“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” Mark 12:30 (NLT)
One day a man asked Jesus which, of all the commandments, was the most important. Jesus answered him like this:
“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength” (Mark 12:30 NLT).
That’s what it all comes down to. God didn’t put you on this planet to mark things off your to-do list. He put you here to learn to love him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. But what does that really mean, and how do you do it?
Loving God with all your heart often happens when you’re talking—it’s how you share the gift of
communication with the world. Loving God with your soul happens when you’re feeling—when you’re sharing
compassion. You love God with your mind as you’re thinking—when you’re giving
consideration to people or ideas. And, finally, loving God with your strength happens as you’re doing—when you’re making a
contribution to the world.
Another way to say it is that you can love God with all your talk, all your feelings, all your thinking, and all your acting.
God calls each person to love him in all four of these ways. The world needs communication, compassion, consideration, and contribution from every follower of Jesus.
But the reality is that your personality causes you to tend more naturally toward either the heart, soul, mind, or strength. For the next few days, we’ll take a look at the strengths and pitfalls of each of these four areas.
Today we’re going to focus on the communicators—the people who most naturally love Jesus with their hearts.
Heart people are talkers, and they have a hard time being quiet. When you’re a heart person, you’ve got to let it out. You’ve got to tell other people. Heart people love to tell stories. They love to sit and converse, especially in heart-to-heart conversations.
The world needs people who are communicators. We need people who can lead discussions and who can verbalize what the rest of us feel. We need teachers, counselors, and coaches who can teach us and direct us. We need comedians. We need preachers. We need all of these people who are built on verbal skills and who are able to move the world forward.
The Bible says,
“Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them” (Ephesians 4:29 NLT).
When talkers use the right words at the right time, they can restore, encourage, build up, and heal broken hearts. They can also use their abilities to guide, direct, and point us in the right direction. But God’s warning for talkers is this: You also have to act.
Proverbs 14:23 says,
“Hard work is worthwhile, but empty talk will make you poor” (CEV).
This means you eventually have to act on what you’ve been talking about. Some people never get past the discussion stage.
What things have you been talking about doing? How long have you been talking about it?
Don’t just talk about it. Start doing it! And see how God uses your words and actions to make a difference in the world
Talk It Over
- Is it most natural for you to love God with your heart, soul, mind, or strength? How do you and others see that in the ways you worship and serve?
- We all can love God with our hearts and with the ways we communicate. How are you using your words to build others up and help them move in the direction of their purpose?
- What have you been talking about doing for weeks or even months? What steps can you take today to move forward?
ANNOUNCEMENTS
JOIN US THIS SUNDAY, MAY 23: Rev. Bob Yates will be speaking this Sunday morning. Rev. Yates served in Florida for over 20 years, and we are so blessed to have Bob and Nila as part of our congregation.
Please note that Debbie Woodard’s Sunday School class will not meet this Sunday due to the Women’s Retreat. All are invited to join the Friendship Class with Kenneth and Gracie instead.
Teens will gather for
BUNCH TO LUNCH following the worship service this Sunday. See Brice for details.
ZONE MISSION RALLY: There will be a Zone Mission Rally on Sunday, June 13 at 6:00pm. Rob and Cindy North, Directors of University Advancement at Africa Nazarene University, will be our special speakers.
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL! Vacation Bible School will be June 27 through June 30. Our friends from Penny Road Church of the Nazarene in North Carolina will be here to help us with VBS and several service projects around the building.
CRISIS CARE KITS are needed for churches to distribute to people after storms and disasters. Directions on how you can help are here.
WORKERS ARE NEEDED. Please let us know if you can help in the following areas...
- the Children's Department.
- to serve as ushers and greeters.
CHURCH CENTER: You are invited to join us on the Church Center app! Church Center is a place to connect with small groups and church events, send messages to your group, update your profile, and more! Download from the App Store and connect today. If you have trouble with setting up or updating your profile to keep your contact information up to date, see Jenn Houchin or Terri Ray.
LIFE LINE SCREENING, the nation’s leading provider of preventive health screenings, will offer affordable, non-invasive and painless health screenings at Old Hickory Church of the Nazarene on Monday, June 21, 2021. More details including how to register is here.
MEMBERSHIP CLASS: Connect with Pastor Mike if you would be interested in joining a membership class.
FOOD PANTRY: The pantry is open on Wednesday from 5:00-7:00pm and Thursday from 10:00am-12:00pm and volunteers and donations are needed.
COFFEE SHOP: Uncommon Grounds is open every Monday-Saturday from 7:00am-2:00pm. Invite a friend and use this great outreach to introduce the church to your friends.
CHAIR YOGA: Exercise classes with Anita are held on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 8:30-9:30am in the gym. Masks will be required & we will continue to social distance & sanitize our chairs. If you are interested in starting an exercise regime this year, please join us. We follow the silver sneakers protocol using a chair, including yoga, strength & balance, and we even do some "dancing to the oldies." Come join us... it's free & open to anyone.
CAMP AT THE CREEK ‘21: High School is June 7-11; Middle School is June 14-18. See Brice for registration and scholarship information!
CLASSES & STUDIES
SUNDAYS
Debbie Woodard leads the Young Adult class in person and via ZOOM for anyone who would like to join. They meet Sunday mornings at 9am in the classroom beside the new office. Please note that Debbie Woodard’s Sunday School class will not meet this Sunday due to the Women’s Retreat. All are invited to join the Friendship Class with Kenneth and Gracie instead.
Meeting ID: 868 1977 8952
Password: Bible101
Kenneth Ray & Gracie Smith lead the Friendship Class in person and via ZOOM for anyone who would like to join. They meet Sunday mornings at 9am.
Meeting ID: 846 6822 8046
Password: Bible101
Brice Rupert leads the teens class (6-12), Maddie Malone leads the kids class (k-5), both in person at 9:00am. We have kids classes for all ages.
SUNDAY MORNING WORSHIP begins at 10:00am in the sanctuary. The services will continue to be live streamed on Facebook and our website home page for those unable to be with us in the church building.
OH|KIDS CHURCH for K-5th grade meets during the worship hour at 10:00am with Pastor Maddie! They have moved to a new classroom, so Pastor Maddie will be waiting in the main lobby before service to take kids downstairs.
TUESDAYS
Coffee & Community Bible Study every other Tuesday at 9:30am in the Coffee Shop. Next meeting is on May 25.
WEDNESDAYS
Wednesday Night Bible Study with Debbie Woodard is on Facebook Live (from Debbie's page) at 6:30pm.
THURSDAYS
Richard leads prayer and devotional on Thursdays at 7:00 PM via ZOOM for anyone who would like to join.
Meeting ID: 894 2501 3143
Password: Prayer605
