Start with a little bit of history. In um the year 1519, the Spanish explorer Hernandin Cortis landed on the shores of Mexico. How many of you have heard about Herin and Cot Cortis? You probably have heard about Columbus. All right, there's one person who has great job. But this was around the same time as Columbus landed here. Hern and Cortis landed in Mexico with his fleet. U they they came with their fleet and were at the shores of Mexico and his men were a little bit frightened. They facing an uncertain future, very unfamiliar culture. They did not know what to anticipate and how things are going to be. And sensing the anxiety and and the fearfulness of his men, this is what Helen Cortez did. He asked all of his men to burn the entire fleet that's behind them. Now, what does it mean if you burn your fleet? Means there's no turning back. You can't go back to Spain. You have only one choice. And that one choice is to go all in and take this place down. They had a choice to either fully commit without reservation or compromise and stay back. You know, we are at a chapter in Deuteronomy chapter 6, a very pivotal chapter in God's redemptive history where God is renewing his covenant with the people of Israel. And he has one simple message for the people to tell them. Are you all in? That's the question. Yes. They are at the brink of entering Canaan. He's asking, "Are you ready? Are you all in?" They were very anxious. They didn't know what's ahead. Their leader Moses who led them so far, who is writing this to them, is also not going to be there with them. Someone whom they had trusted and followed all these years. So when they go in, there's going to be a new government, maybe a new president in place. Maybe the economy looks very uncertain. There are great cities, but this fears there are no space. The spies told them 40 years ago. All the market analysts and political pundits if they existed at that time they're going to look at this and call it gloom and doom. These things never change in human history. Whenever transitions happen in history, all these things are bound to happen. And as far as the Israelites, it's been 40 years. They've lived without a permanent home. They've been moving place to place. And I had shared how unsettling it can be personally in my own life. Before we moved into our home, we had moved 16 homes in 10 years across three continents. And so thankful finally to settle down. I said, "God, please don't move us again. You're tired of packing and moving. And some of you who are immigrants, you remember you moved from your home and you're we all living in another country. And there is a longing to call a place home, isn't it? It's not that they came from big palatial homes before. Even before that they were slaves for not one, two, 10 years, for 400 years. But now all of that is going to change. Everything is going to change. Something amazing is about to happen that they could have never thought or dreamt or imagined in their life. A breakthrough awaits. But there is something very important that needs to happen which is for them to renew their covenants to say, "God, we are all in." Because God doesn't want them when they are committing and renewing to enter the promised land and to keep one foot in the promised land and one foot in the desert doing all the things they did. He doesn't want them to keep one foot in the promised land and one foot in Egypt trying to live like slaves. one relationship with God and one relationship with some cultural idol or something else that they see or place as having equal value as God. So he wants to renew his covenant with them through their mediator Moses. So my beloved friends this morning I believe God is asking the same question to you and me. Are you all in? And perhaps there is something in our covenantal relationship with God that God wants you and I to renew. And let's be open to that. So how does this covenantal renewal take place? God says to Israelites, I have three words for you. Hear, love, live. Doesn't get more simpler than that. And he has the same three words for you and me. If you're asking today, how can I renew my relationship with God? How can I renew my covenant with God? Says here, love, live. Very easy to remember but very profound. So let's look at the first command that God gives. Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 1 to three. He says, "Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you that you may do them in the land to which you are going over to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and commandments which I command you all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you in a land flowing with milk and honey. You know, living allin for God or wanting to be allin in a relationship with God first requires hearing from God. You need to go allin in hearing God. That's the central beginning starting point of covenantal renewal. You know the word here, O Israel comes two times in these first few verses. In the entire Bible, the phrase here, O Bible, here, O Israel comes only six times. Five of them happens in the book of Deuteronomy. And the sixth time is used by Jesus quoting exactly this verse in the book of Deuteronomy. It is so pivotal for your relationship and mine that we hear God. So what do we what does Moses want them to hear? What will you do? You and I need to hear so our love for God can be rekindled, our commitment to God can be renewed and our desire for God can be multiplied. He gives an answer to that in verse four. Let's read verse four. This is called the Shema, the most sacred text for the Israelites. Let's all read this one short simple verse together. Deuteronomy 6:4. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. How much more simpler can this be? There are two things that are very central that he wants the Israelites to hear again and again and is repeated in every one of their worship services. First is the Lord our God. He wants them to remember, hey, we have a covenantal relationship, Israel. I am your God and you are my people. We have experienced, you have done life with me. I have been in your midst. You have experienced me in the tabernacle. You have experienced me on Mount Si. you your forefathers experienced me in Egypt when I did all those great and powerful miracles that's how I became your God says hear that we need to keep hearing that again and again and again that our God has already been acting in your life and my life to show he loves to show he cares we'll come to that later secondly there are big theological ical implications with this one phrase which says that the Lord is one. What do we mean by the Lord is one? There's something very significant about that. It is talking about the uniqueness of God and the unity of God. You know, most of us who are living in the Bay Area and you follow basketball, you have to be the Golden State Warriors fans. And for those who are not saved yet, we'll pray. Uh if you're still thinking of other teams like Lakers and other names that I can't say, but everyone knows who is or what makes Golden State what it is today. this one player, Steph Curry. And what's great about Steph Curry is he's so unique. You know, he changed how the game is played. He changed how everyone wants to play. And there's no other Steph Curry anywhere else in NBA. There has never been. There never will be. But way more than Steph Curry, God wants the Israelites to remember that their God is a unique God and there is one God. There is no one else like that. What makes this God so unique? Why? Why is that an important thing for the people? Because when he spoke, there was no one else to contradict what he said. When he tells the great greatest God king in human history, the mighty emperor Pharaoh, "Let my people go," he better listen. Even the greatest demi-god Pharaoh could not stop his people. When he tried, the whole world saw the power of God. When God promises, there is no one or nothing to revoke that promise. He makes the most extraordinary promises. He goes to Abraham and Sarah. They're close to 100 years, no children, says, "I'm going to give you a promise. I'm going to make your descendants as big as the stars of the sky and the sands of the beach." And guess what? As they read this, they look around and see themselves millions. They are already like the stars of the sky and the sands of the ocean. When he warns there is no one else to provide refuge, there is no escape. He tells them treat me holy. Don't touch the mountain. Don't touch the tabernacle. And if you do, you die. And and there is no escape. He was not merely the first god among other gods like the pantheon gods in the canonite religion and in other religions now. He was the one and only god who is so omnipotent. It was this all powerfully unique god who imposes on Israel the charge to love him and worship him. So how do we hear this again and again in our lives? He says through the commandment, the statutes and the rules. Basically that's all it is in the word of God. You know to go allin we can't without God's word which is spiritual food for us keeps reminding us of the so many ways in which our God is unique. So many ways in which he has been involved in your life and my life. so many ways in which he has done great and amazing things in the history of the world and in the history of the church. God's word is our spiritual food. Even when Jesus was tempted, he said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Okay, you're awake." I was for a minute thinking you guys all dozed off. every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. You know, even for our physical well-being, our physical food, all your all your foods have a label that our body needs 2,000 calories, isn't it? Uh it talks about how much carbs we need to take, how much protein, and how much fat. But then there are also a lot of diets out there because people have different goals and there's you know back in the day there was Atkins diet and South Beach diet and now there's intermittent fasting diet but even then you still eat after that isn't it? But I what I find is very strange is we've brought the diet mindset uh also to God's word. We need a daily dose of all of God's word. You know, you can't just pick I'm a Psalms and a Proverbs only person. If that's all you're reading every day, it's like you're only doing protein for the rest of your life. And doctors will tell you you'll get gallbladders if you do that, right? And there are different kinds of diet people, too. Some are very strict vegans. Some prefer only gluten-free food for either medical reasons or personal fancy reasons. I don't know. I am a strict non-vegetarian. I mean, I'm serious. I have an aversion for anything that's green. Doctors tell me it's not good. Kids, eat your veggies. Don't listen to me on this. But let's not bring that into our spiritual diet. You know, it says God commanded Moses to teach and that's why we teach God's word. Sundays and Fridays, your daily devotions, but it's not just enough to hear. The word hear actually is connected to obey. Hearing is not just oh, you hear someone calling you. When you hear, you're listening and you're obeying. You know, moms, you're probably very familiar. This is something I'm pretty sure happens in every house. You call your children from another room, they absolutely definitely hear you, but there's no response because you ask them to do something and they don't want to do it. Isn't it? We tend to do the same with God. God is not just saying, "Okay, I want you to hear these podcasts and listen to these sermons and your favorite preachers and maybe even your pastor on a Sunday morning without going to sleep." That's not the hearing he's talking about here. He's saying by hearing it's equal to obeying. And what does obeying look like? You know verse one it says apply it to your life and what are some things that will happen to them so that is when you do this your love for God will grow more and you can do this all in living and every command is tied to a blessing. There are three blessings he ties to this command. First he says your days may be long. Second it may go well with you. Third you may multiply greatly. You want to live happy, you want to live long, you want to live impactful life, this is it. Hear me. Hear me. Allin hearing or obedience is the key to unlocking an all-in love for God that will enable us to go and live allin for God. starts in all our relationships. Now if you're married, if you're husband and wife, you know, you can spend you need to spend time daily as a couple in prayer and devotion discussing how you're dealing with fears that come and and if you're someone who is in the professional field and you're wondering how do I hear God and you're about to make choices in life, whether it's career choices or school choices, you need to first hear from God. Do you do that before you apply to a school or a job? Do you ask God what he wants you to do before diving into just doing it? And if you're someone at work, it's about hearing God in what he has to say about your work. integrating God's word with your daily job, your work ethic, your career choices that will enable you to stand firm in wherever you are working and face all the pressures. This is the key. Have you asked yourself, do you find your job in the Bible? and kids for you hearing God is about giving God's word more priority than your other work. You know uh when I do the communion class again and again one of the challenge kids tell me is every day they wake up their school is so loaded there are so many commitments that it's hard for them to start the day reading God's word and I always challenge them to try to do that first because if you don't lock that in when you are young you can't flip the switch when you're old and make it automatically happen. So whether you're in kindergarten or high school, may I encourage you, hear God first. May that be the first thing, not as a rule or a law like God's going to be mad at you if you don't do that. If you want to live allin, you're entering this hostile environment. You need that special time with God. Whether you do it in the morning, your lunch break, or night, do it. and memorize God's word when something speaks to you. That's the first step in going all in. He wants to remind the Israelites, I'm giving you this, the pentatuke. It's done. It's going to be with you. It's going to be in the ark of the covenant. You're going to take it wherever you go. Use it. Hear me. That's going to be key for your all in living. Because as you hear what's going to happen next is the second word he asks for them love. You know from verse 4 to 15 onwards that's the essence of what he says. Verse 5 he says you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. This is the verse from which our sermon title comes today. You know how I usually preach or read. What words do we look for? Repetitive words. What word is repeated in this one verse? You It took so long to find that all all your heart, all your soul, all your mind. That's all in living. repeat it three times because he god wants an all-in relationship with us. You know this kind of language, covenantal language was used either when treaties were made between waring countries or it was used in a fatherson relational conversation. That's why when you read the book of Proverbs, you see the father telling, "Hear my son." Do not forsake your father's counsel. Do not neglect your mother's instruction. And here God is using the same language because in Old Testament, the image of God being a father is not very explicit. People don't really see God as their father, but it's there. And here is one place it's hidden through the language that's being used. They will immediately know that this is a father talking to his children. And God's trying to talk to the Israelites like he's their loving father. And he's desiring this relationship. He's wanting to share something that's great for them. But he wants them to know the central objective of this is not that he wants anything back from them except love. love. The motivation for hearing and obeying has to come from love and has to come from within, not external. A triple emphasis of heart, soul, and strength. It's all tied to love. It's not about behavior. And he says, "How do you do this? How can you grow in your love?" He says, "When you hear my word, you tie it between your eyes. You talk about it. When you sit down, when you go with your children, let it be on your doorpost. Cuz when you teach your children, it gets ingrained in their heart and yours. And that's how you will grow in love. But then he goes and gives some very graphic, beautiful reasons for why they should go allin in loving God. So compelling that it'll be impossible to read that and say I don't want to love this God. Very often we our image of God is so distorted. You know, we we are so prejudiced against God either because some really bad suffering has happened in our lives. We've lost someone or people have hurt us. We've seen hypocrisy in the church. Leaders falling in the church or or just the actions by those who claim to be Christians or churches are a big stumbling block that you're not able to trust and believe. But if you go to God's word, he says, "Let me give you reasons, my dear children, why you should love me." And he unpacks those reasons in verses 10 and 11. He says, "You're going into a place with good and great cities that you did not build and houses full of good things that you did not fill and sistns that you did not dig and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant. and when you eat are full. It's almost like a psalm that he packs into it. You know, the whole Deuteronomy is more like a sermon, a long sermon that's being preached. And right in the middle of this critical chapter, uh Moses is writing this with a lot of parallelism. Look at the parallelism. Good and great and good cities which you did not build and houses filled with every good thing which you did not fill and huist systems which you did not he v planted and vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant. What is God telling them is I am giving you all of these things without you having to do anything. Is there anything more you want me to do to show you I love you because I'm your father. I know you need that. You didn't work for it. You didn't prepare it. I know even before you ask me. So let me remind you my children. I know what's in your heart. You're thinking I'm going there. Will I have a place to stay? Will I have a home? He says don't live for houses. Don't live for sistns. Don't live for vineyards. Don't live for olive trees. Don't make where can I live where the cost of living is cheap. where I can quickly and easily buy a home as the guiding factor for your life. Don't make life decisions based on that. Leave that to God. He knows when to give what and how without you doing anything. Sounds weird, isn't it? How weird it would have sounded for the Israelites. You're telling me I don't have to do anything? I'm just going to get a house and everything's going to be there. Yes. And so he says, "Children, don't come to me just for that. Don't just come to me for these things. Wherever I take you, I'm going to provide." Note the emphasis again. Which you did not build, which you did not fill, which you did not you, which you did not plant. a house planting vineyards and olive trees are a symbolic a metaphor of work. He says when you come to me as a father and the Bible says when the Lord unless the Lord builds the home the laborers build it in rain. When the Lord fills your home with good things, when the Lord blesses the work of your hands, you shall be satisfied. Nobody can fire you by themselves. No changes in market or economy is going to decide the fate of your future. God does. So what are you and I supposed to do? Make loving him your only and all-time goal. When you love God, you don't have to worry about anything. So countercultural, isn't it? Especially where we live in Silicon Valley, everything is about you got to work hard, prove yourself, outsmart the other guy, maybe even backstab some people, step on some people's toes so that you can go up and achieve success because you then believe it's on your own effort. You have to get your house. You have to get that promotion. You have to get that school. You have to get that job. It's all tied to you. God says, "Make loving me your all-time goal." Cuz I'm a covenantally faithful God. Because there is a danger. If you don't focus on your love for me, you're going to gravitate towards these other things that you're channeling all your energy into that when you receive them, you can actually get them by your hard work. You can actually go after it and get it by your human worldly strength. But you know what will happen when you do that? You're going to lose your love for me. says verse three it says it is the god Lord 13 the Lord your God you shall fear him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear you shall not go after other gods the gods of the peoples who are around you because there is a danger that when they go in their own strength and get something then they feel more loyal and attached to that loving God allin means loving everything else less. Loving God more means loving others less. You cannot love God more and love others more too. They both don't go together. Loving or respecting or fearing God more than your jobs. Loving or respecting or fearing God more than the market. loving or respecting or fearing God more than wanting to fit in and be loved by others as though God's love is not enough. Rejecting this loving God who has been faithful to you, he says, will not sit well with God. That's the first step. Because when you fail to do that, the other challenge that you can happen is you begin to test God. It gives the illustration of what happened to them at this place where they didn't have water. They start grumbling and they testing God and God provides water for them. And he wants against that in 16. You shall not put the Lord your God to the test as you tested him at Masa. You know, some of us live with what I'd like to call as a horse eye vision. You know, if a horse has to run, they try to put this covering over its eye so it can only see a narrow small thing right in ahead of itself. So, we tend to live our lives with just a very short-sighted vision of myself, my job, my career, my acceptance and forget that this is not reality. We need a God-sized vision to know that only that will help us to love God more. So the question for us is is love of God dictating my relationship and priorities and choices in life that honor God about myself. So you see when we hear God when we go all in to do that we will be reminded of all the things that God has done that will kindle more love for him. And it is out of that love he wants us to live. You know, if you flip this around, it becomes moralism. It becomes legalism. God is not telling the Israelites, "Okay, I got you all so far by myself. Now, it's time for you to prove your love to me. So, I want you to live like this. And if you live like this, then I will love you and give you a house and a job and happiness." That's what you and I would do sometimes. That's what we tend to do in parenting. rewardbased parenting, which they say is a terrible idea. Sometimes we do. I tend to do it all the time in my house and get into trouble. You do this, you'll get this. You You do this, you get a Lego. You do this, you get a gift. Terrible. That's not thankfully how God works, isn't it? With God, it's the other way around. He loves and then says, "Live as a response to that love." Verse 17 onwards, we're moving to our last point. He says, "Live." Says, "You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his testimonies and his statutes where he has commanded you. And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised." And he continues to talk about how he needs to do this with our children and others. How this love living for God is not just for you and I on how to live. It's on how we pass this on to the next generation. Verse 20 onwards it says when your son asks you in time to come what is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the lord our god has commanded you then you shall say to your son and talks about the other things. You know already he has talked earlier how we need to model this in our homes to our families and our children that living like that is so critical to follow what God has for us. Living allin for God is not just for you but for your whole family or your community or your friends. It talks of a son's question and a father's answer. You know the son asked what's the meaning of the testimonies. First of all, the nature of this question implies there is a great relationship between the father and the son. And he's asking about the commandments which the Lord our God commanded you. It it's a question of a child wanting to grow in maturity of the understanding of the covenant. And who do they ask first? Its parents. And the answer that the father gives the son contains a condensation of the principal gospel and his testimony. Now, if your children come and ask you questions, first of all, you need to be the first person they come and ask before their Sunday school leader uh or the pastor because you are their father. And here is what God expects the fathers to say. Firstly, he talks about the previous situation. Verse 21, we were vassels in Egypt, Egyptian Pharaoh. Secondly, he gives them a walkthrough of the Bible. Revelation of God in history. He talks about three things. The experience of God. Uh in Exodus, how it happened. Verse 21, he talks about the judgment of God. Verse 22, it talks about the purpose of God. Verse 23, how beautifully those three things are put together. The father's response. And lastly, it talks about the revelation of God. you know, the word of God, the giving of God's law in verse 24 and the conditions that were given in verse 24 in one short concise summary, the father is sharing the gospel to the son. But if the children are following this, they're hearing three things. They're hearing what God has done in history, in their own lives, in the past. They're hearing who God is, how he is a just God. They're also hearing that God has a purpose. He's moving everything towards a grand finale. They're also hearing that all these things are contained in God's word and that they are called for obedience. But they're also hearing something very, very profound. They're hearing that God's grace precedes our obedience. Just as Israel was saved from slavery first and then called to love God, so we too love God are called to love God because he first loved us. Our obedience to live godly lives is not to earn the love of God or the grace of God, but as a response to the love of God. And that's why Moses tells the parents to tell their children the story of the Exodus, which is a root cause call to obedience and God's gracious salvation. Go allin in living for God is not just for you but for all generations. Allin living impacts not just ourselves but our future generations. Perhaps you're not married and you're thinking how does this apply to me then especially for those who are looking for a spouse. This is a great great thing to look for. What kind of a spouse or family do you dream of building? How do you want to pick someone as your spa? Does he have this multigenerational vision beyond just having those good looks and a great job? Nothing bad about that. But for parents, Moses is telling three things. How do you pass on your faith to your children? Love God passionately. Let them see that you really truly love God. You're not just going through the motions showing up at church and doing these things. Impress the truths practically in decision making. If you ask them to do something else on the Lord's day and tell them prioritize God, it will not work. Love God passionately, impress truths practically and give your testimony personally. You know, as um sometimes there is always a temptation when we live in another country that's not our own to pass on script culture as scripture. God is not asking the Israelites to tell tell them how you lived in Egypt. What were your customs? What were your cultures? No. Tell them about who I was and what I did. Jesus finally when he talked to his disciples says the same thing that he wants a allin relationship with us. You know God gave the Israelites houses. They're going to go enter the Canaan. We are going to see that in the coming weeks. They conquer big cities. They get vineyards. They get homes, but they did go after other gods, isn't it? They did still kept breaking the covenant. They still did reject the father's love like many of us we do too. So many times our actions threaten losing the love of our father, losing our sunship like the prodigal son wanting to take only the goods and run away. And now they are in a worse predicament because so long when they did this they had their mediator Moses who could go between them and God and plead for them. Now even Moses is gone. He's not going to enter the promised land with them. But God was going to give them Joshua whose name literally meant and pointed to Jesus. Moses could not enter the promised land as their mediator, but Joshua did. And even more and better than Joshua, Jesus did. Joshua was going to lead them forward to victory. But Jesus has already led us to triumphant victory for us. God just did not give us houses and work and good things. He went all in. God went all in to show his love for you and me. So he can expect us to go allin to show our love for him. God went allin for you and me by going beyond giving horse houses and and places to work and live and satisfied. He went all in by giving his only begotten son, Jesus Christ. That's how God shows what allin loving looks like is by giving everything he has for you and me. What more do you need than Jesus? A house, a car. Nothing can demonstrate more all in love than what God showed for us. Jesus was the true son who lost the love of his father so we could have God again as our heavenly father. When we know that he's our heavenly father and we know how loved we have been at such cost, then and only then if God's love is filling our hearts, will we not have the security to over control our life or our children's life or to under control it. But we will be satisfied in this love of God. But how do we know we have this love of God? Because the ultimate son lost the love of the ultimate father. So we could have the love of the ultimate father whenever we run to him again and again and again like we sang. And that's the kind of disciplehip Jesus is calling in Luke 9:62. He said Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. So my dear friends, it's time for covenantal renewal. Just like the Israelites did before entering Canaan today, God is wanting you to renew your covenant with him. And and here are some applications that I have for us. First to live these kind this kind of all-in living to be able to hear God to love God and live for God we need to exercise it says all aspect of ourselves a spiritual workout we need to exercise and grow in our faith by studying his word we need to exercise growing in our love for God by worshiping him and we need to exercise our love for God by serving him with all our strength Perhaps some of us have been halfhearted, giving God the leftovers of our time and affection. And Moses's words call us to repent of that and renew our covenant with God. This is with hope. He says, "No matter how divided your heart has been, God's grace can rekindle your love." He invites you today my dear friends as he invited Israel to return to him with all your heart and he has provided Jesus who gave his whole heart to save us to make that possible by redeeming you and me. So I'm going to have an exercise for us as we pray is to write a covenant renewal. You all have hopefully this uh bulletin and there is a place at the back which says sermon notes. As we as you spend time praying, ask God to reveal to you if there is something that needs to happen in your heart or your life to renew this covenantal love for him and write it down. And when you come forward for communion, you have a basket here, a black basket. You can drop it in there. You can write your names. You don't have to write your names so that I can pray for the commitment that you're making today. After this, you're also welcome to come forward at the end and do this with our elders. You remember the story of Heron and Cortis that I spoke earlier how he asked all of his fleet to burn the ships so they can go all in. You know what happened in history after that? So Cortis and his men invaded Mexico. They were able to free the inhabitants from the oppressive rule of the Aztec Empire which had become the greatest empire in Mexico by that time and he was able to liberate them from that and he is known to be the one who founded Mexico City and that brought new freedom to the people. Today we have someone bigger than that Jesus Christ who went to the cross to show his love for you and I. He didn't wait for you and me to clean up our life and come to him. He already did that.