Sunday Morning 11.17.24

Welcome him.

I can do that for you. Awesome. Good morning church. Revelation Chapter 2, Revelation Chapter 2. If you need help finding Revelation, you can go to Genesis and then flip for a long time. you'll get there eventually very last book in the Bible, Revelation chapter 2 I didn't honor for me to be here today and I mean that sincerely, I know that for a pastor there's only 52 Sundays a year and I know that Pastor Clark puts a lot of thought and prayer into, who he has in to speak to the church, except for last week. Apparently, last week, he mailed it in and let Daniel preach. But I know that normally he puts a lot of thought into that, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm only saying that cuz Daniels in junior church and he can't beat me up right now. But it's so great to be with you. I tell people all the time, I mean, this Kara can attest to it that. I don't know, a church that impacts their Community as much as your church. Thank you for loving Danvers and the community around Danvers. I know that there's so many people in this community, whether they attend church here or not. Who look to this church, as a place of hope, as a place of prayer. You are truly a light in this community and I just want to thank you for that. I just have one problem this morning. Pastor told me that there's a countdown in the back. He said that it would be set for 35 minutes for him and he said that it would be set for 25 minutes from me and I'm not sure why I get last time. I'm just kidding. Good news is, I can't even see the timer. So,

So I don't have no idea how long they're going. I promise I won't I won't keep you very long. We're going to read a couple verses of Revelation. Chapter two together will start. Inverse number one, a very familiar portion of scripture. The Bible says this unto the angel of the Church of Ephesus, right? This thing says he that hold at the Seven Stars in his right hand to walk into the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. I know that works in my labor and I patient and how about cats cannot bear them, which are evil and I'll have to try them with say they are Apostles and are not and has found them liars. And has been born and has patients in from my state. Not my namesake has labor and has not faint it. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against me because I'll has left my first love. Remember. Therefore, from whence our fallen and repent and do the first works or else I will come on to be quickly and will remove by Candlestick out of his place except I'll repent. Inverse number 5. Let's pray together. Jesus. Jesus. I pray that you would help us for just a few minutes this morning. God, I pray that these dear people would hear from you. At the spirit of God with speak to their souls. And that father, they would be drawn back to the heart of the father. That we would all collectively and individually fall back in love with you. That we would take a moment this morning and I missed the hustle and bustle of the season. And with many of us preparing for a busy few weeks that you would give us a space. This morning to contemplate you. To remember what you've done for us. And to recapture our first love, we ask in your son Jesus name. Amen. It used to be for a while that when I would preach. If I'm honest I would kind of stray away. I would almost unintentionally, avoid some of the topics in the Bible that are the most talked about, maybe some of the sermons that people would be most familiar hearing there certain topics in the Bible that you find over and over again. There are certain ideas like love and Save in Holt and forgiveness and there's just topics that probably if you've been in church for very long, you heard time and time again and I would kind of unintentionally stray away from some of those items because I just bought people of heard that before they're familiar with that book. And they, they might chew me out if I start to talk about something that they've already heard before, and I felt like one day that the Holy Spirit convicting me And the Holy Spirit said, the reason why those topics are in the Bible over and over again is because they're a big deal because they're important because God wants us to really get a grasp of certain core ideas in the Christian Life. And this morning, we come across a portion of scripture. That if you've been in church for very long, you probably heard a sermon on, you're probably familiar with the idea or the concept that we're going to talk about this morning, but I think the reason why you heard this sermon before, or the reason why you've heard this idea before is because this idea is purposely placed in scripture so that you and I get on a regular basis, come back to it and remind ourselves. That we need to recapture our first love that we need to take a timeout and our Christian Life, if you will, that we need to pause, we need to look back at Scripps. We need to take account of our lives and we need to fall back in love with Jesus. This portion of scripture, lays out very well from the organizational standpoint. The writer here Paul. He's taking down dictating what he sees from Jesus and Jesus has given him a letter to the church at Ephesus and do the letter was written at the time specifically for a church in Ephesus. I think it has no doubt broad application to our churches today and at the beginning of the letter, you find a recognition. You find the author here who's giving a condom a commendation if you will.

In Jesus name, amen.

Every once in a while you have to get a little charismatic with a clicker, can you guys do it back? They're awesome. Because I will do such a bad job and it'll be a train wreck, and I'll get so distracted. Bless you. Thank you so much. I would I almost started speaking in tongues. They're just just for a minute, just for a little while. It starts with a recognition. It starts with a attaboy, it starts with a, you're doing a great job, notice what the Bible says, in verse number to, it says, I know that works and I labor and I patients it starts at the beginning here with this letter, it says, you have a lot of the right behaviors. There's a lot of things that you're doing really well, as a church or as a congregation, you're being very patient, you're being very loving. You working hard because I know your works. I know what you're doing for me. I know how you're labouring for the cause of Christ, and that's awesome. He says what you don't just have a right Behavior, you also have a right belief, notice what he continues to say in verse number to he says. And how about can't bear them? Which are evil. And I'll has tried them with say they are Apostles and are not and has found them Liars. Because not only do you have a right Behavior. Not only are you laboring and I not only do I know your works, but I also know that you have right beliefs, you know, the Bible, you know, scripture in fact, you know, scripture so well. That is somebody says they have a message from God and they start to talk, you know, scripture so well that you can call it out and say, no, no, no, that's not from God. That's not consistent with the word of God and you can call them Liars. He said, you have write believe. You know, the scripture for yourself. That's one of the things that I appreciate about your pastor. Your pastor is a well-studied, man. He's a well-researched and well-read, man, and you can have of the congregation great confidence that when he's preaching the word of God. He's not just parody something that he's heard from someone else, but rather he's researched it himself and is presenting to you ideas and sermon topics that are consistent with the character and nature of God himself. And the Integrity of the scriptures and hear the Church of Ephesus is getting this recognition. This Commendation from Jesus himself Church, you have the right Behavior. You have the right beliefs now, I just imagine if I was a member of the Church of Ephesus at the time, and I'm sitting in a service and I'm hearing this letter being read, I'm coming nudging. My wife right now. We're doing a pretty good job.

We're killing it. We have the right behaviors. We're living, right? We have the right Feliz. We know the Bible for ourselves. I feel like we're kind of doing this Christian thing pretty well. I mean, we got up. What else is there with living, right, we're believing right. That's awesome. It's kind of like we have both ends of the spectrum are life is right or beliefs or right. We're doing the thing. And then this recognition is followed by a rebuke. Notice what the Bible says, in verse number four, nevertheless, I have somewhat against the because now has left. Thai. First love.

Well, that's not at all. What we were expecting in the letter? We were doing so well. We had the right Behavior. We had the right beliefs but now the letter takes the turn. and Jesus says to the church, however,

I have one problem. I'm heartbroken about one thing. Even though you're doing all the right things, even though you believe all the right things, I have one issue you have left. Your first love.

He says in Austin. He said, you have traded. You have exchanged. Your behavior and your beliefs. For a passionate relationship with Jesus himself.

Many times I've heard that portion of scripture and I think unintentionally a pastor will change the wording slightly and it will give the connotation that you have lost your first love in the Bible. Does it say you lost your first love? The Bible says you left it. You made a decision conscious or unconscious, knowingly or unknowingly you made a decision, you left. a passionate relationship with Jesus to pursue working and laboring for Christ to pursue studying your Bible, You have exchanged a relationship with God for doing things and knowing things about God. You have traded. A love for Christ and now you are focus on laboring for Christ. You have traded. Godliness for God himself. You have traded worship. For work.

End in the letter. I think there's an implication. Don't get me wrong. I appreciate your right Behavior, I appreciate your right believed but your Lackey you're missing the main thing.

And if you have been a child of God for any length of time, you know, in the honesty and the transparency of your own heart, how easy it is to do things for God to know things about God, and somehow leave God behind.

How easy is it to come to church?

To come to church. I never have one specific. Thought about your love for Christ.

How easy is it to sing songs of worship to God? And never one time, have a heart touch with the reality of his love for us. How easy is it to teach Awana? How easy is it to watch the nursery? How easy is it to be involved in the community? How easy is it to donate a coat or a blanket? How easy is it to do all the right things and never one-time. Think about a love relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ.

Because I just got one problem. I've got one, just one problem, you're doing all the right things, you're believing all the right thing. But you left me behind.

You forgot about. The Jesus that's behind all of this. You forgot about the Cheese's. That made all of this possible. and so he gives a recognition and then he gives a review but he doesn't leave with condemnation, he gives a remedy He says, here's how you fix it. He says, here's how you fix it in verse number 5. He says remember,

Remember therefore from whence Thou Art Fallen. And repent. And do the first works. Or another words. He says, remember. Repent. In return. He said that you're doing the right thing.

You believe all the right things.

But you left in Jesus behind. Here's how you can fix that. Number one, you can remember,

Part of the remedy is to remember.

one of the most important things that we can do in our Christian Life, Is to remember.

Remember. Where we were? Remember. Who we would be without Jesus. My wife and I have a terrible game that we play. Sometimes I'm going to let you in on a little secret. We play a game where we think about people that we know in our lives, and here's the game pastor, this will be the last time I preached here. The game is, who would they be without Jesus?

Ever stop and think about who I would be without Jesus.

I would be a manipulative, arrogant, narcissistic high-powered lawyer. That's who I'd be.

Who would you be without Jesus? What would your family look like without Jesus? What has God done in your life that could only be explained. By Jesus. There's certain things in my life that I will constantly from time to time. Remember, Because it brings my heart back to him. I remember my mom and dad. Will call them Rodney and Lori will use those names because those are their names.

Neither one of my parents grew up in a Christian home.

My father grew up in the home of an alcoholic. My grandfather was a member of the, Hells Angels.

And lived a very hard life style.

My dad for all intents and purposes didn't have a father growing up when he was home. He was drunk and abusive and angry. The only stable factor that my dad had in his childhood was his mom. when my dad was 13 years old, his mother left to go on a trip with his father. They were going to a race. And on the way home from that race, a drunk driver crossed the median. Hit my grandparents car had on.

my grandfather who was passed out, drunk in the passenger seat was completely on her. My grandmother was killed. At 13, my dad lost his mother. And at my grandmother's funeral. My grandfather got saved. And from that day on never touched, another drink of alcohol.

He got saved and my dad and my grandfather started going to church.

And the Holy Spirit started working in my Dad's life and started calling him into the ministry.

On the other side in the country, my mom was growing up in a household that was equally dysfunctional. My grandfather on my mother's side.

Was not a good man. He never worked a job because not because he was physically incapable because he was lazy. He was openly on faithful. An abusive to his family.

At night. My mom, grandmother would come home from work and my mother and her siblings would be in the house and my grandfather would walk into the house with his Girl for the day. Take her back to the bedroom. Not caring at all. How it impacted his children and his wife was not a good man.

When my when my mom was a teenager, somebody knocked on her door. And invited her to come to church.

She started going to church as a teenager. She got saved. Her mom got saved. They started going to church together. Opposite ends of the country, my dad, and his father started going to church together. My mom and her mom started going to church together and God worked in both of their lives. Call them to go to the same Bible College. When they met and fell in love.

when they got married, one of the greatest things in all of human history happened,

I think, Austin, I think about how my parents grew up.

I didn't grow up like that. I grew up with a mom and dad, who loved each other.

Who were faithful to each other? Who were at times, awkwardly in love with each other.

Who brought me up in church? Nurtured me and care for me.

My life was so much better. Because of Jesus.

I think about a time in my life, where I was at a very low point. My first wife Johanna had passed away.

and I was, Grief-stricken and hurting and angry.

I was driving back from being out of town one night and I wasn't out of place where

I would have hurt myself if you understand what I'm saying, but But I was at a place where something would have happened to me, I would have been fine if you know what I mean.

I was driving one night tonight. was angry and hurting and it was dark and all the sudden, Driving down the highway. I hit a deer that I never saw.

The deer flips over my car, it came through the windshield that ripped the top of my car off completely.

Somehow I to this day, I don't know how but I'm I managed to get the car completely totaled to the side of the road.

Glass everywhere metal everywhere steam coming out of the engine and I remember stopping and looking at myself and I was completely on her. Can I tell you initially? My first thought I'm embarrassed to admit this. But can I tell you my first thought I was like bummer.

That could have been my chance to get out of here.

and in that moment, God spoke to me in a way that was more clear. Did I think he's ever spoken to me before or since and that moment on the side of the road, with my car absolutely demolished and myself unhurt, the spirit of God planted in my soul. I'm not finished with you yet.

And hearing the voice of God in that moment. Gave me the strength to continue through that season of life. and every once in awhile, as children of God, we have to take a moment and we have to just remember What God has done for us who we would be without him and remember from whence we are falling. And then repent. Thank God. I'm sorry. I forgot about you. I'm sorry. I left you behind. I'm sorry. I got so busy studying. The Bible that I forgot about the offer on the page. I'm sorry that I got so busy reaching out to my community and being involved in programs that I forgot about the person behind it all. Forgive me.

We remember, we repent and then we return. Say Jesus. I'm coming back. I'm coming back. The song says to the heart of the father.

For many of us, we know what it is to fall in love. I've been so blessed in my life.

You have been married to two wonderful ladies. My wife cares here on the second row.

And I remember falling in love with Kara. one day a girl that I knew from college reached out to me and she was

about to get married to somebody who had previously lost someone and she was reaching out to me for advice on. What do I need to know about? Loving someone who has loved someone else before? And in the course of that conversation, I went to her Facebook page to just kind of familiarize myself with what was going on with Katie's wife at the time and they're on that Facebook page. I saw a picture of Katie and her older sister Kara And what I sold is picture of Tara, I was so attracted to her character.

I'm just kidding. It was not her character. Guys do that. Sometimes we don't want to sound superficial so we're like I really like her bravery. No you don't you think she's pretty. And I thought Kara was pretty. The problem was Carol lived in New York and I live in Illinois and dating was getting really expensive. So I came up with this idea that I was going to get off work one night and I was going to drive through the night. Any single guys listening to me right now? Bad plan. Do not recommend how we going to drive through the night. And I was going to show up on her door in the morning, and I was going to propose. What I did not know was that I was driving straight in to what is now? I know it's called a nor'easter if you don't know what a nor'easter is, it's like a hurricane with snow. So basically hell. So I'm I'm driving And thus the blizzard gets so bad that I can't see anymore it at all. And I pull off to the side of the road. And the road is a long story short. The roads end up close, emergency Personnel, had to come and rescue me, and take me to the nearest exit with there was a hotel in the hotel was completely filled. So I slept in the hallway of the hotel that night, but I didn't care about all of these inconveniences. Why? Because I was still determined to get to Kara. The next morning, I woke up in the roads were clear enough that you could drive on them, but you certainly couldn't drive a normal speed. So I drove from the rest of the journey from Ohio, to New York. I drove at 32 35 miles an hour. And a trip that should have taken me 12 to 13 hours ended up taking almost 3 days. And I finally got to Cara's house in the snow with just us at her house is it was everywhere else and I got to her house and she had a long driveway up to this Farmhouse and her driveway had not been plowed or shoveled, which is fine. I'm over it. So I just got out of my car and I just trust the rest so tired the rest of the way up to her door but I didn't care. Because I just wanted to get to Kara. Because I loved her.

sometimes in our Christian Life, we have to remember

We have to repent.

We have to return. Return to those early days where you were just so in love with Jesus.

Or didn't matter what songs were being stung, whether they were your preference or not, you were just so in love with Jesus.

Where it didn't matter what the preacher talked about, what he said. You were just happy to be at church with other people who loves Jesus.

It didn't matter as much what was going on in your life. At the time, whether it was good or bad, you just knew that one day. You would be in heaven forever, where everything would be perfect. And that was all possible because of somebody, who loves you, Name Jesus.

When your whole life, which is motivated by the idea that you just love. Cheese's.

And so I look at you this morning church.

You guys are doing all the right things.

I don't know. A church that does a better job of doing all the right things.

You believe all the right things, you have a pastor that scripturally accurate, you know, the word for yourself.

But as we enter into this holiday season, where life is going to get busy, right? We're going to have a lot going on. As we enter into a season where we're supposed to be thankful, when we're supposed to be focused on Christ and him coming to the earth, I just felt like the Lord wanted to remind all of us today. Don't leave him behind.

don't exchange, right, behavior, and right beliefs for loving Our savior. For loving. Jesus. When's the last time that you were just overwhelmed? With God's love for you.

And your love for him.

and the only thing that mattered, Was not the order of service. Not the programs in the community not what you were doing. Or believing the only thing that mattered was that your soul was panting. After him. Maybe this morning is a chance for all of us to remember. To repent. Interpreter. Return to loving.

Can we pray together, Jesus? Jesus, we love you.

Jesus, You're Beautiful.

Jesus, you're the most precious thing. In each of Our Lives.

We don't come to church out of obligation or out of Duty. We come to church because we love Jesus.

We don't do the right things or believe the right things because that's what we're focused on. We believe the right things and we do the right things because we love you, Jesus.

Jesus, you're the most important thing.

Each of Our Lives.

And we get to love you.