Latest Sermon
Wow, you have stumbled upon our archived website with old blog posts and sermon recordings. To see the current website, visit https://www.calvarygreenville.org
  • Register

The Great Commandment Pt. 2

Sep 27, 2015 Sunday AM
Matthew 22:34-40
Loading the player...
Loading the player...

Study Notes

The most important thing can be found in Matthew 22:37, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."

Clarifications: Receiving the Love of God

  • God is love. This is His "disposition."
  • His love transcends our feelings.
  • His love transcends our circumstances.
  • His love is free, unmerited.
  • His love is personal (see Galatians 2:20).
  • God's love is most clearly revealed through the person and work of Jesus Christ.
  • His command to love is proof of His love.
  • His beauty is revealed in His love.
  • His love is received by faith but experienced through practices.

Suggested Practices/Disciplines...

  1. Simplicity
    • Rearranging my life to make room for relationshp with God.
  2. Silence
    • Being still enough, long enough to hear the still small voice. Unplug. Settle down.
  3. Solitude
    • Alone with God for the purpose of meditation on His Word and conversation with Him. This is the place transformation is fueled.
  4. Surrender
    • Choosing to trust God, to leave the outcomes and the timing to Him. To rest in His goodness developes our appreciation for His love.
  5. Participation in the Redeemed Community
    • The Church is the Body of Christ. When it is "working right" it should be a place where we love and are loved in "God-like" ways.

Conclusion

  • Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8
  • If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come! 1 Corinthians 16:22
  • But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Revelation 2:4

Questions for Family, Small Groups and Personal Reflection

  1. Which of the clarifications above (concerning Receiving the Love of God), stood out to you the most? Why?
  2. Do you need to rearrange aspects of your life, to simplify, so you can experience relationship with God? If so, what do you you need to rearrange?
  3. Take some time to reflect on how/where God is at work in your life/world. What do you need to do to join Him there and submit that aspect of your life to Him?
  4. What is it about God that you love? Spend some time telling God you love Him.

Resources

  • Knowing God by J.I. Packer
  • Intimacy with the Almighty by Chuck Swindoll
  • Commentary on Matthew by William Barclay
  • God, As He Longs for You to See Him by Chip Ingram