What a weekend

Well this weekend was a longgggggggggggg weekend.

Had class 3-9 Friday and Saturday 9-5
And then preached all 3 services today.

Even though it was a lot of work..it was an amazing spiritual experience.

I learned a lot this weekend in class about interpreting the Bible.  My biggest insight was learning about how Gnostic viewpoints was a main force behind the writings of Paul.  I never really saw that before in all my years.  And once I understood that, it made me see Paul's letters in a new light.

And working on today's sermon, helped me not only honor my dad for father's day, but also help me take a look at my life.  Here's a little snip it of it.

 *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.' The
second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater
than these." *(NIV, Mark 12:28-31)

They are at it again.  They
enlist a lawyer to do what lawyers’ best- ask a question designed to put a
person on the hot seat.  “Which commandment of the law is the
greatest?”  If the law were only the Ten Commandments, this would be tough
enough.  But the written “Torah” included many more moral, ceremonial, and
dietary prescriptions.

Splicing together two passages from the Torah, Jesus gets them.  “You shall love the Lord your
God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with all your mind” (Deut
6:5).

 “This is the greatest and first commandment.  The second is like
it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Lev 19:18).”

 

  Read the Ten
Commandments (Ex 20:1-17)
and you’ll see that the first three are about loving God and the other seven
are about loving your neighbor.  If you read the Bible,
you’d be able to put each command in column A (love God) or column B (love your
neighbor).  So these two commandments are indeed the root of them all.