 Well, I'm a guy that dropped out of college Twice because I was terrified to take a speech class and that's the truth This is the last thing In my younger days. I would have ever thought that I would be doing in Fact God is so good I rarely write things down and I wanted to make sure Because I'm so grateful for Pastor David to ask me to speak here in front of our family So I've been praying this week. I've wrote written some thoughts down, but God is so good. I was in the the green room praying and I Kind of had a sense that he wanted me to share this story to start Because we also need to laugh As the body of Christ now I grew up a back east in Cleveland, Ohio I'm Italian and I was raised in the Catholic Church And by the time I came to Southern, California and went to high school. I had said I'm done with church But the story I want to tell you is growing up. I knew what God wanted me to be I knew what my purpose was I Can from the very moment I can remember back when I was a young child the only thing I cared about actually actually was was a horse horses and So I knew from a very young age That I knew what I was destined to be in this life and it was God's plan that I be a Racehorse jockey Now we laugh because I mean unless I unless they race Clydesdales these days. I mean that's that's an impossibility But I was very short. I was always very short and It wasn't until I hit my teen years. I started to grow but I remember that was the first time When I became kind of angry at God like what's what are you doing? You're you're wrecking my plan and how many of us Want his will to be our will? And I know that's true for me So I can only tell you that as is the case with many of us in this room and watching online It's only by the grace of God. We're here and he is so good And I'm so humbled and grateful to say to you that I am nothing I am nothing without my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ It's not always been that way though It's not always been that way and for those of you that don't know his story in my life I want to share it in a few moments, but I want to preach today on what Jesus said Was the two greatest commandments? If you have your Bibles, you can open up to the book of Matthew the gospel of Matthew chapter 22 Verses 34 to 40. I'm reading from ESV And if you have a different Bible Just kind of go with me. Many of you know these verses But I I wonder how many of us know them in our heads, but don't live them out in our hearts But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together and one of them a lawyer Asked him a question to test him teacher Which is the great commandment in the law? And he said to him you shall love the Lord your God with all your hearts with all your soul with all your mind This is the great and first commandment And a second is like it You shall love your neighbor as yourself And on these two commandments defend depend all the law and all the prophets. This is the word of God Two greatest commandments love God love your neighbor Many of us know that Love God love your neighbor, but what does that mean? What exactly does that mean? Jesus spoke these truths in the face of immense hostility By the religious establishment during his time on earth This is one of the events primary events we know in the new testament that led to his crucifixion Life of jesus life of jesus christ un selfish servanthood And yet I look to me and all of my Inclinations to live for myself in my flesh my wants my desires And I look to my lord and my savior that lived a life of unselfish servanthood and I think It's impossible for me to live my life like that We can strive for that but ultimately We know that it's only by the power the power of the holy spirit that we can live in that way When I became a new christian one of the first Parts of scripture I memorized was philippians 4 13 many of us know we can do all things through him who strengthens us I can't do anything in this life Unless I follow him unless I realize as a man my strength truly comes from my total dependence on him It is a man in culture We get just the opposite message And so it's a struggle it's a struggle for me men in this room if we can get real I question if you even understand On some level who you are as a man in this day and age I know for me I'm bombarded by socialization and messages about manhood and strength But when we know where our only strength lies in jesus christ Then we begin to understand through his word through our submission to him what this life is about But then there's jesus mark 10 24 Jesus said for even the son of man came not to be served but to serve And to give his life as a ransom for many and as I just said much of our culture Is about one's own personal happiness and comfort One of the questions we need to ask ourselves as christians and brothers and sisters and the lord Are we living our lives for him? Or are we going with culture Living for ourselves our successes our wants our desires our dreams our hopes Or are we living for him? Are we striving to know him and love him by the power of the holy spirit and according to the examples of jesus christ Or are we living for ourselves? For those of you that don't know I was a new age teacher for 21 years I taught the ways of self And the way I came to become a new age teacher is a very long story But i'll share a short portion of it that's important to share with you As a rebellious young teenager that walked away from the catholic church In 1984 at the age of 28, I did what most young men do I was trying to find myself in the world. I had made a commitment that I was done with the church I knew who jesus was And I wanted to live for me and everything the world had for me So at 28 years old I went out and I did what Again many young men attempt to do to find myself. I purchased a motorcycle Now this is the one time i'll ask you to use your imagination And it's going to be very difficult But in 1984 there were no mandatory motorcycle helmet laws in california And at that particular time and here's where please Use your imagination I had a full head of long hair I still have hair dreams But that's another story for another time This particular morning A sunday morning I got on my motorcycle To go watch a horse run whose name was light the way home. It's the title of my biography and Shortly thereafter later that day as I was riding home on my motorcycle Um I looked in my mirror to make a lane change I had a woman that I was seeing on the time on my bike And I saw a car barreling up on us And it's hard for me to share this story. I had not planned on sharing the story But I sense god wanted me to share it with you It's hard to share it here today when I think of my brother frank pastore and what happened to him it's like why Why would the lord take such a brother in christ such a warrior for christ like frank and and save a fool like me And what happened that day when I looked in my mirror to make a lane change In the aftermath california highway patrol Guestimated that we were hit in excess of 110 miles an hour And i'm obviously here to tell the story Why did I survive? Why did frank go home to the lord? I don't know But I can tell you this that day Shook me up enough to where I really wanted to Ask some of the deeper questions in life. Who was I why was I here? What's my purpose? And yet you would think that I found the lord. Oh by the way I was not christian. I may have Acted like I was christian or set it growing up in the church, but when I walked away. I said i'm done I'm done with faith. I know who jesus is I want none of it And you would think surviving something like that That would have been a moment by which I would have gone to the lord. I went the other way I made a commitment for a moment in myself that I would get my my life straight But that was in my will And that was an example looking back now That another reason why we as human beings we need to save you we can't do it on our own Shortly thereafter After I healed I went back to my old ways I went back to my old ways Of living for myself in the world. How can one do that when one survives? Such a horrible situation, but yet I did that And not only did I do that shortly thereafter I fell into radio And I began hosting a new age talk show That I would I would slam the bible Oh by the way, I never opened the bible That's one of the things about sin You can become so self-involved so selfish you have no ability to have perspective And the enemy that has your ear you can lie without even thinking about it. And I was there I was right there as a teacher of the new age in southern california. I hosted Thousands and thousands and thousands of people pointing everyone to themselves and the supposed divinity that they had inside The la times called me a new age guru and I couldn't Eat it up fast enough. It was all about me my ego my pride If I stopped long enough on some level I sensed that there's got to be something more in life, but I still ran from god. I still rebelled against him And so at the heart of what I want to share with you today is something I was unwilling to do until a moment in my life And that's ask who is jesus christ Who is he? Not just who was he, but who is he and who will he always be? And so that's why I chose to preach a bit on the two greatest commandments out of the book of matthew Again you shall love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind I mean when you think about it, what kind of love is that? Love him with everything we have I just reflect on my life as a non-believer It was all about me It was all about again as I shared my wants my love my desire Please validate me. Please everybody pay attention to me call me important And god jesus said the greatest commandment is to love him with our heart soul and mind I was not there Are we even capable of loving that way in our own accord? I'm not so sure we are But that's why when jesus went to the cross for us And willingly sacrificed his life so that we can live new When you really think about it when he said I need to go but i'm going to send a helper I think it's only by the power of god the holy spirit and jesus christ That we truly truly as christians Live life in him new life in him And the world looks at us like We're a little weird You know after I came to christ and i'm going to tell you that story too Like all of you in this room when we gave our lives to jesus Everything fell into place Everybody loved us Was easy and effortless Somebody laugh Please My life fell apart You know jesus doesn't guarantee he's not some new age Self-help teacher where it's you know the five commandments of jesus to happiness and fulfillment We're promised trials and tribulations But I just want to lovingly challenge those of us as christians in the room today to ask who are we? Why are we here? Why did you come this morning? How has god put you in such a position to have a man like pastor david to share the word with you every week In this beautiful church in this paradise we live in What plan does god have for you in your life? He's got a plan for you And I can tell you I know this because I look in my life as a broken Sinful man before I came to know jesus and all the things I did and where my life is now Oh my goodness gracious. It's only by the grace of god And so for those of you that came in here that don't know who he is I'm going to share who he is We need to not only know who jesus christ is but we need to live our lives Like we understand the love that is undeniable and unlike anything in this world And yet I don't know about you but As I was walking into church this morning, there's a placard outside that said something like or maybe it's the exit to the parking lot That's the mission field out there I can get filled up in church I can walk out get my car and five minutes later in the world all of a sudden frank. Where are you? You're lost We need jesus christ For those of you that don't know him in this room. You need jesus christ And I know when I was a non-believer I would hear that right. Okay By the way as a new age teacher jesus christ is taught But he's relativized for those of you that don't know he's relativized into being a spiritual teacher one of many he's kind of seen as The the prophet of love But that's it Buddha, muhammad all Prophets, but jesus in the new age movement is relativized And if you can Get a culture in mass To say they believe in god But deny jesus christ I would like to suggest to you that's one of the greatest strongholds of the enemy that exists in this day and age and some of us I'm not here to share guilt. I'm only here to share his love But some of us as dr. Martin Luther king used to say suffer from A bit too much of creeds Like we know god But we're anemic in our deeds. We don't live like christians We don't live with the love of jesus christ in our hearts You know when I read you shall love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind How many of you in this room say yes? We're there, but how many of us in this room? Only you know Or maybe one crisis away From saying i'm not sure he's real one crisis away From saying i'm out I pray and and he doesn't answer me. I need him now more than ever And yet we struggle with that and for some of us we walk away from the church Who is jesus christ? Why did he give his life so willingly on the cross? Or he hung there and said forgive them father for they not know what they do What kind of love is that? i'm not capable of that kind of love But I can guarantee you my brothers and sisters If we follow jesus christ And we continue to get deep in his word And we ask for his guidance each and every moment he gives us breath we can live At least relationally to show that kind of love to a world that needs it now more than ever Does that make sense can I get an amen it's awfully quiet in here How many of us realize we live in a world that wants to move us away from our commitment to god? I just shared that our flesh Ourselves how many of us struggle with what I call my will versus thy will Man if only my life worked according to my will And once in a while I'll sprinkle a little bit of his will in there right But again when things don't go so well Oh boy god, where are you? Am I right with god? Are you right with god? I will briefly share my story and then I want to get to something that's very very important To convey above everything that I can give you today and that again is who is jesus christ? But here's what happened to me A number of years ago my best friend gave his life to jesus christ And I was still a non-believer. I was still one that led the new age movement in southern california He gave his life to christ and I remember thinking well if that makes you happy. That's nice But don't Become one of them you all know what i'm talking about Just don't become one of them my best friend I watched him for three years his life changed dramatically It was so undeniable that something was going on in his life I had met my wife Around that time. She was also in the new age. We were new age soulmates together And so all of these things were happening in my life And my best friend and his older brother who happened to be an evangelical pastor And invited me to play a round of golf one day And I said sure I played a lot of golf at the time. He's tried to play golf and um Little did I know that they had decided after much prayer That they were going to share the gospel with me I say share Truth is they were going to hammer me with the gospel They had loved me for three years And it's so important for those of us that think about people we know that don't know god's word people We know maybe even our families that don't know who jesus is We struggle with how do we share? How do we tell them about god? And yet they for three years never pushed the gospel on me So I knew they loved me I knew They had my back So on this particular day When they hammered me with the gospel I sat and listened because we had a relationship And that's something we all need to pray about It's important to develop relationship Yeah, we're called to share god's word, but Let's get to know our friends as jesus said our neighbors Before maybe in our excitement or our inexuberance to share the gospel. Let's get to know who they are so they they decide to Sit me down for two and a half hours after our golf match and they just pummeled me who are you frank You know what sin is a word that I couldn't stand Why? Because I was deep in it Jesus christ has struggled to sinners And after two and a half hours of sharing the gospel who jesus was what he did on the cross They got me convicted in my sin. They said well And I said Well, what are you ready to give your life to christ? And I said no, thank you I was a new age teacher. My identity was born out of my popularity In this idea of living for yourself. It's very seductive. It's very popular Back in the 80s 90s and early 2000s when I was a teacher It was a bit more Well, not so much in our culture like it is now It's almost like new age principles have grown from buildings And workshops to our culture because everywhere in our culture. It's all about self It's here Even in advertising You know be good to yourself buy yourself that new car or whatever it is We live in a world that is in worship of self. It's the biggest church going And yet jesus calls us to deny ourselves And pick up our cross and follow him. Here's what happened to me as a new age teacher I never read the bible You wouldn't know that by listening to my show. I would always slam the bible Again when you're in sin lies Not a problem I read a lot of by the other world standards holy books like the koran the bagabha gita The upanishads a number of others, but I never read a bible and this is important for the story So after this Two and a half hours of jousting pastor dale says to me Are you right with god? You have a son at home Our baby boy was a year year old at that time He said if you didn't make it home today With your wife and your son and your popularity in the world and Everything by the world standards. Are you right with god? And that's the question I need to ask everybody here today. Are you right with god? When we woke up this morning Safe to say we really didn't have much thoughts about this could be the last day of our lives on this earth Like that sunday morning I woke up and I was run down on my motorcycle and I survived only by god's hand Are we right with god? Are you right with god? So pastor dale asked me to pray about that think about that Which I reluctantly said I would because I was angry. I'm a spiritual teacher I'm a good man I talk about love And yet I didn't talk about the love of jesus christ, which is the only love that matters And so I sat in my car Before I drove home and I kind of pondered those words And I began to get very hot And after a matter of moments, I heard A voice that said Are you ready to submit to me? And submits an interesting word It's a word that represents authority and power And I knew who it was and I've shared my story a number of times people have asked me. How did you know I can only tell you That when your father who made you who loved you before you were even a thought Speaks to you you recognize his voice Are you ready to submit to me? I said yes And then he said pick up your cross and follow me. I had never heard that before in my life. That's why I tell you it's important I never read a bible five weeks later As my life fell apart When I received a bible in the mail, I began to read it one night on my knees crying out to god I'd been back in church for five weeks I knew red letters meant jesus christ and when I read In the gospel of luke The bible opened up. I began to read luke and 923 jumped off the page And when I read if anyone would come after me let him deny himself pick up his cross daily and follow me I hit the ground I said that's I can't make that up. That's undeniable And so in that moment I gave my life to jesus christ and I said forgive me I had this recollection of all those years of Speaking against him of teaching people to worship themselves In that moment. I said forgive me I I don't I need you. I repent of my ways I put my faith and I put my trust in you You're the only way it's undeniable And so from that moment to here I have been a follower of jesus christ and I told him in that moment lord use me for your will I came to know jesus christ as lord and savior. I was 54 You probably think that's absurd. You look like you're 35, right? 54 I live for my life myself my flesh Till I was 54 and then I had an undeniable moment and an encounter with god Where he said submit to me follow me And I said yes So here I am telling you I know in my life who he is. Do you know who he is? Do you really know not do you believe who he is, but do you know who he is? And what is he calling you to do today in this day that he gives us? Do you know what your plan is? That's god's plan. I venture to guess some of you do But there's an enemy that is real that will lie to you About who you are in christ and what god's plan is for you And i'm here to say by the blood of christ. We rebuke that voice. We bind that voice We send that voice back That jesus is the lord of our lives That we follow him That we love him we submit our lives to him And we're excited about this moment in a world that's so lost and so fallen We're excited to say I am a follower of jesus christ Can I get an amen? Are you right with god? You know Jesus also talked about the second great commandment love your neighbor as yourself I heard that early on in my life I mean, what does that mean? I'm good at loving My neighbor my friends when they're nice When we get along when they're complimentary When they're not so nice When they gossip about me lie about me Hurt me betray me Not so easy to love them And yet as christians, I think we've got the words down. Yeah, I know we're supposed to love our neighbors as ourselves But what does that look like? Jesus said in matthew 712 so whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them for this is the law and the prophets In other words do unto others as we would do unto ourselves. We know that the golden rule if you will Dr. Martin Luther king junior once in a man has not yet begun to live until he can rise above the narrow confines Of his own individual concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity So I ask That you pray about what god what happened store for you right here right now What's his plan for you when jesus said Love the father with all your heart soul and mind. Love your neighbors as yourself. He said those were the two greatest commandments And as followers of him I have to ask myself Does my life reflect that? And and I'll just be completely honest Not so much Not all the time so I repent I put my faith and trust in him again So ask yourself Does that make sense to you if I mean if you love jesus christ if you understand who he is right now and what he did on the cross That will forever give you no life new life. Why? Why why are you here? Submission ask for forgiveness realize you were dead in your sins No to came no to understand that he gave you new life New life in christ To carinthians 5 17 therefore if anyone is in christ, he is a new creation The oldest passed away be old the new has come How exciting is that? So To me as it applies to the question of loving your neighbors Here's my last thought on that and then i'm going to share something with you It seems to me of the many ways we can love our neighbors as ourselves If we understand what jesus has done in our lives for us Follow me here Does it not make sense that one of the greatest forms of love we can share with our neighbors is the good news of jesus christ Does that make sense? If we know on some level his love what he's done for us To love somebody is to share that to share that with them But i know if you're like me man What if they ask me that question i can't answer What if they don't like me anymore? All those what ifs So i'm a bit reticent to share the gospel, but my friends this is what i want to share with you In my closing words If you know who jesus christ is Not just believe but know who he is How can we not just want to sing his praises with anyone? Some of us have experienced His love versus our worldly love His love is incomprehensible You know there's a modern-day poet his name is isaac whimberley He's a man who wrote a poem Not too long ago That says if there are words for him that i don't have them i want to read that to you And i want you if you can if you're willing to close your eyes open your heart and just listen Listen for god to speak to you right now Through these words and ask him What does he have for you? At this moment in your life, what would he have you do? If there are words for him then i don't have them You see my brain has not yet reached a point where it could form a thought That could adequately describe the greatness of my god And my lungs have not yet developed the ability To release a breath With enough agility To breathe out the greatness of his love And my voice my voice is so inhibited Restrained by human limits That it's hard to even send up a praise You see if there are words for him Then i don't have them My god His grace is remarkable Mercies are innumerable strengths are impenetrable He's honorable accountable favorable Unsearchable yet knowable Indefinable yet approachable Indescribable yet personal He is beyond comprehension Further than imagination Constant through generations King of every nation But if there are words for him That i don't have them You see my words are few And to try and capture the one true god Using my vocabulary will never do But i use words as an expression An expression of worship to a savior A savior who is both worthy and deserving of my praise So i use words My heart extols the lord Blesses his name forever He has won my heart Captured my mind and has bound them both together He has defeated me In my own rebellion Conquered me in my sin He has welcomed me into his presence Completely invited me in He has made himself the object of my sight Flooding me with mercies in the morning Drowning me with grace in the night But if there are words for him Then i don't have them And my brothers and sisters What i do have is good news That's what i do have For my god knew that man-made words would never do For words are just tools that we use to point to the truth So he sent his son jesus christ as the word Living proof He is the image of the invisible god The firstborn of all creation For by him all things were created Giving nothingness formation And by his word he sustains in the power of his name For he is before all things and over all things he reigns holy is his name So praise him for his life The way he persevered in strife the humble son of god becoming the perfect sacrifice Praise him for his death That he willingly stood in our place That he lovingly endured the grave That he battled our enemy and on the third day He rose in victory He is everything that was promised Praise him as the risen king Lift your voice and sing for one day he will return For us and we will finally be united with our savior for eternity So it's not just words that I proclaim For my words point to the word And the word has a name Hope has a name Joy has a name Peace has a name love has a name And that name is jesus christ Praise his name forever