Eagle Heights Cathedral

Guest (Male): (Singing) I need thee, oh I need thee. Every hour I need thee. Oh bless me now, my savior. I come to thee.

Lord, that's our prayer, Lord. We need you every hour, every hour. we need you, God. There is no one like you in all this earth. You are great, God. Amen. You may be seated, church.

Hello. It's so great to be back at Eagle Heights Cathedral. Doesn't matter if there was a storm that tried to stop everything, didn't matter if we lost electricity at our hotel last night. God said we have an assignment today, and God is going to do something mighty here.

Just very grateful for the invitation from Bishop Collins and Lady Brenda. I know they're not here, but they're out doing the assignment that God has placed on them. I'm just honored and humbled to be able to stand here and to be able to share the word that I believe God has for all of us today. It's just a humbling and it's an excitement at the same time because I know that this is God's word for now. Amen.

I remember the first time I did hear Bishop preach. I was back at Zion Bible College back then, now Northpoint. He got me from the first, from the first word. Listen to me now! He said that one time. My head went up. My eyes locked. And I said, "Okay." And that was just one of the first meetings that I had with him. Just changed the trajectory of my ministry and my calling.

I remember I call him a mentor from a distance because I'm from New York originally, now I'm in Connecticut. But I would call him from time to time and ask him a question here or there, what was on my heart, what was heavy on my heart. Especially I had a season where I didn't know where God was taking me and what was happening.

He so just gently spoke what God told him to speak. Challenged me gently. You ever have someone talk to you and then you just can't stop thinking about what they said? Yeah, that's exactly what it was. And kind of pushed me to a place where I knew that God had this moment. So just so grateful to have them in my life. And we are here to speak. I'm not going to be too long at all. I'm just going to speak what I believe God has for us.

God is good. Amen. All right, so let me just start. Let me just pray. Father, we just thank you, Lord, for this word. We thank you, Lord, God, for all that you have done in our lives. Those who are here, those who weren't able to make it today, God, we know that you know all things.

I pray, oh God, that as the word goes forth that it will fall on soft hearts. That soil will be prepared, oh God, to receive and that we would leave here closer to you than we were when we came, God. We will leave here transformed by your spirit. We will leave here believing, Lord, that having a relationship with you, Lord, is the most important thing. We give you praise and we give you thanks in Jesus' name. And we all say, amen.

All right, so I want to begin with just a quick question. What is the most important thing in your life? Now, don't answer too quick because I know the church answers, and we are in church, right? Jesus. Jesus is the answer. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. We know all the words, right?

But I'm not asking you what we're supposed to say. I'm asking, what does your life or what does the way you live say is the most important thing? Because every day we are facing certain things that want to compete for our attention, right? We're facing things that want to compete for our attention. Our job wants our attention, right? Our family needs our attention. Your bills definitely want your attention, right?

And our phone wants our attention. Some of us we check our phones before our feet hit the ground. I'm guilty. I'll tell you that. I'm guilty sometimes. But before we can say, "Good morning, Jesus," it's who texted me? What did I miss when I was sleeping? 17 notifications? Why do I have 17 notifications? And the reality and the truth is that even half of those notifications aren't even important, right? Some app telling you, "Oh, we miss you." No, you don't. You miss my money. You miss my money. That's what you miss.

But life is constantly demanding something from us every single day. We have another bill, another appointment, another email, another problem, another deadline, another person who needs something from us, right? And if we're not careful, we can spend the rest of our lives trying to respond to these urgent matters and neglect what's the most important thing.

And the reality is that everything that's screaming for your attention is not worthy of your priority. Everything screaming or everything that feels urgent isn't necessarily important. And get this: everything important doesn't necessarily scream. Sometimes the most important things, they whisper. Like your family, your marriage, your kids, your soul, your relationship with God.

I'll say, think about it like this. Think about buttoning your shirt. You ever button a shirt and something happens when if you have a button on your shirt and you get that first button wrong, something really interesting happens, right? You can button every other button and everything seems right until you get to button number six.

You get to button number six, which is the end, and your button is all crooked. Your shirt is all crooked. And you are not leaving that house. You're not leaving that house right now. And no matter how hard you try to fix that sixth button, no matter how hard you try to make it work, you realize that you're going to have to go where? All the way back to the top.

And you know, that's what can happen in life. Your career isn't bad. Your ambition isn't bad. Your family isn't bad. Making money isn't bad. Ministry isn't bad. But when the first thing is out of place, even good things become disordered things. Even good things become disordered things.

In Mark chapter 12, that's where we're going today, Jesus is about to show us that first button. And in Mark chapter 12, there's a scribe that essentially asks this question to Jesus. He goes, "Jesus, with all these commands, with all these responsibilities, with all these religious expectations, what matters the most? What matters the most?"

I love this question because it just kind of simplifies things. I need somebody to break it down for me a lot of times. Just give it to me simple. Jesus, cut through everyone's opinion. Cut through the noise. Cut through what everybody is saying that I should be doing. Jesus, what is the main thing?

And here we'll read in Mark chapter 12, verse 28. This is my text. Jesus says these words. He goes, "Hear, oh 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." And then he says, "Love your neighbor as yourself." It's a two-for-one.

You see, Jesus brings us back to the center. He brings us back to the center of everything. He doesn't say be impressive. He doesn't say be successful. He doesn't say try to make everybody happy. Thank God for that because some people are just committed to not being happy. You know what I mean, right? He doesn't say do more religious stuff.

Jesus says four things, and that's what I want to share today. He says, number one, he says hear God. He says love God. He says obey God. And then let that overflow onto everything and everybody else. That simple.

And you know why? Because the most important thing isn't simply the things that we accomplish. The most important thing isn't the things that we're successful at. But the most important thing is who has your heart? Who has your heart? That's the most important thing. It's going to lead me to my first point today. It says hear God before you hurry for God. Can someone say, hear God?

Jesus said, "Hear, oh Israel." Before he says love, he says hear. Before doing comes listening. Before any type of movement comes relationship. Before obedience comes hearing. And some of us we're trying to figure out what God wants to do with us while God is trying to get us close enough so that we can hear him.

The reason why is because this world can be very, very noisy. It's a very noisy world. We have social media, we have the news, we have our responsibilities, other people's expectations, all sorts of noise. But then there's another kind of noise. That's the noise that's inside your head.

The noise that says, "What if that doesn't work? What are they going to think? How am I going to pay for that? What if my child makes the wrong decision? What if I fail? What if God doesn't come through the way that I thought he would?" Sometimes the loudest rooms that you would ever walk in is that of your mind.

Sometimes, it's almost like driving in a place that you've never been. So you got to rely on the GPS. The GPS says, "In the next 500 feet, turn right." But then you got someone next to you talking, right? You got the kids in the back making noise. You got the music playing, blasting. You got your phone ringing. And then someone says, "Oh, I think you missed the turn over there."

Now you finally say, "Stop. Stop talking. What did the GPS say?" The thing is, the GPS didn't stop giving directions. There were just so many competing voices at the same time. So many things happening at the same time. And sometimes we're praying, "God, speak to me." Maybe the problem isn't that God has stopped speaking. Maybe you've just allowed so many other voices with the same volume to be in the same space where you no longer discern the directions of the Lord.

And some of us here, the reality is we just got to turn some of that stuff down, right? We got to learn how to turn other things down in our life. And some of us we're like spiritually recalculating, you know? We're trying to recalculate because we ignored those last three turns. And thank God, God doesn't say, "Recalculating, I told you three times where to go, you're on your own right now."

He's not doing that because he calls us back. Some of us don't need God to speak louder. we just need to turn some things down. Amen. Grace calls us back.

And you know what, here it is because a lot of times we get caught up in doing a lot of good things. Sometimes the danger isn't that we're doing bad things. It's just that we're so busy doing so many good things that we kind of stop listening to God. You ever heard the idea that a God idea is better than any good idea you can come up with? You probably heard that before.

But a God idea is way better. I keep thinking of Peter when he was on the water and he was toiling all night, he didn't get any fish. And then Jesus said, "Hey, just put your net on the other side." I could imagine if it was me, I'd be like, "You're crazy because I was here all night. This is what I do. Don't try to insult my profession. This is what I do." But Jesus said do it, and Peter, he obeyed.

And guess what? There were so many fish that the ship began to sink, you know? But sometimes we can be so busy doing so many good things that we stop listening to God because we kind of lean on our own understanding. Did you know that you can serve in church and be spiritually empty? Did you know that? You can serve in church and be spiritually empty. You can sing, you can lead, you can sing in worship and not be surrendered to God.

You can know all the scripture in the world and neglect sitting and spending time with God. You can be so busy working for God that you stop walking with God. I'm a musician. I sing as well. And all the singers would know this. There is no way you're going to create a beautiful harmony unless you listen. Unless you're able to hear what other people are doing, there's no way that you're going to be able to create harmony, you know?

And everybody knows their part. You can know your part, you can listen to it, you can practice it all you want. But if you're not listening, all of that music that was supposed to be beautiful is going to end up being nothing but noise. And sometimes our lives are like that. Everything is moving, everything is active, everything is loud, but there is no harmony.

Romans 10:17 says, "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." So let me ask you this question. What has become louder than God in your life? Has it been anxiety, your ambition, has it been disappointment, your entertainment, your need for approval, your fear about the future? Maybe God is trying to say it's time to turn down some of these things so that you can hear me again. Because once you truly hear God, you're going to discover that he doesn't just want your attention, he wants your affection as well.

And that leads me to that second point. So first we need to hear God before we hurry for God. Number two, we love God with all of our lives. With our whole life. Jesus says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength."

And there's one word that keeps showing up there, and that's that word all. Can somebody just shout "all"? Not Sunday morning. Not when everything's going well. Not just the part of me that looks good in public. But all. God isn't looking for visitation rights. He's looking for full custody. He's looking for full access.

Imagine you're giving somebody a key to your house and you say, "Hey listen, make yourself at home. Make yourself at home. Here's the key. But you can sit in the kitchen, but don't go in that bedroom in the corner. Do not walk down that hallway. That closet in the back, stay away from that. And that drawer, whatever you do, stay out of that drawer."

Now, if you have a drawer like that, it's okay. Don't get nervous. It's between you and Jesus. But technically you gave them, you let them into the house, but you didn't give them full access to the house, right? And now sometimes that's how we are with Jesus. Sometimes we approach God that way. "Jesus, you can have my Sunday, but just leave my Monday through Friday, that's for work. Saturday, that's for college football, and then I'm back on Sunday."

"You can have my worship, Lord, but don't touch my relationships. Don't touch my money. And don't touch my attitude at work. We are not talking about that. That's mine." And the Lord is actually saying, "Listen, but I want all. I want it all." Jesus doesn't want a spare key to your life. He wants the master key. He wants it all.

So when he talks about love the Lord with all, he starts with all your heart. And your heart represents your affections. Your heart represents your desires and your loves. Let me ask you this question or ask yourself this: where do I run when life hurts? Where do I go when life hurts? The reason why I ask that is because whatever we run to for comfort will reveal what we really trust.

Some of us run to money. Some of us run to relationships. Some of us run to success, attention, control, even ministry. Some of us run to, but none of those things can carry the weight of being God. God says, "Give me your heart," because he knows that he's the only one that can sustain it. If you believe that, someone say amen.

So he says all your heart. That's the first one. Your loves, your desires, your affections. Then he goes on and he says, "Love him with all your soul." So what does your soul say? Your soul says, "God, my life belongs to you. My identity, my future, my family, my plans, my disappointments, even the parts of my story that I don't understand."

It's easy to say, you know, "I trust God" when life agrees with you. Everybody has strong faith when that direct deposit hits. Everybody's faith is strong. But what happens when the door closes? What happens when the answer isn't what you wanted? When your timetable and God's timetable don't match? Can I still say, "God, I don't understand your hand, but I trust your heart"? Can I do that?

So that's your soul. So he says love the Lord with all your heart, that's your loves, all your soul, that's everything about me, my identity. And then next Jesus says love God with all your mind. Sometimes we got to break down scripture in the sense to say, "Okay, what did he mean by that?"

I'm telling you, I believe I'm going to be 64, 74, 84, still saying, "God, what did you mean by that?" It never ends. We keep learning. But he goes to love the Lord with all your mind. You know, your mind is a powerful thing. Your mind can take you to places that your feet never went. You can be safely in your living room and your mind can create 14 disasters that never happened.

You know the truth, right? Your mind can create things. And some of us have suffered through things that have never ever happened. Fear wrote the script. Anxiety directed the movie. And we bought popcorn and we're watching the whole entire thing in our mind.

But you know what? Loving God does not mean that we have to deny the reality of the situation. No. It means that reality just doesn't get the final word anymore. Reality does not get the final word. Yes, this is difficult, but God is faithful, right? Yes, I'm uncertain, but God is present. Yes, I don't know what tomorrow holds, but God is already there. I'm not denying the reality. I am putting reality underneath the authority of the truth of God.

And I'm telling you to practice that, we have to move in loving him with all of our mind. And finally, love God with all your strength. Now let's get practical. Let's get practical here. What does it mean to love God with all my strength? That just means it shows up in my calendar. It shows up in my money. It shows up in my relationships, my decisions, my gifts, what I do when no one else is applauding.

Because biblical love is more than emotion. You know that? It's more than just an emotion. Love moves. Love gives. Love sacrifices. Love surrenders. So maybe the question isn't, "Do I love God?" Maybe the question is more like, "Does God have all of me?"