Coming Back to Our First Love | Pr. Stephen Kong

You're listening to a message to go from Acts Church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

Today.

I'm going to continue to speak on the team of Revival, okay,

and there is our team for ex Church this year.

And as you heard, many of our speakers already spoke

on this topic, and we will continue to speak on

this topic, you know, from many angles. As you heard

Elder Doctor Jill last week told us. You know, it's

like a diamond, right, and different speakers will bring to

you a different perspective of a different side of the

of the diamond, and it forms a beautiful picture.

And so we will continue.

To speak on this topic for this year because that

is our team.

For this year.

Everybody say Revival Amen. Okay. So I just want to

show you where our team verse is taken from. Okay,

and if you attended our homes I think it was

two weeks ago, you.

Would have heard the key verse.

But maybe some of us didn't know that this was

actually the key verse, uh, that is taken from for

this year's team. Okay, and the team the key verse

actually found a Hypercoak chapter three verse two. Okay, So

now you know in case you don't know yet Uh

that is this is actually the team or the or

the key verse, uh that we took the team from.

Okay, and he.

Says, oh Lord, I have heard your speech and was afraid.

Oh Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years,

in the midst of the years. Make it known in

rough remember mercy.

Okay.

So this is actually, uh the key verse where we

have taken this team from, which is revival.

Okay.

But I just want to start off by saying, you

know that this particular prayer is actually a prayer. You know,

it sounds like a prayer, and it is a prayer

of Habacoke. Okay, and a profet in his time that

was very challenging. Okay, if you're going to read the book,

actually we just read it during youthn dev Yeah we did,

I think so, yeah we did. Okay, So if you

read it, you know there's a very challenging time, you know,

during Juda's sin and a great injustice and uh, you know,

the moral collapsed or they were going to a very

very tough time and have a cook wrestles with God,

you know, and after wrestling with God, he finally comes

to this conclusion and he praised, you know, this prayer

of revival, and he recognizes that God is always in control.

He is sovereign, even when things don't look as good,

things are in trouble, there is challenges, there is struggles.

Yet he was trusting the Lord, and it is God's

work of revival. Amen, it is God's work. And so

he recognized that it is God's work of revival. Okay,

that's why the prayer says, revived your work.

You know.

It didn't say it didn't just say revive us, although

that is correct, But he says, revive your work, you know,

in the midst of the years.

And so revival truly is the work of God.

Somebody say, amen, it is the work of God. It

is the work of the Holy Spirit. And without the

Holy Spirit there will be no revival. And we need

more of the Holy Spirit. And so then I asked

myself this question. If revival is the work of the

Holy Spirit or the work of God, then where do

we come in.

What is our part right? What is our part to play?

What do we need to do?

And over the past weeks you have heard of creatures

who shared with us about repentance. I'm sure you heard

that at least two or three times already you now

on the sheared on this stage in some Monday.

Uh.

And you've heard features who also share with you about preparation, right,

I think at least two messages I have heard it already.

And Doctor G also the said last week about keeping

our hearts soft right preparing for revival.

Amen.

And so I like to put in into these three words,

you know, is prepare, repent and respond okay. And I'm

going to try to move on a little bit forward,

to shift to another gear, uh, to move on to

what to how we.

Can respond okay. Uh.

You know, even as we prepare for revival okay. And

so one of the areas that you and I can

respond in or we can make a shift in our

lives is actually our love for God, Okay, our love

for the Lord Jesus Christ, and our heart for him,

because I find that this is the fundamental of it all.

Whereby it is really our heart for God.

You know, if our heart is not with the Lord,

if we don't love the Lord, nothing else will come

before in the place. You know, it doesn't matter how

hard we serve the Lord on a Sunday, doesn't matter

how on time, how early we come to church, doesn't

matter how many times you attended per services. If you

don't love the Lot, nothing of those will make sense,

you know, because we can just be doing it in vain.

Uh.

In fact, I know places in the world that people

can Churches can hire musicians, you know how, I meaning

they pay them, okay, to be a musician on the stage,

by the way, Actually it's not paid. Okay, just engage

you're wondering. Okay, we're not neither are we professionals? Okay,

we don't go. We don't have professional classes that we

are ten although we try to give some training. Yes,

we're trying our best with the you know, with the

resources that we have, and some of you here also

can can do training, you know, But we're not professionals

in the sense. We're not we're not paid in the

sense you know. Of course we stop fashion in heaven.

But really everybody is just giving their best unto the

Lord as an act of service, unto the Lord, as worship,

unto the lot, only because they love the Lot.

Amen.

And we can never do anything in church if we

don't have the love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen,

Because everything starts there.

Amen. So today we're gonna learn.

From a passation a Bible that's found in the Book

of Revelation. And if you read the Book of Evelution

at the start, you'll know that there are the seven churches.

Okay.

And some of you may be very familiar with this

story or this passage okay, yeastation story, but the it's

a revelation okay, in the Book of Revelation.

Okay.

And so we are going to turn to Revelation chapter two,

verse one to seven.

Okay.

So if you have a Bible, why don't you turn

with me the Revelation chapter two, verse one to.

Seven.

Okay if you if you can't find the Book of Evelation,

it's very easy. It's the last book. Just turn to

the back, okay. All right, So there are the seven churches.

There was a reviewer here or actually, as you say that,

you wor a letter to to.

The Angel of the seven churches.

And we're gonna read it, and we're gonna learn from

this one particular church, which is the Church of Ephesus. Okay,

the first church that was listed among the seven. Okay,

So allow me to read it starting from verse one.

If you're there say yeah, okay, it's good habit to

flip our bibles and to turn our bibles.

Yes, it's good habit. Amen.

So Verse one says to the Angel of the Church

of Ephasus, right these things, says he who holds the

seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the

midst of the seven golden lampstand.

So this is he the first to Jesus.

Okay, And I'll explain the rest of the things later

in a while.

Verse two.

I know your works, your labor, your patients, and that

you cannot bear those who are either. And you have

tested those who say that they are pauses and are

not God, and have found them liars. Wowha, quite amazing.

And you have persevered and have patience and have labored

for my Name's sake, and have not become weary.

Wow. They serve the Lord, but not become weary.

Verse force is nevertheless, I have this against you, that

you have left your first love. Oh yes, but fine,

remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do

the first works, or else I will come to you

quickly and remove your limpstand from its place unless you repent.

But this you have that you hate the deeds of

the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear,

let him hear what the spirit says to the churches.

To him who overcomes, I would give to eat from

the tree of life, which is in the midst of

the pera dies of God.

Wow.

So even as you have read these seven verses, does

it scare you? You know when I read it, the

church can be so well, you know, looks good on

the outside, but yet on the inside they can be trouble,

you know. So okay, let me backtrack first, and let

me just explain a little bit. If you look at

chapter one, verse twenty, you will you will you will

understand that the mystery or the seven stars which you

see on the right hand and the seven golden golden stands,

seven golden lamp stands, the seven stars are the angels.

Okay.

So the star refers to the angels, and the golden

lampstand refers to the church.

Okay.

If you turn there, okay, you can see it refers

to the seven churches.

Okay.

And in chapter two we see that it is Jesus

who is speaking to his church, or speaking to the

angels of the churches, because.

In my Bible, the words are all written in red okay.

Uh. And I'm not sure whether your bible has that,

but you can get it. If you get a Bible

that has Jesus's words written in grade, it's very helpful.

So when I look at it, I know that Jesus

speaking is rad Okay. So so now let's begin to

look at this church and what can we learn from them?

Okay. First thing, we can see that the church is good. Right.

They've been doing well in the sense that they they

have labored in their work. Okay, and they are very patient.

The Bible says they were patient.

You know. They they cannot bear those for either. Wow.

That's very good. Right.

They even have tested the apostles and found someone to

be liars.

Wow.

So they means that they must they must definitely know

the doctrine. They must definitely know their scriptures. They must

definitely know uh Jesus or understand the scriptures in order

to say that I didn't liars or not right, otherwise

they won't be able to tell they have persevered, you know,

they have persevered in fairt Jesus said that they did

not become weary. How many of us are when we

served a lot, we can we can become tired. Wow,

thank you for your honesty. Event I think all of

us are when we served a lot. There will be

days that we can we can we can become tired.

Why not sure or not right? There will be days

that we can become weary. For example, actually this week

I had a very tough way to be honest with

you because I wasn't well.

Uh and I just recovered on me.

But I struggled to this week because I was in

bait for like two days straight on my birthday. You know.

Uh, yeah, things happen.

You know, I felt sick, but phrase with the God,

I'm well enough today and and I'll give my best

with the with the energy that have event. So yeah,

you know, sometimes life can really kick in, you know,

and can be challenging to us. But we can grow

tired or weary. And then's why in church we actually

giving each other a break at least once a month, okay,

at least we try our very best, although some days

that we're very short handed.

Some people will volunteer.

Okay, I don't mind giving out my break to serve

the law because I got enough guess to go. You know,

let me just I'm ready, you know, I'm available. Thank

God for them.

Amen. But really, this church, right, didn't become weary.

Uh.

They continue to serve the Lord quite amazing. Right, And in.

Fact, this church was so I would say, right, they

are so blessed to have very good leaders. Can anybody

tell me who are the leaders of these Church of

ephaus anybody want to guess? They have very prominent leaders,

you know them? And I started with the first name,

Apostle Paul. Oh, yes, one of the leaders of the

Church of Ephesus. Okay, who else? There was also Timothy, right,

young Timothy. I think he was the pastor or I

don't know, they call it the bishop or what of

the church at the time.

You know.

Uh. And we also have added readers like Priscilla and Aquila,

you know, the couple, right, power couple. We even Apollo

us right and apparently even opposed John himself was with

this church, ever, Sirs, at some point a time towards

the end of his ministry before he was exiled, you know.

And so we look at this church, right, everything look.

Good, you know, good start, good foundation, good leaders, good people. Right,

everything looks good. But what what went wrong.

You know what went wrong?

Because the question is is do do all our works

really impressed God? What do you think do our works

impress God?

Oh?

He's got really more interested in our heart towards him.

That's a question in you and I need to ask

ourselves because things can look really good on the outside.

But the question is do we truly love him to

truly obey him? Do we truly have a heart for

the Lord?

H men?

Because men will look at the hour appearance, but God

always looks at the heart. And you and I know this.

You've heard this before many many times. God always looks

at the heart. And so I want to encourage you

first of all before I go to the next part,

because I want to encourage you that God sees our labor.

He does, because in this scripture Jesus says that I

know your works, your labor.

So Jesus sees in secret.

So you and I sometimes people don't see the works

that we do.

You know, people may not appreciate you as much. But

God sees.

Jesus sees in secret, and he says, I know your

works and your labor, your patience. So if you're working

very hard, where does it for your family. Sometimes in

your workplace, people may not appreciate you. Even in church.

If if you're working hard behind the scenes, I'll let

you know.

God sees in secret and he will reward you.

But don't give up, don't go weary, don't got tired,

because an encouragement to you is that God sees in secret,

even though sometimes people may not see it. Because ultimately

you and I, everything that we do, the work that

we do in church, or even in your in your

in your job, you're in your campus, everything that we

do ultimately is unto the Lord a man, and he sees.

But don't forget that ultimately God looks at our hearts,

and he looks beyond just the our appearance, because in

verse four he says, never the less. Nevertheless, I have

this against you, that you have left your first love. Now,

if you read this verse right carefully, there is a

clear distinction between leaving your first love and losing your

first love. Okay, so which is it here? It's called

left your first love. It's not lost your first love.

It's the difference. And now I've spained to you the difference.

You see, you can lose something and have no idea

where to find it. Right, But when you leave something behind,

you know where to go back to it to get

it back. Okay, Right, there's a very clear distinction between

leaving and losing something. Okay, Okay, you guys got that right.

You lost it, you really have no idea where to

find it, Okay. For example, you know I've had this.

I'm sure maybe you have had this experience before. Maybe

you come back home, you wanted to get a quick change,

you know, and then after you put your clothes in

a laundry, and when you wanted to go out, you

can't find your keys, you know, and you look high

and low, and you lost your keys. And for the

whole day you were stuck in your house house until

you did a laundry and find your laundry, found your keys,

stuck in your in your pants, you know. So you

you got stuck because you you lost your key and

you couldn't find it, and that you couldn't go out, right,

you lost it, and for that moment you really couldn't

find it.

No matter how much you try to back.

Check your steps, your steps, you could never find it.

And sometimes you will only find it one week later

when you wear the pants again. I hope that never

happens to you, you know. And so sometimes maybe you

lose something you just can't find it right, as compared

to when you left something behind. For example, you know,

there are days that you come back home and you

lie on the sofa and maybe you empty your pockets.

You left everything at a sofa, and then you about

to go out. You behold, you can't find your keys.

What would you do? You back check your steps?

Right?

Okay, I came back home, I lie on my sofar,

empty my pockets. Ah, my key should be at a sofar.

So you go back and find it. So far and

you find your keys.

Right.

So there's a different between losing and leaving, okay, because

you can lose something by accident, But leaving is deliberate.

Okay.

Not only is deliberate, it can happen slowly. You can

slowly leave it deliberately but surely okay.

And that can happen is deliberate. Okay.

It may not happen instantly, but it could happen slowly.

So the problem is very serious. Okay.

Why is the problem very serious? Because they did not

lose their first love. They left their first love. Okay,

So I asked myself this question. Did they leave their

first love for God? Or did they leave their love

for people? What do you think?

So?

Did they leave their love for God or they left

their love for people? And I think about it, I

would think it's okay because I really believe they come

in hand in your hand.

No, because they will not be.

Able to love people unless they love God and experience

the love of God themselves.

Right. And yeah, so if they don't love.

God, they cannot possibly love people, you know, because you

can still do things for people without love, you know,

just out of a compulsion or you know, because you're

forced to, but you won't go far. It won't last, right,

So and and it's the film SiZ is also too.

If they had loved God, they would have loved people,

you know. So possibly they lost both. Should I shouldn't

say lost again, it's basically the forbade to the sentence

lost their love, but she left. They left their love

for God and for people, and so that they're a

part about this versus that they did not only leave

their love, they left your first love. Now, if you

understand this concept about first right, first.

Is very powerful.

Right.

Let me give you an example.

How many of you remember your first holiday, Okay, first

holiday local, maybe first holiday overseas?

How many if you remember.

Your first flight when you were kid, when you're still small, maybe, babe,

you wouldn't remember about when you at least you were

a kid. You at least can recognize that you were

in a plane, maybe at least three four years or maybe.

You know.

How many of you remember your first gift that you

received from your parents?

Yeah?

Many of you don't remember. Yeah, maybe I still don't remember.

You know, how many if you remember your first I

don't know, your first semester of your studies?

Right? Did you look forward to it? I don't know.

You know, someone wants to look forward to it something

who didn't?

I definitely look forward to it because I can escape home.

Just kidding you, shoot, I saw you. They're not saying

you know, uh, you know? But you always remember the

first right. The first is very powerful. It's very meaningful.

You know, you remember your first pet. Right for parents,

you remember your first child, the first son, or your

first daughter.

You remember the first experience. It's very meaningful, it's very powerful.

But it's one thing I think that was to remember

you remember our first exam because it may not, it

may not be memoriable.

I don't know.

First exam. Do you remember your first exam? I'm not sure.

But the point is this, whenever you experience something for

the first time, uh, there's always great significance, right, There's

great excitement, there's great joy, and to to leave your

first love is to leave that excitement or the joy

of living the Lord, you know. And so it's it's

very it's not a place that you and I ought

to be, and we don't ever want to be in

that place.

You know.

You can ask any couple and all and they will

tell you that the first time they dated, it's always

more sweet or you know, the sparks fly as compared

to the many years that they've been married, you know.

But I think it's this, I don't quite believe right

that your excitement needs to be the same exactly like

the first day it started, because we grow from just

having yeah yeah, the two in for getting married soon

say yes, yes, yes, you know, because I believe we

grow from that first love of excitement and just the

joy and the hype of it, and we grow into

maturity of the love, into a deeper level and deeper

a depth of love, of maturity.

You know, so when when the people left.

Their first love, I don't think so it's coming to

a place whereby uh, they needed to have the same

excitement like it was when the first knew Jesus on

you the Lord, because we will grow into maturity, and

you know, just like the first time you accepted Christ,

you got very passionate.

You know, I've put this many times.

People when the first time accepted Christ, they try to

read the whole Bible. You know, they will try to

pray a lot, they'll try to serve self self, so

they'll tell me a faster. I'm full of energy, you know,

I'm on fire.

I'm pumped.

You know, I want the surf every Sunday after them. Verther,

relax because we're in here for the long haul. You're

not here to serve just for one month, three months.

We're here to serve for years, in decades to come,

until we meet our maker, you know. So we're here

for the long haul. It's a marathon, it's not a

sprein race. So although the excitement in that sense may

not be the same as the first time we accept

the Christ, but we grow into maturity and man, we

grow into a greater sense of obedience, a greater sense

of love, the greater sense of surrender, you know, as

compared to the first excitement that we had. Because sometimes

when you had the first excitement, it's just purely hype

of fun. You know, everything goes you knowine right, everything

just exciting at a start.

But the question is can you last? Right? Can you

last a long haul?

And so we every time say is you know, it

takes faith to start and faithfulness to finish. Faith to start,

faithfulness to finish. And that is why when we meet

our creator one day, you will hear these famous words,

well done, my good and faithful seven.

I thought about it.

Of all things that God didn't say, well done, my

good and full of faith seven. I thought there would

be better, you know, but well done, my good and

faithful seven. So the first love is coming back to

the place whereby, you know, it was. It has all

been about God, coming back to the original, coming back

to the place whereby it has always been about Him

and not about.

Us, you know.

And sometimes in life as well, we can get to

hung up with this first in our lives. For example,

when you first got your you know, your first phone,

for example, you know, and we all love to receive

things that firsthand, right, rather than getting a second hand

right quite right?

Uh.

And for me as the youngest child in the in

the family, from here, I get help me down, you know,

from other siblings above me older than me. Right, that

sound you're saying, right, But we all love to get

things firsthand, you know.

Uh.

And the problem is we dead is sometimes when we

get things firsthand, right, we tend to guard it so much, right,

they were afraid to damage it.

You know.

It's like as though you bought a new phone, right,

but you're so afraid to use the phone because you're

afraid that you damage your phone. Can I say to

you or the phones of no use until you use it,

you know, or it can be anything for that matter.

So I still remember the days that you know, I'm

a musician and I buy a guitar, right, And I

bought a new guitar. And when I was deciding or

what to buy, you know, I was looking among many brands,

you know, I wanted to buy a guitar that was

quite expensive. But then one day the Lord called Victi

mahata the question that me and my brother was discussing was.

We asked ourselves, if one day any other stranger wants

to pick up my guitar and play, right, will I

be okay with it? And the answer was actually no. Oh,

I asked myself. Then my guitar has become an idol.

So we played what is it?

It's a Lord, I cannot allow this to happen. So

because of that, right, we needed to pick something cheaper,

and I said, Lord, when I buy the guitar, you'll

be used for your glory, you know, and whoever needs

to use it, I'm okay to lend it, you know,

as long as it don't come in two pieces cover

with some sketches, it's okay. But really, really, sometimes we

can be like that, you know. We hang on to

it so much, right that it becomes an idea in

our life, and.

So shoos to be too.

When I first got my guitar, and I get most

of my big things in my life, I will always

lay my hands on it, and I say, Lord, I

will use this for your glory and for your you know,

for for your work of your kingdom. And if for

whatever reason somebody needs to use it, I will allow

him to use it. Because although it's mine. It's poetically

not mine. It comes from you. It belongs to you.

And so I.

Dedicated to the Lord and so that I can be

used for his glory. But the point is this, you know,

when the people left their first love again, it's not

just so much about the height for excitement, right, It's

about keeping the main thing, the main thing, right.

It's about remembering Christ.

It's about putting him first, you know, and everything that

we do, even in our church, he must be the

focus of everything and must be at the center of

everything that we do, because if we don't come back

to him, we have totally missed the point, and we

will have totally missed the mam, and nothing that we

do well badfoot is in vain.

You know.

Of course you can bath food in the natural, but

you won't go far. And we don't ever want to

come to this place that the law says to us. Nevertheless,

we have left your first love. Come on, we don't

ever want to be in that place, because what is

the church without love? Think about it, what is the

church without love? Because the church is not a building, right,

You and I know that the church is. It's the people.

It's the people that makes up the church. And God

is love. He loves his people. And without love, we

can never.

Have a church.

You can never want a church. And so God is love.

And if we have no love, we don't know God.

It's as simple as that, you know. And whenever I

say God is love, I actually really believe that the

concept of the trinity can be explained in that sentence itself,

because if God is love, here the sentence are, if

God is love, and if he's the same yesterday, today

and forever more, who was God loving before he created man?

Did you get that? If God is love and he's

the same yesterday, today and forever more, who was he

loving before he created the earth or created creation? That's

a simple God, father, son and the Holy Spirit, right,

because he's the same. Can I say that God only

loved when he created man? Then I'm concidating the scriptures,

you see. So if he's the same yesterday, today and

forever more, surely God has already been loving before he

created mankind and before even created the world.

One John chapter four, verse seven.

To eleven says, beloved, let us love one another, for

love is of God, and everyone who loves is born

of God. And knows God. He who does not love

does not know God. For God is love. In this

the love of God was manifested towards us. That God

has sent his only begodden son into the world that

we might live through him. In this is love, not

that we loved God, but that He loved us and

sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved,

if God so loved us, we also ought to love

one another.

So friends, without love, we can never have church. We

can never run church. You know, it would be in vain.

And you know, I think the Bible who talks about

without love, you'll be like a clanging symbol is or

gone right. You know, if you don't love, it's all

all our works, all our rchesters will be in vain,

you know, if you have no love? And why is

love so important? Because in let's not all. Turn to

first Convintation, chapter thirteen, First Contenance thirteen, and I'm going

to read the whole chapter, okay, because I I normally

try to give you a context rather than reading a

few verses. So it's a short chapter. He says, though

I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but

have not loved, I have become sounding brass or clanging symbol.

And do I have the gift of prophecy? And I

understand all mysteries and all knowledge? And do I have

all faith? Wow, go all favor, can move mountains, but

have not love. I am nothing. And though I bestore

all my goods to feed the poor, and though I

give my body to be burned, but have not love,

it forfeits me nothing. Love suffers long, and this is

the worst that we use for marriage. Love suffers long,

and it's kind. Love does not envy. Love does not

pervade yourself. It's not puffed up, does not behave or

really does not seek its own. It's not provoke things

no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in

the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,

and enjoals all things.

Love never fail.

Somebody say, amen, But whether they are prophecies, they will

fail better. There are tongues they will seaes. Whether there

is knowledge ever vanished away. For we know in part,

and we purposely in part. But when that which is

perfect has come, then that which is in part will

be done away. When I was a child, I spoke

as a child, I understood as a child, I taught

as a child. But when I became a man, I

put away childish things. For now we see in a

mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know

in part, but then I shall know just as I

am known. And now abide, faith, hope, love, this tree.

But the greatest of this is love. So friends, if

there is one area in our lives, you and me

today or this year, that we can revive our hearts,

it would be our love for the Lord and the

love for others.

Amen. That is one thing that you and I we

need to repent. We need to.

Turn back to Him, back to our first love.

Now I'm joining my sister.

Towards are close, but I'm going to bring us back

to this same cuture that started off with in Revelation

chapter two. Now in verse five, after Jesus says to

the people or the church of Ephesus, I have this

against you, that you have left your first love.

Remember in the Lord, we.

Always have redemption, We always have a second chance. And

what did Jesus say Verse five says, Remember therefore from

where you have fallen, there you go. Remember therefore, from

where you have fallen. I started off by telling you

that if you if you lost it, you don't know

where to find it. But because they left their first love,

now God is telling them, remember where you left it,

remember where you have fallen. Okay, repent, repent me to

turn away, turn back and go back to you know,

to turn our ways, you know, from from evil and

back to he.

Repen and do the first works.

Oils comes you quick clear and remove your limestane from

his place unless you repent so clearly, because they left

their first left, they will be able to backtrack and

remember where they lost it. And Jesus is calling us,

calling them Church and Emphaestus. And I want to say

to us as well that you and I we also

ought to repen and do back the first works. And

so what does the first works really mean? It's just

simply coming back to the original. You know, it doesn't

have to be complicated. It's as simple as coming back

to basics. Coming back to basics, keeping the main thing.

The main thing.

Church has always been about Jesus.

It's all about him. He is the cornerstone. He is

our master, he is our ruler, he is our savior.

It's always been about Him. And when we get Jesus

right in the church first, everything else will fall into place.

Then we will have the love of Christ and we'll

be able to love people and to bring people into

His presence, and so keeping the main thing. The main

thing is just simply remembering that it's all about Him

and everything.

Goes back to Him.

And so sometimes in church right, we can get too

busy with many things in church. I'll give you a

simple example.

Worship.

Worship sometimes you know, for church like earths, because we

love to celebrate. We believe that Christ is reason and

we celebrate the reason King, and so we're very big

on our praise. And that's why we strive to give

God our best in our worship. And I said a

worship meaning on a Sunday morning, right on the half

an hour worship in church right.

But let me ask you this.

If one day became with church right and we had

no instruments and we a cappella, the question is can

you still worship?

Amen?

I'm glad that you're immediately responded yes, And I tell

you it has happened be for in church you know

it's happening. For I still remember the day I think

some of you were there, you know, in our combined

service in Subang. Was it Easter or something was kind

of remember it was per service or one of the

combined services. The hall was packer one thousand people, seven hundred,

two thousand peper, and out of a sudden black out,

the whole church went black. No acon, no lights, no

sound system. Bigger the hole is bigger one thousand peper.

You know what we did, the whole church just we

just went back to the basics.

What's song? DIVI singer? Was it? How great are I think?

So?

We sang how great is our God? You know what

we sang, how great it is our God? Because everybody

knew the lyrics. In the darkness, no guitars, no sound,

no lights, no icon.

No lyrics. All we could think is how great is

our God?

So my question to us, you know, will we be

able to come back to the place where it's all

been about Jesus? You know, don't get me wrong. The

issuance are not bad, okay. The instruments are tools or

instruments that help us, you know, to stir our spirit,

to lift our spirit, to praise Him, to worship him.

It helps us keep.

Us, you know, in town or on the beat so

that we can kept the beat right. So it's not wrong,

but it's an instrument used to glorify the Lord. The

question is, really worship comes from the heart. And so

I'm really glad that today we had a smaller band.

I didn't even know that we were gonna have a

smaller band today.

But the question is could we still worship? You know,

because sometimes we.

Can have a lot of instruments on the stage and

we're happy and we're glad about it. But the question

is if we only have one guitar, or no guitar

for that matter, or only if if we had three

string guitar, can you still worship the Lord? Because worships

from the heart. So remember where we used to be.

Coming back to the first works is just basically coming

back to how it was meant to be, you know,

coming back to the first coming back to our first love,

coming back to the first time is that we used

to spend time with the Lord really reading his word.

Coming back to the place whereby we used to enjoy

fellowship and believers, coming back to the times where we

used to help one another, and I prayed our church

as extra, we will continue to love one another, you know,

not just from your leaders, but I've seen many of

you here today's sister, that you also extend your love

to one another. And I truly believe that's how the

church should be. Like you know, one you know better,

happing brother, because helping a church as well, sister, you know,

helping one another, loving one another because love is of God.

Love is from God, and we ought to love God

and love one another.

To put it plainly.

Simple, is basically coming back where Jesus is priority and

first in our lives. And I'm not just referring to

the church. I'm referring to your personal life as well.

You know, when was the last time you ask God

this question?

Lord?

What do you think about this decision? Or when's the

last time you ask the Lord? Lord, what should I

do in this situation? You know, Lord, which direction should

I take? When is the last time you pray and

ask the Lord? Because oftentimes we only come to him

after he ran into each other. I pray that we

will come to him first, come to him first, and

may he be our first love a man. So I'm

going to close with this verse seven says he who

has an ear, let him hear what the spirit.

Says 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. When ivite worship him to come.

And so this call is to everyone. And by the way,

if you notice the the details, r. Jesus says that

he has an ear, let him hear what the spirit

says to the churches. So he's not just saying to

these church emphases alone. He's saying to all the judges.

And if you notice the same statement as us, for

all seven of the judges. So he as an ear,

let him hear, and he says, to him who overcomes,

I will give to eat from the tree of life,

which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

So, after Jesus.

Has confronted them for falling away or or leaving their

first love, he gives them a second chance, calls them

to repent and to come back to him. And there

is a promise or a reward attached to it. How

amazing God truly is. He gives them a promise, and

the promise is simple. Now that he did to him

who overcomes, I will give to eat from the Tree

of life, which is in the midst of the paradise

of God. So can you tell me where is this

tree of life found? This was said in the last

book of the Bible, Revelation. And the tree of life

is found in the book of Genesis, the beginning itself.

Let me show you to you. I think you have

a scripture there. Let's look at Genesis two was eight

to nine. He says, the Lord God planted the garden

eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom

he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord

made every three grow that is pleasant to the side

and good for food. The tree of life was in

the mydst of the garden, and the tree of the

knowledge of good and evil. Now, most of the time

we only remember the tree of the knowledge of good

and evil. But did you know there was also the

tree of life in the garden of Eden. So when

I read this word, it isn't it amazing that God

wants to bring us back to the original. At the

creation of men, when men had fellowship with the Lord,

no shame fellowship. They walked with the Lord in the

cool of the garden God wants to bring us back

to the original, back to the first love, so the

first time that we encountered him, the first time.

When he created us.

And then we will eat of the tree of life,

which is what Adam and Eve was supposed to eat,

not the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

How good it is that God wants to bring us back.

That is what we rival truly is going back to

the original, coming back to life. And so I thought

about it, between these two trees, the tree of life,

the tree of knowledge of good to evil, coming back

to basics. Right does not mean that we need to

understand everything, and in our lives, we oftentimes always want

to be in control. That's why if we had a

choice to choose right, most of us we choose a

fee of knowledge because we want to be in control.

We want to have the knowledge to decide to choose.

But I want to encourage you today choose life. Choose

the tree of life, because if we don't have to

understand everything, coming back to basics just basically means that

we trust in the lawn, and we trust in His

perfect love, his perfect plan for.

You and for me.

So choose life, because when we choose life, we will

walk closely with the Lord in the garden, or should

the Bible says, in the midst of the paradise of God.

How many of us you today, Maybe we could be

in a place that we have drifted away. We may

have left our first love, not by I want to say,

not by choice, or I would say we left it

by accident, or we are known we left it, or

we've been drifting away, and today you want to come

back to him. You are a reminder that God is

calling us to come back to our first love, where

it was just us and the lawn. So maybe we

can sing that song you know when the music faced.

I think you know it.

Why you just do stand?

Even as we reflect on his love for us, I

want to remind you that God first loved you and me.

He chose us. He loved us despite knowing that we

would fall, despite knowing that.

We had our shortcomings. Yet he loved us.

And just maybe for some of us here today, life

can really really hit us.

I don't know.

It's like a lorry hitting you so hard and it

can knock us down. And I've been there before. I

would have confess to you, I really, really struggled this

week when I was sick and unwell. Even my quiet

time went out the window because I was so unwell.

But it's always a second chance to come.

Back to the Lord.

As I prayed, you know, after I had enough strength,

I just went on my knees to say, God, I

just I'm sorry. You know, life can really happen. Maybe

for some of you it's not sickness, you know, it

could be just life, the business of life, or the

pursuit of life, the pursuit of wealth, and our jobs

and our studies can really rob the true meaning and

rob our purpose, rob our destiny in the Lord. Maybe

we just need to come back to him, you know,

and say, Lord, I'm coming back, coming back to the

origin and coming back to the time that we first

had this. Lord, I'm coming back to my first love.

I remember, I remember where I left off, and I'm

coming back to my first love, Lord, because it's always

been about you. Without you, we are nothing without your love,

we won't be standing here. And so I asked, so Lord,

revive us, Oh gone, revive our hearts, so gone, bring

us back to you.

When it's just been me and you, it's just been

us and you.

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I hit for you. God bless