HEART SMART | Part 1 | First Things First

[Music]

Good morning.

Ain't God good?

Good to be with you. I am not Pastor

Ben.

And Pastor Ben has had a kind of rough

week. He fell out twice from what I

understand. Back just completely gave

out on him and couldn't get up. And so

he went to the hospital twice, was

admitted once. Oh, just once. Um, but

they kept him, did MRIs and CAT scans

and all that they do. And he's laying

low today because he's hurting and he

has a follow-up appointment on Wednesday

uh to see what they're going to do with

him. So, would you keep him in prayer?

And, you know, I I was thinking too as

he then texted me on Friday and he's

like, "Man, can you cover the pulpit?"

And I said, "Absolutely." And so, I went

into prayer shortly after. And when I

got up from prayer, I felt like I got

hit by a Mac truck just that quick. Um,

I was freezing, which I never get

fevers, but I had a fever and all my

muscles hurt and I was like, "Oh no." I

was like, "I can't preach like this."

And so I slept and slept and slept and

God must have touched me because inside

of 24 hours, I feel like I was 95% back.

And I say all that to say I feel like

God wants to make sure that somebody

gets you a word today. So we're going to

endeavor to do that. We're starting a

new series today called Hearts Smart.

And so this is a message from the heart

to the heart and about the heart. And I

want to start and kick off this series

with a passage in Revelation 2:es 1-7.

And I've entitled it First Things First.

And so we're just going to journey

through this passage of scripture, see

what the Lord would say to us, and leave

a little richer than when we came in.

Does that sound like a good plan? So in

Revelation 2:1,

Revelation 2:1

it says to the angel of the church of

Ephesus, "Write

these things, says he who holds the

seven stars in his right hand, who walks

in the midst of the seven golden

lampstands." I want to pause long enough

to tell you this is uh what we call the

tour of churches in Revelation chapter 2

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

and 3. There were seven churches in Asia

Minor that are about to be addressed.

Ephesus being the first. But I want to

note that the letter was actually

written to the angel of the church of

Ephesus. And the angel that means

messenger. And what we're talking about

is human leaders. We're talking about

the leadership. So really, you're

reading the mail of the pastor of the

church of Ephesus. And we know who's

writing the letter or who's uh saying

these things because it's he who holds

the seven stars also the leaders of the

church churches in his right hand. And

he walks in the midst of the seven

golden lampstands. These are the seven

churches of Asia Minor. golden meaning

there's great value to the church and

lampstand stands meaning that these

churches illuminate a dark world around

them and so we see Jesus walking in the

middle of the churches and inspecting

them if you will

talk about in our culture checking out a

church

is checking out our church as well and

he walks through and you know I know

that Jesus came born of a virgin and he

became the lamb of God and took away the

sin of the world, was nailed to an old

rugged cross, buried and on the third

day rose again and is seated at the

right hand of the father. But apparently

he gets up now and then and walks

through the midst of the churches

and checks us out. And so this is the

context of what we're about to read. And

we continue on in verse three and it

says, "Oh, I'm sorry, verse two." I know

your works, your labor, your patience,

and that you cannot bear those who are

evil. And you have tested those who say

their apostles and are not, and have

found them liars.

And you have persevered, and have

patience, and have labored for my name's

sake, and have not become weary.

Nevertheless,

I have this against you

that you have left your first love.

Remember, therefore, from where you have

fallen. Repent and do the first works,

or else I will come to you quickly, and

remove your lampstand from its place,

unless you repent. But this you have,

that you hate the deeds of the

niclatians, which I also hate. He who

has an ear, let him hear what the spirit

says.

Notice, not to the pastor, not to the

church of Ephesus, to the churches.

To him who overcomes,

I will give to eat from the tree of life

which is in the midst of the paradise of

God. Jesus is using a strategy, if you

will, that is known in the business

world. You may have heard the term or

one like it, a correction sandwich,

where you begin with something

encouraging and soft and affirming

and that's like the bread of the

sandwich and then the meat is the

corrective piece.

And then you polish it off with another

slice of bread, another encouragement,

an endorsement, an affirmation.

Good business people know this. They

know how to do this because none of us

like to be corrected.

>> Don't act like you do.

>> You're not that holy. Something in us

rises up when somebody tries to correct

us and confront us. And so this strategy

that is used in business often was used

by Jesus. He starts by telling the

church all the good things that they're

doing. He's like, "I know you. I know

your works, your labor, your patience,

your perseverance.

You're doing great things and you

haven't given up. That alone is a huge

commendation because so many that come

to the faith don't last.

So many are so shallow in the faith that

one little wind of persecution or

trouble comes along and they're out.

But this church had hung in there.

They were they were standing firm and

they were confronting evil. They weren't

okay with sin

and God commends them for that. But

there's something that they had slipped

on.

They had left their first love. First

things first,

love God.

I like when things are boiled down to

their essence.

I'm not a person who has the attention

span for a lot of details.

Where's my ADT? Add AD. ADHD. ADT is a

security company. ADHD. See what I'm

saying?

Where's my homies at? I I don't have the

attention span for a lot of details. I

need it simple. I need it I need it

boiled down. And one day they asked

Jesus, "Which is the most important of

all the commandments?"

And he quotes from Deuteronomy 6:4 and5

Deuteronomy 6:4

and another portion in Leviticus. And he

says, "Here, O Israel,

the Lord our God is one.

You shall love the Lord your God with

all your heart,

all your soul, all your mind, and all

your strength.

The second is like it. Love your

neighbor as yourself." And he said, "On

these two hang all the prophets,

all the law,

all the poetic books, all the historical

books, all the prophetic books, all the

epistles, all of it boils down to these

two things.

Love God

and love people.

But not just love God

shallowly or

with no depth. Love him with all your

heart,

all your soul, your emotions, all your

mind, your intellect, all your strength,

your physical being. When you don't feel

like it and you're tired and you're

weary, love him like that.

And they had lost this. They had had it

once because 30 years before Paul had

written a letter to the church of

Ephesus. And in chapter 1:15, you'll see

that he said, "I've heard of your faith

and your love for all the brethren.

They were known for it."

And when you love the brethren and you

love the people,

it is indicative of somebody who loves

God because some people aren't that

lovable

and you can't love them without the love

of God.

And he said, "I've heard about your

love. you had it and you you've kept

doing the church thing and there's a lot

of things you're doing right

but let's look at that one thing that's

hurting you and if we don't deal with it

he said your lampstand will be removed

it's not

that the lampstand would be destroyed

but it would lose its position its

platform

a church that is not fulfilling its

mission

will be removed.

Why would God allow a church to continue

even if they're speaking the truth

if there's no love?

And a lot of people are like that.

I I know people that are super

confrontative, like they want to rebuke

everybody. They think that's a gift of

the spirit or something.

want to point out everybody's faults and

tell everybody what they're doing wrong.

They speak the truth many times, but is

it motivated with love?

And that's this church's dilemma.

Maybe

it's your dilemma.

I don't know where you're at.

I only know the journey I've been on.

And if I'm honest,

my relationship with God at times has

been so deep, so beautiful, so rich. And

at other times,

it's

kind of overshadowed by what I'm dealing

with or what's right in front of me or

circumstances.

and my love has faded from time to time.

It's like any relationship, you

understand? Love has levels.

You may have friends that you're close

enough that when you hang up, you say,

"Love you

or co-workers or people in the church

family and you mean it." But it's a

certain level. But I I would say to you

there's a difference between people that

I say I love you to

in that level. There's a difference

between that and when I tell my wife I

love her.

It's a different level.

It's a different level of intimacy and

of commitment.

And we had the wedding and the very

expensive dress

that her parents so graciously paid for.

the rose petals and the flower girl and

the music,

the gathering and all the things that

people do.

You've heard the term young and in love.

>> I would submit it's more like

inexperienced and intoxicated.

I've done quite a few weddings and I

always look at them and think, you have

no idea

what you're about to do.

and you try to counsel them through it.

And they they teach us as counselors to

look out for something called

rosecolored glasses because sometimes

they're they're so intoxicated with the

person that they can't see it for what

it really is. And and they can't imagine

that there would ever come a time when

that person would just about drive them

nuts.

There's levels.

As I thought of this in human

relationships, I was reminded of a time

when my son, who had been weward and he

was still a teenager and he had kind of

been off doing his own thing and he came

back to us and he got really sick,

really, really sick.

And I spent a few days with him in an

empty apartment with no furniture.

And he was feverish and basically

sleeping the whole time and just

miserable.

And I would lay on the floor next to

him.

And every few minutes I would get up and

take the washcloth on his head and give

him a clean one that was under cool

water and just try to bring the fever

down, try to bring him some comfort. And

it was motivated by love. I would have

sat there for weeks.

It was just easy to love because that's

my flesh and blood.

At the same time, across town, my wife

was caring for her father

who had Parkinson's dementia. We had

moved in to try to help him, try to stay

in his home longer, and she bore the

brunt of trying to help him with his

day-to-day activities. That's love.

I remember times when when I've gone

through such distress that I couldn't

sleep

for months. couldn't eat, couldn't

sleep, under such spiritual attack.

And it was my wife who would tell me,

"Don't just go through that alone. Wake

me up." And many times we would just

hold hands in the bed in the middle of

the night as I fought this spiritual

battle. And she'd pray with me and she'd

be there with me. And these are the

times that solidified our love and took

it to another level. Now, we look back

on 28 years of this and it's different.

When I tell her I love her, it's

different. When I tell my son I love

him, it doesn't mean it's nothing that I

tell you I love you. It's just

different. Are you following me? And so

it is with God. And and you may start

with him with this shallow kind of

level. When I first got saved, uh I was

definitely inexperienced and definitely

intoxicated. He touched me in a way that

just wrecked me. And I tried to go to

sleep that night and all I could do is

weep because the love of God was being

poured out on me and I could feel it.

And for the first time in my life, I

felt what real life, real love looks

like and feels like. And all I could do

was weep. But I had no experience, no

disciplehip, no foundation.

And I had to go through those changes

and along the way decide

if I'm going to keep that first love.

See that that inexperienced and

intoxicated love is still love

but that fades.

Can I get a witness?

You've lost that loving feeling.

And all of you that just flashed to the

old Righteous Brother songs, you have

just dated yourself.

Or how about this one? How deep is your

love?

Oh, BG's flashback.

But it's okay. It's real at the altar.

It's real at conversion.

But there's much more depth than that.

See, marriage isn't about rose petals

and

wedding dresses and venues.

Marriage is about bad breath

and no makeup

and attitudes

and little frustrations.

And if you lack depth, you'll be like

these people we see on social media.

He's the greatest thing

that's ever happened in my life.

He sees me.

He understands me. Two months later,

he's the biggest jerk. And everyone

should

cuz if that infatuation

stage, if that intoxication phase

doesn't evolve, it won't endure. But

real love never fails. I preached a

wedding once in the mountains of

California out near Tmacula in the wine

country. The most beautiful setting.

I've ever done a wedding up on a

mountaintop. Gorgeous,

beautiful. And I shared uh a short

message on the love chapter, which is 1

Corinthians 13. And I quoted verses four

and following that love is patient. Love

is kind. It does not envy. It does not

boast. It is not rude. It is not

self-seeking. It is not easily angered.

And it keeps no record of wrongs. Love

does not delight in evil but rejoices in

the truth. It always protects, always

trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

And I preached that to two people who

had no idea what they were getting into.

But after the ceremony, another couple

who had been married a while came up to

me and said, "Yeah, we don't love like

that.

That's honest."

I've always related to the lyric of the

old the old song. Prone to wander, Lord,

I feel it.

Prone to leave the God I love.

Here's my heart, Lord.

Take and seal it. Seal it for your

courts above.

We can all tend to drift. We can do it

in human relationships and we can do it

in our spiritual relationship with God.

And this church, 30 years had passed

since they had the reputation of being a

loving church. And now they're still

they're still holding a standard, but

they've lost the most important thing.

And so, first things first,

get your love back.

Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my

commandments,

and I'll send another comforter, the

Holy Spirit."

Now, I want you to notice this. That was

John chapter 14 in

John 14 · chapter mention

Matthew 4 and Luke 4, where Jesus is

tempted in the wilderness.

He resists the devil, right? and he

overcomes the temptation.

And after the third temptation that he

overcomes,

an angel came and ministered to him and

strengthened him. And he left the

temptation in the wilderness full of the

power of the Holy Spirit.

We see in the garden of Gethsemane right

before he was crucified, he wrestled

with his flesh, not wanting to go to the

cross. And he said, "Father, if there's

any way, please let this cup be taken

from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but

yours be done." And when he did that, an

angel came and strengthened him. Could I

submit to you? The power of the Holy

Spirit and the strength of heaven comes

when we listen to God and obey God and

submit to God. That's what real love is.

and we stop making light of the things

of God. God has been dealing with me

that there was a season when I was

highly legalistic.

Highly legalistic

and I was, you know, I was determined.

I'm going to serve God and by golly,

nobody's going to stop me from serving

God. And you're not going to interfere

with my prayer time. I don't care how

good the meal is are trying to invite me

to. Get behind me, Satan.

I'm serious. It was intense.

I tell my wife and son, I'm going to

pray now. If there's no fire,

don't mess with me.

I'm not even kidding.

Legalistic.

And so I was glad to find freedom.

There was a time in my ministry, this

was unthinkable, wearing a t-shirt and

jeans. And I'd have felt like such a

sinner. like God's going to strike me

dead because of the legalism I was

under. And so when I found freedom in

Christ, I was like, "Oh, this is

awesome." And I began to let myself go

in a lot of areas. But the danger in

that

is it can get too comfortable. And God

said, "Be ye holy as I am holy." And so

even though I'm in the middle of a

sinick world and I have to rub shoulders

with them and I have to work with them

and I have to drive the same roads as

them, even though I have to deal with

sinful people, I can't go hide out in a

in a monastery somewhere. I have to live

on planet Earth.

But neither do I have to compromise my

standards and my beliefs and my

convictions to try to appease a world

that needs Jesus and needs to know

somebody that's walking with him in an

intimate way.

[Applause]

>> Obedience

brings the power of God. We're like,

"Send the Holy Spirit, Lord." He's like,

"Okay, love me.

Love me like that and I'll send you the

Holy Spirit.

>> What's he been dealing with you on?

I don't have to name it. You already

know most likely.

Ah, I love it. I love the Holy Spirit

cuz he he he's already had it at the

forefront of your mind and spirit and it

keeps coming up and he's like, "Love me

by letting go of that. Love me by

relinquishing control of that. love me

by taking your hands off of that.

And you're fighting him and you wonder

where's the power of the Holy Spirit?

Where's the joy of the Lord? That's my

strength.

Love him like that.

First things first.

Verse six, he said something

interesting. This was the other the

bottom slice or the top slice of the

correction sandwich when he said you

hate the deeds of the niclatians which I

also hate.

This is similar to the doctrine of Balum

in the Old Testament

which was just a doctrine or a teaching

that had crept into the church. These

were church-going people that were

compromising

and saying you're free in Christ. You

can do anything you want to. Jesus paid

for you to have anything you want. And

Jesus is like, I hate that.

That's what he said. I hate that spirit.

I hate that. It's a danger to the church

to let our our guard down so much

>> that we're not serving him out of love.

Watch. It's not about black and white

law and rules and it's just love him.

There were 613 commandments in the Old

Testament. And when Jesus boiled it down

to love your love God with all your

heart, soul, mind, and strength, love

your neighbor as yourself, he boiled it

all down to those simple things. And it

really comes to the one thing. Love God.

Because if I love God, I've got to love

you. You're made in his image and

likeness. How could I not love you?

You say, "I don't know how to do that."

Here's the answer to that. We love him

because he first loved us.

without condition.

In your darkest moment, he loved you.

And if you ever get a revelation on

that, you'll love him.

So, we love him because he first loved

us. And then he said, "Love your

neighbor as yourself." And some of you

will say to yourself, like I said to

myself, "How can I love others like I

love myself if I don't love myself?

And you also need the revelation that if

he loved me,

I must be lovable.

So no matter what anyone else has ever

told you or made you feel like,

you've got to get that revelation. He

loves you.

>> And because he loves you,

you're able to love others because

you're loved.

And so he calls them back to that first

love. It's not

a rebuke that's irreversible.

It's not a status that's irreversible.

He said, "Let's just get back to what

you once were." And as I look over my

spiritual journey as well as human

relationships, but my spiritual journey,

as I mentioned before, there have been

times when I'm apathetic and calloused

and it doesn't things don't move me

anymore.

People's issues don't move me anymore.

Can I be honest with you? And there's

those season. like God,

I'm in the caring business and I don't

care.

And it's a scary place to be if you've

ever tasted and seen that the Lord is

good and experienced his love. It's a

scary thing to be feeling like that's

faded to the point where

I'm just going through the motions now.

So he gives them a formula

to correct

their status. Remember

and repent.

Remember from where you've fallen and

repent.

Repent simply means to turn from and to

turn to.

Do you remember

where you came from?

Jeremiah wrote in Lamentations,

"Remember my bitterness and my roaming.

The wormwood and the gall. My soul still

remembers and sinks within me. Yet this

I recall, a mind, therefore I have hope.

It is of the Lord's mercies were not

consumed.

Your compassions never fail. Great is

your faithfulness.

He had to remind himself how bitter,

how lonely it had been before God had

entered life. Can you come up, Jack?

Do you remember?

Do you remember when you first

encountered him?

how pure it was, how simple it was, how

like a little child, you just put your

faith in him and

you felt his love for the first time. Do

you remember

when you couldn't wait to hear a

message? When you couldn't wait to go to

a service? Do you remember

before it got to be

just what we do.

As I said, this is a message from the

heart to the heart and about the heart.

I've been on this journey. In fact, just

a few months ago, God began to stir me.

You don't love me like you used to. And

that's not always easy to hear.

But you know, in marriage counseling,

they they teach you

that no matter how bad a marriage is, if

they're still together,

it can change.

It can get better.

And so it is with our relationship with

God. But I I've drifted

at times,

but I feel him stirring me all over

again.

And his goodness leads us to repentance,

to change.

And we can experience that love all over

again. Not just the infatuation, not

just the intoxication of it all, but

with a deep intimacy

[Music]

that's been established through all that

he's brought you through and done in

you. and you've seen and heard and

experienced.

I love you, Jesus.

Do you hear what I'm saying? Is the

spirit

drawing you closer to to Jesus.

That's the most important thing. Father,

I'm going to ask the worship team to

come as I pray. I just pray that you

would

give us a new heart.

Those of us that need the stony,

calloused heart removed and a soft,

tender heart put in its place. Do that,

Lord.

Let us love you

by obeying you

and by knowing that there's no other

place for us than in your presence.

[Music]

That eternity awaits us. That you

promised us the paradise of God if we

would overcome in this matter.

Don't let us fall prey to complacency to

the point where it chokes out what

you're trying to do in our life.

Draw us close.

Teach us

to love you like you love us.

No matter what. Sold out.

Committed

that no matter what happens,

we're going with Jesus all the way.

If you'd stand, we're going to just

reflect on that this morning.

[Music]