Sermon Notes from 2.13.11

Here are the notes from my sermon on February 13th.  It was a special day in the life of our church as we were celebrating our I Love My Church Family Banquet.  I preached the passage from Mark 12 on the greatest commandment.  As always, you can find these notes in PDF and sermon audio on sermons.heritagepark.org or just the audio on iTunes.

I Love My Church Family

Mark 12.28-34

What makes us Church?

• Recognition of and response to the uniqueness of God and His claims.
• His primary claim:  love Him with everything.

Isn’t that narcissistic? 

• He loved us first, inciting and inviting our love in return (1 John 4.19).

What does that mean?

• It’s not a religious exercise (v.32-33).
• Nothing in our personality remains untouched by Him (2 Cor. 5.14-15).

How do we do that?

• Recognize and respond to the love that God has given us in Christ (1 John 4.10, 16).

What makes us Family?

• In the same way we go “all-in” with God, we also love each other.
• When we love our neighbor with this kind of love, we love God.
• When we love our neighbor with this kind of love, we become the tangible expression of God’s love to them.