Is there anything in your life right now more important Than bringing you back to your first love for the Lord. That early intimacy. That closeness, that joy. That focus Is there anything more important? Then coming back to your first love.
I was praying this morning. Lord, how can I best serve your people? What can I say that would be of the greatest help? If the church in America and so much in the world is not healthy, thank God for the parts that are healthy and strong and vibrant, but so much of the body not healthy, especially in the West. What would help get us healthy again?
What would rebuild our strength in the Lord? And I was drawn back to something so fundamental, something I've had to pray about. many times over the decades in the Lord. Restore my first love.
So it's my prayer as you watch this short video. that the scriptures would open up to you, that your own heart would be encouraged. Maybe there needs to be an awakening, a conviction that you've left your first love. Maybe you recognize it and you don't know your way back. But may God speak to each of us and light a fresh fire of love for him.
in our hearts. REVELATION CHAPTER two The first of seven messages to the churches, the congregations in Asia Minor, each the church of the city, in seven different cities in Asia Minor, at the end of the first century. It says this, Revelation chapter 2, verse 1. To the angel of the church in Ephesus, right? There's great debate about what the angel Angelos means there.
Was it the the leader of the Church of the City. Was it the angelic overseer of the church of the city? or the angelic overseer of the region. Was it the prevailing spirit within the church? We won't get into a debate about that because the message is ultimately to the whole body, to the believers there.
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand. In other words, the churches are in the Lord's right hand. And he walks among the seven golden lampstands.
So the leaders, the spirits over the church in his hand, and he walks among the congregations, among the lampstands. I know your deeds.
Now this this is good news. Look at this. Pastor? Maybe you're leading a church, leading a congregation, individual believer. This is good news.
I know your deeds, your hard work And your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not. and have found them false. You persevered? and have endured hardship for my name and have not grown weary.
This is amazing. How many churches could have Jesus himself say that about them? How many churches could have Jesus say, you're working hard? You're orthodox in your doctrine. You've exposed the false apostles.
You persevered. You haven't denied my name. How many individual believers Could the Lord say that about? I mean, these are good words. I know your deeds.
That could be scary, but he goes, I know your deeds. Your hard work You are workers. You are going for it. You are diligent. You are disciplined.
You are perseverance. You don't quit. You don't quit. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people. You share God's heart about wickedness.
You haven't become complacent and dull in your moral convictions. You've tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, found them to be false. Paul warned the believers in Ephesus and Acts 20 about savage wolves that would come in drawing disciples after themselves. And the church, the leaders, the believers, they spotted it, they recognized it. This is wonderful.
You have persevered He says it again, your perseverance. You've persevered. You haven't endured hardships for my name and have not grown weary. You are full of zeal, you are full of passion, you are working hard. You are you are devoted.
You think, what else could he say? Yet I hold this against you. You have forsaken the love you had at first. We often quote it to say you've lost your first love. But as Leonard Ravenhill often pointed out to me, you don't lose it, you leave it.
Have you ever lost your keys, or lost your phone, Lost your glasses or lost something else? Where did I put it? Where did I where I left? I lost it. No, no, you don't lose your first love.
I don't lose my first love. We leave it. We make choices whereby we leave our first love. You've forsaken the love you had at first. I understand it first and foremost means for God, but then would also translate out to love for one another.
Consider how far you have fallen. Repent. and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I'll come to you and remove your lampstands from its place. No, but you won't even be a church anymore.
But you have this in your favor. You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate, which is a whole other subject. Who were they? What do we know about them? But he commends them again.
And whoever has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, to the one who is victorious, the one who overcomes. I'll give you the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
Okay. Consider this. You can be hardworking. You can be devoted. You can be orthodox in your doctrine.
You can persevere. You can endure hardship. You cannot grow weary. All while you have left your first love. Do you realize that?
Uh I have I don't believe over the decades The Lord has rebuked me. for laziness. He's normally rebuked me for overwork. In other words, that the work of the ministry becomes more important than the Lord himself. that the work of the Lord becomes more important than the Lord of the work.
I journaled one day just, you know, so much time busy for the Lord, not enough time meditating on his beauty. And it can happen where we are hardworking. Pastor, you may go for it day and night. Day and night. You may have programs running in your church.
You may be bussing people in from the poor neighborhoods. You may have all kinds of good programs going. And you're diligent in preparing your sermons and working with your leaders and your time counseling. You are a hard worker. And the Lord said, you forgot about me.
You forgot about me. We can be so busy with the busyness of life, with just everything that life has for us, that we neglect the Lord Himself. I talked about this a little bit in the video on Lessons Learned in the Wilderness. But friends. Nothing is more important than regaining our first love.
That's why Jesus says, remember how far you've fallen.
Sometimes we have to go back. We forget the relationship we once had because we get used to the norm. Have you ever seen an old picture of yourself? It's like whoa When did my hair get so gray? I just said, look, I didn't realize it was just five years ago, but I had a thick head of dark hair.
Or you look back and see a print, whoa, I... I didn't realize I was so thin in the past, but because you get used to the condition you're in. And spirituality is a hard thing to measure. It's not like weight. or your hair getting gray, or how much money's in the bank, it could be more nebulous.
You know, when I was first saved, After a year of I was spending at least six or seven hours alone with God. And I mean alone. There were no cell phones, there was no internet, there were no PCs, there were no tablets, there were a limited number of TV stations. I literally spent six or seven hours alone with God in the word and prayer, focused in the word and prayer, memorizing 20 verses a day and an hour a day. I shared the gospel with at least one new person every day.
Out of joy, I just had to tell someone about Jesus. Went to church services multiple times a week, wouldn't miss a service, sick or not, prayer meeting, teaching, I was there. And they're there, oh, I just loved spending time with Jesus. I remember sometimes my friends would w this one started going out with someone, this one going out with someone. I I hadn't met Nancy yet, I wasn't going out with anybody and and they all had plans, that one had plans and I was just alone.
I thought more time with Jesus and I'd have these beautiful encounters with him. And he was everything. I wasn't preaching yet. I wasn't ministering yet. There wasn't the vocational work of the ministry.
I wasn't teaching in a Bible school. It was just him. This is the Lord. He was everything. Fast forward now to when I'm saved oh, ten years.
finishing up my doctoral work at NYU, I was still a committed believer. People knew my testimony at grad school, my professors, I was an open, unashamed believer. And we were taking refugees from Vietnam, to Southeast Asia, into our home after the Boat People crisis, the collapse of South Vietnam, and when America pulled out, and it just was tragic. And we had refugees living with us. We helped the poor.
We were living. godly lives in many ways. but I had absolutely left my first love. I left my first love. I could go one whole year.
without spending a single hour solid in prayer. I would read the word more to learn the languages, to strengthen my Hebrew, learn some Greek. than to just feast on on on what God would say. I go a whole year and I'd even fast a single day.
Now, I know these are outward measurements, but I'm telling you. I had left my first love. I thought I had grown in wisdom. And maturity. Maybe there was some of that, but It wasn't that primarily.
It was primarily I'd left my first love. And through much of 82, God brought me through a season of repentance. and then sent a wonderful outpouring through me that touched many others and changed my life dramatically. And I've never fallen back to where I was back then in terms of lack of devotion, in terms of so little time with God. But over the decades, it's been a cycle that's happened again.
Where I've left my first love, not as dramatically, but again, it's the same thing.
So busy doing the work of the Lord, so busy. Doing radio, so busy writing, so busy preaching, so busy teaching, so busy traveling, so busy mentoring, so busy answering emails and doing all of that. that the secondary became primary. And the primary became secondary. And here's one thing I learned many years ago.
If you put prayer second, you basically put it last. If you put the word second, you basically put it last. Meaning... That you start the day and boy, oh, I got to get in the word. I'm so hungry to get in the word today and spend some quality time in prayer.
Okay, well, hang on. I just got to take care of this one thing. Oh, no, and now it's email. Oh, a text just came. Oh.
Before you know it, it's midnight, you realize I haven't even spent any time with God. I don't know if that's ever happened to you, but it it's happened to me. to my embarrassment more times than I could count.
So I want to encourage you. to do what Jesus said. It's really simple. If you have my book, Revival or We Die, There's a whole chapter called Restore My First Love. And interestingly, I got more comments from other leaders who read the book about that chapter than any other chapter in the book.
Perhaps. Overwork is something that many of us suffer from. Busyness for the Lord as opposed to intimacy with the Lord. being with him is more important than working for him. If we are with him in a quality way, we will absolutely work for him.
We will absolutely serve him. We will absolutely joyfully give our hearts for those who don't know him and to fulfill his purposes. Absolutely.
So if you have that book, Revival or We Die, there's a whole chapter. I even journaled some of the intimate prayers I prayed over the years, asking God to restore me to my first love. But here I just want to focus on what Jesus said. Remember. The height from which you've fallen.
What was it like? Did you have that intimacy? Did you have that beauty? Did you have that simple faith? Maybe he just stepped out and obeyed.
Maybe you couldn't wait to share your faith. Maybe you just look for an opportunity at work. I just, I got to go in the closet. Just maybe some of you actually done it with the closet or just go to the bathroom and just take the Bible and just read. Just, I've got to get with God.
I've got to take in these treasures. Or just get out of the house and take a ride in your car just so you can pray. You j y you wanted to, you wanted to. Think of an early relationship you had with someone. Think of the days of romance.
Nancy and I married almost 50 years. Our love for each other is deeper than it's ever been. But there are seasons where even that romantic flame is rekindled, like in the early days, you just can't wait to talk to each other, be around each other, and was it a burden? Think of when you're first going to someone, the person you married, was a burden to call? Was it if there were a way to write?
No, you couldn't wait. Got a letter in the mail, you got the email, all the phone. Oh, it's, that's the joy we've had in the Lord. That's the relationship that we can have with him. all the days of our lives.
It never has to go out. And if you've never had that, if you've had more of an intellectual relationship with the Lord. Just say, Lord, bring me into intimacy. Bring me into fellowship with you that'll be deeper than any fellowship I have with a human being. Pray that prayer.
It's mind and heart, not mind or heart, heart or mind. Mind and heart with which we love Him.
So Jesus says, remember. the height from which You're fine. and do what you did at first. Do what you did at first. Repent.
and do what you did at first. So, Lord. I'm sorry. I recognize I put this first. I put making money first.
I put helping others first. I put study, intellectual study first. I put serving you, just preaching and preparation first. Baptist evangelists Vance Havner said something to the effect that Satan's greatest plan for the pastor, the preacher, is to get him spending time preparing his sermon instead of preparing himself.
So you Repent of what you know is wrong. Repent of bad attitudes. Just could be sin. It could be the love of the world has pulled you away. It could be you've had bad experiences and been hurt and burned, and you've withdrawn.
And because of that, you've stepped back from God. Lord, I'm sorry. I acknowledge my guilt. I've fallen short. Forgive me.
Forgive me. And then And then Do what you did at first. It's like couples having date night once a week. Maybe you do that, get babysitters for the kids just to keep the flame of love burning brightly and just get away from everything and not talk about all the problems and just enjoy each other. Do that with the Lord.
Do what you did at first. Draw near to God. Right, Jacob, James, the fourth chapter. Submit yourselves to God, resist the devil, and if we draw near to God. and he'll draw near to you.
So I know spiritually he's always with us, by his spirit he lives in us, but there's a fellowship that we have. By drawing near to him, he draws near to us. Do which you did it first. Maybe you don't have all the hours. Maybe life has changed in certain ways.
And your schedule is different. But make it a priority, even if the time frames have changed, to be with him first. to meet with him first. Find ways during the day to get away and be with him, and you will be amazed to see what happens. He will himself restore your first love and give you a joy.
passion, a hunger, a thirst, a vision, a purpose. beyond anything you've known. Lord, I pray for everyone watching. Those that have never really known intimacy with you. May they experience your love poured out in a way that will change them forever.
For those that say yes, that's me, I've left my first love. Help us to be so committed, so radical, so determined, that nothing will stand in the way of us pursuing you until you become our all in all. Once again, Lord, by your grace help us, and ourselves we fall short. Empower us, restore us. In Jesus' name.
God bless.
