It's that time. It is that time. I didn't even start clapping yet. Y'all used to be clapping, huh?

It's that time and it is that wonderful time for Thursday night

service. Welcome, welcome, and I am just listening. I'm just honored. I'm honored that week after week

I have the opportunity and the privilege to serve you spiritual

nutrition. It is my honor and it is my harsh desire to make sure that you grow

to make sure that you grow because you were not cosmically created by God for you to remain in mature.

Mark chapter 12, the Gospel of Mark, Mark chapter 12, I'm gonna launch our verse reading at verse 28.

It says, one of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating,

noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer. He asked them of all the commandments.

He's speaking to Jesus. He asked him of all the commandments, which is the most important?

The most important one, answer Jesus, is this. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your mind and with all of your strength.

The second is this. Love your neighbor as yourself.

There is no commandment greater than these. The power, the power of our texts,

the power and this biblical narrative, the power and this foundational text.

If I just be honest, it has left me right. As I was studying this particular message,

this particular verse has had me right since Tuesday, Monday night,

formulating it since Tuesday, discovering where God is taking us on tonight.

I have been erect personally and I have read this verse before.

I've read this before so many times, I've read all the gospels, the synoptic gospels,

all 39 books in the old 27 and the new, but this one particular time when I was reading this

biblical text, it left me right. Have you ever heard a word or just left you right?

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