0:00:00 – (Steve Gray): Have you ever felt like you’re in a rut, just going nowhere with God? It’s just not happening. There’s no excitement, just kind of going through the motions. A lot of people feel that way. I’m going to give you the secret to how to get out of that rut and walk with God. On the next More Faith, More Life podcast. Hello everyone, and welcome to another More Faith, More Life podcast. Your voice of revival.

0:00:19 – (Steve Gray): So glad we could be together today. And we’ve got Zion Vierra back with us again. And also we’ve changed the set a little bit. You’ll notice we’re in the same location we were in last, but we’re in a different corner. We just waited to do this and it’s just a better setup for us. We can do more things. Got the desk and all that. And so we’ll be doing more things from this. And anyway, I just also want to help you understand that the things that I bring up here are not because I’m trying to get the number of followers or famous or something like that. I’m just trying to help you grow in God and get closer to the Lord by understanding what faith will do and how we’ll get you closer. More faith, more love, more life, all those things and what it’ll do for you. And if it you, if it does it for you, it’s really doing it for all of us.

0:01:05 – (Steve Gray): Because the more people that move closer to the Lord, understanding and get wisdom and understanding of what it means to be a Christian and sort of pulling you away from some of the cultural ideas and I’ve even called it in the book we put out last year. You know, it’s been a. About a year since the book, the Gideon. Oh yeah.

0:01:25 – (Zion Vierra): Mighty like Gideon.

0:01:25 – (Steve Gray): Yeah, it’s been a year and now it’s about time for another one to come out. But in that, that we get, we, I think in that book I called it, we have a, you know, a cultural Jesus or, you know, we, we’ve created a God in our own image that likes everything we like and that’s why it’s not working. It’s so not life changing for the believers. It’s certainly not life changing for a world that needs some life changing right now.

0:01:52 – (Steve Gray): Our nation needs some people that can really teach them how and help them that they can be transformed, but they want to be transformed.

0:02:01 – (Zion Vierra): Yeah, that’s good. The issue with creating a God of your own image is like it’s going to automatically affirm everything you do. Like God is here to convict us, to change us, to help change us. And if God approves everything you’re doing, or your God approves everything you’re doing, then there’s no change. There’s nothing to be made. There’s no improvement, no growth. You’re not benefiting everything because you’re always doing everything right. Everything’s being affirmed by that God.

0:02:22 – (Steve Gray): I also, I think I coined the phrase the commercialized Jesus too, which makes commercial sounds like money, commerce. Right. It’s the commercialized Jesus because it makes he, it gospel, which is no gospel at all. Makes money, it draws people. People want to hear about it because it’s all about them. It’s all about their feelings. It’s all about trying to make life better for you. And so what happens is then the level of Christianity goes down for the Christians.

0:02:47 – (Zion Vierra): But.

0:02:48 – (Steve Gray): But then, you know, everybody realizes we got a lot of division, you know, in our country, and we got a lot of angry people.

0:02:55 – (Zion Vierra): Sure.

0:02:55 – (Steve Gray): But you know what? Angry people are not happy people.

0:02:58 – (Zion Vierra): That’s right.

0:02:58 – (Steve Gray): They’re not happy. They’re angry. They’re unhappy. They’re angry, they’re bitter. They’re over the top screaming. Every day. There’s people in our streets out there just yelling and screaming at people that, that does. That is not a happy life. And so they have to come to the point too, where they, they don’t want to live this way anymore. Somebody help me get out of this angern. Because I’m sure, you know, if they have that anger in the streets, they’re going to have some of that anger at home.

0:03:25 – (Zion Vierra): Sure.

0:03:26 – (Steve Gray): And they don’t have a boundary like, well, I only yell at that police officer, but when I get home, I am the most loving mom or dad or kid or whatever. No, as soon as you don’t get something, you don’t get your way, you act the same outburst. Yeah, exactly. So they’re not happy people. Well, I wanted to take us back then to the root of Christianity just for your sake. This is not for us to build a ministry or anything. This is all for you.

0:03:49 – (Steve Gray): And where Jesus was asked about the greatest and most important commandment, and he says, well, this is the greatest commandment. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and with all your strength. From Mark 12:30 is the one I took out of it. But notice Zion, that he says the greatest commandment. It’s not a suggestion. It’s not just a good idea. It’s not something that you have options to.

0:04:14 – (Steve Gray): And to just put it into perspective through all the years I’ve been doing this, unless they go to our church, most people don’t get this. Then it’s a commandment. And this is where your walk should start. It should start with, not Jesus loves you, but you love God. And it’s a commandment to love God. Sure. And I don’t know, you know, the Jewish fathers, I don’t know how they do it today because there’s all kinds of Jewish people, you know, that, that some are real believers, some are Orthodox, and some are what they call secular Jews. They just, they, they’re Jews more.

0:04:48 – (Steve Gray): They think of themselves by race more than religion. Yeah. But anyway. But way back in Jesus day, they would teach, they would teach their children to love God because it’s a commandment. And they would say the Shema, thou shalt love the Lord your God with all you know. And they would say the Shema every day with their kids and they’d pull them into it. And today, though I don’t know of parents around the country at least, that teach their children to love God.

0:05:16 – (Steve Gray): They teach that God loves them and they teach that Jesus loves them, but they don’t teach that they are to love God. And that’s the first. Jesus said, this is the very first and most important commandment. It’s where it all starts. And most believers who go to church have never started yet. And so we pay for it, you know, we pay for it in relationships. And so if I tell, but if I tell parents or tell them anyway, adults, this is a commandment.

0:05:46 – (Steve Gray): There you have it. You have to love God. Now. Love God. It’s a commandment that you love God. They don’t know how to do it because to them from our culture, love is a feeling, it’s emotions. And so you go like, well, I can’t tell my kids to have emotions for God. If they don’t have emotions, they don’t have it. If they don’t have feelings for God, they don’t have feelings for God. And so we’ve been robbed of the truth of that.

0:06:11 – (Steve Gray): And so I want to take it today a little bit back on that. Well, maybe before we get into the truth of what that really means, because I’m going to tell you what that really means. I did a sermon recently called Is it love or is it like? And so when we say you should love the Lord your God with all your heart. Well, most of the. Most people, they say love, but they’re living like they like God. They don’t oppose God, they don’t dislike God. But they don’t love God either.

0:06:41 – (Steve Gray): So you have to separate. Is it love or is it like. And so I use the example of. I called it Judy Camp, but it was like, went to tell you the story. So I went to camp when I was. I think I was seventh or eighth grade, right in there in summertime. And I went to camp and back then you could actually get a letter, you know, and they’d encourage you to write home. Or mom would send you a letter. You’ve been gone one day. And then you get a letter from your mom at camp.

0:07:05 – (Steve Gray): Well, I got a surprise. I got a letter from a girl named Judy, same age. I’d seen her at the pool, swimming pool that week before I left. And we barely even talked. And I get this letter and saying these things about me. And then she’d say, I like you. And I know what that means. I mean, what she meant. And. And immediately I liked her too. You know, why not? And so I write back and I say, I like you too. Well, all the week while at camp, all I thought about was get leaving and going back to go see Judy, you know. And so finally camp is over.

0:07:39 – (Steve Gray): Just I’m distracted, you know. And finally camp’s over. And first thing I do when I get back that next day, I head to the swimming pool because I figured Judy’s probably there. And guess what? She was. Judy was there. And I still have the letter, how much she likes me. And I wrote her that I like her. And by the time one week passed, she’s there at the pool and she already likes somebody else. It’s over. And we heartbroken.

0:08:01 – (Steve Gray): Yeah. I didn’t like it and. And it was over before it even got started. Sure. And so I reflected back on that and I think that’s how so many people are. They. They get married because they like somebody. And we think, well, this is going to be forever now because you made vows how. That you love this person. But then they change their mind and they start disliking them. They’re angry. And I kind of asked the question. I said, what do you. You know, what happened? Like, was it really love and then love can turn to hate or was it never love in the first place? That’s going to be my thought.

0:08:35 – (Zion Vierra): Yeah.

0:08:36 – (Steve Gray): Not real. Was it like. Yeah, you didn’t. Of course it was. Yeah, I like Judy too, but. But here’s the difference, Zion. I liked Judy, but I didn’t. And I wanted to come home and see her, but I did not plan on changing my life for Her. I wasn’t going to change my habits, I wasn’t going to change my thinking. I wasn’t going to become 100% hers and serve her and you know, everything. Yeah. Sacrifice for.

0:09:02 – (Steve Gray): That’s the word I was looking for. Sacrifice for her. I was just going to enjoy liking someone and somebody liking me and feelings. That it. Yeah, all that. And so there were feelings, but it wasn’t really love because obviously she changed her mind in a hurry. And so this is where we get into it where the commandment says love God, but we’re putting it into the feeling. And it’s like Judy likes me, but then she doesn’t like me. And we do like God, but is it love for God?

0:09:33 – (Steve Gray): And then we have to kind of stretch it out into our own relationships. Are we in relationships that are not working right now? Because actually we don’t love the person, we like the person because you said it already. So if you love, if you. Well, if we love God, then what is supposed to happen after that?

0:09:50 – (Zion Vierra): Sacrifice.

0:09:51 – (Steve Gray): Yeah, yeah. Serving.

0:09:52 – (Zion Vierra): Yeah. And it’s funny is there’s actually a verse in Song of Solomon talks about I want to sack, I want sacrifice and not even feel like a sacrifice anymore.

0:10:04 – (Steve Gray): Yeah.

0:10:04 – (Zion Vierra): Like to get to that point of love to where like someone else looks at as major sacrifice. But for me it’s a joy.

0:10:09 – (Steve Gray): Yeah.

0:10:09 – (Zion Vierra): I love doing this.

0:10:10 – (Steve Gray): I think that is an excellent example of what happens. It’s a joy. Now what? It comes under the word sacrifice.

0:10:17 – (Zion Vierra): Yeah.

0:10:18 – (Steve Gray): When we start first. Yeah.

0:10:19 – (Zion Vierra): But then the transitions. Man, I can’t wait.

0:10:21 – (Steve Gray): It’s a joy.

0:10:21 – (Zion Vierra): Yeah.

0:10:22 – (Steve Gray): And that’s, I think that’s the way it should be in relationships and in marriages that we, we make changes, we. We alter our thinking and our life and our habits or whatever. But it’s a joy because we love our kids, we love our wife, we love our husband or whatever. Okay. So now when you get into loving God, that’s what’s supposed to happen is you don’t give your life to Jesus for yourself. And that is. So you’re not going to go burn in hell.

0:10:48 – (Zion Vierra): Sure.

0:10:48 – (Steve Gray): That’s still you. Yeah, that’s still liking you. And the difference then between love and like is when we like someone, we’re liking someone because it makes us feel better about ourselves and more comfortable. And so that’s when you pray the prayer, traditional prayer of salvation so you can go to heaven when you die. You’re doing that because you like yourself.

0:11:09 – (Zion Vierra): Self-preservation.

0:11:10 – (Steve Gray): But you’re not doing it because you love God or Even maybe like God. You don’t even know God. Maybe. But anyway, that’s not what it’s. But love would get into it and say, okay, what do I need to do to keep this thing going? What do I need to know? I want to. As Paul said, I want to know Christ. I want to know him and the fellowship of his sufferings. I want to know you. I want to serve you. I want to go for you. I want it to be just like you said. I want to do all those things because I feel like it would be a joy to serve, to give, to be generous, to love, all those kinds of things.

0:11:42 – (Steve Gray): So in my opinion, and in the new book I’m writing, too, in my opinion, we on a faulty foundation that starts out with God loving us and serving us and making us cope with life. And it doesn’t start where the original one. When God wanted to form a people, he said, okay, here’s the first thing you got to do. Got to love me.

0:12:04 – (Zion Vierra): Yeah, that’s so good.

0:12:05 – (Steve Gray): And then our culture hits us, like we already said, and all of a sudden we realize, well, I just don’t have the feelings or parents. Like, I can’t. I can’t make my kids love God. How can you do that? But you can if you understand the original meaning of it. So I taught on that the other day. All right? So I want to give what it meant in context, because Jesus quoted that scripture. Did I say it already? From Deuteronomy 6 anyway.

0:12:30 – (Zion Vierra): Not yet.

0:12:30 – (Steve Gray): Not here. Yeah, from Deuteronomy 6. He’s actually quoting the Old Testament and where they. Where the Jewish people, the Israelites were supposed to start. Here’s your commandment. If you’re going to be my people, you’re going to love me with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. All that’s in you. And we just discussed, didn’t we, right before, what. What that means. What.

0:12:51 – (Zion Vierra): Yeah. All of your very muchness is the term I like. That I stole from Pastor Mark. Yeah.

0:12:55 – (Steve Gray): All of your very much.

0:12:56 – (Zion Vierra): Yeah. Everything inside of me. Yeah.

0:12:57 – (Steve Gray): It is correct that strength is much. Your muchness. And all that’s you. You love him with all that. You. Not partly, but. But if you just like God and you like religion and you like the idea of going to heaven when you die, you’re not going to give that muchness to him. You’re going to do the minimum because it’s still all about you. You’re saving your own preservation. So anyway, back to when, when it was really originally said to them, it Wasn’t God saying, I want you to feel me. I want you to feel for me. I want you to have feelings for me. You should have feelings for me.

0:13:31 – (Steve Gray): He was doing it with the idea of like two armies get together and love me with all your heart. That means the war is over between your humanity and my divinity. Right? The war is over. So it translates out what God was talking. He was talking a treaty language. We’re going to make a treaty. It’s not an emotional thing. It’s a practical thing. Love me with all that you have. And then what does he do? And then he tells them back, and here’s what I’m going to do for you.

0:14:04 – (Steve Gray): You’ll be my people. You’ll be my special people. You’ll. All the diseases that are in Egypt won’t be on you. Don’t forget all the benefits that he. All the benefits, the Bible says, and forget not all his benefits.

0:14:17 – (Zion Vierra): Basically, I’m going to love you back.

0:14:18 – (Steve Gray): Yeah, I’m going to love you back.

0:14:19 – (Zion Vierra): You can imagine. Yeah, yeah, right.

0:14:21 – (Steve Gray): And I’m going to make this treaty. So I explained it a little bit the other day is it’s as if your family. Well, somebody’s family anyway, a really smart family. They’re in. They have ingenuity, they’re smart, they can do things. Today’s world would be like a real techie guy that’s got. Understands that and he can build. This guy can build computers.

0:14:44 – (Zion Vierra): Sure.

0:14:45 – (Steve Gray): And all that. And then we have the. Another family. Oh, but, but let’s say. But somebody keeps breaking any shop and stealing his computers and stealing stuff from him. And you know, he’s just. And his family, like, they don’t know how to fight. They know how to do computers and they don’t know what to do. They just, they keep getting used and abused and all that stuff. And then across the street is another family and they have a computer, but they’re pecking at it like this, you know, and then, then they can’t find anything. And then it breaks or it doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do. And they. Well, this isn’t doing me any good. And they’re pecking away.

0:15:18 – (Steve Gray): And they like they were. I said they were like, you know, I shouldn’t say dumb football players, especially when we’ve got some great smart, smart ones. But that’s the thing. The high school guy, that’s.

0:15:30 – (Zion Vierra): Yeah, yeah. The jock. Yeah.

0:15:31 – (Steve Gray): You know, it’s just the picture. So I just kind of use that. But, but somebody, you know, these are Guys, men that were raised by, you know, by tough guys, you know, and like that. And they’re really tough and they’re really, you know, muscular and strong, but they’re pecking at a computer, they can’t get it to work. So they notice that the guy across the street knows a whole lot about computers. And they look across the street and say, and those guys are really tough guys over there. And we live across the street from each other, so maybe we should get together.

0:16:04 – (Steve Gray): So they get together and they make a treaty, so to speak, an agreement. Said, listen, let’s do this. We will fix your computers and we’ll teach you how to run computers. And if you have problems with your computer, we’re just right across the street, okay? And we’ll make that. And they, and they say, okay, great. And here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to keep an eye on your store for you. We see anybody messing around, they’re going to have to mess with us.

0:16:27 – (Steve Gray): And they make this treaty agreement. Now both their strengths come together, both their talents and their strengths come together and they protect one another, they build one another. And that’s what this means. When God says, love me with all that you have, all that you are, that love does not mean, I want you to have feelings for me. I want you to stop the war between us of your selfishness and my power and make a treaty with me that we’re going to support each other.

0:16:55 – (Steve Gray): You take all the, all your muchness, and I’ll take all mine. And I’m going to use all that I have. Like it says, you know, all things work together for good, that those who love God and are called according to his purpose, that all things means all, you know, all my power, all my generosity, all my angels. Right, you know, all. Everything that I have is now working for your good. And so that’s what those, that the, the, the tech guys are saying. Well, all we got here in the shop, we’re going to use for your good, Neil. So all the muscles when we lift weights and we’re strong, we’re going to use it for your good.

0:17:32 – (Steve Gray): Well, it’s a little off sided because God’s

0:17:35 – (Zion Vierra): got all this infinitely better.

0:17:37 – (Steve Gray): And we come to him sometimes in our weakest moment or stupidest moment, but nevertheless, we do have some things that we can, some muchness that we can do for God to show that we are in a treaty or an agreement with him. And you already mentioned it, serving and loving and giving and generosity. And one of the Big teachings that I’ve done that is life changing. Is honor to honor God? Find a way to honor God. I mean not just say honor.

0:18:04 – (Steve Gray): Don’t love him with just your heart. Well, I honor God in my heart, you know, I, or I love God in my heart. Yeah, but it’s all your muchness and it goes from inside to outside. Your strength permeates outside. And so what do you have? So you honor him with strength, you honor him loving with heart, soul and mind. But your strength needs to be added. And when people add strength to it, especially honor and love and caring, you know, but that word honor is there, it’s so, so important because as I’ve taught before, if, listen, if a person honors themselves, God’s honorable and he should be honored, right?

0:18:45 – (Steve Gray): He’s got the power to honor himself. He’s got all power for God. But the second that God honors himself, it’s not honorable, it’s dishonorable. If you go around honoring yourself and saying how honor, how you need to be honored and you should be honored and you should be honored, oh we’re going like, well this is dishonorable. You’re dishonoring yourself. So when, when all this happened in heaven and Lucifer was thrown out and he took one third of the angels with him and came to Earth, that was really dishonorable all that God did for Lucifer and who now is Satan and, and so here we’re in the same, we’re in the same earth as Lucifer, who’s, who’s, you know, Satan, the devil.

0:19:25 – (Steve Gray): And we’re in the same area as him. And God could just come down and force us to honor or do honor to, against his arch enemy if he wanted to. But where’s the honor in that? The real honor is us, us creatures who have been serving maybe the other kingdom, selfish kingdom, not God’s kingdom at least. And we haven’t been serving God. And by choice we decide we’re going to honor God. And so we put our strength to honor God, heart, soul, mind and all our muchness in there.

0:20:00 – (Steve Gray): That’s real honor that Satan cannot argue with because we’re not being forced to do it. We’re doing it. Yeah, we’re doing it by choice. And God says, well I’m not being forced to take care of you either. I’m doing it by choice. And so you can see the breakdown if we one side this, that, well, if God’s a good God, why are there wars? If God’s a good God, why don’t I have more money and all of a sudden it’s one side. Well, you’re making it all about you again.

0:20:25 – (Steve Gray): Well, what? Get into this treaty, I’ll call it that, or this agreement. And by the way, I like the word treaty because it’s. I think for men it’s easier to think about it. I think for women, thinking about loving God, they can, they can think about sweet thoughts about God, you know, and all that. But men, it’s a little harder. Even Jesus, loving Jesus, you know. But if you say, make an agreement with him that he’s going to be who he is and you’re going to be. You’re going to bring all your muchness too, which doesn’t compare, but it doesn’t matter. It’s not the amount or the type.

0:21:03 – (Steve Gray): It’s the heart, soul, mind and strength. You’re going to wake up this kingdom of God power in your life. You’ll wake yourself up and you’ll connect with God and you’ll find your muchness and his muchness. Now, because, I mean, it is a little frustrating if you don’t know this principle to wonder why, if God does and has and is all this, why don’t I see it in my life? I’m telling you right now, you’ve got to start with loving God.

0:21:30 – (Steve Gray): And now it’s not an emotion. Doesn’t matter. You don’t have to feel it. You don’t have to feel a treaty. You just like it’s there because if the bad guys come, the brutes across the street are going to come to your rescue. That’s what it’s like. And so God’s. How many promises are there like that that God’s going to come on the scene. But then we don’t have a treaty with him. We’re living in our little shop, taking care of us and getting robbed by the devil. And he is a thief, right? He comes to steal, to kill and destroy. But Jesus said, but I’ve come to give you abundant life to the fullest measure, to the highest measure of humanity.

0:22:08 – (Steve Gray): He’s right there saying what he’s going to give. But we also know there’s an enemy, Satan, and he says we know what he’s going to give, right to destroy and to steal and to kill and make things bad. So you need to make this agreement with Jesus. Kick it in, whatever you’ve got, whatever your muchness is. It doesn’t feel like much. It doesn’t matter. It’s not the amount, it’s the heart then that we put into it. And we Accept the commandment that I have to love God. I’ve got to enter into a real agreement that I’m not going to change my mind.

0:22:37 – (Steve Gray): I’m going to do this. I’m going to be loyal, I’m going to be loving, I’m caring. You’re going. God, you’re going to be important to me. And so anyway, I guess that says enough of it. Yeah. But when you understand that, and this is the very starting point of Christianity, it’s very foundational.

0:22:51 – (Zion Vierra): You get this wrong, I mean, it’s kind of.

0:22:53 – (Steve Gray): You’re going to be off.

0:22:54 – (Zion Vierra): Yeah. Which is why so many, I think a lot of people have gotten it wrong. And that’s why there’s a lot of frustration and hurt. It’s just. It’s a simple fix.

0:22:59 – (Steve Gray): Yeah, it really is. It is a simple fix. And. And it’s the right one. It’s where God started when he wanted to have a people. This is how he started with. He started with this covenant of love, and he commanded them to love him. And the reason he commanded it, so it’s. There’s no choice, really. It’s not, you know, a suggestion is because if he didn’t command it, then they might not do it. And if they don’t do it, God can’t do his right.

0:23:24 – (Steve Gray): Because it can’t be who he wants. No, because it’s. We got to have an agreement with him. So anyway, that’s really good. That’s what I’ve been thinking about. And I hope somebody today gets that and says, ah, okay, this is a lot easier. Loving God is a lot easier than I thought in that it does. I don’t have to feel it, but it’s a little more tough at first. I’ve got to bring my. Much as I got to, if I love God, I got to be willing to make some adjustments.

0:23:46 – (Zion Vierra): Yeah, I would say definitely a little tougher at first. Breaking up, foul ground, changing habits, changing thought processes.

0:23:52 – (Steve Gray): What feels like a sacrifice.

0:23:54 – (Zion Vierra): Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So that’s good.

0:23:56 – (Steve Gray): And, oh, and by the way, I will say this too. When the Hebrew fathers, way back in Jesus day, they would command their children to love God and they would take them to synagogue or they’d say the Shema. They’d say this prayer every day with their kids. And, you know, kids are kids. The Hebrew fathers realize they’re not going to feel it. Sure, the father might. The dad might have felt it because he’s lived it, but they’re not going to feel it. But he knew something about people and kids and God does too that if you do it and do it and you do it and you do it the appetite changes and what was no feeling at all turns into like you said, joy and love after you get it and you start doing it for the right reason. So anyway that’s our speech today and I think it’s just foundational stuff that’ll help you. Go to https://stevegrayministries.com if you like these kind of things, then like, subscribe, and tell your friends.

0:24:50 – (Steve Gray): Make sure you catch this podcast every week because there’s going to be something every week that’s going to help you with walk with God on a higher level and which makes the life happier and better and more joyful and a better servant so that more faith going to turn into more life. So catch this and it’s also what we need. If you do this, this could really be the start of revival. It is a revival.

0:25:13 – (Zion Vierra): Absolutely.

0:25:13 – (Steve Gray): It is a revival. It’s a personal revival for you because good things are going to start begin. Till next time, bye-bye.