Dalton First United Methodist Church Podcast
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Dalton First United Methodist Church Podcast
The Most Important Thing - Pastor Steven Usry
The Most Important Thing - May 7th 2023
What does it truly mean to love others and how can we express that love in our daily lives? Join us as we discover the transformative power of love as we delve into the teachings of John 4 and Jesus' metaphors for expressing love in our homes and churches. We provide you with five practical ways to demonstrate love, so we can all keep the main thing, the main thing.
Learn More at: daltonfumc.com
Our scripture today comes from the book of Mark, chapter 12, verses 28 through 31,. the greatest commandment One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given a good answer, he asked him of the commandments, which is the most important? The most important one, answer Jesus. is this hero, 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 The word of God for the people of God.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you've seen some of the videos that we've been putting on Facebook lately, but most recently I had an opportunity to talk about a little book that was given to me, the history of Dalton First United Methodist Church, and when I was reading that book front to cover, your front page to the back cover I recognized that this church has a long and storied history of ministry And there have been many people in my life that I looked up to as a mentor, as just legends. As far as clergy and pastors go. It was a. I had no idea that you know Bishop Cannon, william Cannon. I was having dinner with somebody the other night. They called him Billy, billy Cannon. I've never been around a clergy person You can. You know you're in his hometown of people. Call him Billy, but Fred Craddock and so many other great pastors. I consider a great honor to be able to, for the very first time, preach God's word from this pulpit today.
Speaker 2:I've enjoyed getting to know Dalton already. My family and I were having dinner with new and old friends last night at Cherokee Pizza. I found Cyrus already. That's been fun. The other day I found a barbecue restaurant at named John's eating my first barbecue place. I had a tour of Dalton the other day. That was a blast just getting to go all over Dalton and I've got somebody that's gonna help me tour the hospital and and see the local schools. So we're learning Dalton, i don't think.
Speaker 2:Earlier I had a chance to introduce my bride and so I want to take just a moment to do that. Julie, would you just stand up and wave that way to everybody? This is Julie, julie and I. Julie and I have been married for 30 years. She retires from teaching school after 31 years in May the 26th, so we're this is her month. We're very excited for Julie to be able to retire. I'm hosting meet and greets and so I hope you'll be able to attend one of those so that I can get a chance to meet you and know you personally. Please try to get to one of our meet and greets.
Speaker 2:There's a true story that is told of Billy Graham. True story. Billy Graham was going from town to town preaching. He was doing kind of mini crusades. This was before Billy Graham was a big, national, global figure and in one little town he had a little, a little letter that he was trying to mail. But he was walking through the center of town and didn't know where the post office was. And there was a little boy sitting in the middle of the town and he said to the little boy hey, can you help me out? Can you tell me where the post office is? And the little boy said you just go up two streets, take a right and post office will be on your left. And Billy Graham, being who he is, took a moment to say to that little boy well, thank you for helping me. Can I help you? I'd like to tell you how to get to heaven. And the little boy looked at him and said mister, you don't even know how to get to the post office. How are you gonna tell me? Can I just tell you that we're so new to Dalton. I do know where the post office is okay, i figured that one out, but we are very new to Dalton. I hope that you'll be patient with us as we get to know you as a church and get to know so many of you.
Speaker 2:Robin preached that message last week from Psalm chapter 23, and he preached about love. Robin had no idea what God was calling me to preach on, and today I want to talk to you about love. Now, if God's saying something once and then right behind it's saying it again, we might want to pay attention. Huh, don't make him say it three times right Today I want to talk to you about love, and I think God wants to really communicate something special to us. And I'm gonna preach fast is that okay? Because normally I preach long. I was well turned it up fast. I like to challenge my congregation just to be really smart. I'm gonna trust you're smart so we can go fast together.
Speaker 2:I brought something this morning to just kind of tell you my prayer for our journey together as a church. People ask me what do you want the church to be? And I can talk about vision, i can talk about mission, i can talk about values. But one of the simplest ways I know to talk about any church that I ever passed through, i use an analogy of a coin. I bought a. I bought a big coin today so you could see it. Okay, coin has two sides to it, and so here's my simple hope for us as a church. In fact, when you pray, i hope you'll be praying this way around our church together.
Speaker 2:The Bible says in John chapter 316 that God so loved that He gave. God loves. He loves completely, he loves perfectly, and out of that love He gives, he gives His best. Guys, i want our church to be known as a church that loves well and that gives well. So what better place for me to begin to turn to God's Word today than a place of love. I want people in Dalton to know about that church Man. Look how they love and look how they give. And so today, as we talk about love, i would invite you to hear maybe some familiar scriptures with fresh ears, and may God whisper over our souls. I don't know if you've already noticed, but inside your worship guide grab that worship guide again The very, the very last printed page of your worship guide is a message outline.
Speaker 2:For about 25 years I have always preached from an outline And that will be there for you every time I preach. That might be different for some of you, but can I just tell you why I do it? I'll be very brief. It helps me. It helps me and it helps people. A lot of people get to read those scriptures. As a matter of fact, i just encourage people to engage with that message outline. However, you will Some folks grab a pen on the little seat back in front of them and there'll be circling words and underlining things and filling in the blanks. One of the things I know is that not all of us are auditory learners. Some of us are visual learners, some of us are kinesthetic learners, and this just helps a lot of people remember the sermon and the scripture and God's word to us a lot longer than just the moment. So I would invite you just to engage with that outline, however you will. For some people they actually hold onto these things and make them into some Bible studies. They're Sunday school teachers and that kind of thing. So today, as we dive in, i just invite you to use that outline, however you might.
Speaker 2:You know, as a young Christian, i wanna show you a Bible that I used to use when I just first became a Christian. It was a big, thick Bible And this was the Bible. I've had this Bible for years and years and I remember, as a young Christian, in my earliest of teenage years, getting this Bible and starting to read it. I had a goal of underlining something on every page. I was just asking God to speak to me so much.
Speaker 2:But if you ever had a moment where you're studying the Bible and just the breadth of it, just the depth of it. It seemed so vast. You are a little overwhelmed. Well, that happened to me as a teenager. I remember thinking to myself I studied the Bible so much I was like God, there's a lot here, there is a lot here. How am I ever going to learn all this and to do all this? And so I prayed a prayer and God honored that prayer. I said, god, i don't know that I can learn all about this. I don't know that I can do it all. But what I do know is, if you would just show me the one or two or three most important things, i will make sure I get those things done in my life.
Speaker 2:And it was then that I ran across the Scripture. It was a Scripture that Jody read for us today. It was a Scripture of that young teacher the Lawyer, if you will that came to Jesus and said of all the commandments, which is the most important? Now, i think in that passage the teacher was actually trying to catch Jesus and mess him up. But I was asking a very authentic thing. I was saying just show me the most important thing and I'll do it. And there that Scripture was.
Speaker 2:When I found it, light bulbs went off for me, because here is a person asking that very same question what's the most important thing? And you remember what Jesus said? Jesus said the first and the greatest commandment is to love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. And then Jesus gave him a bonus answer right. And then he said and the second is, like it, to love your neighbor as yourself. When I found that as a young Christian, it was so freeing, i thought to myself God, i get it now. Love is one of the most important things we can ever invest our lives around to love you with all that we have and to love our neighbor as our self. And so today I want to talk to you about how we love, and I want to challenge you to love bigger and deeper and stronger.
Speaker 2:I brought a metaphor. You know Jesus was big on metaphors. He used children, he used trees, he used all kinds of things to teach. And so, as I fill this vase, the question I have for you is is that half full or half empty? Somebody help me out. What is that? Half full, half empty. Some of us would say different things about that vase, but what I want to point you to is that there are some people that when they look at that kind of thing, they see what they have, and there are some people that they see what they don't have. I call the people who see what they don't have, if only people.
Speaker 2:And sometimes we have a way of thinking, if only thinking in our families, in our church and even about ourselves personally. Let me give you an example. When you're thinking about your family, it's easy to think about what you don't have. When you think, boy, if we only, if we only had more money, if we only had a better house, if we only had the right education, if we only had a nicer car. Sometimes people think this way about church. They think to themselves you know, if we only had more people, if we only had the right leader, if we only had a shared vision. And then sometimes we think that way about ourselves personally. Boy, if I only had a better job, if I only grew up in a different household, if I could only find the right person, if I only had more time.
Speaker 2:And what I want to share with you is that when Jesus was coming to this planet. He loved people so well that people had a chance to see God the God who fung the stars in space come to the planet and love people in real time, and it was so impactful that the disciples who watched Him were changed. How do we know that? Because in every one of their letters, when they talk about love, they reference their interaction with Jesus. Today, i want to talk about the Gospel of John. I'm going to read a Scripture for you from John's first letter, chapter 4.
Speaker 2:Listen to John's perspective. After doing ministry with Jesus, dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. And whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God shows His love among us. He sent His one and His only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love. Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. And now John implores them and he implores us. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another. God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.
Speaker 2:You see, what John knew after watching Jesus' ministry is it's not about what you don't have, it's about what you've already been given, especially if you've received the love that John just spoke about, and atoning love. I like to think of it this way. Think of it this way There are four elements about this love of God that, when you really begin to wrap your mind around, they should just blow your socks off. The first one is simply this the single greatest redemptive force on this planet is love. I'm going to say that again The single greatest redemptive force on the planet is love, and it's been given to us in limitless supply And it is available right now for you and for me. So when John was understanding this and he'd experienced God in the flesh showing him that kind of love, and he wrote these words, what John was, he was kind of mirroring the letter from James. You remember James writes. He says James says faith without works is dead, but what John is saying is love without expression is useless.
Speaker 2:So how are you at love? Today, i want to talk to you just about five practical ways that you can show love, and I want to invite you to do these things in your home because they'll change the temperature of a home, and I want to invite you to do these things in this church because they will change the feel and the nature of a church like ours. If you have your pen handy, i just call these five practical ways to keep the main thing, the main thing. I have a little placard in my office and that placard says the main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing, alright. So the idea here is how well do you love? How well do you express that love tangibly, so real quickly? how, pastor Stephen, can I be better at expressing love? The first one is this come right out and say it, say it, say I love you, matter of fact, can we do that real quickly, just full voice. Do it with me real quickly, i love you. But didn't that feel good.
Speaker 2:Everybody loves to hear I love you, i love you. And sometimes I think there's some of us struggle to say those words. You know, i grew up in a home with a father who told me I love you two times. I can tell you the very place I was those two very important moments of my life when my daddy said I love you. It was hard for my dad to say I love you. It almost reminds me, do y'all remember happy days in the Fonz? Whenever the Fonz had to say I'm sorry or I was wrong, he would say I'm wrong, he couldn't get it out. And there's some people that are like that when it comes to I love you. I love you is a beautiful and powerful statement and I just want to encourage you to say it in your home, to say it in this church, to say I love you.
Speaker 2:You know, i learned how powerful I love you was when I was young and dating. I learned that I needed to not say I love you, suzanne, to a young lady if I really didn't mean it, because all of a sudden they got real serious and I wasn't there yet. And when I first realized that I'm letting you in on my world a little bit okay, when I first realized that in my prayer time I made a commitment, i said it one too many times and I said that's it. I'm never saying I love you again to a girl until I meet the one I'm going to marry. And then I met that one on the second row. And you know she didn't know the commitment that I made. She didn't know that I had said God, i'm never going to say I love you until I really mean it. And so we started to date and we started to get excited and one day it just burst out from her. She said I love you. And I said thank you. Talk about an awkward moment. But then I had a moment to say I've made a commitment that I'm not going to say I love you to a young lady until I know. But can I tell you a little while later, one day, one night, i said I love you, boy, did she know that meant something? right? Can I just tell you that we don't get off the phone with our kids without saying I love you. I don't get off the phone with my best of friends without saying I love you.
Speaker 2:I want to be a part of a church that says I love you all the time. I want to be a part of a church that just expresses their love with their words. And so the key here about this is I want you to dream of a kingdom dynamic where people who are brothers and sisters are just all the time expressing their love with their words. I love you, i love you. I love you. You want to be. You want a practical way to show your love. You speak it, come right out and say it. Here's another one. Write this one down. You put it in writing.
Speaker 2:If you knew me really well, you would know that I have a little box at home where I keep a lot of cards and letters where people have shared their love. If you go to my office, you'll find a place where I have letters that I hold on to and people show that care. They've written a note and they say thank you or they say I love you, and those things matter. You know what a written note is. A written note is just a tangible, physical reminder of your love. Now, the key, if you're going to put it in writing and this is the reason we don't do this very well is we think it's got to be long. Whenever we write a love note, we share something, we care. We think we've got to write a treatise. You know We've got to write a dissertation. No, no, no. The key to showing your love is to just do it. Keep it short. Write on a sticky note, right. Show your love. Show your love in your family, show your love in your church. Put it in writing. Come right out and say it. Put it in writing. I'm going to go a little bit faster.
Speaker 2:The third one I'd like to encourage you to do is loving touch. Did you know that massive amounts of love can come from loving touch? Look at Jesus. You want a great example. Whenever Jesus moves into a new town, jesus is touching people. Jesus is touching children. He's touching lepers. He's touching blind people and deaf people. He's touching women. He's touching Samaritans. Jesus, it's almost like Jesus. When he comes into a new town, he's doing drive-by touches everywhere he goes. Jesus understood that massive amounts of love can be transferred through human touch. Now I'm a hugger, is that okay? I know not all of you are huggers. You know how I know that Because when I hug you, you go oh, it's very hard for you to take a hug. We got a person on our staff like that, but I've told her that I'm just gonna be a ninja hugger. I'm gonna slide up behind her and grab her anyway. Why? Because I am convinced that massive amounts of love can be transferred through loving touch. You come right out and say it. You put it in writing. You use loving touch. Here's another one. Write this one down Small acts of kindness.
Speaker 2:You know what these are? right, i'll tell you what Small acts of kindness in a home can change the whole temperature of a home. You know what, when my wife comes home and I've done the dishes, it may not seem like a lot, but I'm trying to communicate that I love her and I love our family and I'm taking care of our family. The key for small acts of kindness is just doing it right. In order to do small acts of kindness over and over again in a home or in a church, here's the key. You must ruthlessly break away from hurry. We run so much, don't we? We run in the morning, we run in the afternoon, we run in the night. We could do a small act of kindness if we would just delay for a moment and not hurry on. I want to challenge you, church, to slow down. True discipleship can never be done in a hurry. True discipleship is slow and measured. So I want to challenge you to do some small acts of kindness in this church Sometimes they might even be anonymous and small acts of kindness in your home and in that way, show your love. And then lastly and I don't know that I wrote the last one very well, i'll just call it dive deep, write that one down Another practical way that you can show your love.
Speaker 2:What do you mean by that, pastor Stephen? What I mean by that I had one of my longest and best friends was my youth pastor and he's sitting on the back row this morning. He's a blood brother of mine and he taught me a lesson years ago And here's what he taught me. He said, stephen, you don't want to live life with your heart guarded all the time. You want to live life with your heart on your sleeve so that you can do life deeply with other people, you can weep with them and laugh with them, and there are moments where you must take your heart and you must guard it, because people will not that thing to the ground and you'll have to pick it up, right. But you don't want to live life like one of these people that you don't. You're not willing to really show your love and in going to deep places with other people.
Speaker 2:Dalton, first I want to make a promise with you on this morning. Okay, are you ready? Hey, y'all listening, balcony people, y'all listening. Can I tell you, i grew up in the balcony at Burns United Methodist Church in Augusta, georgia. That was my spot right. I'm with you. Here's my covenant with you As I come to be your pastor. I covenant with you that I will do life deeply. I practice sincerity and authenticity and I will love you and I invite you to love me, and I want to care for you and care for your family. So let's do life deeply. Five just practical ways I think that we can show, express our love right. Come right out and say it, put it in writing loving touch, small likes of kindness. Do life deeply, don't guard.
Speaker 2:This ministry of Jesus impacted him so much that Jesus John wrote. He said the words of Jesus, he recorded them in his gospel. A new command I give you love one another as I have loved you. Church, our goal is to love each other and to love Dalton the way that Jesus has loved us and gave himself up for us.
Speaker 2:You know the early church in the book of Acts. I don't know if you've ever thought about this. The early church in the book of Acts. They didn't have property, they didn't have buildings, they didn't have committees. The early church only had two things that they could offer people Salvation in Jesus Christ and Christian community. But what a beautiful thing to be able to offer The love of God through Jesus Christ and the love of one another. So, as I close this message today, i just want to invite you one more time to dream.
Speaker 2:Imagine. Imagine a home, a mom and a dad or grandma and granddad where they're just saying I love you all the time, where they're just, they're putting their love in notes and just tangible reminders. They're doing small acts of kindness, they're doing loving touch, they're doing life. Imagine a church like this where people walk in. They just hear everybody going I love you, i love you, i love you. Imagine that You know what will happen. People that are brand new to this campus and we've got some here this morning, thank you for being here this morning They will come on this campus and they'll smell it and it will change them because they will feel God's presence through that love.
Speaker 2:So, one more time, here's the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God's love has been offered to us in limitless supply. It's the greatest redemptive potential on the planet and it's available to us right now. And here's the beautiful thing For us to grow in our love. It doesn't cost us more money. We don't have to go to a conference to learn how to do this right. We don't have to negotiate whether we should do this or not, or legislate it into our body. No, no, no. All we've got to do is start loving more.
Speaker 2:So here's my dream, dalton. First, what would it look like for us to double our capacity to love? What if we were drinking in the love of God every day and pouring that love out to our community Church? this is a beautiful picture of who we are and of who we have been called to be. The main thing is to keep the main thing. The main thing Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.
Speaker 2:I want to pray for you, but before I do it, would you just look at that message outlined one more time 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. I want to challenge you to pick one of those and do it this week. Let's pray, jesus, we thank You that You came modeling love for us. You showed us the way And, god, we just pray that You would help us become greater lovers. Lord, we want to model You in the way we love and the way we give. Oh Jesus, help us to speak it, help us to write it, help us to do it in every way. And, lord Jesus, in all things. May you see that we love You with our heart, soul, mind and strength, and that we are seeking to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Speaker 2:In the next few minutes, as we come to the altar, as we receive Holy Communion, meet us in this place Once again. Redeem us from our sin and rise us up. Raise us up to newness of living. In the name of Christ, we pray amen. If you're going to help me in serving Holy Communion, i invite you to come forward this morning. Thank you, lord.
Speaker 2:I want to invite you to follow along in your Worship Guide and our Liturgy of Holy Communion. The Lord be with you. We lift up our hearts. Let us give our thanks to the Lord, our God. It is right and a good and a joyful thing, always and everywhere, to give thanks to You, father, almighty, creator of heaven and earth. You have made from everyone, every nation and people, to live on the face of the earth, and so, with Your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise Your name and we join there, unending Him. Holy, holy, holy, lord, god of power and might, heaven and earth are full of Your glory.
Speaker 2:Hosanna in the highest, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, hosanna in the highest. On the night in which He gave Himself up for us, he took bread. He gave thanks to you. He broke the bread and gave it to His disciples and said Take, eat. This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
Speaker 2:And when the supper was over, he took the cup. He gave thanks to you, gave it to His disciples and said Drink from this, all of you. This is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving, as a holy and a living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith.
Speaker 2:Christ has died, christ has risen, christ will come again. Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts of bread and of wine. Make them be for us the body and the blood of Christ that we may be for the world, the body of Christ redeemed by His blood, church. As we come to Holy Communion this morning, we will have two stations up front. We invite you to come down the middle aisle at the direction of the ushers and return to your seats on the outside aisle. We do have gluten-free elements available And if you would like to be served where you are in your seat, just flag us or one of the ushers and we'll make sure that we come to you. The choir will be served first this morning and then we'll invite the rose to begin to come forward. Come and may Christ meet you.