Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

One of my favorite things to do is to watch the Barrett-Jackson Auto Auctions that come on this time of the year.

I believe this week it was in Phoenix.

These cars roll across the auction block and bring thousands of dollars, sometimes 10-20 times what their original value was.

Many of these buyers purchase these incredible cars and never drive them.

They just put them in a warehouse and wipe the dust off of them occasionally.

These cars are not doing what they were designed to do and it seems like a waste to me.

When it comes to spiritual habits, many Christians are like these cars.

They are just for show and are not being used for what they are designed to be!

There are many spiritual habits that are beneficial to a Christian.

They are not necessary to be a Christian because the Bible clearly tells us that the only thing we have to do to become a Christians is to accept Jesus Christ as one’s Lord and Savior.

However, if we want to grow and if we want to be what God has called us to be and what He has designed us to be, we must spend in Bible study and in prayer.

And, we must live out .

How Does One DO the Word?

Perhaps James had some insight from the lessons learned from watching Jesus.

Both the Gospels of Matthew and Mark share a story of Jesus spending time with teachers of the law.

These teachers were called Saducees and they were one of the major groups of teachers that gave no place to the overruling providence of God and emphasized later in their teachings that all happens to us as a result of the good or evil that we do.

They didn’t believe later in the resurrection and certainly did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah.

Because they didn’t fully understand who Jesus was, they did not follow Him....and that made them Sad, you see.

Mark’s gospel gives us great detail in this story about doing the word.

Mark 12:28-35

The Greatest Commandment

These teachers of the law held to a Rabbinic tradition that counted 613 commandments in the Torah which was the written narrative of the first five books and the oral tradition that consisted of interpretations of the rabbinic tradition that was handed down from generation to generation.

These 613 commandments consisted of 365 commands of not to do something and 248 commands of what to do.

Some were heavy, some were light.

The teachers of the law loved to debate the scriptures.

They wanted to test Jesus about His knowledge of the law.

This particular teacher of the law recognized the importance of all the commands and asks, “Which one of these commandments supercedes all of the others?”

Jesus says, the most important is this:

Mark 12:

This is known as the SHEMA, which is the Hebrew word from the first word of this confession HEAR.

We have this in our Bible as .

The most devout Jews would say this confession every morning and every night.

In our New Testament, in Mark’s Gospel, we see the word “all” used four times.

Love the Lord Your God with ALL YOUR HEART

The HEART is the control center of the human personality.

It is the center of our complex being.

From it comes everything: the physical, the moral.

the spiritual, and the intellectual of all that we are.

What are you putting in your heart?

What are you doing to take care of your heart?

Love the Lord Your God with ALL YOUR SOUL

The SOUL is seen as the self-conscious life.

In the New Testament, it is used as the meaning of life.

In fact, the same word in Greek translates both life and soul.

It denotes life in the distinctness of individual existence.

The Greek philosopher, Plato, perceived the soul as the eternal element of man.

That’s actually a good definition we can use here.

God desires my soul and your soul to be free of sin and to live in holiness for eternity.

Jesus said in

The Word of God can save it and recovery from error rescues it from death.

The outcome of faith is the salvation of one’s soul.

The soul can have access to the holy of holies through Christ!

Hebrews

Hebrews 10:2

The flip side is that the soul can be banned.

Are you taking care of your soul?

Are you taking care of your soul?

Is your soul prepared for eternity?

Love the Lord Your God with ALL YOUR MIND

The MIND is the thought capacity.

It is the disposition of what we think.

It gives us understanding, especially moral understanding.

God gives each of us the ability to think and to reason.

It can be bad or good.

we can choose.

A couple of verses in scripture show us the bad:

R

Ephesians 4:

Colossians

Thank God the mind can be RENEWED:

Ephesians

In fact, we are to have the mind of Christ:

1 Corinthians

Jesus opens our minds:

Luke 2

Our minds must be inclined toward God and in harmony with Him:

2 Corinthians

What are you putting in your mind?

Are you reading scripture and meditating on it daily?

I want to encourage you to do just that!

Love the Lord Your God with ALL YOUR STRENGTH

STRENGTH is about your bodily powers, your might.

The term strength in the Bible is used many different ways.

Here it refers to seeking strength.

It is similar to many Old Testament thoughts:

Proverbs

Proverbs

1 Samuel

Proverbs 31

Deuteronomy

Job 17:

Nahum 2:1

Strength is the inner resolve to be strong, effective and to be able to do something.

You can build your strength physically be exercise, diet and sleeping effectively.

What are you doing to help strengthen your body so that you can Love the Lord your God with all your strength?

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

Jesus says the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself.

He is quoting:

Leviticus 19:18