Ephesus: Rekindle Your First Love and Repent

Imagine, if you would, the married couple. They live in the house together. They say good morning and maybe share a cup of coffee, but they live completely separate lives. There is no unity. There is no love. It's just a cold, sterile relationship. They kept the structure of the relationship, but they lost the warmth of the relationship. I fear this is where 90% of the Western church lives, going through the motions, lacking the fire of the love of God in our hearts, lacking his compassion for others. [00:57:04] (59 seconds)  #GoingThroughTheMotions

That's the last thing that's the last thing you wanna hear Jesus say because I've got this against you. You're doing well in these areas. Listen. It's not just about doing what you're supposed to do is what we're about to learn. It's not just about hanging on to good teaching. It's not just about pressing on and persevering and we're gonna see that. I have this against you. You have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember, therefore, where you have fallen, repent, and do the works that you did at first. If not, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. [00:51:42] (46 seconds)  #AbandonedFirstLove

This is the kind of church I see where somebody would show up hungry, needing something, and we would say, be warm, be fed, and God bless you. There's the road. This is the kind of church where if a brother or sister was struggling, we would say, hey. You're on your own. I am not gonna help you bury your burden. We wanna do the right things, but there's no love. Man, what a what a heartbreaking church to hear. You're going through the motions, but you've lost your love for me. [00:55:32] (36 seconds)  #ActionWithoutLove

You ever see a kid and they're like a year old and then you don't see them for a couple of years. A little bit every day. And that's what this verse is saying. You have grown cold. It didn't just happen. It wasn't fam. You're cold towards God. You have grown cold in the things that you are doing. You have grown cold in your love. Listen to this quote by a w Tozier. When observing the church, he said, if the holy spirit withdrew from the modern church, 95% of what we do would go on and no one would notice the difference. Grown cold. [00:53:19] (48 seconds)  #SlowDriftToCold

Look what I did. When we're in love with Jesus and do things for Jesus, Lord, thank you for letting me help that person. It wasn't me. It wasn't me. So he says, remember that and then repent. Turn around. Give your heart afresh to God. Repent means that to go another direction. Confess this was wrong, God. These are the things that led me away from you. I wanna come back. Repent. Turn. Come back to me. [01:00:00] (29 seconds)  #RememberAndRepent

Listen. You you can give yourself a quick litmus test and ask, do I ever get excited about anything God is doing? Do I ever get excited about what God is doing in my life? Do I study the word every day with with excitement that God I I I had to make a confession this weekend. And I I went down to the altar and got on my knees this weekend because I I'll be y'all know I I I am transparent, and some people hate that because some people want me to be perfect. I am not. [01:04:22] (32 seconds)  #PassionLitmusTest

I've become apathetic in my quiet times. I've become yeah. If I do it, great. And if I don't do it, great. I'm preparing my message. And you've heard me say a 100 times, preparing to teach is a lot different than studying for yourself. And and the Lord just convicted me there and and like, yep. You're preparing the sermon about your love growing cold, and here you are apathetic about spending time with me. I dare. Have you grown apathetic? [01:04:54] (37 seconds)  #DoctrineWithoutFire

And we ask that and we get weary and we question why because it didn't feel good and so we drift away from God. It's it's not a lot of times, just one thing. I'm renouncing my faith and moving on. It's death by a thousand cuts. You didn't heal this person. You didn't give me the promotion, God. You didn't do this. You didn't do that. That person at church was mean to me. And we just drift. That's it's it's a slow drift. Ephesus held on to good teaching, held on to good doctrine, and did not drift in those areas. They were firm. They were solid. [00:50:01] (46 seconds)  #TruthWithoutLove