Missio Dei Community - SLC

When Jesus calls anyone to follow him he calls them to bring their “whole” person along. Jesus

is never interested in just your thoughts or just your actions, he wants all of you. This is nothing

new for God. From the beginning Israel was called to love God with their entire being or in

Hebrew their “Nephesh.” It was a call on their lives then and is just as specific of a call on our

lives today. So how do we fall short? What parts of our lives are difficult to give to Jesus and

why? Is their hope in the midst of this struggle? This week we dig deep into the Shema and

specifically God’s call to offer our entire self to him.

Pastor Heather Thomas talks about the heart in the Shema prayer.

Over the last few weeks we have been doing a word study on the Shema which is found in

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and for thousands of years Jewish people have been praying these words

daily. This week the word we are focusing on is the word heart and much of what will be

explained Sunday in terms of an ancient understanding of heart will be taken from the Bible

project. You can find the video here: https://thebibleproject.com/explore/shema-listen/

The biblical text gives us a diagnosis of the heart though its narrative and that diagnosis is

summarized by Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately (or

irreversibly) sick; who can understand it?”

At the same time Jeremiah is clear that God will do something about this problem and both he

and Ezekiel point to the hopeful solution (Jer 31:31-33; Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26+27)-- in his own

faithfulness God will send help and through his personal presence will transform and heal human

hearts by changing them at a fundamental level. That change happens through Jesus and the

power of his Spirit in us. He restores and heals our hearts to enjoy right relationship with God and

others but also to restore us to our God given purpose and vocation (Genesis 1+2). We bear the

image of God in the world and become a distinct people who, reflective of Gods act of love and

grace, scandalize the world through self-giving love.

Pastor Jonny shares from part 3 of our series on Deuteronomy 6:4-5. Each week of this series, we are exploring the significant and important words of the Shema. We started by looking at the word that gives the prayer it’s name, “Shema." Then we moved on to the name of our God, YHWH, whom we are “Shema’ing.” This week we come to the transitional word in the prayer, love. The question is: how do the people of God respond when they have “Heard YHWH?” And the Shema’s answer is love. Yet, that leads to another set of questions: What does it mean to love with all of our heart, soul, and might? Where does love come from? What does love look like in action? The Shema helps us answer these questions.

Pastor Kyle teaches that after we hear the word “Hear” in the Shema we move to a word that demands we stop. The word “LORD” in the Bible is one we often pass right by, but we do it at our own detriment. The name of God (the Hebrew word Yahweh) is a name to be heard, studied, and ultimately known. Our God who desires relationship isn’t just a generic title that we get to name and define, he is a living being who’s name calls us to relationship, trust, love, and worship.

Pastor Kyle begins our six week sermon series on the Shema.

Johnny Morrison preaches from Numbers 6:24-27.