CHURCH DO YOU STILL BELIEVE
Notes
Transcript
Church, do you still believe in the Son of God who came out of heaven to die on the cross for our sins… resurrect from the grave, defeating death and hell… and walking out of the tomb… spending 40 more days on earth… enabling and equipping His disciples to be the men that He called them to be?
Church, do you still believe in the Jesus that ascended into heaven, telling us in Acts chapter 1 that He's going to send us the gift of the Holy Spirit, and that Holy Spirit is the same Spirit that lived in Jesus Christ?
Church, do you still believe? Do you still believe in the Wonder-Working Power of the blood of Jesus - the sacrificial lamb?
Church, do you still believe in the power of the Holy Spirit that comes to live inside of us and enables us to be the man or woman that God commands us to be?
Church, do you still believe that Christ is at the right hand of the Father on His heavenly throne?
Church, do you still believe that the Bible is the Word of God, the authority and standard for the way a Christian should live, that even if we don't like what the word tells us we honor it and we know that our opinion doesn't matter?
Do you believe the Word is alive and active and sharper than any double-edged sword… that it not only exposes the sin and darkness that needs to be done away with, but at the same time it reveals the answer and solution that God has for anything we face?
Church do you still believe in a thing called repentance? When we realize that we need to make a 180° turn from the way we're living, repent from a lukewarm ho-hum relationship with Jesus?
Church do you still believe that if you surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ that you will live with a white-hot, on- fire, Spirit-filled, Spirit-led, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ?
Church I'm asking you if you still believe in the God who made a promise to Abraham that His descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky… and then did it.
Do you still believe in the God who told Moses to bring the children of Israel out of slavery…the God who told Moses that I AM sent you… that same God who split the Red Sea and made water flow from a rock?
Church do you still believe in God, whose Son was born of a virgin, lived for 33 years, teaching and preaching many things, especially His on-going theme of repentance and love?
We as the church must believe in these core values, and we have to make sure we that we stay on fire for Jesus!
The Lord has continually spoke to my heart about revival, and He's continually said that we have to have personal Revival… that each needs a revival in their lives.
The church, as a whole, is lukewarm… because many people who make up the church are lukewarm, and the only way for revival to happen on a large great awakening scale is for each one of us to have a personal revival!
I'm sure that as I preach this sermon, the Holy Spirit is speaking to each one of us about the personal Revival He wants to do in your life!
We're a lot like the church Jesus spoke to in Ephesus in
Revelation 2:1-5 The angel is believed to be the pastor of the church, so Jesus is telling John to write this to the church in Ephesus.
“Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus: Thus says the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks among the seven golden lampstands:
I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil people. You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars.
I know that you have persevered and endured hardships for the sake of my name, and you have not grown weary.
But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first.
Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
The seven lampstands are the seven churches and so Verse 1 is showing the Authority of Jesus, that He not only holds the churches securely, but He is present in the churches not only as King but as Judge also.
[Illustration: Tell the story about the man drowning and the Judge saving him one day and then being a just judge the next day.]
We see that Jesus is patting them on the back for the good things they are doing. And church, listen we can do a lot of good things for people, as we all know, there's a lot of people and organizations that do good things without the love of Jesus… and, that's what Jesus is telling them that they are doing… some good things apart from Jesus!
He tells them you have abandoned the love you had at first. I can't tell you how many people have told me, “I was just like you when I first got saved”, and it would bother me because they meant that they were fired-up and excited about the fact that they were free and redeemed… but that it wore off… or that they weren't filled with that same passion and fire anymore… and I kept thinking, “Man I hope this not only not goes away, but that it get more intense… and I'm here to tell you that I'm more on fire today than I was yesterday. And,I look at people like Bob and Ronnie and my parents and I am encouraged because I see people who have been living for Jesus for 50 years and they still have that fire of the Holy Spirit living in them… and they are still excited about Jesus, and they still have an up-to-date, on-fire relationship with Jesus.
This verse tells us that we don't lose our First Love, we abandon it! The best thing about the fact that we're not losing our first love, but we're abandoning it, is that we don't know where we lost something… but when we abandon it, we know exactly where to find it!
If you're here tonight and you are honestly examining yourself and you know that you have abandoned that first love and passion and excitement, and you can feel the Holy Spirit speaking to you right now, then make tonight the night you say: “Enough is enough! I want that first love… that first passion… that first excitement back in my life!
Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
Then in Verse 5, Jesus tells us exactly how to get back to the way we were! He says to remember how far you have fallen and then repent!
See we have to acknowledge how far we have strayed from that intimate relationship with Jesus. We have to understand that to appreciate the change that's on the way. If we do what Jesus tells us to do.
He tells us to Repent and then do what we did at first. It's not difficult. It's not rocket science. We have to Repent…to ask Jesus to forgive us and ask Him to fill us with that love we had at first. We have to surrender to Him, and then do the things we did at first. We have to get back to the basics Church… consistently Study the Word and consistently Pray and purposely Seek the Will of God… and do it daily. Then you will walk with the fire and the power of the Holy Spirit of God living inside you!
Church this was written to a specific church, but it is relevant to us today. Jesus tells us at the end of that chapter, “Let anyone who has ears listen to what the Spirit says”.
When we don't actively seek that first love then we end up abandoning the relationship Jesus wants to have with us… and that leads us to being lukewarm.
In chapter 3 of Revelation, Jesus very plainly tells us how He feels about people who are lukewarm.
I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot.
So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth.
For you say, ‘I’m rich; I have become wealthy and need nothing,’ and you don’t realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.
I advise you to buy from me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, white clothes so that you may be dressed and your shameful nakedness not be exposed, and ointment to spread on your eyes so that you may see.
As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be zealous and repent.
The Jonathan Glover translation says “Y'-all make me want to throw up”!
Nobody wants a lukewarm drink like iced tea or hot coffee! He says you don't even realize that you're wretched. He then tells them everything else about the lukewarmness that Jesus sees. But, I went all the way to verse 19, because I wanted you to see that Jesus says “As many as I love I rebuke and discipline so be zealous and repent”.
There's that word again Repent. The definition of Zealous is dedication or enthusiasm for something. If you have zeal, you're willing, energized, and motivated.
So again Jesus is telling them that you have to repent but the best thing about everything we've looked at tonight is that it's not too late for you to embrace the personal Revival… and repent of things that you know aren't right… and ask the Lord to give you that Zeal and that First Love that you remember having.
God is faithful and just to give it to you, and then I promise you can live everyday with that fire and zeal and passion for God and that turns into a burden for lost souls.
Church do you still believe?