The Integrity of Devotion

Let's open up in prayer.

Father God, I just pray that your Holy Spirit be

with us even right now, moving upon hearts, convicting hearts,

bringing us your salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Bless us with your word. In Jesus' name, amen. Now,

the last words.

That Paul spoke to the elders of the church at

Ephesus were a warning. He said to be alert because

after he departs, savage wolves will come in among them. Now,

he warned them that the wolves would come inside the church,

pervert the word of God, and draw disciples away from

the truth. Now, decades later in the book of Revelation,

Jesus commends them because they did exactly what Paul had asked.

They kept the wolves out, but in their rigid defense

of truth, They let something else out.

They let the warmth of the love of Christ out.

See, they were busy toiling and persevering for his name,

but they had lost their heart for him.

And that's what I want to talk to you about today.

The title of today's sermon is The Integrity of Devotion.

The Integrity of Devotion. Now, when I say integrity, I

mean that our outward spiritual service perfectly matches that.

Our inward spiritual reality.

All right, our hearts and our hands are one and

the same. And when I say devotion, I mean a

fervor or a zeal.

And it means a love that captures your entire soul.

It fuels every action you take for Christ.

Now, the problem with the church at Ephesus is that

they had the integrity of the outward spiritual service, but

they didn't have the integrity of the heart. And they

were at risk of losing the integrity of their light.

A light that was supposed to shine for Christ and

reach souls. Now for a church to have the full

integrity of their devotion for Christ, it must be fully

committed to the truths of the Bible and consumed by

a heartfelt fervor for our Lord and Savior. Without that fire,

the fervor of Christ and our witness is hollow. But

when the Word of God and the love of Christ

Burned together in our souls, our lives become the very

lampstand that Christ uses to carry his salvation to the

ends of the earth.

Now, I promise you, at the end.

Of this sermon, you'll know how to protect the integrity

of your devotion to Christ. And to do this, we

must look at three spiritual necessities revealed by Christ to

the church at Ephesus.

First, the necessity of the Word of God. We'll look

at what they got. Right now.

And how they used the Bible to test and reveal

the truth. They had an objective standard. Second, the second

necessity is a heartfelt fervor. We'll look at what they.

Got wrong and how Jesus corrects them.

And it's about our inward reality. And the third necessity

is the need for a shining light.

That is our outward witness.

And we'll look at the great purpose and high honor

God has for the church as his lampstand for salvation.

But before we look at what Ephesus got right, we

must see how the message to the church arrived. Now

imagine the apostle Paul, apostle John, he's exiled on the

island of Patmos because he has integrity to the word

of God and to the testimony of Jesus.

And suddenly he isn't alone.

The resurrected Christ, Jesus, appears in a blinding light, eyes

like flames of fire, a voice sounding like many waters,

and John is so overwhelmed, he falls at a dead

man at his feet. But Jesus puts his hands on him, says,

do not be afraid. I'm the first and the last.

I'm the living one. I was dead, but I'm alive forevermore,

and I have the keys of death and of Hades,

of the grave. You see, the message arrives because the

cross won the war. Victory is 100% assured And now

the king who conquered the grave is giving guidance and

comfort to his church. He's going to lead them into

the future and he starts with the church of Ephesus.

Pick it up in Revelation 2 verse 2. I know

Revelation 2:2

your deeds and your toil and your perseverance and that

you cannot tolerate evil men and you put to test

those who call themselves apostles and they are not and

you have found them to be false. And you have

perseverance and have endured for my name's sake and have

not grown weary. Now, Ephesus has the quality of perseverance

and endurance. They cannot tolerate evil men, and they test

those who call themselves apostles and are not.

Now, that's a good thing.

Now, they were in a state of perpetually resisting evil

and regularly testing evil. the constant tide of these false apostles.

This was not a one-time occurrence. It was a wave

of occurrences, and that's why the Bible emphasizes endurance, endurance, perseverance, perseverance.

This means they were expending a lot of energy, mental

and spiritual, with a guarded mindset. And Jesus commends them

for it. He compliments them for it. And that's exactly

what Paul warned them, warned the overseers, 50 years earlier, approximately.

Notice how Paul warns them in Acts 20, verse 29.

Acts 20:29

Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock,

among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to

shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his

own blood. I know that after my departure, savage wolves

will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And

from among your own selves, Hold on to that. From

among your own selves, men will arise, speaking perverse things,

to draw away the disciples after them.

Therefore, be on alert.

Remembering night and day for a period of three years,

I did not cease to admonish.

You, each one with tears.

And you know, in 1 Corinthians 15, 32... Paul figuratively

says that he fought with wild beasts while at Ephesus,

meaning he had to fight with ferocious spiritual adversaries.

Now, here's the reality.

These wolves, these ferocious beasts are still here today. They

come into the church in several ways. First, when members

and leaders cease to make the Bible their primary and

final authority. When individuals rely on human reasoning, tradition, or

human philosophy rather than the plain Bible truth, they become

susceptible to deception.

Second, when Satan uses human.

Agents, that is, unconverted hearts, tears in the church to

mix the truth with falsehood. They appear innocent, they appear sincere,

They're deceived. They're in error, and their goal is to

confuse the simple meaning.

Of the Word of God.

And the third way is when the church or its

leaders refuse to accept reproof or correction. They become vulnerable

to new ideas that are actually ancient errors in disguise. Now,

I'm not just talking about this church building and this

physical church right here. I'm talking about our conference, our union,

our divisions. our global church, our world church. The threat

is no less real than it was for the church

at Ephesus. And we cannot let our faith get hijacked

by these voices. That is why Paul says, be on alert. Now,

I want to give you the first spiritual necessity to

maintain the integrity of your devotion to Christ. Now, it's

a defensive approach to detect and discern voices that are false.

And the spiritual necessity will also Strengthen your faith and

confidence in the Word of God. Spiritual necessity number one.

Filter every voice and influence through the truth of God's Word.

Filter every voice and influence through the truth of God's Word.

That is an ongoing commitment to test and to weigh.

No matter what spiritual maturity you are at, no matter

what knowledge you have of the Bible, test and weigh

what you hear. It's not merely to know the truth,

but to continually test everything you hear against the truth.

This is why Jesus commends the church at Ephesus.

They use the Bible as the standard objective to test

and evaluate everything they heard. To detect and discern the false,

the church must have.

The objective standard, the Bible. Now, To test something.

To test something means to refuse to take something at

face value. Have you ever gotten a text from your bank?

Or maybe Amazon? or maybe the IRS? And it says, oh,

you're in default. You owe us some money. Click here.

Logo looks right. Colors look right. Disclaimer is there. Looks right.

Fonts look right. Everything's right. Take it at face value,

you get robbed.

All right, you must test, we must test and not

take it at face value.

You know, I just looked up a statistic.

In 2025, I guess the FBI assessed that $ 20 billion

of money has been stolen through these phishing scams because

it looks real. You know, they're successful because they're 99% true.

They imitate the truth. Now, I personally, I'd rather be

scammed by one of these artists than be scammed by

the prince of darkness over the truth of God's word.

I don't want to get scammed by money, but relatively speaking. See,

our spiritual adversaries are not just competing for your attention,

they're fighting for your adoption. They want to recruit you

to their specific way of of erroneous thinking, and if

we don't test these voices, we will be susceptible to error.

The enemy has a deliberate goal, to pitch their own

version of the truth and persuade you to click on it.

Now, the danger is subtle.

Not everything you hear, read, or witness is 100% false.

The most effective deception is wrapping dangerous ideas that contradict

God's truth and word with a pervasive, persuasive mix of

truth and error.

The best lie is the lie that is closest to

the truth.

Charles Spurgeon once said, discernment is not knowing the difference

between right and wrong, it is knowing the difference between

right and almost right. Every voice we hear in and

outside the church must begin with a pause, actively question

the content.

Of Don't take anything at face value.

Compare it directly with your standard of objective truth by asking,

what does the Bible actually say about this topic? Determine

if it truly aligns with God's word.

Now, the Bible supports this idea of testing.

1 John 4.1, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but

test the spirits to see whether they are from God.

Because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

You know, the Bereans actually tested the Apostle Paul. The

Apostle Paul, who wrote almost about a quarter of the

New Testament, they tested him.

They listened eagerly to him, but they went straight to the.

Old Testament Scriptures to measure what Paul was saying against

what God had already written.

Acts 17.11, talking about the Bereans.

Now, these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for

they received the word with great eagerness. Examining the scriptures

daily to see whether these things were so. Now Paul

the apostle would even write and show the supremacy.

Of the Bible.

He points out that not even an angel or supernatural

being can be trusted if it speaks contrary to God's word.

Galatians 1, 8, and 9.

But even if we, Paul speaking, but even if we

or an angel from heaven should preach to you a

gospel contrary.

To what we have preached to you, he is to

be accursed.

As we have said before, so I say to you again,

if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary

to what you received, he is to be accursed.

I just want to give you one more verse. Isaiah 8, 19,

and 20.

When they say to you, consult the mediums and the

spiritists who whisper and mutter, should not a people consult

their God?

Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?

To the law and to the testimony, If they do

not speak according to this word, it is because they

have no dawn.

They have no light.

Now, yes, we know that this verse is a grave

warning of turning to the dead to discover God's will

and his direction. The dead know nothing. No medium can

bring back the dead to make them speak. They're demons

in disguise. But the larger point is this. The objective

standard is the law and the testimony. Meaning God's word

is our safeguard against the influences of false teachers and

the deceptive forces of spiritual darkness. Now, my daughters and I,

we put together puzzles. And I've been showing them how

to start a puzzle. We start off with smaller puzzles,

like maybe 40 pieces. We're up to like a 300.

We're doing a 300-piece puzzle right now. We started off

with like 40. And I show them, start with the corners.

You know, get all the edges lined up. Then start

to group the pieces in colors and groupings and everything,

and then you start to fit them in.

Now, a puzzle piece can.

Look like the right color, look like the right shape,

looks like it's.

Going to fit in a particular place, but then when

they try to press it in, what? It should go here.

It doesn't. It's the same thing with God's Word. Alright,

any new.

Claim or message might look right, might sound right, might

feel right. But when we try to piece it into

the Bible, does it distort the surrounding scriptures?

Alright, is it a forced fit? Is there a gap?

Can it be consistently applied across the Bible?

Alright.

If a voice does not speak according to God's word,

there is no dawn.

That means there is no light. No light means darkness.

Hold on to that idea. Darkness.

Darkness means falsehood and error. How did Jesus respond to

the prince of darkness when he was tempted in the wilderness?

Now Satan is quoting scriptures.

Out of context, and how does Jesus respond? It is written,

it is written, it is written. The Bible, the objective

word of God. So spiritual necessity number one, filter every

voice and influence through the truth of God's word. It's

an ongoing commitment to test and to weigh. Now that's

what Ephesus got right. And Jesus commends them for their

integrity to the Word of God. It was their defense

against falsehood and evil men who were trying to draw

disciples away.

From the truth. Now, that's not the full condition of Ephesus.

Jesus continues in Revelation 2 verse 4, But I have

Revelation 2:4

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

You've left your first love.

Now, before we identify spiritual necessity number two, To protect

the integrity of our devotion to Christ, we need to

answer one question. What does it mean to leave your

first love? It's not, you're not forsaking Jesus. You still

worship him as Lord and Savior. You're still loyal. You're

still a Christian. You still have faith. You still pray.

You still read the Bible. You still study the Bible.

But the loss is a deep and full ardent affection

you had at the start. Your heart is no longer

fully in it. There's a gap between your soul and

your Savior. Now this second necessity is about experiencing a living,

vital relationship with Jesus rather than settling for a cold,

exhaustive religion. Spiritual necessity number two. Fuel your defense of

the word with a passionate devotion to the person of

the word.

I'll say that again. Fuel your defense of.

The word with a passionate devotion to the person of

the word.

All right, there's a real person behind the text of

the Bible.

All right, the church of Ephesus fell into a subtle

but deadly trap. They got an A-plus in theology. but

they got a failing grade in relationship. They perfectly applied

the objective standard of Scripture, successfully calling out false apostles

and defending the truth. But in the middle of all

that fighting for the right doctrine, they lost their first love.

They became so focused on defending the text of the Word,

they completely missed the author of the Word. I mean,

you don't have to choose between being fiercely grounded in

the Bible and being fiercely passionate about Jesus. Through God's power,

you can have both. That's the integrity of devotion. You see,

the Bible isn't just a book to win arguments in

doctrine or spot false theology. It's a living revelation relationship

with Jesus Christ. Because as you dig into the Word,

God uses it to reveal His heart, ensuring that your

knowledge of the truth constantly fuels.

Your love for the person of the truth.

Now, some people think they'll eventually reach a plateau with

their faith. As if your faith reaches a peak, then

it naturally cools, and you fall into a comfortable routine.

The Bible doesn't teach that. It teaches the opposite.

True spiritual growth and love work the exact opposite way.

The more you learn about the grand themes of Bible,

who Christ is, what he's done for you, the more

intensely your heart should burn for him. My favorite theologian

says this in the Review and Herald, page 1069. God

will accept nothing less than the whole heart. Happy are

they who from the commencement of the religious life have

been true to their first love, growing in grace and

the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The sure result

of their intercourse and fellowship with their beloved Lord will

be to increase their piety, their purity, their fervor.

They are receiving a divine.

Education, and this is illustrated in the life of fervor,

of diligence, and zeal. They have that faith constantly becoming stronger,

which works by love and purifies the soul. Theirs is

a childlike devotion developing itself into activities of holiness, giving

proof by the most expressive outward act of their inward gratitude,

the heartfelt joy and devoted attachment to Jesus their Redeemer,

the divine Restorer.

See, this is not something you generate.

It's a natural outcome of being deeply acquainted with the

living Savior. Now, notice what Jesus says to correct the

church of Ephesus. Revelation 2, verse 5. Therefore, remember from

Revelation 2:5

where you have fallen and repent and do the deeds

you did at first. See, the correction involves three actions. Remember, repent,

and do the deeds you did at first. Remember, repent, Return.

Notice Jesus doesn't say, remember, feel guilty, work harder.

He doesn't say that. Remember where you have fallen. Where

did you let go?

Where did you leave your tender love of God and

his precious truth? Remember what Christ meant to you. Remember

Jesus loves you. Remember when the cross became personal And

you realize that Jesus just didn't die for humanity.

He died for you.

Remember what it felt like to know that your sins

were forgiven because Christ had taken your place. The gratitude

you have. Remember, 1 John 4.19 says, we love because

he first loved us. You see, if God did not

love us first, we would be incapable of loving him back.

God took the initiative. He reached out to you first. Remember.

Remember your helpless state, Romans 5.8.

But God demonstrates his own love toward us that while

we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Remember that he took upon your sins.

Isaiah 5 verses Isaiah 53 verse 6.

Isaiah 53:6

All of us like sheep have gone astray.

Each of us has turned to his own way. But

the Lord has placed the iniquity of us all to

fall on him. That word fall on means encounter. He

caused the sins of all the world to encounter him.

He encountered the sins of the world through his mind

on the cross. Every sin we've ever committed went through

his mind as if he did it. He became sin

for us. He literally experienced all those sins in his mind.

He became sin for us that we would become the

righteous of God.

And you know what? He took those sins to the

grave with him.

That's why Galatians 2.20 says this, I have been crucified

with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but

Christ who lives within me. And the life which I

now live in the flesh, I live by faith in

the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself

up for me.

Remember. What's the next part? Repent.

Turn away from whatever has crowded Jesus out of your heart.

Turn away from yourself. Turn away from worldliness. Turn away

from pride. Turn away from resentment. Turn away from anything

that would put a distance between you and the Lord

Jesus Christ, your Savior. You know, what's taken the place

of Christ in your heart? Turn away from that thing.

Turn back towards Jesus. The greatest gift God could ever

give the world or us is himself.

And he did so in Jesus Christ.

Christ, think about this, the second person of the Godhead,

who is in the form of God, condescended and placed

himself in humanity. He retains his divinity, but he clothed

himself with humanity and Divinity and humanity combine together the

indissoluble union of God and man, Jesus Christ. He will

always be divine, but you know what? He will retain

his humanity.

For all eternity. That's what he did for you and me,

for us. He did that to rescue you.

Come back to the foot of the cross.

Return to your first love. Do the first works. The

next part.

Meaning, recover your first zeal, your conscientious, tender love for

the God who died for you. It's not about trying

to generate some emotion or some romanticism.

No. It's doing again.

That which characterized your relationships with Christ when your love

was alive. John 14, verse 4 says this, You see,

John 14:4

just as the church of Ephesus, God that write, they

had an ongoing commitment to test all voices and all

influences against the word of God, we must have an ongoing.

Commitment to.

To abide and commune with the person of the word,

the person behind the text of the Bible. Take your

relationship with him seriously. Obey what he asks and stop

allowing worldly influences to shape your thoughts and behavior. You know,

we grow in grace by actively doing the work which

Christ has given us to do. I'm going to read

you from my favorite theologian again, Testimonies to the Church,

Volume 5, page 385. Every true Christian will possess a

missionary spirit. For to be a Christian is to be Christ-like.

No man liveth to himself, and if any man have

not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Everyone who has tasted of the powers of the world

to come, whether he be young or old, learned or unlearned,

will be stirred with the Spirit which actuated Christ. The

very first impulse of the renewed heart is to bring

others also to the Savior.

Those who do not possess this desire give evidence that

they have lost their first love.

They should closely examine their own hearts in the light

of God's Word and earnestly seek a fresh baptism of

the Spirit of Christ. They should pray for a deeper

comprehension of that wondrous love which Jesus manifested for us

in the realms of glory, in leaving the realms of

glory and coming to a fallen world to save the perishing.

So spiritual necessity number one. Filter every voice. and influence

through the truth of God's word. An ongoing commitment to

weigh and evaluate. Spiritual necessity number two. Fuel your defense

of the word with a passionate devotion to the person

of the word. God's word is plus devotion to the

person of the word, you've got the integrity of devotion.

Now, before we move on to spiritual necessity number three.

We need to understand the consequences of not returning to

your first love. Revelation 2 verse 5, I'll read the

Revelation 2:5

full verse. Therefore, remember from where you have fallen, repent

and do the deeds you did at first, or else

I'm coming to you and will remove.

Your lampstand out of its place unless you repent.

Now, Revelation 1.20 says a lampstand is a symbol for

the church. Seven lampstands are the seven churches. And Christ

Jesus is with his churches because Revelation 2.1 says that

Christ Jesus walks among the seven golden lampstands. See, Christ

is with his church. He walks with us by the

presence of his Holy Spirit. That's why he can say, lo,

I am with you always, even to the end.

Of the age. Christ is the head. The church is

the body.

You see, there is an indissoluble union between Christ and

the church. Christ and his people. We are not walking alone.

We are walking with Christ. Now, let me ask you

this question. What's the function of a lampstand?

Yeah, to give light. To shine light. Right? Jesus said

this in the Sermon on the Mount.

I'm summarizing Matthew 5 verses 14 through 16.

Matthew 5:14–16

You are the light of the world. A city set

in a hill cannot be hidden.

Let your light shine before men in such a way

that they may see your good works and glorify your

Father who is in heaven.

Acts 13, 47.

For so the Lord has commanded us, I have placed

you as a light... For the Gentiles. That you may

bring salvation to the ends of the earth. Spiritual necessity

number three. Fulfill your high calling to shine your light

to the world to bring salvation. Fulfill your high calling

to shine your light to the world to bring salvation.

You know, I believe this. I believe we all underestimate

the light we can shine.

Think about this. Darkness. I'm coming back to darkness.

Darkness has no source. It travels at no speed. It

doesn't have any sound. It has no energy.

It exists as a phenomenon, but you cannot measure darkness.

It doesn't exist.

Science can only measure photons because darkness is defined as

the absolute absence of light. You can't generate darkness. You

can't project darkness into a lighted room. You can only

dim the lights. You can only reduce the light. Before

the heavens and the earth were created, darkness was upon

the face of the deep. And after the fall of man,

spiritual darkness became the natural default state of the fallen world.

That's the natural state.

Now, have you ever been in a dark room, maybe

a cave, or a situation where there was absolutely zero light?

No sliver of light penetrating the curtains. No dim glow

of a street.

Lamp or something coming through a crack or crevice. Nothing. Now,

did you ever notice that.

How the absolute smallest amount of light completely shatters the darkness?

A match, a candle, a small flashlight.

The entire outlook of your situation changes. You see, the

world is in a dark place, spiritually dark. There is

no light. It manufactures its own light. It needs something

to believe in, something to guide its path, something to

hope for. Now, we shouldn't be surprised by this. We

know manufactured light is temporary. Money is fame, power, status, materialism.

None of those illuminate the truth or provide hope. But

it's all the world has. You know, there's cities that

never sleep. You can walk down an avenue, neon lights

shining brightly at midnight, and forget that there's even stars.

Can't even see the stars. It's all artificial and it

can't warm the soul. This is the consequence of losing

your first love, the removal of your lampstand. I mean,

can you imagine a world where God does not have

his representatives shining light? If the church does not shine,

the world is left with nothing but fading neon signs

that provide neither comfort nor hope. This is our high calling.

You are filled with the spirit of the living God.

You carry the dawn. You carry the testimony and the law.

You carry hope inside you. When you walk into your workplace,

when you walk into your neighborhood, a family gathering, you're.

Not just a person entering a room. You are light

entering the world.

You're the candle. You're the candle. You're the lampstand that

shatters the darkness.

How do you fight darkness? Let your light shine. Right?

Let your light shine.

Hold the Bible as the objective truth, the standard by

which you evaluate and weigh every argument and and hold

a heartfelt devotion to the person of the word. Those

two together, that's how your light shines. You see, God's

purpose is to manifest the principles of his kingdom through

his people. God wants their lives and their character to

be separate from the world's customs, practices, and values. You see,

when the law of God is demonstrated in the life

of a believer, the world will recognize the superiority of

those who love and fear God above all other peoples

of the world.

Notice what Philippians.

2 says about light. Philippians 2, verse 14. Do all

Philippians 2:14

things without grumbling or disputing, so that you will prove

yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of of God

above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse

generation among whom you appear as lights in the world.

You appear as lights in the world.

When you walk obediently, when you surrender your lives to Christ,

when you separate from worldly customs, when you protect the

integrity of your devotion to Christ, you shine, you must

shine You cannot but shine if Christ is living in you.

That's what the world needs. You see, Ephesus teaches us this.

To light up a room, to shine, to shadow the darkness,

we need an ongoing commitment to the Word of God,

to test and evaluate all voices and influences, and to

have a passionate zeal for the person of the Word

of Jesus Christ. My favorite theologian says this. Maranatha, the

Lord is coming, page 113. Their thoughts are to be pure,

their words noble and uplifting. The religion of Christ is

to be interwoven with all that they do and say.

They are to be sanctified, purified holy people, communicating light

to with whom they come in contact. It is his

purpose that by exemplifying the truth in their lives, they

shall be a praise in the earth. The grace of

Christ is sufficient to bring this about. You see, a

transformed character serves as a visible living light to the world,

proving the redeeming power of a living Savior. To fulfill

God's purpose and receive the Holy Spirit, we must first

empty our hearts of selflessness through self-renunciation. And when God's

grace reigns internally, believers project an atmosphere of faith and

courage and Christ-like love to everyone around them. See, God

uses humble individuals to reach souls. And each of you

will shine in your own way. We all have different personalities, gifts, talents.

God will use you and shine in a specific way

in and through your life to reach others, to reach

the world. Let your light shine. Now I need to

bring this to close. Thank you for your patience. Spiritual

necessity number one. Filter every voice and influence through the

truth of God's word. Spiritual necessity number two, fuel your

defense of the word with a heartfelt devotion to the

person of the word. Spiritual necessity number three, fulfill your

high calling to shine your light to the world to

bring salvation and hope.

Now, why is the message to Ephesus.

Important for us today? You know how we always talk

about our denomination, Laodicea.

And Philadelphia. Both. But Ephesus still applies to us today. Okay?

And why is it important for us today?

Because the enemy will continue to promote error.

With a mixture of truth. He's still ongoing with his

fishing schemes, if you will.

And just like Paul warned the church at Ephesus, savage

wolves are coming among you, Jesus warns us in Matthew 24,

false Christs, false prophets will arise and show great signs

and wonders during the time of the event so as

to mislead, if possible, the elect. Revelation 16 reveals that

during end times, spirits of demons performing signs go out

to the kings of the whole world to gather them

together for the war of the great.

Day of God, the Almighty.

You see, these deceptions in end times are are going

to be persuasive, they're going to be intellectually impressive, and

they will be manifested by miraculous powers. We cannot trust

our senses, our emotions, our feelings. We cannot get swept

away by any and all false Holy Spirit movements that

spread across our country or the world. Our defense is

an ongoing commitment to filter every voice and test every

claim and evaluate everything through the truth of God's Word.

And as a church, we must uphold the standard to

anchor ourselves to the stronghold of the Holy Scriptures. You know,

we are to be a church that upholds this objective standard.

And we need to have a personal knowledge of the Scriptures. Yes,

the church has pastors and teachers to edify the church.

But we need to have a personal knowledge of what

does the Bible exactly say about this situation. And we

must remember and repent and return to our first love.

Remember how you were deeply moved by God's love for you.

Remember what the cross means to you personally. That Christ

took upon your sins and he removed your guilt and shame.

So turn away from anything that crowds out Christ. Turn

away from self. Turn away from wilderness. Anything that puts

a distance between you and Christ, turn away from that. Now,

I leave you with a quote from my favorite theologian.

Thoughts from the Mount of Blessings. And I'll close with

this last quote. Humanity has in itself no light. Apart

from Christ, we are like an unkindled taper. Like the

moon when her face is turned away from the sun.

We have not a single ray of brightness to shed

into the darkness of the world. But when we turn

towards the Son of Righteousness, when we come in touch

with Christ, the whole soul is aglow with the brightness

of divine presence. Christ's followers are to be more than

a light in the midst of men.

They are the light of the world.

Jesus says to all who have named his name, You

have given yourselves to me and I have given you

to the world.

As my representatives.

As the Father has sent him into the world, so

he declares, have I also sent them into the world.

As Christ is the channel for a revelation of the Father,

so we are to be a channel to the revelation

of Christ.

While our Savior is.

The great source of illumination, forget not, O Christian, that

he is revealed through humanity. God's blessings are bestowed through

human instrumentality. Christ himself came to the world as the

son of man. Humanity united to the divine nature must

touch humanity.

She closes with this.

The church of Christ, every individual disciple of the master,

is heaven's appointed channel for the revelation of God to men.

Angels of glory.

Wait to communicate through you heaven's light and power to

souls that are ready to perish.

Amen. Let's close in prayer.

Father God, I just pray that you would move upon

the congregation, those here, those who are listening online.

That if they've lost their first love, they would come

back to it.

That they would remember what Christ meant to them, the

great love that you extend to them. Lord, reassure them.

Strengthen their faith. May they come back to the foot

of the cross. May they have that heartfelt devotion that

motivates every action that they take so that they would

be a light to shine to the world and bring

salvation and hope to a lost world. Lord, I pray

for everyone here that you would continue to allow your

light to shine through us, in us, about us, that

we would reach the world, that many who are lost

and confused and living in darkness, that they would see

the light and come and worship and bow their knees

at the cross and come to the salvation which is

in Christ Jesus. You know, while everyone is still Praying,

eyes closed and head out. If you feel like you

need to recommit your life to Christ, just slip up

your hand. If you need to come back to the cross,

put away anything in the world, separate yourself from anything

that puts a distance, recommit your lives even right now.

If anyone is in need of baptism, come see me.

Come see Pastor or Elder Mervin. After the service, we

want to talk with you. Lord Jesus, bless this congregation

right now. May your light shine in their lives. In

Jesus' name, amen.