THE CHRISTIAN IDEAL: LOVING GOD

IDEALS ARE IMPORTANT TO MOVE US ON

WHAT IS

YOUR GOAL

IN LIFE?

AS CHRISTIANS, LOVING GOD SHOULD BE OUR

HIGHEST IDEAL

MARK 12:28-30 The Greatest Commandment “One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING OF HEART: THE SEAT OF

INTELLIGENCE AND DECISION

To love God with all our heart is to be totally committed to Him

DECIDE TO OBEY HIM

JOHN 14:15 “If you love me, keep my commandments.”

DEVELOP A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM

SPEND REGULAR TIME WITH HIM IN PRAYER AND

IN READING THE BIBLE

He created us with brains so we can figure out how to love and

serve Him

MAKE OUR MINDS AVAILABLE FOR HIS PURPOSES

KEEP YOUR MIND CLEAN AND HOLY

FREE OF ALL EVIL THOUGHTS

MATTHEW 5:28 “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

FREE YOUR MIND FROM UNCHARITABLE THOUGHTS

MATTHEW 7:1-5 Judging Others“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you..

...Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

LET YOUR MIND BE PREOCCUPIED WITH THE THINGS OF GOD

PROTECT AND PRESERVE YOUR MIND FROM UNHOLY INFLUENCES SO THAT GOD CAN USE YOU FOR HIS PURPOSES

USE YOUR MIND

ACTIVELY FOR

GOD’S PURPOSE

LOVE THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH

GIVE GOD ALL OUR RESOURCES--TIME, MONEY, ENERGY, POSSESSIONS, GIFTS, ABILITIES

MONEY

TITHING

MALACHI 3:7-10 “Ever since the time of your ancestors, you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return? Will a mere mortal rob God?’ Yet you rob me.

But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”

RESOURCE

SHARING

ALMSGIVING

TIME

SEEK GOD’S DIRECTION AS TO HOW YOU ARE TO

SPEND YOUR TIME

EXAMINE WHAT YOU DO WITH YOUR FREE TIME.

TIME CAN BE BETTER SPENT.

VOLUNTEER TO DO CHRISTIAN SERVICE

Loving the Lord with all your

soul

LOVE GOD WITH OUR WHOLE

BEING—EMOTIONAL, SPIRITUAL, MENTAL,

PHYSICAL (THE TOTALITY OF A

PERSON)

JESUS IS OUR

MODEL IN

LOVING GOD

JESUS WAS DEDICATED TO ACCOMPLISH HIS MISSION

JOHN 4:34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.”

JESUS WAS OBEDIENT UNTO DEATH

LUKE 22:42 “Father, if You are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but Yours be done.”

JESUS WAS CONSTANTLY SEEKING

THE FATHER’S WILL

MARK 1:35 Jesus Prays in a Solitary Place “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed.”

MATTHEW 14:23 “After He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray. Later that night, He was there alone”

LOVING GOD INVOLVES SPECIFIC,

PRACTICAL ACTIONS,

DECISIONS AND COMMITMENTS.

We cannot do it alone. We need the power of the Holy Spirit.

Discussion starter

How have I loved God in a concrete way?