First Love | Pastor Brodie Kalaman | PATIO SEASON Series

We want to welcome everyone joining us today.

Welcome to Kelona Christian Center, KCC Church at Home.

We're so glad to have you with us.

As always, I like to encourage you to go ahead and bring your family in together and watch together.

It's so important that we're hearing the message together.

And that way, when we're talking around the table or talking with our friends and family, we're actually sharing some of the same lessons or conversations together because each person has had individual experience with that message.

If you know of someone who doesn't know about KCC happening right now, go ahead and throw them a text or share the message on Facebook that yes, KCC is live, the church is open.

For those of you who are not connected this summer, and we realize that summer is a really different time for a lot of different families.

It's so easy to disconnect, and over the disconnect, there's a lot of distortion that can happen about what's happening in the church.

We encourage you to connect, keep connecting with your small group leaders during this time.

It's such an important piece to our puzzle.

We can't have big church at the moment, but we can have small church, and we value our small church community, all of our small groups from all over the city gathering together.

And for those of you who are giving, so thankful for your giving.

You've been generous, you've been can uh faithful, you've continued to give for our missionaries and for those who are in need.

We have been so blessed for your continued generosity.

We just love you, and we just want to say we appreciate everything that you're doing from where you're at.

Well, this week, we have launched a new series, and this is our series that we've entitled The Patio Season or The Patio Summer, and it's for the summer of 2020, a summer to really remember.

And for me, I think Kelowna has some of the best patios that uh the most beautiful patios I've ever sat on.

Uh, there are patios that overlook the lake, overlook some of the beautiful landscapes and mountain views, different places where you can eat and just enjoy good company.

And for me, a patio is all about an intimate space.

It's about a personal space.

It's about a small group experience where you can have real, genuine conversations, where time really is lost in those spaces, where you just begin to dialogue about life and values and family values, and you begin to talk about uh your future and where you're going.

Well, we'd like to bring this idea, bring this element to this series.

This series is not a series for the church as a whole.

It is in some respect, but it's not spoken to the church as a whole.

We're not focusing it on the whole of the body of the church, the whole gathering of the church.

We're addressing this message to the individual.

We're focusing on the individual and the values that make you you.

And as we all come together, we make up that church community.

We make up that ecclesia.

We make up that special group of when the church links arm in arm on a faith and a value system and righteousness, we begin to run and move forward and operate like the church.

And so, in this current season, we're living in, and I call it a season on purpose.

Ecclesiastes 12 says there are so many different seasons that you're in, and we just happen to be in a season, and seasons pass, seasons come and go, but what defines you as an individual?

We are each a brand, and the scripture calls it this way.

If you don't like the word brand, the the scripture says, we are each a letter written to all men.

Like our lives, our hearts, our letters written to all men.

We all carry a value system that makes you you.

And I carry values that make me me.

And collectively, the church carries a value that makes the church recognized in a city.

And there are many people who can say their one thing, but not live that internally.

And the church itself can say, we are we believe such and such.

But they can dress in that clothing, but it's not who they are internally.

So I like to say, in other words, we are a brand, but we're more than just a brand.

We're a living brand.

And our values are written on our heart.

And as we move forward, those values build into the culture, into our community, into our families, into our marriages, into our relationships.

Uh this last week in BC particularly, we were able to see gyms open up, gymnasiums open up.

And gyms opened up, and they began, uh people began to work out again.

And as an observer, I'm a people watcher by nature.

I watched as people came in to do their latest workout, and they were wearing Nike, uh, Adidas, Lululemon, Under Armour, and they were wearing everything on the outset.

But I noticed COVID had put on 19.

You know what I'm talking about.

Sitting around for four months without a gymnasium, they had put the weight on.

And just because you wear a fit brand doesn't make you fit.

And likewise, going to church and being a part of a church and having a scripture and a Bible that says all the things that it says in it, values and and uh like a plumb line that we're supposed to live by, even though the scripture says that, just because we have a Bible doesn't mean that we imbibe those same values.

We are not living it out.

So is the kingdom, is this culture, is this kingdom culture in you?

Individually, not as a church, take your eyes off everyone else, but is it in you?

And if there was ever a benefit of this season, it's to challenge the mettle of the individual, to challenge you individually.

What happens when the church doesn't meet?

Do you stop praying?

Do you stop worshiping?

Do you stop studying the scripture?

Do you stop discipling and training your children?

Uh these things.

Do you stop being kind?

Do you stop being generous?

Do you stop living for excellence?

Do you stop being uh being one who takes care of and is kind to other people?

Uh what happens to you in these moments?

And at KCC, we have a list of values and a culture wall that we have in our lobby.

We're just building it right now.

Uh but we have it on the wall, but we want it on our heart.

So starting this week, we'd like to talk about this first value.

And I'd like to talk to you individually about this.

And this value is this: Jesus is first.

Jesus first, and it's all about his mission and it's about his message.

He is first.

First.

We believe order is important.

If you're at home, you just need to say that.

Order is important.

The first is important.

We've discovered the first things have the power to influence, have the power to impact the rest of things on the way.

We do one, two, three, four, five, and then those numbers, one, two, three, four, five, will impact six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

Not only does the first influence the rest, but the scripture says that the first, if you do certain things first, there's a blessing, in fact, on the rest.

We read that in Matthew chapter 6, 33.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

It says, Seek first the kingdom of God.

And if you seek it first, and his righteousness first, then all these things will be added unto you.

The Bible talks about honoring God with your first fruits, the first of your income, with your tithe.

And if you honor God with the first, you take care of his house, he'll take care of yours.

There's a first.

So whatever you do first is important.

And we're saying today, Jesus needs to be first.

His message needs to be first on your lips, his mission needs to be first in your heart.

So whatever you do first in your day, it's going to influence the rest of your day.

Whatever you do first in your finance will influence your finance.

And the key to having God's abundant life in us is keeping him in that first place.

Keeping him in the rightful place, in the place of priority.

So let me read to you a few scriptures and then we'll get on this conversation here, okay?

This patio talk.

Are you in it with me?

You're on your patio, perhaps, while watching, listening.

Proverbs 8, 17 says this.

And I can go to anyone, and I can really ask them, wait, what do you value?

What's of the most important value in your life?

And most people would say, Well, yes, my family's valuable, my faith is valuable, my work is valuable, my marriage is valuable.

All these things are valuable, and I understand that.

But saying it is one thing, but living it throughout the week and making it a reality within your week can be a very difficult part.

A lot of people say, you know, the big value in their life is their children and is their family.

And I agree with that, it is, but in the last number of years, in fact, I was reading a statistic today, that 50 years ago, people spent twice the amount of time with their children in quality time than they do today.

So the value, if you really value your family, is the time being spent with your kids.

If you really value your faith, are you putting that 10%?

Are you giving that tithe back to God of your time?

And a lot of us are gonna have to question now.

No, again, this isn't a conversation for the whole church.

This is a conversation for you as an individual.

Are you doing it?

Have you started your day putting certain things first?

Giving God his first place, putting Jesus first in your life.

We need to have the wisdom of God to know how to apply this order in our lives.

Because, to be honest, there are a lot of pressures and a lot of distractions and a lot of things that can come our awaken that can take up that margin of our life.

And we need to have wisdom to be able to say yes to the things that we need to say yes to, and to be able to say no to the things that we need to be able to say no to.

We need to have that ability to say yes and no.

And some of us aren't as good as others, and some of us are still learning to be able to find out what matters most.

So let me tell you about the first thing that we need to realize.

The first thing that we realize is that we are not natural beings or earthly beings first.

Now I know you'd like to think that way because that's how you came into the world, a natural, physical being.

And you are a natural physical being, but your values and oftentimes the values that we create are based around the fact that we see ourselves as natural physical beings.

So all of our values are based on that perspective.

We put uh resolutions in place, we we value the things that will benefit us in the earthly time, the 70 plus years, God willing, that we live on this earth.

We do a lot of things for that season.

But we are not just a physical being.

We are a spiritual being.

And when we're a spiritual being, we're a spiritual being first, and that's what's most important because it's that part of us and that nature in us that is what is going to last forever.

We need to put our focus on building the spiritual part of who we are.

You are a spiritual being first.

Without the spirit in us, our natural, our physical being would fall apart.

All of this, all of Brody is held together by the Word of God, by a spiritual bond.

So when we look at our lives, we need to see it as a spiritual entity.

We need to see ourselves as a spiritual person, and our values need to be based on that spiritual reality.

If you focus on the physical, you'll not have the ability to impact much else other than the physical.

But if you put your energy towards building the spirit and realize that your spiritual being is important, you'll be able to support and impact all other types of even natural things.

There's a huge divide between our idea that the natural is not impacted by the spiritual.

But in fact, the spiritual impacts our our relationships, our purpose and calling, our joy.

It impacts our marriage and our rel and our the way we parent our children.

The spiritual being in us is intertwined with the physical realm.

So we need to realize that these two things exist harmoniously in a healthy environment.

There's a promise in the Bible, and this promise is that if you're if you have a focused effort in placing Jesus first, so if you put Him first, His kingdom, His message, His mission, it will honor God, and by honoring God, you'll experience a blessing in your life.

Now, I believe God has something in my heart today for you.

And I realize the space that I'm communicating, I'm in an empty room here, to you behind a screen is a little different than it would be in a natural space where I'd be speaking in front of people.

But I want to lead you this summer and continue to lead you this summer through a spiritual renewal, by addressing these values in our heart and parents at your home, uh bringing this into the life of your family.

I think it's important for anyone in any relationship with anything even, uh, that there needs to be a time where you make sure that your relationship is where it's supposed to be.

I know with my own experience, Natalie, my wife, uh, in my own marriage, Natalie and I have been married 16 years.

And we're celebrating our anniversary actually on this weekend, which is pretty exciting.

And I can remember the time when I was dating Natalie.

It was way back 16 years ago.

And we were going to hockey games.

Yes, it's a Canadian, uh Canadian date.

It's highly recommended, though.

Highly recommended.

I used to take her fishing.

Uh we would go out for food, we'd drink coffee, and I remember looking forward to that time when I would be able to pick her up and spend time with her.

Now, 16 years later, we have had thousands of cups of coffee together.

We've gone out for thousands of dinners, perhaps tens of thousands of dinners, and or meals, and we've played pickleball or gone to the beach and we've done all these things together.

It's still great, but it doesn't have the exact same effect as it had back then.

And in those moments, I really need to step back.

And I need to reset.

And I need to decide, hey, Nat, we need to go on a date.

We need to reconnect.

We need to go on a drive, take a holiday real quick, and just reconnect.

And the same is true with God.

I know you love Jesus.

You're in online today, on Facebook or on YouTube or on our website.

I know you love Jesus and you spend this time of your day with him, and you're logging in to hear the message that's being spoken today.

But are you in love with Jesus?

I know that I love Natalie, but am I in love with Natalie?

Is it alive in my heart?

And here's what I know.

When you're in love, everything is easier.

Everything is easier.

The relationship is not a burden.

The relationship is a blessing.

It's a delight.

And I know that.

For many people, when they try to have a relationship with Jesus and they look at it and they're intimate and they're passionate and they're giddy for Jesus, and they oftentimes this was at the very beginning of their relationship with Jesus.

It was exciting.

He was the first on their mind when they woke up.

He was the first on their mind when they were looking at their week and they were saying, Oh, I can't wait for Sunday.

When they were alone in the car, they began to worship.

When they were singing, and the Bible says they were making melody in their hearts before God.

They were in prayer, conversation with Him.

They were trying to attach their life to the purpose that God had created for them.

But for some people, they look at this relationship and this lifestyle as a Jesus follower and they think, I can't obey all these rules.

I can't obey all this.

I don't know how I'm gonna do this for the rest of my life.

Obey all this book.

It's such a big book.

There's so much that maybe I won't get or I'll miss.

And the answer is, yes, you're gonna miss it.

And no, you can't do it by yourself.

But I'm suggesting to you to you today, if you're in love with Jesus, then it's not a burden.

Every Sunday, when you hear a message and the pastor says something that's challenging to you, it's not a burden.

It's a delight.

It's where you say, Oh, I can be better, I can grow stronger, I can go all in a little deeper, I can be at my best when I'm walking hand in hand with Jesus.

And it's like me and my relationship.

Relationship with my wife, I know, like, man, it was just better.

It's not a burden when I'm in love with my wife to get up and make breakfast and have coffee and go on a date and spend time with each other.

John 5.3, 1 John 5.3 says this.

This is the love for God.

In fact, this is love for God to keep his commands.

If you love him, you'll keep his commandments.

Well, that's so tough.

But his commands, they're not burdensome.

When you're in love with Jesus, doing what he loves is not a hardship, it's a delight.

Jesus said this: love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.

This wasn't like a correction for an individual.

This was a command with a blessing attached to it.

It says, with all your mind, this is the first and this is the greatest commandment, because if you do this first, everything else, everything will have a collateral effect on your life.

Every other thing will have a collateral, will be a collateral blessing.

So do this first.

Put Jesus first.

Love Jesus first.

Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.

Do that first.

This is the experience, the first and the greatest commandment.

Get these things in the right order, and you'll experience the blessing.

So I've entitled this message really The First Love, because I'm calling everyone here to fall in love with Jesus.

Get this right relationship with Jesus.

This is our first value that Jesus needs to become first, even beyond Brody, even beyond my relationships.

It's gotta be Jesus first.

Put him first.

And we come back to the place where God is actually looking for those people who will worship him in spirit and in truth.

The Bible says he seeks these types of people, these worshipers that are that love him with spirit and in truth.

One of the scriptures and examples in the Bible is about David, King David, in 2 Samuel.

And even though he had done a lot of things wrong, he continued to be passionately in love with Jesus.

And there were many people who told him, David, you just need to settle down.

In fact, his own wife said to him, David, what are you doing?

You're just dancing in front of people, and you're you're you're disrobing of your kingly outfit.

People just see you as a common person.

And David said, Oh, I just want to become undignified.

I want to be even more undignified than this.

And that's what his heart was.

He wanted to celebrate before the Lord.

He said, Lord, let me become even more undignified than this, so I could celebrate you with more of my heart.

I could put you first so that when people see me, they don't see King David.

They don't see giant slayer, David.

They don't see, you know, the king's son-in-law, David.

They see a worshiper.

Because Jesus is first.

This is where I love to spend my time in his temple.

I love to worship him.

I love to sing to him.

That's what he was saying.

That's how he wanted to be recognized.

And I want to make sure that my passion and my worship before God is pure that way.

Where Jesus is first.

So I'm going to close today with this passage from Revelation.

In this verse, I'm going to be reading, proceeding.

God is virtually telling the church of Ephesus.

He's saying, You've done a great job, guys.

You're doing so well.

Look at all the effect you're having.

You've got a great piece of property.

You've got a full church.

You've got schools, and you're educating a whole province, and you're doing wonderful things.

You're having an impact.

Great.

You've got missions groups around the world.

You've got services to your community.

Your families are strong.

Your kids are growing strong.

Well done.

Well done.

And he says, Well done.

He says, yet I'm holding this one thing against you.

He said, You've forsaken your first love.

You're not in love with me anymore.

You're doing it all.

But you're not in love with me.

And I need to become first.

Jesus needs to be first.

And I want you to remember, he says, from the height you've fallen.

I want you to repent and do the things you did at first.

And if you don't, this is what's going to happen.

I'll have to remove my lampstand from you.

That lampstand was referring to the presence of God, the Holy Spirit in their place.

He said, and it was almost a warning and a caution to the church listen, you've left that first love.

If you don't get back to it, you're going to lose that light that's been so attractive and been so enjoyable.

He says, I want your heart.

I want your love.

And this summer, I want you to understand that there are a lot of things in this life that are important, but the most important is Jesus.

Jesus in your heart.

Jesus on your lips.

Jesus in your song.

Jesus in your message.

Jesus in your talk, in your conversation, honoring, loving, blessing, talking about Him.

Having Jesus in your life may not lead you to a safer life, but it leads you to a more sacrificial life that allows you to experience more of who He is.

When I give up Brody and I take on more of Him, it's like when Peter said, more of you and less of me.

And there's blessing in that because the more I become like Jesus, the more I can benefit my community and my family.

So is Jesus really first?

You can say I give to missions, I go to church on Sunday, I log in, I pray before every meal.

All these things you can say you're doing, doing, doing.

But do you really love him?

Tradition doesn't make a difference.

Habit doesn't mean much if it's not a reality in your heart.

So is he first?

So this summer, let's make sure that he has our heart, that he has our focus, that he has our attention, that we're in love, that we're giddy for Jesus.

And the cool thing is, if you've if you've lost this connection, there's a way to get it back.

And Jesus said, I'm gonna just share with you a few points there of what he said to the Church of Ephesus.

He said, He said, This is how you're gonna get it back.

He said, number one, you've got to remember your first love.

If you feel like you've lost this, what do you do?

Good question.

Thank you.

That you're now gonna share it.

Number one, remember your first love.

Go back to that moment.

Anniversaries are a great opportunity.

When I was in the Ukraine a number of years ago, they had people stand up each weekend who were celebrating their birthday.

I thought, this is incredible.

They're just celebrating their birthday.

And then I realized it wasn't just a physical birthday they were celebrating.

They were celebrating their spiritual birthday.

And the whole church would stand up and applaud the people who made a decision to follow Christ.

And it brought them back to that moment.

Go ahead, share that moment with your kids today.

Share it with someone today.

That moment that you met Jesus.

What did you feel in that moment?

Who were you with?

What did you, what were you rescued from?

Go ahead and remember that moment.

Recall it.

Bring it back and remember the joy of your salvation.

And bring that back.

Let's move forward together, sharing it together.

Secondly, we repent.

And a lot of people, when they hear the word repent, they think it's a negative term, it's a negative meaning.

It means to change direction.

And it's sometimes painful because it requires sacrifice, often to your pride, where you actually have to say, listen, I was wrong and I'm sorry.

And there are times in our life where this is painful for us.

But what it's doing when you repent is you're removing obstacles in your life that are in between you and a right relationship or a stronger relationship with the Father.

So Natalie and I, when you look at it, our life together, when we look at our relationship, when we see a block in our life, we just need to repent at times.

And I can look at my life and I look at the obstacles that get in the way of my life, and oftentimes those three obstacles have three names.

They're often our progeny, they're our children.

And we think, man, all of our time is spent with these kids and their activities.

And sometimes if our our distance, our relationship has started to become more and more distorted and unclear.

I have to go to Natalie and I'm like, Natalie, and this isn't rocket science.

I just say, hey, I'm sorry.

I've been spending more time over here than I have over here with you.

And I don't want our relationship to grow distant.

Because the stronger we are together, the more we'll be a blessing to our own children.

And so I look at our relationship, I look at my life, and I just say, I am sorry, and I adjust my life.

Repentance isn't terrible.

You don't have to whip yourself with a whip or abuse yourself in any way.

There's no shame in it.

There's just uh, hey, there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

We just have to address it, repent, and the Bible says God is quickly faithful to forgive us of all unrighteousness.

So I encourage you, repent.

And KCC, let's be a church that's quick to repent.

Repentance is a moment of pain, but unrepentance is a lifetime of pain.

So we just have to let God come in and get the junk out.

It's simple and yet it's so important.

Lastly, we need to just do something.

All of us have opportunities.

We have opportunities every day to do something.

On Wednesday, we're actually having a service here at the church, and we're able to have 50 people as per the guidelines for the health regulations.

Um, and we're inviting you to join us.

Go online, reserve a seat for the first 50 people that are coming in to be able to worship and pray together.

And we invite you to come and join with us.

So do something.

And if you felt distant, come on in.

This is the time to connect.

Come in.

It's not a long service, it's about an hour of time, but this hour of time will make all the difference.

I believe it, along with the other things that you're doing.

And we just come back and just be obedient to where God is directing you.

Do something.

So my prayer is that everyone of us through KCC would actually come to fall in love with Jesus fresh and new, that we would return to our first love.

And that not only would we return to him, but that we would put him first in our lives.

Now, if you're watching today and you're saying, Pastor Brody, I've never put Jesus first in my life, then I'm going to lead you in a prayer here.

A prayer for a new believer, someone who's saying, I want this in my life.

I want this new start in my life.

I want this first putting to put Jesus first in my life so that everything else lines up and I'm walking in proper alignment.

I'm going to pray that prayer for you.

I'm also going to pray a prayer for those of you who may be watching today said, you know what, I have Jesus in my life, but I've drifted.

And that mission drift has taken me onto a world of my own kingdom where I'm living for myself.

And I need to come back to the kingdom that to following and putting Jesus as king of this world of my life.

I need to put Jesus in the right place.

I'm going to pray for you too.

So would you just bow your heads with me for a moment?

For those of you who are listening today, would you just settle your heart and uh take a moment and just maybe quiet yourself in the space where you're listening?

If you're listening and your car just pull over, just make this moment between you and God today.

I'm just going to pray for those first who have just been on mission drift, who have drifted away from putting Jesus first in their life.

Maybe the work has stepped in, taken place, maybe family or landscaping or housing, it could be anything.

Because Jesus is not to be second or third, he's there to be the first.

I'm just going to lead you in this prayer and just say, Father God, I repent from putting other things before you.

Forgive me for serving other things first.

I ask that you would take first place in my life today.

I choose you first.

And I ask that you would help give me the grace to keep you in my life.

In that first place.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

For those of you who have never received Jesus and have have never made this decision to place him first in your life and make him your Lord.

Would you pray this prayer with me?

I'm going to read it.

It'll be on the bottom of your screen.

You can pray it along with me.

Lord Jesus, thank you for coming to earth.

I believe you died and rose again so that I could be forgiven and have friendship with you.

And right now, I ask you to forgive me from all my sins and I let the past go.

I ask you to come into my life to be my savior.

I receive you today as my savior and to be my Lord.

Make me the person you created me to be.

Amen.

So if you prayed that prayer with me today and you made a decision, and you were you were authentic and honest in that place today, I just ask that you would take a moment, just write down on that uh in the comment section or go on our website and just let us know and fill out a form real quick.

Say, hey, I made a decision to follow Christ.

We want to be able to celebrate with you.

We want to be able to help you on that journey of your faith.

You've taken the first step today by putting Jesus first.

We want to continue to build on that.

Next week, my uh pastor, Pastor David Callum, is going to be sharing on the second value where people belong, their privilege, our passion, and our pursuit.

And I encourage everyone to join in and continue to build on your own values and build this strength in your own life as we work together at becoming a stronger and more united church.

God bless you.