Revive Us Again

Revive Us Again Psalm 85 Christlike Affections in 2025 • The first Sunday of every month in ’25, we are asking God to heighten our religious affections. • Definition of Affection: Deep and lasting transformation of the soul that results in the zealous pursuit of God, overflowing love for God’s people, and joyful service in God. • Last month, we explored the theme of worship (ie, blessing God). • This month, we’re going to answer the question, “How do I revive affections that have gone cold?” Biblical Questions 1. Have you developed a competing love? 2. How much time do you dedicate to your beloved? 3. In what ways do you need your beloved? 4. Are you positioned as an admirer or judge of your beloved? Competing Love • Exodus 20:5 – “I the LORD your God am a jealous God” • Matthew 6:24 – “No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” • 1 John 2:15 – “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” • 2 Timothy 4:10 – “For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.” Lit, “Demas has deserted me having loved the now time.” Time Commitment • 19 Old Testament Feast Days; 2 full weeks plus the bridging weekends (one in the fall and spring). • Isaiah 58:13-14 – “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways and seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth.” • Jesus habitually rose early in the morning: Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16; 6:12 Time Commitment • • • • Joshua 1:8 – “This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night.” Psalm 1:2 – “His delight is in the law of the LORD and on his law he meditates day and night” Psalm 27:4 – “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze up on the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.” Psalm 63:1 – “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Position of Need • Revelation 3:15-22 • Consequence: “you (singular) are neither cold nor hot” • Cause: 1. Everyone individually is saying something 2. Notice the triple I’s 3. “I am wealthy and I have prospered, and I am having no needs.” • Christ’s Assessment: wretched (miserable, mournful, and afflicted); pitiable (in a state people gather around to assist); blind; naked. Admirer or Judge • Jonah 4:4 – “Do you do well to be angry?” (4:4) • Job 10:1-3 – “I loathe my life; therefore, I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me. Does it seem good to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked?” • Psalm 73:13-14 – “All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.” Reviving a Cooling Affections 1. Today: • • • Close your mouth (Job 40:4), get before God (Psalm 73:17), and open your heart to his voice (Revelation 3:20). By His grace, hand over competing loves (Hebrews 12:1; 13:5-6). Rejoice with Christ (1 Peter 1:8-9; Nehemiah 8:10) 2. Moving Forward: • • Set aside time for daily meditation (Psalm 1:2) and jealously guard corporate worship (Hebrews 10:25). Being rooted and grounded in love, strive to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:15-19).