Ephesus: When The Glow Is Gone

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The danger of "Routine" Christianity

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But we need to Fan the flame and that's what we're going to do today. Well, today, I'm starting a new series and that new series is the letters to the seven churches in the Book of Revelation. Now, if you were here Wednesday night, you know, we we looked at the vision John got while he was on the island of Patmos and and the vision of Christ. And now, right after that, we're going to start today with the church of Ephesus. And so, what I want you to do now is I want you to take your Bibles and turn to Revelation chapter 2 And we're going to just look at the first seven versus today. But, you know, things in our culture or happening quickly, I know you you can you can see it and there's no slow down. You know, if our hope we're not in the Lord it would easy. It would be easy to become discouraged. When you look at our nation, I mean, we were talking about it in the men's prayer room. You will become discouraged over the state of our nation and sadly, the moral and spiritual drift that we've seen for many, many years, and our country continues. But sadly. It's in our churches as well. It's in our churches also. And if the culture is drifting in the wrong direction, we have to ask ourselves or what about me. Am I drifting in the wrong direction? As far as spiritually goes? Am I drifting from Biblical principles without even knowing it? And many time we can and it can be very subtle thing when we drift away from God. Because when you think about it after all what are cultures and what our church has its individual people, our church is made up of individual people. And so, when we look at our individual lives, we have to think, well, am I drifting away from God? Well, Jesus commission John while he was on the island of Patmos to write 7 letters to seven churches in Asia Minor. That's what we'd the seven churches of Revelation in chapters two and three but it was not only for those seven churches. We can read it today. And what I want to do is we talk about these different churches. I want you to think, have I ever been involved in a church like this one? Because we can see similarities in the first century church and the 21st century church. So even though you may not have lived in the first century in Asia Minor these seven letters to the churches are meant for you and me none the less. So there's three things I want us to understand before we start here with the church of Ephesus, what we're going to do three things. When we study these churches, we going to learn something about the church itself. Let's say in Ephesus we'll talk a little bit about that. So we're going to learn something. But then, we're going to apply the principles that Jesus gives to these seven churches, and we're going to apply them to our church. And we're going to apply to our own life and then not only that, but these pictures are prophetic and other way. A lot of a scholar. See that? These seven churches, bear. A striking resemblance to The Seven Ages of church history. And so the first one, we going to study is abscess which that would have been in the Apostolic Church. The last one we going to study is laodicea, it describes the church that's going to be on the earth at the end of time. And I think right now we are in the laodicean age. Because it was a lukewarm church, and if there's anything that you could say about the churches today is that many are just lukewarm. They need to Fan the flame. The flame has gone out. So these seven letters, have a primary perspective, a personal perspective for us, and also, a prophetic perspectives. So let's begin, an abscess Revelation Chapter 2. I'll read the first 7 versus then we'll go back and unpack, but we're mainly going to be in verses 1 through 5. So here's what the Bible says. To the angel of the Church of Ephesus. Write these things says, he who holds the Seven Stars in his right hand and walks in the midst of the seven, golden lamp stand. Let's stop right there. If you wouldn't here Wednesday night, you don't know what the stars are. You don't know who the angel of the churches and what in the world is a lamp stand. I mean, we don't know those things, but all you need to do is just look at verse 20, the last verse of chapter one and look, what verse 20 says, the mystery of the Seven Stars, which you saw in my right hand and the Seven golden lamp stand. So he's going to tell us what these symbolize. The Seven Stars are the Angels of the seven churches. That let me explain that quickly angel we think the angel is, well, an angel with that word, angel in the Greek means messenger. So I don't know if this means a guardian angel that guards over each individual church or if it means the pastures of the churches, because the pastor of churches are The Messengers, they give the message out. So maybe he's talkin about the pastor or maybe he's actually talking about. The God has a specific Angel over each shirt? I don't know which one but we know what that means now but then look what it. Is here. The Seven Stars are the Angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands with you saw or the seven churches. So the stars are less a the pastors of the seven churches and the lamp stands are the seven churches. So then let's read verse one again to the angel or Pastor or guardian. Angel of the Church of Ephesus. Be staying says he who holds the Seven Stars or the Pastors in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven, golden lamp stands, who walks in the midst of the church. So that tells us right there that Jesus Christ. Is in the center or wants to be in the center of every Church. He needs to be in the center of new Grace Church. Everything we do all to be because of Jesus Christ. Not because I want to do it, not because a deacon wants to do it. Not because well, that's just the way we've always done. And we're always going to do it this way, it all to me because this would go. If I Jesus he he's right in the midst of the church. Alright, verse 2. I know your Works. He speaking to the church, it abscess, I know your worth, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear. Those who are evil, and you have tested those who say they are Apostles and are not and have found them. You have persevered have patience and have Labor before my namesake and have not become weary. Well, that's great. All 2 vs 2, + 3 is great. First for Never Last. I have this against you that you have left your first love. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the first work or else. I will come to you quickly and remove, remove your lap, stand from his place, unless you repent. But this, you have that you hate the Deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate, he who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says, to the churches to him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God, when he goes back to Creation there, the MIT of paradise. Well, Let's start out with the destination of the letter and we see it in verse 12, the angel, or to the pastor of the Church of Ephesus Ephesus was the most prominent Church in Asia Minor. How many of you have ever heard of the book of Ephesians? If everybody have that was written to the church at Ephesus. So all we have to do is go back and read Ephesians and we can kind of come to a conclusion. What this church was like that was Paul's letter addressed to the Ephesians applesauce was a large. What you would call a Cosmopolitan? I guess City. It was, it had about 250,000 people, living in that City at the time. It was what we would call today or hustling bustling City a lot of Commerce and trade. A lot of, they had a political headquarters there, they had a massive libraries there, they had hospitals there and they had lots of gymnasium where they would have the Ephesian games. A lot of athletes would train their so it was not unlike a big city and our day, but what's big cities most the time spiritually? Like. Well they're kind of ungodly. There's people just worship any and everything in this city was no difference because it worship the Goddess Diana, or you may have heard the name, Artemis. They worship Diana, and and some other, some of the Roman emperors. They were Imperial worship going on there. And if you didn't worship the emperor, sometimes you may be thrown in jail. So this, this church and abscess was planted in this Godless City. The Cosmopolitan City with hustle and bustle, and lots of people going on, and just people just spiritually, dead worshipping, other gods and goddesses. So, that's the destination of the letter. Now, also look at the number two, And I didn't even give you the name of the title of the sermon, but, but we'll, we'll forget about that. But you'll see it when the glow is gone. That's what we're talkin about today, when the glow is gone. And what I want us to see when we get to the diagnosis of this church is how routine Christianity can be very dangerous in our life. Just a routine Christianity. So, we saw the destination. Let's look at the description of Christ and we also see that in verse 1. He says these things says, he who holds the Seven Stars in his right hand and who walks in the midst of the churches, the golden lampstands, which is the church. So you going to notice when we study these churches at the beginning it's talked a little bit about the place that is writing too, but then it also gives a description of who Christ is and each description is a little different. And here it says, Christ is one who holds the pastures or the guardian angels in his right hand and he walks in the myth. Now, the Book of Revelation, the word revelation means, The unveiling. So this book is an unveiling of Jesus Christ in here. He reveals himself as the one who stands in the midst of the church is not. Here's what that means. It means that he has authority over the church. Jesus Christ is the head of the church. So that means he has Authority. That's why I said earlier. Everything we do out to be centered on Jesus Christ, because he's in the midst of the churches, and he died for the church, and he's coming back again to get his church. So, everything we do should have Jesus in mine and Forefront. He walks in the mist and just as he's, in the midst of the first-century church friends. He's in the midst of the 21st century church as well, and he's in the midst of our church. So let's get thirdly to the diagnosis. And this is what we want to focus on the diagnosis of this church at Ephesus, and we see it in verses 2 through 4. Not have up on your screen. I think it's in your bulletin is well, Some characteristics of this church and I want you to look at the first one. It was a dynamic church. Now look at it in verse to the first part, the Lord says I know your works. This was a working church, this was a serving church. Now, remember, in the midst of this culture that they were living in the, the worship of Artemis Diana. The goddess of all of this. This church was planted in this big city. Here's what. John Stott, who's the Bible commentary? Here's what he said about their Works. He says, its members were fully occupied entertaining, the lonely and nursing the sick teaching the young and visiting the agent. No doubt Some Gave hours of their time to making and mending and sewing and knitting for the church. Others spent their Leisure Hours, riding, and cooking and cleaning and organizing. The Church of Ephesus was a veritable bee hive of Industry. Their tour was famous, every member was doing something for Christ. Every member was doing something for Christ. So when you think about this, this church was a working Church, what I want you to know this is when Jesus gives the diagnosis of all these churches. He first held everything good that you're doing and not good. You know when you go to somebody and you won't be confronting somebody about something most time it's better if you tell them the good things they're doing first and then say okay but here maybe what you can improve on instead of just jumping on somebody with us exactly what he does. He tells was good. It was a dynamic. Sure. That you know a lot of times in our age and day we focus on Salvation. By grace, through faith. In other words, we want to DM precise, good works. Now, I probably do that more than maybe then I should have. But the reason I do that is because there's so many people around who think that they can just work their way to heaven. So, we just have to continually push know your saved by grace, you're not saved by works. But the more we do that, we seem to be emphasized works. But one of the purposes of the local church and this is what Hebrew says is to stir up, love and good works. I mean, Jesus himself said, Paul said we're saved by grace through faith, not of yourselves. As to get the God, he said, not of Works, lest any man should boast, but then he said, but we are free and we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. So we're not saved by works but works are verification that we are saved that. We're going to do good works and so because of the good works of the Ephesians. All the Bible says, in Acts chapter 19, all who dwelled in Asia, heard the word of the Lord, because of their good works. This was a dynamic church because it was a working shirt in crisis. I know your work. He sees what you do for him number to orbi. Not only was it a Dynamic Church. It was a dedicated church now, look what he says. I know your Works Dynamic and I know your labor. What is the word labor mean? You say what means the same thing? If it means that you're working, but beside good works, he says labor, you see Works refers to activity labor, labor refers to work yourself to exhaustion. That's what that word labor here. It's like you're carrying a heavy burden but you don't quit you keep on you, work yourself to exhaustion. So these Ephesians here in the church at Ephesus, they wouldn't work in comfortably, you know how, sometimes we work comfortably, we make sure we're comfortable, we do just enough to get by, but this was not been. They were expending all their energy in serving Christ. Now, you know, in a lot of churches today in modern churches, you have What they call paid staff. Well you pay me or salary here? So I guess I'm a paid staff. Well, if you was in a big church, you may have four or five assistant associate pastors that are paid your youth minister is paid. There's a lot of people being paid in churches today page that but many people forget that the role of the pastor teacher is For equipping, the Saints, for the work of the ministry. This is what Paul wrote in Ephesians. He said some are given pastors and teachers for equipping the Saints into the work of the ministry. So who is the ministry for? Is it just for paid staff know, Ministry is for everybody, everybody has a full-time calling to Christ Ministry, just not paid staff. Of course, paid staff does but everybody and the Ephesian church had taken to Heart what Paul wrote in his letter. But some Churches they don't labor. They look at the staff and say where you off to do it. No, it's repaying you, it's your job to go out and eventually. Pastor is your job to fill the pews? Adrian Rogers said, once a church interviewed him for a job and said, pastor where you going to do to to fill these pews. He looked. I'm said I'm not going to do anything. He said you called me to fill the pulpit. He says your job to fill the pews. That's what he told them. It's the ministry of everyone, but many churches today. The flame has got the glow is gone. And no one is doing anything and it's just a sleepy Church. Never heard of a sleepy Church. Do y'all have y'all ever heard of the deacons prayer and a sleepy Church? Never heard of that. Let me give you the deacons prayer and sleepy Church. Now, I lay me down to sleep. The sermons long in the subject is deep. If he quits before. I wake, somebody nudge me For Heaven's Sake. That's the deacons prayer in a sleepy church, but this church was not a sleepy church. It was a dynamic church and it was a dedicated Church. How do we know? I know your works. I know your labor but not only that c. It was a determined church and I look at it, he says, I know your patience, and then look verse three, you have persevered and have there's that word again patience. And there's that word labor again and have labored for my namesake and have not become weary. They had persevered in their work and labor. Their patients was not passive. It was active, they were actively enduring suffering. Let me tell you about this church. Paul wrote two letters to Timothy and Timothy was the pastor of this church. When you read 1st and 2nd Timothy Timothy, was the pastor of the Church of Ephesus and when Timothy left, guess who became the pastor of the church. John who was exiled on Patmos? And he says I'm here on patma because of the word of God because he preached the word of God, an abscess and they had him exiled to to the island of Patmos. So we see here they injured suffering as they were serving Christ and so there was both spiritual and physical opposition and persecution but Paul kind of established a template for how to patiently endure. I like to read the sermons of Charles Spurgeon. He was a London. Preacher back in the 18th century. And he says, what the Church of Ephesus had was what the Americans called grit. They've heard someone say that's a greedy person, they got a lot of grit. Listen to what? Charles Spurgeon said about this church. Pray God to send a few men with what the Americans called grit in them men who when they know a thing to be right, will not turn away and turn aside or stop me. And who will persevere all the more? Because there are difficulties to meet or foes to encounter who stand all the more true to the master because they are opposed men who the more they are thrust into the fire, the hotter, they become who just like the bow. The further, the string is drawn. The more powerful, it sends forth is Arrow and so the more they are trying upon the Moor. Mighty will they become in the cause of Truth and are? That's what grit is. And that's what we need today. A Dynamic Church, it worked a dedicated Church. It labored and determined it was patient while suffering d. It was a discipline church that look what it says in verse to not only your patience. He says, I know that you cannot bear. Those who are evil. They would not tolerate sin and evil or unrighteousness in that church. What does that mean? It means that they probably exercise church discipline. And not many churches. Do that today, what most churches long, they just wanted me to people on the role as they can get. They don't care how they lived during the week or anything like that. And if someone's running around with another woman or a husband to run around something like that, they won't say a word to him, they're scared to say anything friend. That's not the way a New Testament Church off to be a New Testament, Church ought to have boundaries and it all to me where we speak the truth in love. And if we see our brother or sister and since we ought to go to them in love and speak Our concern to them and if they won't hear us then we take two more and go that's the way. That's how you look after each other. You just don't let people just come in and do and live the way that they want to. It was a discipline shirt. He says here that you cannot bear. Those who are evil or who are sending you won't bear with you. You're not going to put up with it. You going to say something? E. It was a Discerning church. Now, watch this.

And you have tested those verse to who say they are Apostles or who say their preachers and are not and have found them Liars. So, the charge would listen to someone preach. If he didn't preach the word of God, they would call him out. So you won't freeze. The more they were like the bereans. They went home to see in the scripture if what the man said was true or not. That's the way we ought to be Discerning and know that. And there was no shortage of false Apostles in the early years of the church. And they claimed be given Authority by Christ to come into the church and preached. But this the fusion Church. It rejected all these false Apostle they had the CERN month between what is truth and what is error and matter-of-fact Paul and act, hold the Ephesian Church, listen to what he said. He says there's coming among you savage wolves who will come in among you not sparing the flock. He said this is for this is what's happening in the Ephesian church but their Church wouldn't allow them access to the flock. You see the sermon is based on Cochran and it's up to the pasture and the teachers of a church to be able to separate truth from error. That's that's my job. I need be if I can't separate truth from are then if the blind leading the blind it's what that is. It was a Discerning church. Or let's look at this. It was a church that worked Dynamic. It was a church that labor until exhaustion. Dedicate. It was patient in suffering. It was determined, they didn't put up with sin in the congregation, it was disciplined and they knew true from are. It was Discerning. What do you want to be a member of that church? I would love to be a member of Ephesus Baptist Church. I mean that sounds like to me that that is a church that you would love to be a member of Except for one thing. and we see that, In letter f. It was a declining Church. You say, how in the world could they work and labor and be determined and be discipline and be discerned? How could it be declining? Any church that work? Like that? Couldn't decline. Look at it verse for he says, nevertheless, I have this against you That you have left your first love. Did you know that it's possible to work yourself to death in church? And to read your Bible and come over Sunday and Wednesday night and tithe and give and sing in the choir and teach the children, and Beyond the building and grounds committee every time, the door opens you're here, do you know that it's possible to do that and do it with the wrong motive and you have no passion in your heart for Christ? No passionate. You just do it out of obligation responsibility and a sense of Duty. I'm going to serve Christ because he saved me.

And you just serve simply because I ought to do it. And there's no, the glow is gone. What used to be a fire, is nothing more than a Flicker and you work yourself to death. You see, everything about this church. Look good on the outside but inwardly they had heart trouble, and it's the same way with us individually at times.

Used to when you were first saying, you couldn't wait to get up on Sunday morning and come short. You couldn't wait to write that check to the church and now you get up, you knocked, the alarm clock off the tables, my only day to sleep. Now, I got to get up and go down there and listen to that preacher. Oh, you come. And you still love Jesus. But you don't love him with the first love. Is a 56 M. 1/10 low. Put everything else. And what did Jesus say here? He says. You have left your first love. He says, it's possible to do the work of the ministry without being in love with Christ. And it is. And, you know, the one of the worst places you can go to fall in that trap. Seminary. How the world can you go to cemetery learning about God and you all of a sudden fall out of love with him because you're so busy studying, Greek Hebrew writing papers and all you do it all out of a sense of I got to do this I got to finish school. I got to do all that stuff and all of a sudden you lose your relationship with Christ because you're so busy, doing other things. It can happen and it does happen. So what is a first love? It's a fervent love. Is the excited. Love that every Christian feels when they're first saved. if the love of a couple, whose on a honeymoon, You ever heard of honeymoon? Love when you only have eyes for each other? One translation, says it like this verse for yet, I have this against you. You no longer love me as you did it first.

You know, that's easy to happen. I mean, even in relationships, a husband, don't love his wife, the way did it first, the wife don't love the husband the way she did it first, you get in the routine of life and you live in, you have problems, you have children, you have job concerns, you have all this, and all of a sudden, you just let each other Fall. By the wayside try said, the same thing can happen in your spiritual life. You're doing all this work, you're labouring, you're working. You're dedicated to discipline you determine and all that, but you're doing it all without me. You're doing it with the wrong motive. There's a story of this husband and wife that have been married for about 25 or 30 years. And the wife said to herself one day, she said, you know, my husband, he's just not romantic anymore. He don't look at me the way he used to. And she would get up every morning early before he did, and she would go to the window and she would open the blinds in the den. If you lived in a neighborhood where the houses were close together, And their neighbors right beside them and she can see their front porch, was a newlywed couple that have only been married about three months. And every morning, she would go to that win and open the blinds around 7. And that couple would come out on the front porch in the husband was leaving to go to work. And the wife would hand him, his lunch. And he would just grab and hug her with the longest hug, and he would just give her a big old. Wet Bugs, Bunny kiss right there on the mouth. And before he left off the porch, he would open the front door back to let her in and she would kiss him on the cheek and then he go get in the car and go to work. And this woman saw that every single day. She said, I know what I'm going to do. She said I'm going to get my husband Ralph up, and I'm going to show him this. So the next morning. Sure enough. Same thing happened. She said, Ralph, she said, come in here right now. He said, what is it? She said, I want you to see something. And he come to where she said, I want you to look at this. He said, what am I looking at? He said, you watch that. She said you watch that husband? Same thing happened, huh? Her kissed, her kissed him on the cheek. She said, did you see that? He said, yes, I saw it. She said where you need to do that? Are you going to start doing that? He said I would never do that. She said, why not? He said, I barely know that lady total man kissing woman. I don't know. But sometimes the glow is gone at that. Sometimes the glow is gone but it is a bad thing to know. That Christ has something against the Sydney. Even if we work and serve. And when he does, it's time for us to make things, right? Because without a pure passionate love for Jesus, eventually, all of our work will be without power and without persuasion because we're doing it in our own strength. Have you ever been there? Say, amen. I know everyone has I know every it's just like you have no passion you do it but you do it because you're supposed to do it and friends. Let me tell you the first thing that you're going to run into when you serve Christ without a first love, you going to burn out you going to have burnout in your church ministry, you just you going to hate doing it, you going to come to church, you not going to want to come to church? There's not going to be a pep in your step. Why? Because the glow is gone. We have to keep the glow. You see 30 years prior to this letter here, Paul wrote to the Ephesians. And this is what he said, in one of the last verses of the book Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. He said, you got to love him and it's got to be sincere, but a few decades later two or three decades later, the same church had allowed their love to grow cold. The same church. Had lost their glow. The glow was gone and they had drifted away and friends. It's the same thing for us. Now, if the story ended there we would say, this is a terrible story. This was a thriving, good church and all of a sudden he just gives us one thing and that's it. I mean it the story ends that bad with no he tells them what to do to get to go back and he's telling us this morning. What to do look at verse 5, He says remember therefore from where you have fallen. Repent and do the first works or else? I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand, your church, your influence from its place unless you repent. Now does that mean that if I'm working for Christ and I'm doing it with the wrong motives and I really don't love him. I'm just doing it out of a sense of Duty is that mean he's going to strike me dead. He's going to remove know it doesn't mean that what it means is he's going to remove your influence and power because you have none because your light is a flicker. The globe is gone and so he just going to take you out and you'll have no more influence in your Christian Life or as a church, the church will have no more influence. Just like many churches today they said around people come to and I'll put they have no influence, they're not doing anything. So Christ has just. He said I'll just take the lampstand away number for the demand of the church and he gives us three things that we need to do. Number one, he says you need to remember from where you have fallen, if you left someone or something. The first step is to remember where you were before. It means remembering thinking back of what your relationship was. Like, when Christ, when you were first saved and growing in him, don't you remember that? Don't you remember what it was like when you were first saved? We all remember our first years, I walk with the Lord, how excited we was about church and reading the Bible and fellowshipping and we'd invite people to church and bible study, it was a whole new world for your you live, your life, as a matter of trust. God said it, I believe it. And that settles it. That's the way it was when we were first today. But somehow, some way without knowing That enthusiasm can just dissipate and it's just a chore to come to church. We become what I call for professional Christian or routine. Christians we just fall in the Rock and we just do what we supposed to do without passion. You see here's what happens when your Christian life becomes a matter of religion rather than relationship. You know you have lost the glow. I hear people all the time, say, when someone says the religious person, well, I could be good, or it could be bad. I don't want anyone to call me a religious person. I want them to know me, because of my relationship with Christ and that I'm passing about him. Not just passionate about doing things. I'm passionate about him. So, this word here, remember the verb. It's an imperative, which means it's Commando. Jesus is not saying, well, if I were you, I would remember know what he saying. Is. No, you remember, things back? The way they used to be, and its present, its present imperative, which means, present tense, which means it's ongoing. He's not saying, I just think back today. I know he's saying, constantly, remember how it used to be keep on, remembering your starting place in the Christian Life, which was me. So if your glow is gone, if your wood is wet, the first thing you do today is remember the way it used to be a men. Remember, number two, Repent. The next logical step is to repent. And what does repent mean, what means change your mind. It means to reverse course it means you're going north, you need to turn and go south. You need to make a U-turn, is what you need to do. And so it's not a matter of weeping and crying and wailing and saying, okay, why? I know I failed God and you feel bad about it, okay? Well, you can feel bad about it and you can cry about it but you got to do something, you got to change direction, you got to make a conscious decision of the wheel to turn and return to him. This is what John Stott says about. Repentance. Repentance is resolutely and completely to turn one. Back, one's back on all known. Since Jesus Christ, does not Advocate Conjuring up, emotional experience. He does not urge the Ephesian Christians to feel bad about since it's not what they feel about them with matter so much as what they do about them. so if you've lost the glow, if the glow is gone, What that actually means for Christian, at least the way the King James says it is your back slider. You say what? How do I know if I'm a backslider? We'll just ask yourself if I is there any time in my life that I've ever been closer to God? Then I am. Now if you say yes, you're back, slider. There's never been a time in your life when you were closer to God than you are right now, then you are backslidden, which means they're sending your life. Which means the Bible says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us. So if they're sending life, we need to do what without scent. Repent. We need to remember and we need to repent. It's not about just feeling bad. You can't stay on the wrong road. You have to get on the right Road. Well then lastly he says repeat. Now what would that be? Well, he said repeat the former good works. He praised them for the works and labor, and patience, and discipline, and determination and discernment. He praised them for all that, but he says you need to get back to your first works when you did these things because you loved me, your motive for, right? You need to rebuild your relationship with me in 1st Corinthians chapter 13, Paul uses love As not only a verb, but also a noun. In other words, love is something is demonstrated is something that you do. We need to return to those actions and motives that we had before and you see when I think of that and I think of the church. And I think of Peter remember, who was it that denied Christ three times after the resurrection. When Lord went to Peter, he said Did Peter do you love me? What Peter say? He said. Of course. I love you. He said Peter I want to ask you something. Do you love me? He said yes, Lord, I love you. He says, Peter do you love me? Peter said Lord. I told you twice. Yes I love you. He said then feed my sheep.

Does the Lord ask you and me if we love to witness? Does he say might do you love angelism? No, do you love discipleship, know what does he say? Do you love me? You see if we love Jesus. We will witness, we will evangelize. Why? Because we love angelism, no, because we love Jesus.

That's what he said. Peter do you love me? Yes, yet would then. Feed my sheep. Go out and tell other people about me if you love me, think of the church, I know I'm going long but just thinking the church any church giving would be up if everybody love Jesus with the first love. Wouldn't have to have to beg anybody to give any money to the church. Cuz that's right. Check first thing right off the top. If they had a first love for Jesus, how about serving you would have to beg, anybody come to the nursery, or teach Sunday school or anything like that because they have a first love for Jesus. How about evangelism? No, just like Peter, do you love me? Okay, well then if you love me, you'll go out and do that. How many of you moms ever set up all night with a sick child?

I want to ask you that child, have to beg you to do that. Your husband have to know. Do you want to say? Will you please get up and a child about the job with 105 fever? Will you please get up and see what's wrong? No, you got up and you stayed up all night. Why did you do that? Because you love them. You serve your child, your family, because you love them. How many of you have ever spent more money than you should have buying your wife or husband, or children? A gift. Of course you did. You would go in that. You was like, well, they don't really know. I'm going to buy that. Why'd you do that? Cuz you love them, it will affect everything that we do Church. Attendance would be at somebody say, well, I'll just go when I want to say and I don't love Jesus. No, I'm saying you do love it. You just don't love him with the first love. He just think you can just come and go just whenever it don't matter if I go to church, who care. I'm not saying you don't love to you. I'm saying you don't love him or the first love. Don't want to give to the church, don't want to serve about church, splits all the church splits, why the church is split because people in their don't love Jesus. For the first love. You. Going to split over the color of the carpet or the 20-year. 30-year shingle. If you split over that, it's because you don't have Jesus in the midst of your church. That's why the church splits that's why there's so many fussing and fighting carrying on in churches is because people don't love Jesus. They have left their first love. The glow is gone. Don't care how hard you work. How much you labor, what you do? But glow is gone and then Jesus says,

If you don't repent and do the first works and love me because you and be passionate about me. I'll just remove your lamps. Then he says, I'll remove your influence. So, here's what I want to ask you today.

Is your glow gone?

You say why I don't want to admit it. You better just that you don't have to admit it right now just admit it to the Lord. Go to him in prayer and say, Lord, my clothes gone. My wood is wet. I'm just not excited when I go to church and I do things I supposed to, but I just do it because I have obligation because I feel a sense of Duty is not because I love you, but I don't know how to read my Bible anymore. I don't even pray anymore. The glow is gone. You tell him that And he'll say, just repent and return to the first work, here was a wonderful Church, Ephesus Baptist Church. I would like my name on that roll of that church. They had everything going for Except they didn't love Jesus with the first love. And that is exactly what he won't say men. All right, let's pray. Father, we thank him. Praise you and love you today. Lord for your word. Lord. We thank you for these letters to the churches. We can learn so much, we can apply to our own Heart. Lord. Today's message, Lord can apply to each and everyone of us or we just need to sit down and ask ourselves why we do what we do and am I passionate about it? Do I love Christ with a first love. If I do, it's going to change the way I do things. I'm going to have a pep in my step. I'm going to have a smile on my face. I'm going to have a glow in my heart.

Lord help us to be.

Humbly grateful and not grumpy and hateful. As Christians. Lord help us to serve you because we love you first. And if we know that if we'll do that, you will take care of all the rest in, Christ's name, I pray. Amen.

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