see this scripture, Jesus says, come to
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  me. He's inviting you to give them
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  all those heavy things that you're going through.
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  Jesus says, hey, if we're going to work on your soul, he also
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  says, I will give you rest. But what does Jesus also say?
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  He says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me.
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  When I became a new believer, I didn't know what really that
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  word yoke meant. I thought he was talking about
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  an egg yolk. And I'm like, well, what does
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  that mean? Like that's kind of weird.
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  And so, but what Jesus is talking here is if you guys
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  remember, he would always speak to people and just where they
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  were at. So at this time, it was an
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  agriculture type of setting. And so a yoke is what's put on
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  an animal, right? And so when they plow the
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  fields, and So what Jesus is saying here, he says, my put my
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  yoke upon you, put my yoke upon you and learn from me.
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  And so when we see that picture, right, oftentimes they use a
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  horse, right? And a horse is going and
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  sometimes they would always team up a horse with a younger horse,
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  right? And So what Jesus is saying,
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  hey, even though I'm in front of you, even though I'm behind you,
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  I'm still beside you walking and carrying most of this weight.
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  Because what we understand too is that you would never put a
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  horse with a cow or anything like that, even though they
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  would probably get the job done. It's not what the Lord intended,
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  right? When God says, hey, he created
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  man in his image, right? There's a lot of value in you
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  and so while Jesus is saying, hey, put this yoke upon me and
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  do what he says, learn from me, He's going to allow us again to
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  know step by step every moment that we would have walking
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  alongside with him. Jesus also says, for I'm gentle
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  and lonely in heart, and you will find rest for your soul.
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  He doesn't say find rest for your body, even though we know
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  he can. He doesn't say find rest for
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  your mind, even though we he, we know he can give it, but he says
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  find rest for your soul. Jesus is inviting all those
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  heavy things that you're going through and saying, hey, let's
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  do this together, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
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  And so someone once said the Bible speaks of the soul in many
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  contexts. One of these is in relation to
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  humanity's basic selfishness. Human beings have a sinful
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  nature and our souls are tainted with sin.
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  The soul, as the life essence of the body, is removed at the time
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  of physical death. The soul has what the spirit is,
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  the center of many spiritual and emotional experiences.
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  The word soul can refer to the whole person, whether alive on
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  earth or in glory with God. And So what do we find out,
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  right? Jesus takes care of our heart.
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  Jesus takes care of our soul and now we're where He's taking care
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  of our mind. So the Greek word for mind is
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  from NAO. It is often translated mind and
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  it's refers to a person's understanding, views or
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  opinions. The way we live our life and by
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  this love we start to see what our our minds are affected from,
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  right? The Bible tells us to hold every
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  thought captive. There's so many choices we make,
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  so many things that we go through, so many things that
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  we're wrestling with that God is reminding us, hey, slow down,
• 23:41
  right? What does he say in Psalm 46,
• 23:43
  verse 10? He says be still and know that I
• 23:46
  am God, right? When the when the Lord gives us,
• 23:49
  when the Holy Spirit gives us this word, it's because it's a
• 23:52
  word that's attainable. The Lord knows that what we're
• 23:55
  going through. The Lord knows just the things
• 23:58
  that our mind race to. And if your mind is like mine,
• 24:01
  sometimes it races to the worst things, right?
• 24:04
  Sometimes we deal with so many things that that we're just
• 24:07
  like, you know what, Lord, please take it because I don't
• 24:10
  want it. But Jesus reminds us in John 13
• 24:14
  verse 34 to 35, it says a new command.
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  I give you love one another as I have loved you, so you must love
• 24:21
  one another. By this, everyone will know that
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  you are my disciples. And so we see here, right when
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  the heart's taken care of, when the soul's taken care of, when
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  the mind's taken care of, then we're walking alongside what God
• 24:35
  has for for us in our lives. And so point #3 tonight is how
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  do we navigate through this love?
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  And so in verse 39, Jesus says, love your neighbor as yourself.
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  But the problem is, is that you know, we, we, when we're cold,
• 24:58
  we put on a jacket, right? When we're hungry, we find food.
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  But sometimes when we're not loving our neighbor or our focus
• 25:05
  is wrong, it's not a bad thing to take care of yourself.
• 25:08
  We all take care of ourselves, right?
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  But the but when Jesus is saying, hey, love your neighbor,
• 25:15
  it's saying, hey, the focus shouldn't always just be on you.
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  It's about the people around you.
• 25:21
  In Matthew Chapter 7 verse 12, it says, therefore, whatever you
• 25:25
  want men to do to you, do also to them for the law and the
• 25:30
  prophets. And so you want so so it just
• 25:35
  gives us this reminder of just the things that we seek from
• 25:38
  other people, right? We want people to love us.
• 25:41
  We point, we want people to show respect to us.
• 25:44
  We want people to be kind to us. We want people to consider our
• 25:48
  feelings. We also want people to not do
• 25:51
  evil to us. We also want people to tell us
• 25:53
  the truth. And we also want people to
• 25:56
  listen to us and also be generous, so on and so forth.
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  And so when we look in the Bible to who is our neighbor, our
• 26:04
  neighbors referred to those things in the Old Testament.
• 26:07
  Even Jesus referred to them in in further scripture, in
• 26:11
  Deuteronomy 65IN Leviticus 1918. And it just talks about at this
• 26:16
  moment of, you know, take care of your neighbor.
• 26:19
  Those that were in the camp here in the Old Testament, it was a
• 26:22
  fellow Israelite or resident that was welcomed into the camp.
• 26:26
  And so the best thing that we can do is allow Scripture to
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  interpret Scripture as we find out, well, how do we love our
• 26:34
  neighbor? So please turn with me to
• 26:38
  chapter chapter 10 and Luke chapter 10 and Luke starting in
• 26:45
  verse 25. Chapter 10, verse 25 And it says
• 27:01
  here, this is the parable of the Good Samaritan.
• 27:06
  And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying,
• 27:09
  teacher, what shall we do to inherit internal life?
• 27:12
  He said to him, what it is, what is written in the law?
• 27:16
  What is your reading of it? Verse 27 So he answered and
• 27:21
  said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
• 27:24
  with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your
• 27:26
  mind, and your neighbor as yourself, right?
• 27:29
  And so then we'll jump down to verse #30 And so he's asking him
• 27:38
  to love your neighbor as yourself.
• 27:39
  And he said to him, you have answered rightly do this and you
• 27:42
  will live. But he but he wanted to justify
• 27:45
  himself said to Jesus, who is my neighbor?
• 27:48
  And sometimes we have that question, who is our neighbor
• 27:51
  and, and who are those people that the Lord puts around us?
• 27:55
  And so in verse 30, Jesus says a certain man went down from
• 27:59
  Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves who stripped him
• 28:02
  off his clothing, wounded him and departed, leaving him half
• 28:05
  dead. Now by chance, a certain priest
• 28:09
  came down that road and when he saw him, he passed by on the
• 28:13
  other side. Likewise the Levite, when he
• 28:16
  arrived at the place, came and looked and passed by on the
• 28:20
  other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he
• 28:23
  journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him he had
• 28:27
  compassion. So he had went to him and
• 28:30
  bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and he said he set
• 28:34
  him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of
• 28:38
  him. Verse 35.
• 28:40
  On the next day when he departed, he took out two
• 28:42
  Denari, gave them to the innkeeper, and he said to him,
• 28:46
  take care of him, and whatever more you spend, when I come
• 28:50
  back, come back, I will repay you.
• 28:52
  Verse 36. So which of these three do you
• 28:55
  think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?
• 28:59
  Verse 37 And he said, he who showed mercy on him, then Jesus
• 29:03
  said to him, go and do likewise. So which of these three do you
• 29:08
  think was a neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?
• 29:11
  And he said he who showed mercy on him and Jesus said go and do
• 29:17
  likewise. And so when we think about our
• 29:22
  neighbors, we're meet, we're we're meeting their basic needs,
• 29:25
  the people around us, those that were taken care of, those that
• 29:29
  the Lord had put in our lives, though those that we come across
• 29:32
  when we go to the grocery store, those that we see when we're
• 29:36
  just out and about. But the Lord reminds us, right,
• 29:40
  that we are the light and the salt of this world.
• 29:42
  If you're if you remember, Jesus was always meeting people just
• 29:46
  where they were at. And so we're reminded of the
• 29:49
  story of the woman at the well, the feeding of the 5000 Jesus
• 29:53
  washing the feet of the disciples, him healing the sick,
• 29:57
  feeding the hungry and teaching the importance of service.
• 30:03
  So friends, what we see here is that love is a verb.
• 30:07
  Love is just not this feeling. Love is a verb.
• 30:10
  And love is really repeated all throughout the teachings.
• 30:14
  And so when we come to understand, hey, you know, we're
• 30:17
  called to love our neighbors as ourselves, you know, but what
• 30:21
  happens when our neighbor wants to hurt us?
• 30:24
  What happens when our neighbor wants to cause harm?
• 30:29
  And so in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 43, Jesus says, you have
• 30:37
  heard, it has been said, you shall love your neighbor and
• 30:40
  hate your enemy, right? And Jesus is saying there,
• 30:43
  because if you remember the Sadducees and a lot of the
• 30:46
  Pharisees, right, they had this written law, this oral law that
• 30:49
  they would come up, you know, with even more commandments.
• 30:52
  But Jesus is saying here, you know that that's not true.
• 30:57
  He's saying, but I say to you, love, this is Jesus.
• 30:59
  He's saying, but I say to you, love your enemies, bless those
• 31:02
  who curse you, do good to those who hate you and pray for those
• 31:06
  who spitefully use you and persecute you.
• 31:09
  And so as we dive into this, right, this is how we allow this
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  transformative love to help us navigate even through the
• 31:16
  hardest times. God wants us to love our
• 31:19
  enemies, to show this agape love, you know, But you might be
• 31:24
  here tonight and you might be thinking, but you don't
• 31:27
  understand my story. You don't understand the hate
• 31:30
  that my enemies have towards me. You don't understand what
• 31:35
  they've done to me. You don't understand what
• 31:38
  they're doing to me right now. And I'm sure that if you knew
• 31:44
  what they were doing that you would agree with me.
• 31:48
  You know, the things that they plot against me, the things that
• 31:51
  they want to do to hurt me, and those things that they do behind
• 31:53
  my back. But we have to come and to know
• 31:58
  that even those enemies that we have, that Jesus also died for
• 32:02
  them, we come to know that our ways are not God's ways.
• 32:11
  We come to know that Jesus wants to also transform their lives.
• 32:17
  But I also want to say I'm sorry.
• 32:19
  I'm sorry for a lot of you that have gone through that hardship,
• 32:23
  that have gone through pain that someone's brought to your life.
• 32:27
  But Jesus, Jesus brings it to us and he says, hey, you know,
• 32:31
  allow me to work on those details in your life.
• 32:35
  Because what the enemy wants to do, he wants to use that only
• 32:39
  for what he's good for is to kill, steal and destroy.
• 32:42
  But Jesus, right, he wants to, to restore, you know, beauty
• 32:48
  from ashes, you know, to, to, to transform us.
• 32:52
  You know, I know that there's a lot of us here tonight that it,
• 32:55
  that have been hurt in a way that, you know, I'm not saying
• 32:59
  that, you know, we discount sin, right?
• 33:01
  But what I'm saying is that there's always a moment in which
• 33:04
  Jesus can can move. And so the and so the Bible says
• 33:10
  that Jesus poured out his spirit of love on all of us.
• 33:13
  We all have been transformed and so many times we have to remind
• 33:19
  ourselves that we also too were an enemy of God at one time, you
• 33:25
  know, but Jesus on the cross said, Father, forgive them for
• 33:28
  they don't know what they do. So you can turn there with me as
• 33:35
  we wind down to Romans chapter 12, verse 17, you know, then
• 33:41
  what are we supposed to do? And so the Bible tells us, repay
• 33:44
  no evil for evil. Have regard for good things in
• 33:48
  the sight of all men. Beloved, do not avenge
• 33:51
  yourselves, but rather give place to wrath.
• 33:54
  For it is written, vengeance is mine, says the Lord.
• 33:59
  I will pray, I will repay, says the Lord.
• 34:03
  Therefore if your enemy is hungry, feed them.
• 34:05
  If he is thirsty, give him a drink, for in so doing he will
• 34:09
  heap coals on fire on his head. Did not be overcome by evil, but
• 34:13
  overcome evil with good. And so the in verse 17, you pick
• 34:19
  up that the Lord says, right, vengeance is mine.
• 34:23
  So he'll take care of those details.
• 34:25
  He'll restore those relationships.
• 34:26
  He'll he'll move in a mighty way with the enemy meant for evil.
• 34:29
  God can use it for good. And so when we come to know that
• 34:34
  when our enemies even hurt us, we can still love them.
• 34:38
  And so things that we can pick up from Romans 12 is that we
• 34:41
  bless those who persecute us, We bless hope, bless those who
• 34:46
  curse us. We were, we were paid no evil
• 34:49
  for evil. If and if at all possible, we
• 34:52
  live in peace with everyone. We do not avenge for ourselves.
• 34:57
  We give place for God's wrath. And if your enemies happen to be
• 35:02
  hungry, feed them. If your enemy is thirsty, give
• 35:05
  them a drink. Do not overcome evil, but
• 35:09
  overcome evil with good. So what we learned here is that
• 35:14
  we love our enemies. We pray for them, those that are
• 35:16
  persecuting us, right as we go through life, we see that, you
• 35:22
  know, but but I want them to feel.
• 35:24
  I want them to feel how they made me feel, you know?
• 35:27
  But but how are we better than the world if we think that way,
• 35:31
  that we would have to come to know and understand that God has
• 35:34
  a plan and God has a purpose and God can move because our timing
• 35:39
  is that God would change them now, right?
• 35:41
  But God's timing is perfect. And so when we, when we come to
• 35:45
  understand that it's a weight that we carry and it's a weight
• 35:50
  that we see that that God is saying, hey, give that to me.
• 35:54
  And so as we close tonight, you know, there are some of you here
• 35:59
  tonight that may not know this transformative love as as a
• 36:03
  believer, we come to grow. It's never a place that we just
• 36:06
  stop and you know, hey, we've made it.
• 36:09
  It's a continual thing. It's a thing that we, you know,
• 36:12
  trust God each and every day for.
• 36:15
  But if you're here tonight and you don't have a relationship
• 36:18
  with God and you're saying, Hey, you know, I've been chasing
• 36:21
  love, but in the wrong places, you know, I've been hurt.
• 36:25
  But but when I see loves God for me, right, We're reminded God
• 36:30
  died for our past, present and future sins.
• 36:33
  God wants this personal relationship with you.
• 36:36
  But many times we we don't we don't choose to have it.
• 36:41
  And so I ask you tonight, if that is you tonight and you want
• 36:45
  to choose to have this personal relationship with Jesus, would
• 36:48
  you stand to your feet so I could pray with you?
• 36:53
  You might be here and you're saying, you know, well, you
• 36:55
  don't know what's going on in my life.
• 36:57
  You don't know what the Lord is, you know, brought me, you know,
• 37:00
  out of. But God wants to do an amazing
• 37:03
  work in you. God bless you guys in the
• 37:05
  middle. Is there anyone else before we
• 37:07
  pray? God bless you, brother.
• 37:11
  God bless you here in the back. You know, God wants to transform
• 37:14
  your life. God wants to allow you to rest
• 37:18
  in him. Remember, our minds are always
• 37:20
  moving at this crazy pace, but God wants you.
• 37:23
  Please stay standing. We'll pray.
• 37:26
  And if you're standing again, it's not the prayer that saves
• 37:29
  you, but it's the business that you have between the Lord.
• 37:33
  And I'm just going to help you put to words some things that
• 37:36
  that you can talk to God about. And if that's you standing here
• 37:40
  tonight, you can say something like this.
• 37:43
  Dear God, I admit that I'm a Sinner.
• 37:47
  I acknowledge my sin before you, a holy and righteous God.
• 37:51
  I ask you to forgive me of my sin.
• 37:53
  I accept the free gift of salvation through your Son Jesus
• 37:57
  Christ, and I believe in my heart.
• 38:00
  I confess with my mouth that you, Jesus, lived, you died, and
• 38:05
  you rose again to save me of my sin.
• 38:09
  I give you my life from this day forward.
• 38:14
  By the Lord's grace through faith, you have been saved.
• 38:17
  Welcome to the family. So Father, we just thank you,
• 38:24
  Lord, for tonight. We thank you for those that have
• 38:27
  accepted your transformative love.
• 38:29
  Lord, We just pray God that you would continue to guide them.
• 38:32
  Lord, continue to guide everyone in this room.
• 38:34
  Give them a peace that surpasses all understanding.
• 38:37
  Lord, give them a comfort that only makes sense to you.
• 38:40
  Lord, allow them to have this moment, Lord, even this last
• 38:43
  worship song to just give you everything that they're
• 38:46
  struggling with, Lord. And we just know Lord, that
• 38:49
  through you all things are possible and that with you, you
• 38:53
  are living hope, Lord. And we know with you that that
• 38:57
  even though your word says that in this life we will go through
• 39:00
  trials and tribulation, Lord, your word says, take courage
• 39:03
  because I have overcome the world.
• 39:06
  And so we thank you and we praise you in Jesus mighty name,
• 39:09
  Amen. We pray that you've been
• 39:11
  encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the
• 39:14
  sanctuary of Calvary Church for prayer, call us at 87730 grace
• 39:21
  that's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
• 39:27
  integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
• 39:31
  online at Calvary CEO dot Church or download our free Calvary
• 39:36
  Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
• 39:39
  this week.