In Revelation chapter 2 Jesus dictated a letter to the apostle John that was to be given to the church at Ephesus.

In that letter the Lord commended the church for the zeal and tireless effort that went into their service for Him. This was a church that had a lot of good things going on.

However in v.4 the Lord Jesus went on to say, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

All of these positive works of service were erased by one negative—they were going through the motions but they had lost the emotion in their relationship with Jesus.

Their church was a well oiled machine—but God doesn’t want machines cranking out emotionless service—He wants a love relationship with His people.

Jesus said the greatest commandment is “That you love the Lord your God with all you heart, soul, mind and strength” –Not that you serve the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

And notice He doesn’t say they lost their first love. He says they left their first love.

This was a conscious act of departing on their part that didn’t take place all at once but like the slow drifting off course of a ship at sea it happened slowly over time.

In Weymouth’s N.T. translation of this passage we read—“Yet I have this against you—that you no longer love Me as you did at first.”

What is “first love”? It is the passionate love for Jesus that often characterizes the new believer.

It is the “I can’t think of anyone else” kind of fervent love that newlyweds have for each other—in a word it’s “honeymoon” love.

And while it is true that married love deepens and grows richer over time, it is also true that it should never lose the passion of those “honeymoon days.”

The word “Ephesus” means “darling” or “desired one.” They were still desired by the Lord but He was no longer desired by them.

In Jeremiah chapter 2 the Lord is lamenting the fact that Israel no longer loved Him as they did when He first led them out of Egypt and their love for Him was brand new.

He Lord said to them, “I remember how eager you were to please me as a young bride long ago, how you loved me and followed me even through the barren wilderness…” Jer.2:2 (NLT)

The worst thing that can happen to any relationship, whether you’re talking about your relationship with God or your spouse is when you begin to take the other for granted.

The church at Ephesus fell into the trap of thinking that loveless service was enough to please the Lord.

It would be like a wife who says to her husband, “ I don’t love you, I have no feelings for you at all, but I’ll stay married to you. I’ll clean your clothes, cook your meals…”

What husband would be happy with a relationship like that? I didn’t marry my wife so that I would have someone to cook my meals and clean my house—I can hire a maid to do those things.

I married her because I fell in love with her as she did with me and now all the acts of service she does for me are special and beautiful because I know they are an expression of her love for me—but without the love they would be meaningless.

It’s obvious that Jesus feels that same way and wants more than service in our relationship with Him—He wants passionate, honeymoon love.

Remember He is holding His church in His nail scarred hands which speak of the ultimate act of selfless love—to lay down your life for the person you’re in love with. What kind of love are you giving Him in return?

All Christians love Jesus but not all Christians are ‘in love’ with Jesus—and there is a difference.

When was the last time you told the Lord, “I love you” and it wasn’t tied to something you wanted from Him? It wasn’t embedded in some prayer request?

Some marriages have so deteriorated that the words “I love you” are only used when couples want something from each other.

In Jesus’ letter to the church of Ephesus He goes on to tell them what they needed to do to get back to ‘first love’ or honeymoon love in their relationship with Him—”Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works…” Rev.2:5 (NKJV)

“First love” can be restored if you follow the three instructions Jesus gave.

First, you must remember (literally “keep on remembering”) the love you once had for Him and cultivate a desire to regain that close communion once again.

Second, you must repent—which means to turn around and forsake any relationship with anyone or anything that is competing in your heart for the love that belongs to Jesus.

Third, you must repeat the first works. “Yes, but what does that really mean?”

What were you doing when you were first in love with and on fire for the Lord?

“I was going to church.” Go again!

“I was getting up early for morning devotions.” Do it again!

“I sang praise to the Lord as I drove down the street.”Sing again!

Remember—Repent—Repeat is the key to restoring your relationship with Jesus.

The passion of Paul the apostle’s life was ‘that I might know Him.’

When he said that in Phil.3 he had already known Jesus for many years as a believer.

But Paul wanted to know Him more and more. He wanted a deeper and more intimate relationship with Jesus with each passing day.

The question you need to ask yourself is—“What is the state of my love for Jesus?”

Not the state of your theology about Him or your service to Him but what is the state of your love for Him!

If you’re heart has grown cold in your relationship with Jesus ask Him to light the fire of passionate love once again so that you might fall in love with your Bridegroom once more. It’s not too late to rekindle that honeymoon love!

May the Lord richly bless you as you walk with Him day by day!

Pastor Phil

In 2Corinthians 9:6 Paul the apostle states a simple yet immutable law— “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully”.

Paul uses a farming metaphor here. In farming you’ll only reap in proportion to how much you sow. You can’t sow five or six seeds and expect to harvest an entire field.

In fact there are 3 laws of sowing and reaping that we need to understand:

1. You will reap what you sow

Or in other words you will reap after the same kind as you have sown. God said in Genesis as a law of sowing and reaping, “Let everything bring forth after its kind” (Genesis 1:11)

So in other words if you sow corn you’re not going to harvest wheat. If you sow tomato seeds you won’t reap watermelons—it’s a law of sowing and reaping—you reap what you sow.

This law also applies spiritually—

Galatians 6:7-8 (NKJV)
⁷ Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. ⁸ For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption (hell), but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

This also applies to marriage and children. If you sow love, kindness, respect and unselfishness into your marriage you’re going to reap the fruit of a healthy and blessed marriage. If you sow the Word of God, love and a godly example into your children’s lives you will reap godly adults that love the Lord when they grow up.

2. You will reap after you sow

The harvest comes after the planting—and for a believer that can be torturous at times because you keep sowing and sowing and sowing good seed into your marriage, your children, or into your business or ministry but you don’t yet see any good fruit for all your faithfulness and hard work and that can be very hard.

It’s hard because we live in an instant gratification society (instant coffee, instant mashed potatoes, instant on T.V.’s and instant cameras).

And so we want instant results spiritually—but that’s not the way it works in physical farming which is why Paul used a farming metaphor. The farmer doesn’t plant seeds in his field on Monday and picks fruit on Tuesday–it takes time to grow good things. And the same is true with spiritual sowing and reaping.

So what must we learn?

1.) We must learn to exercise faith that God is at work even if we can’t see anything happening—”Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing [by faith] that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)

2.) And we must learn to exercise patience—”And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart”. (Galatians 6:9)

So we will reap good things if we’re patient and don’t give up sowing good seeds (deeds).

But this also works in the negative. The unbeliever or backslidden Christian who is living with their boyfriend or girlfriend; or the person who is having an affair; or taking drugs or is involved with internet pornography or messing with the occult.

They make the mistake of thinking, “Nothing bad has happened to me so far. My life is being blessed so it can’t really be wrong.”

No, the harvest comes later—sometimes years later when the lung cancer shows up because of the smoking; or the cirrhosis from years of drinking; or AIDS from the sexual promiscuity; or the marriage fails after years of infidelity or internet pornography.

Earnest Hemingway lived a very sinful life and used to laugh at Christians who told him that if he didn’t stop living the way he was living and turn his life over to Christ he would suffer the consequences. He mocked them by saying he was living the way he wanted, drinking, carousing and yet he was famous and successful and nothing bad had happened to him yet. “I won’t reap any consequences” he used to say. That is until ten years later when his years of sinning caught up to him and he committed suicide.

You see nobody violates the Word of God with impunity, nobody violates God’s law without paying the consequences—you don’t break God’s law, God’s law breaks you.

You don’t reap before you sow—you reap after you sow or, if we’re talking about sin, while you continue to sow but it often doesn’t happen right away.

And the classic mistake these people often make is thinking because they aren’t suffering any negative consequences now and in fact seem to be being blessed by God it’s not wrong what they’re doing or how they’re living.

The reason they are misinterpreting their circumstances is because the goodness and grace of God often aren’t removed immediately from a person’s life once they start down the path of sin.

But make no mistake—God is not blessing you in your sin or because of your sin, He is blessing you inspite of your sin because He wants His continued goodness and blessing in your life to bring you to repentance. (Romans 2:4)

3. You will reap more than you sow

If you plant one apple seed you will get an entire apple tree with many apples on it each containing many seeds.

If you plant one grain of wheat you will get a whole stalk containing many grains of wheat.

In fact Jesus Himself said in John 12:24—”Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain”.

Jesus here is using a farming metaphor to teach a spiritual truth—that if we live our lives for ourselves we will not produce any fruit for the Kingdom; but if we die to self and live for God we will produce much fruit for the Kingdom.

The Lord put it this way in Mark 8:35, “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it”.

If a person seeks to save their life now (live for themselves) they will lose eternal life in heaven; but if they lose their life now (deny themselves and live for God) they will save it and spend eternity in heaven with the Lord.

Now when Paul said in 2Corinthians 9:6, “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully”, he was applying this principle to giving to God.

He is essentially saying that we can’t out give God.

If you give to Him with the right heart He will take it and multiply it—look at the little boy who gave his ‘sack lunch’ of 5 small barley crackers and 2 small pickled fish to Jesus who then multiplied it and fed 5000 men plus women and children.

I don’t know how the Lord will multiply what you give to Him. You might not even see how in this life–but He will multiply it abundantly and use it to build His Kingdom so have faith and be patient!

Remember, the harvest we will reap in heaven will far exceed what we have sown here on earth because we can only serve the Lord for 20, 30, 40, 50 or even 60 years on this earth but we will reap an eternity of blessings in heaven someday.

However the same is true for the unbeliever. He or she can only live for themselves and their pleasure while living on this earth for however long that might be–but then they will reap an eternity of separation from God in hell.

So there you have the laws of sowing and reaping—what are you sowing in your life today? And are you going to be happy with what you’re going to reap down the road in this life and for eternity?

Why don’t you fall on the ground and die to self now by repenting and receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?

If you start sowing a life of obedience to Him now you will reap the blessings of it forever.

May the Lord richly bless you as you walk with Him day by day.

Pastor Phil

In Ephesians chapter 2 Paul is talking about the riches of God’s grace toward the human race in sending His Son to save us.

However, before a person will appreciate the riches of God’s grace toward them and receive God’s gift of salvation they must first be convinced of their own sinfulness.

Let’s put it this way—say you have a terminal disease and yet you don’t realize you are infected with this disease.

And say I recognized the symptoms you have because I too was once infected with that same disease.

And so I came to you and told you that I have a cure for the disease you are infected with—a miracle cure, the only one in the world that could save your life.

You would probably say to me, “Get lost, I don’t have a disease, I feel fine.”

As long as you’re convinced that you’re healthy you wouldn’t appreciate the cure I was offering to you because in your mind you wouldn’t see your need for it.

But now let’s imagine that I began to tell you the symptoms of this disease, and as I did you began to realize that you did have those symptoms.

If I could eventually convince you that you were, in fact, infected with this deadly disease—then how do you think you’d appreciate the cure?

You see that’s in essence what Paul is doing here in Ephesians 2:1-3.

Ephesians 2:1-3 (NKJV)
¹ And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, ² in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, ³ among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

In the first three verses of Ephesians chapter 2 he is basically telling us that many centuries ago; our forefather Adam infected himself with a deadly disease called ‘sin.’

It’s a terminal disease that he has passed down to all of his children since—“In Adam all die…” 1Cor.15:22

If left untreated the result is spiritual death forever—without exception.

The only cure is the blood of Christ which is applied through faith.

The problem is that most people don’t feel ‘sick’, they don’t feel like there’s a problem—why, because they’ll tell you, “I’m a good person. I don’t rob banks or murder people…”

In Proverbs 20:6 we are told that “most people proclaim that they are good” and yet in Romans 3:23 Paul the apostle said, “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.

Jesus can only help those who know they’re sinners and in need of a Savior.

Just like a doctor can only help those who realize they’re sick.

Luke 5:29-32 (NKJV)
²⁹ Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.
³⁰ And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
³¹ Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
³² I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Don’t misunderstand-Jesus isn’t saying that the scribes and Pharisees were ‘well’ spiritually speaking, they were sinners like everyone else. It’s just that they didn’t think they were sinners. They believed, because of all their religious works, that they were righteous (spiritually healthy) and therefore didn’t need a ‘doctor’ (Jesus the Savior).

Paul understood this principle-that before people will seek out the Savior to heal them of the disease of sin that has infected them, they must first understand that they are sinners who manifest the symptoms of sin.

That’s why Paul, in the first three verses of Ephesians chapter 2, starts out by telling us the disease we had before we knew Jesus—we were dead in trespasses and sins (spiritual death).

He then proceeds to tell us what some of the symptoms of this condition were—

Ephesians 2:2-3 (NKJV)
² in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
³ among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind…

Paul listed some of these “lusts of the flesh” in Galatians 5—

Galatians 5:19-21 (NLT)
¹⁹ When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, ²¹ envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

And once again, these are all the symptoms of the terminal disease that has infected the human race.

The consequences—

Ephesians 2:3 (NKJV)
³ among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

That is the hopeless condition the human race apart from Christ finds itself in—it’s hopeless because man is helpless to change his condition.

To put it another way—man has a bad heart—it’s been infected by sin and if left untreated he will die—spiritually and eternally.

The cure—

Man needs a new heart—a heart transplant if you will.

The problem is that man can’t change his own heart only God can do that.

“Who can say, “I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin”? (Proverbs 20:9)

David cried in Psalm 51, “Create in me a clean heart—O God!”

Ezekiel 36:26 (NKJV)
²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

How does God do this? He does it when you put your trust in His Son, Jesus Christ.

Without putting your faith in Jesus there is no hope of ever having eternal life and you will die in your sins.

The N.T. tells us that we can never earn our salvation it is a gift that God is offering to us by His grace.

Look, many people who have a serious disease like cancer, often have it months if not years before the first symptom shows up.

By that time the disease has often progressed to the point where permanent damage or even death is inevitable—that’s why early detection is critical.

The same is true with sin—a person can go a long time before the symptoms start to catch up with them and by that time irreparable damage could have been done to them physically (siroccos of the liver, lung disease, HIV), mentally (chronic depression) or outwardly (a broken marriage, the inability to maintain a job or friendships etc.)

The Bible says that the “way of the transgressor is hard”.

Sin will beat you up, wear you out and eat you away like a cancer—how much better to repent and receive God’s cure by accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and living in obedience to what God has commanded?

The Great Physician is ready to perform a heart transplant on you today—if you’re willing!

May the Lord richly bless you as you walk with Him day by day!

Pastor Phil

In Ephesians 3:17 the apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesians, “…that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…”

You might be thinking to yourself—“why is Paul praying that Jesus may dwell in their hearts—I thought he was writing this to Christians who already had Jesus living in their hearts?”

It is true that Paul is writing to believers living in Ephesus. It is also true that Jesus lives in the heart of every Christian the moment they receive Him into their heart by faith as Lord and Savior.

So then what is Paul actually saying here? The answer is found in the word “dwell.”

According to the Greek scholar Dr. Kenneth Wuest the verb literally means “to settle down and feel at home.”

Certainly Jesus was already living in the hearts of the Ephesians, or else Paul would not have addressed them as “saints” in Ephesians 1:1.

What Paul is praying for is a deeper experience between Jesus and His people.

He yearns for Christ to settle down and feel at home in their hearts. He’s not talking about a superficial relationship, but an ever-deepening loving communion.

However, Jesus will never feel at home in our hearts until He feels welcome and comfortable in every room and secret chamber of our hearts—otherwise He will go on feeling like a tolerated visitor.

Remember one thing—Jesus didn’t force His way into your heart when you became a Christian.

He said in Revelation 3:20, “Behold I stand at the door and knock—if anyone opens the door I will come in…” Notice the Lord didn’t say, “Behold I stand at the door and kick it open.” He said, “Behold I stand at the door and knock”.

There was an English artist, Holman Hunt, who attempted to capture this scene on canvas—the painting now hangs in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

He pictured Jesus standing at a door of a neglected cottage—knocking to be let in.

When he first painted the picture, he invited his artist friends to critique it.

After studying it for awhile one of them said to him, “Holman, you have left off a very important part of the door–the handle, you left off the handle of the door.”

“Ah,” Mr. Hunt replied, “This door is a picture of the human heart, and the handle of the door is only on the inside. You see it’s up to the one within to respond to the knock of Jesus and open the door of their heart to invite Him in.”

Jesus will not force His way into a heart. He won’t barge in where He’s not welcome.

He’s a perfect gentleman who knocks and says, “If you’ll respond to Me, I’ll come in and dwell with you—but the choice is up to you.”

Most of us have made that choice. We heard His knock and said, “Come in, Lord. Come into my heart and make it your home.” And He did.

And now that He has come into our hearts He won’t feel comfortable until He has full access to every room and closet so that He can clean out the junk and rearrange and redecorate things so that He really feels at home there.

In his booklet My Heart Christ’s Home, Robert Munger pictures the Christian’ heart and life as a house, through which Jesus goes from room to room.

In the library, which is the mind, Jesus finds trash and all sorts of worthless things, which He proceeds to throw out and replace with His Word.

In the dining room of appetite He finds many sinful desires listed on a worldly menu. In the place of such things as prestige, materialism, and lust He puts humility, meekness, love, and all the other virtues for which believers are to hunger and thirst.

He goes through the living room of fellowship, where He finds many worldly companions and activities which He replaces with godly friends and fellowship with Himself.

Next the author pictures Jesus going through the workshop, where only toys are being made and He replaces these with the work of the Kingdom.

Then He goes into the closet where hidden sins are kept which He proceeds to clean out, and so on through the entire house.

Only when He had cleaned every room, closet, and corner of sin, carnality and foolishness could He settle down and be at home.

Author William MacDonald has said concerning this,

“[Jesus Christ will never feel at home in our hearts until He has] full access to every room and closet; that He might not be grieved by sinful words, thoughts, motives, and deeds; that He might enjoy unbroken fellowship with the believer…In effect, the apostle prays that the lordship of Christ might extend to the books we read, the work we do, the food we eat, the money we spend, the words we speak—in short, the minutest details of our lives.”

The problem with all too many Christians when they invite Jesus into their hearts, is that they lock Him in a ‘back bedroom’ somewhere and only bring Him out when they need His help.

They make most of their lives “off limits” to Him because they really don’t want Him intruding into areas of their thought lives, their associations, or interfering in how they spend their time and money.

But if Jesus Christ isn’t Lord of all He isn’t Lord at all.

Another problem with a lot of Christians is they have neglected their heart relationship with Jesus so much and allowed it to grow so cold that Jesus feels unwelcome, unwanted and abandoned.

Again, using Holman Hunt’s painting of Jesus standing at a door of a neglected cottage knocking to be let in.

One author put it this way—

“How often I have seen Christians whose lives are represented by the neglected cottage in Holman Hunt’s famous painting. Where the fire of passion once filled the windows with the light of vibrant life, now only the dimness of passivity is evident. Once the pathway was packed firm and the grounds weeded and trimmed for the frequent, welcomed visitor, but now the threshold is rarely crossed. And the door that was always ajar in anticipation of the Master’s fellowship is now shut and locked from the inside against a friend who is now regarded as a stranger.”

Folks, if you’ve never opened your heart to Jesus then know that He is standing on the outside of your heart knocking—it’s up to you whether or not you let Him in.

But understand that if you do it’s all or nothing. You must be willing to give Him total control of your life to clean it up and make it holy.

And for those of you who are Christians whose hearts have grown cold to the Lord know this—Jesus loves you and is saying to you, “It’s not too late to repent, it’s not too late to renew the warmth of our fellowship with one another.”

Of course the key to all of this is faith even as Paul stated in verse 17—“that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…”

Why has your relationship with Jesus grown cold? Maybe it’s because your faith is failing.

The reality that God has revealed to you has begun to seem unreal. Your faith is dragging.

The solution—you need to turn back to Him and renew your relationship by doing the things you used to do when you first opened the door of your heart to Him.

This would include getting back to church and back into your morning devotions.

Fill your day with praise because God inhabits the praise of His people.

But most importantly you must get back into His Word if your faith is going to be strengthened and renewed.

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”. (Romans 10:17)

The first thing to believe is the most fundamental fact of the Christian life and that is that Jesus Christ has come to live in you.

This fact is not dependent upon your feelings, which ebb and flow. It rests solely upon Jesus’ promise given in the Upper Room in John 14:23 when He said to His disciples, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”

And also, “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” (Hebrews 13:5)

That is what Paul refers to when he prays that Jesus may dwell in our hearts through faith.

First of all remind yourself of that every day as a Christian—that Jesus Christ lives in you. He has taken up residence in you and He promises never to leave you nor forsake you.

He has made your heart His home and you belong to Him forever!

Now make Him feel at home by surrendering every area of your heart and life to Him that He might start giving you an Extreme Makeover Heart Edition!

May the Lord richly bless you as you walk with Him day by day.

Pastor Phil

In Ephesians 5:15-16 Paul the apostle admonished believers, ” See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil”.

The Greek word translated “circumspectly” in verse 15 carries with it the idea of “precision and accuracy” but also has the idea of “looking, examining, and investigating something with great care”. But this Greek word further includes with it the idea of “alertness”.

So Paul is telling us “See that you walk or live your Christian life carefully with great precision—looking all around and giving strict attention to all things as one might do when passing through a very dangerous place.”

One author put it this way, “As believers walk through the spiritual mine field of the world, they are to be constantly alert to every danger that Satan puts in their way”.

Paul went on to say, “If you do this you will be wise and not a fool”.

Of course obedience to God’s Word in general is how we walk in wisdom.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…the fear of the Lord is to hate evil.” (Prov. 9:10; 8:12)

The wisdom spoken of here is knowing and applying the Word of God—anyone who doesn’t is a fool.

But also by admonishing us in Ephesians 5:15 to walk circumspectly Paul is telling us to live with purpose.

And I think by saying this he was drawing on something he had said earlier back in ch.2:1-2 when he said—”And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,  in which you once walked according to the course of this world…(Ephesians 2:1-2)

The word “walked” here in Greek is a word that should be translated “meandered” which means “to walk without purpose”.

Paul is saying that before we received Jesus Christ into our hearts as our Lord and Savior we were just meandering through life—that is, we really didn’t have any eternal purpose.

“…according to the course of this world…”

The word world doesn’t mean ‘earth’ but the world system; the word course has its root in the Greek word for weathervane.

A weathervane is also called a “wind vane” because it points in whatever direction the wind is blowing.

So the idea that Paul is communicating to us is that before we knew Jesus we were being turned and moved in whatever direction the prevailing philosophical, ideological and moral winds of this fallen world system were blowing us.

In other words we just followed the crowd, and the justification was, “everybody’s doing it—so get on board!”

But now as Christians our lives are no longer to be lived carelessly and without purpose because Jesus has given meaning to our lives and we are to walk with precision and accuracy in the path He has set before us.

Our lives should be following a different course than the unsaved world around us because believers and unbelievers are not headed for the same destination.

And I think that Paul is giving us a very simple illustration here—no one sets out on a trip without plotting a precise course that will lead to a definite destination.

And yet how many Christians really live their lives with a great sense of purpose, walking carefully through their day so as not to allow the devil to trip them up, and using the opportunities God brings their way wisely.

That’s why Paul went on to say—”See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil”. (Ephesians 5:15-16)

Walking in wisdom first of all means that we as believers redeem the time.

The Greek word for “redeem” was a term used in the market place which meant to “buy out” or to “purchase completely”.

The word “time” is not the Greek word ‘chronos’ which is time in the sense of seconds, minutes and hours; but ‘kairos’ which is better translated “opportunities”.

This word was used by Paul in Gal. 6:10 when he said—”Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith”.

The idea is that as Christians we should “purchase completely” or totally take into our possession every opportunity that presents itself to be used by God.

We should be capitalizing on every opportunity we have to witness; to help another in need; or to minister in Jesus’ name—why?

Well, first of all because the days are evil.

In other words there is a tremendous amount of pressure that is being exerted on us by the world around us to waste our time or even worse—to use it in sinful ways.

We are living at a time when wickedness and immorality abound—a time when the darkness is so pervasive and so persuasive that the only way to keep from being swept away by it is to stand up and fight against it.

Someone has said, “It is sad to see many professed Christians “drift” through life, like sleepwalkers, who never really make the most of opportunities to live for Christ and serve Him”.

Jesus said, “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work”. (John 9:4)

This is a solemn reminder to everyone who is a Christian that life’s “day” is swiftly passing, and the night is coming when our service on earth will be forever over.

“There is only one life it will soon be past and only what is done for Christ will last.”

The great sixteenth–century reformer Philipp Melanchthon kept a record of every wasted moment and took his list to God in confession at the end of each day.

It is small wonder that God used him in such great ways.

Psalms 90:12 (NKJV)
¹² So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

None of us knows how many days we will have in our lives. But here we are being told to make “everyday count”.

How? By walking with purpose and not wasting our opportunities to be used by God.

But I think that Paul is also pointing out to us in Ephesians 5 that evil times create opportunities for good so we must make the most of those opportunities.

Henry Ford said this during the Great Depression—“Many people think these are bad times. These are actually good times—the problem is only a few people know it.”

What others saw as tragedy Ford saw as opportunity—the opportunity to make money.

The same is true for Christians today—only the opportunity set before us is not to make money but to save souls!

I believe that God is allowing all of the economic uncertainty to give us the greatest opportunity we have seen in a long time to reach people with the gospel.

For Christians these are very good times—the problem is only a few realize it. God is setting an open door before us—let’s get busy!

May the Lord richly bless you as you walk with Him day by day.

Pastor Phil

Here we are just four days away from the greatest holiday this world has ever celebrated—the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the single greatest event in the history of the world and the cornerstone of the Christian faith.

The resurrection was the central message of all Apostolic preaching in the book of Acts and is the very bedrock upon which the gospel is built.

It is so foundational to Christianity that anyone who denies the physical, bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ cannot be a genuine Christian.

Without the resurrection there is no Christian faith, no salvation and no hope for man.

As Paul the Apostle said, “If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is useless, your faith is meaningless, we are still in our sins, those who have died believing in Christ are lost and we are of all men the most pathetic. We might as well eat, drink, and be merry for there is nothing more to life than this.”

However Paul went on to say, “But now Christ is risen from the dead and is the first fruits from the grave of those who have died believing in Jesus.”

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest source of joy and celebration known to man.

However what ended with great joy and celebration didn’t start out that way.

Matt.27 ends with the death and burial of Jesus Christ; and everyone present that day, the Pharisees, the Roman soldiers, and even Jesus’ own disciples believed that the story ended there.

Of course death is where most people believe the story ends for all of us. They say death is inevitable and final.

And so we don’t like to talk about it; we try to push it from our minds. We try to deny it, we even try to cheat it—but inevitably death will claim all of us someday.

I read a story about a little girl whose daddy tearfully said to her one summer day, “Honey, mommy is dying. She has cancer, there’s nothing more the doctors can do. By the time the leaves fall off the trees, mommy will be gone.”

As the weeks passed the leaves began to turn colors and fall. And one day the father looked out the window and saw his precious little daughter in the front yard with a ball of string in her hand trying to tie the leaves back onto the branches of the trees—she was trying to stop the inevitable from happening.

Death is inevitable, but is it really final?

Some years ago the Canadian author, G.B. Hardy wrote a book about life, philosophy, and destiny entitled, Countdown: A Time to Choose.

In his book he noted that there are really only two questions to ask with regard to destiny:

1. Has anyone ever defeated death?
2. If so, did he make a way for us to do it also?

Hardy goes on to explain that he found the answer to both questions in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

You see Jesus died and was buried but the story doesn’t end there.

When Satan entered into Judas Iscariot who then betrayed Jesus to the Pharisees, Scribes and Chief priests who then turned Him over to Pilate who had Him crucified; As they laid the body of Jesus in the Garden Tomb and rolled that large stone over the opening, everyone thought that was the end of Jesus, the story was over and the message went out from the councils of hell—

“Jesus Defeated!”

June 18^th 1815 was a very important day in the history of the world. Napoleon had just left the island of Elba, where he had been rebuilding his army after his exile.

Sailing back to the mainland of Europe with him were 75,000 soldiers, including the Old Guard—perhaps the finest fighting men in all the world. Although Arthur Wellesley, 1^st Duke of Wellington, Commander and Chief of the British forces, pledged to do his best to stop Napoleon—the prospect for victory seemed bleak.

At Waterloo, with only 67,000 Allied troops, Wellesley engaged Napoleon in battle. If Napoleon, who was heavily favored to win, was indeed victorious, there would have been no stopping him in his drive to reconquer all of Europe.

The people in England waited for hours as the battle raged. Eager for news, they had a ship waiting in the English Channel, which would signal the outcome of this historic battle to watchmen stationed in towers along the shores of Dover.

Finally word of the battle reached the signal ship and they began to flag a message to the watchmen in the towers:

“W-e-l-l-i-n-g-t-o-n -D-e-f-e-a-t-e-d”

By then a fog bank had rolled in and had completely enshrouded the towers.

The hearts of the watchmen sank but they quickly relayed the message to the waiting messengers on horseback and the word spread like wildfire throughout England—“Wellington Defeated!”

Hopelessness and despair set in as the British knew it would only be a matter of time before Napoleon would sail across the Channel and lay claim to their country.

However by this time the fog had lifted, and after firing a cannon to get the attention of those in the tower, flags began to wave again to signal the third and final word of the message—the word “Napoleon.” And what a difference that third word made. The full message–

“Wellington Defeated Napoleon”

So to when Jesus died and was buried a fog seemed to enshroud humanity, darkness fell upon the land and the earth quaked, as all of creation seemed to cry out—

“Jesus Defeated!”

Hopelessness and despair filled the disciple’s hearts; heaven held its breath as it now seemed that nothing would stop the enemy.

But on the third day the fog lifted and Jesus stepped from that tomb and the full message was broadcast to all the world—

“Jesus Defeated Death”

Satan had been stopped and death had been forever defeated.

All but 4 of the major world religions are based on philosophical and ethical principles. Of the 4 that are based on personalities only Christianity claims an empty tomb due to the resurrection of its founder.

1.      Abraham, the father of Judaism died about 1900 B.C. but no resurrection was ever claimed for him.

2.      The original accounts of Buddha’s life and death never ascribe to him any resurrection from the dead.

3.      Mohammed died on June 8, 632 A.D. at the age of 61 in Medina. Every year his tomb is visited by thousands of devout Muslims, but never did they ever claim that Mohammed rose from the dead.

Only the tomb of Jesus Christ is empty, because only Jesus is risen! This was triumphantly proclaimed by the angels that first resurrection Sunday morning to the women who came to the tomb to finish preparing the body of Jesus for burial, they said, “Why do you seek the living among the dead, He is not here, He is risen!”

The death of Jesus wasn’t the end of the story—it was just the beginning.

Through His death and resurrection a whole new chapter in the history of mankind had begun as Jesus promised—“Because I live you will live also.” (John 14:19b)

Many centuries ago Job asked the question, “If a man dies will he live again?”

That is a question that has burned in the heart of man ever since the beginning of time. Since the very first time man was made to taste death, the question that has both haunted and hounded man has been, “What happens after I die? Is death the end or is it merely the doorway into another life?”

But Jesus answered that question when He said, “Because I live you will live also.”

Jesus was saying that through His resurrection He was going to conquer death so that death would no longer be able to hold us. And if we believe in Him, because He died and rose again—so would we someday.

“If a man dies will he live again?” Because of what Jesus did early one Sunday morning just outside of Jerusalem 2000 yrs. ago the answer is a resounding “YES!”

C.H. Spurgeon—“The massive door, you will observe was taken away from the grave—not merely opened but flung aside, rolled away; and henceforth death’s ancient prison-house is without a door. The saints shall pass in, but they shall not be shut in. They shall tarry there as in an open cavern, but there is nothing to prevent their coming forth from it in due time.”

And that’s why Christians celebrate the resurrection as the greatest day in the history of the world.

Do you know Him today? Have you put your faith in Him? Give Him your life so that you can also say, “Because He lives someday I will step from the grave and live with Him forever.”

May the Lord richly bless you as you walk with Him day by day.

Pastor Phil

We have been looking at ways to make this New Year count for the Lord in a big way.

As we’ve already said, every New Year brings with it new hope–the hope that this year will be a better year than last year.

The hope that I can build on what’s good and put behind me what’s bad—that with God’s grace old things will pass away and this will be a new year of blessing and renewal.

The problem is for most people, when they enter into a new year, all they do is hope that things will change–all they do is engage in wishful thinking that things will be different but they never do anything to bring about any change.

Now it’s true that it’s a lot easier talking about change than it is to accomplish it–but with God’s grace and power anything is possible.

In my life I want to make this year a year that I keep the greatest commandment of them all–

Mark 12:30 (NKJV)
³⁰ ‘And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first (supreme) commandment.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “Yes, that’s what I want more than anything else this year–to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength” then let’s look at how we might accomplish that together.

We have already looked at the first two admonitions that Jesus gave—loving God with all our heart and soul in our first two studies.

That brings us to the third admonition of the greatest commandment of all–

III. To Love God with All Your Mind

The mind is the seat of reason.

When God said in Isaiah 1:18, “Come let us reason together…” He was appealing to the mind.

When God appeals to our minds, as believers, He wants us to do 3 things primarily—

A. Guard our thoughts

B. Prioritize our lives

C. Don’t worry about our needs

This is what loving God with all our minds is all about.

A. Guard our thoughts

The mind is the processing center of our being.

Everyday raw data enters our minds through our eyes and ears in the form of images and verbal messages where it is then processed.

Most of it is useless information (advertisements that you saw on TV or read in some magazine, the stupid joke someone told at work etc.) and so it gets discarded into your mental trash bin the way you would delete junk mail out of the inbox in your email account.

Some of this information is somewhat valuable and so it gets filed away in your ‘mental file cabinet’ for later use–like the deal on a vacation get away that sounds interesting or some other piece of information that you might want to take advantage of at a later time.

Now some of this information gets internalized and becomes part of the core values of your heart–those things which are consistent with the ideologies and philosophies that you identify with and that make up your world view.

Your world view refers to the framework of ideas and beliefs through which an individual interprets the world and interacts with it

As a Christian when you go to Bible study and hear the Word of God taught, you should immediately internalize that teaching and make it a part of your core values–those principles and truths that you intend to live your life by.

We have an expression–“Taking it to heart” that refers to this very thing.

Now this is all very important to us as Christians because most spiritual warfare takes place in the mind for control of your thinking.

Satan wants to control your thinking because he knows if he can control your thinking he can control you. And so the devil wants to flood your mind with images and messages that will destroy your relationship with God by keeping you brain washed in his way of thinking–which of course is worldly.

You might be thinking, “How will I know if he’s being successful?”

You’ll know it by how you think about the world around you and how you interact with it.

If your love for the things of this world is stronger than your love for God—if you desire physical comforts and pleasures more than God or if you’re more concerned with laying up for yourself treasures on the earth than treasures in heaven—then know this, Satan is having his way with your mind.

This is exactly what John the apostle warned against when he said,

1 John 2:15-17 (NLT)
¹⁵ Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. ¹⁶ For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. ¹⁷ And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

That’s why it is imperative as Christians that we constantly are on guard as to what enters our minds.

Spiritual warfare is the battle between light and dark, truth and error, good and evil and the main battle field where it is fought is in our minds for control of our thinking—that’s why the New Testament has so much to say about our minds as Christians—

Romans 12:2 (NKJV)
² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Ephesians 4:23 (NKJV)
²³ and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

Colossians 3:2 (NKJV)
² Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

Philippians 2:5 (NKJV)
⁵ Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

How about one more—

2 Corinthians 2:11 (NKJV)
¹¹ lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices (mind games).

The mind becomes the first line of defense in spiritual warfare against ideologies and values that Satan wants to use to destroy us and those we love.

When we talk about loving God with all of our mind it primarily means that we honor God with our thought lives.

Paul the apostle gave us some simple advice along these lines when he said–

Philippians 4:8 (NKJV)
⁸ Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy–meditate on these things.

God’s Word teaches us that godly living always flows from godly thinking which is only possible by the renewing of your mind through the Word of God.

Psalm 119:9, 11 (NLT)

⁹ How can a young person stay pure? By obeying your word.

¹¹ I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

I am absolutely convinced that the reason so many Christians are living worldly lives is because they’re thinking worldly thoughts.

Their minds are still conformed to this world’s way of thinking and they have not allowed them to be transformed by the renewing that comes from God’s Word. In other words their world view is carnal and not spiritual.

B. Prioritize our lives

Secondly, to love God with all our mind means we have to cultivate the right mindset with regard to this life. God has to be our first (supreme) love which means we have to prioritize our lives placing God on the top of our list of priorities.

A medical doctor wrote a book in which he dealt with some of the major maladies of our time.

This doctor called our overriding malady “Overload,” and said that people try to do and have more than they can handle. Here is a summary of his conclusions.

1. We’re overloaded with commitments. We’ve committed ourselves to go here and there, to take part in this activity and that social function. As a result, we soon meet ourselves coming and going, because we have overloaded ourselves in the area of commitments.

2. We’re overloaded with possessions. Our closets are full, and our garages are overflowing. We’ve gone into debt to pay for all of these things we “simply must have.” Now that we have all that “we must have”, we’re afraid that someone will steal them. We are overloaded in the area of possessions.

3. We’re overloaded with work. We get up early, fight traffic, and experience intolerable working conditions, because — we have to, if we’re going to pay for all those possessions we “simply must have”. We find ourselves overloaded with work.

4. We’re overloaded with information. He said that as a doctor, he has to read some 220 articles a month just to keep up with all the changes in his profession. Now with the internet there’s an information superhighway. The problem is that we can’t possibly absorb all that information, so we feel an overload in this area, too.

5. We’re overloaded with activities such as school functions, sports activities, etc., etc., without number.

The list could go on and on, but you get the picture. There are so many demands on our time, so many good things that should be done.

However, there are only 8,760 hours in a year. If you are going to make this New Year count—then you are going to have to prioritize the things in your life that are screaming for your time.

The best way I know how is to prioritize what is most important to you—whatever is most important you will make time for.

When people tell me they’re just too busy to come to church I know that getting close to Jesus through fellowship with the Body of Christ and the teaching of the Word isn’t that important to them.

Jesus said, “Wherever your treasure is there your heart will be also.”

One pastor had this to say on the subject—

“It never ceases to amaze me, that when an activity such as a ballgame or something else is rained out and rescheduled during a church activity, I hear — and God hears.., “Well after all, we’ve committed to this activity, so it must take priority.”
You know what, I can’t remember too many times when a church function was “rained out” and rescheduled on a school or ballgame time, that the same standard was applied by saying “We’ve made a commitment to Christ and the church, so this church activity must take priority.”
You can piously say whatever you want, but when those choices are made, I can tell you without question, where the priority is.., and it is NOT with Christ and the church.”

The main problem is they are not obeying the biblical injunction to: “Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus” Who said, “I have not come to do My Own will be the will of Him Who sent Me.” And, “I must be about My Father’s business.”

The only way we can prioritize our lives is to make a list and decide what is important and what is not.

It’s amazing most people never do this. They never stop and think through and write down on paper what’s really important to them.

Maybe some of you have never done this.

If not ask yourself, “What’s important to me?” What really counts—what do I really value in life?”

We can’t do what’s important until we first clarify what’s important.

Otherwise you’re going to be pushed around by the pressures of life—a slave to the tyranny of the urgent—and before you know it the year will be gone and you’ll say,

“What happened? Where did this year go and what do I have to show for it in the way of significant change?”

Most people have never made up their mind what they want out of life and if you aim at nothing, you’re going to hit it.

Most people have this vague feeling of, “I just want to be happy.” But happiness is a very subjective and elusive thing.

What does God want me to do with my life? Why am I here? They’ve never written out their values.

I want to challenge each of you to, make a list of things that are important to you, a list of things that you want to accomplish.

What do I value? What do I want to change? Put it down.

Then make this your prayer list. Pin it up on a wall and review it every day and pray about it

Just make sure that your goals honor God—then do whatever you have to, to make the most of this New Year and watch God do miracles in your life.

The key for most Christians will be learning to choose, not between the good and the bad, but learning to choose between what’s good and what’s best.

May I suggest three things that need to be at the top of your list?

1. Your relationship with God needs to be #1.

What are you going to do this year to strengthen and improve your relationship with God? What are you going to do to become more intimate with Him? How much time are you going to set aside each day for prayer and for the study of His Word. You need to make your relationship with God the top priority.

2. Your relationship with your family.

What are you going to do to build a stronger and better relationship with your family? What are you going to change about yourself that will help you to become a better husband, wife or parent?

3. Your relationship with your church and church family.

What are you willing to do to improve the quality of your church? How involved are you willing to get to help your church accomplish the work that God has given it? How committed are you going to be in your attendance and the support of your church?

These are the three things that many a Christian on their deathbed wishes they had given greater priority to.

I have never heard of anyone coming to the end of their life and saying, “I wish I had spent more time at the office building my career.”

Clarify what’s important—don’t wait to begin!

Do it now! These three words can change your life. Do it now!

There will never be an ideal time to start making changes to get your priorities in order.

If you’re going to make this year count by accomplishing your goals then start now, don’t wait.

Ecclesiastes 11:4 (NKJV)
⁴ He who observes the wind will not sow, And he who regards the clouds will not reap.

In other words, “If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.”

And finally when we talk about loving God with all of our mind,

C. Don’t worry about your needs

The Bible has much to say on this subject, but we’ll just look at a few passages.

Luke 12:29-30 (NKJV)
29 “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.
30 “For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.

Matthew 6:33 (NKJV)
33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Do you see that Jesus is teaching the very thing we’re talking about—get your priorities right, put God first and concern yourself primarily with building His Kingdom and He promises to take care of all your physical needs.

John 16:33 (NKJV)
33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

The reason so many Christians are anxious and stressed out is because their minds are not resting in the promises of God and trusting Him to take care of them.

We are living at a time when, because of the uncertainty of the future, many people are experiencing a considerable amount of fear, anxiety and stress—and even Christians are not immune.

Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV)
3 You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.

The Hebrew is “You will keep him in peace, peace…” Double peace, perfect peace!

But to experience this peace you have to have your thoughts fixed on God, because you trust Him and have absolute confidence in His strength, love and wisdom towards you.

Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)
⁶ Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. ⁷ Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

And so to summarize, loving God with all of our mind first of all means to guard what gets into our minds by guarding what enters through what we look at and listen to.

Secondly it means to cultivate a mindset that would prioritize our lives around what’s really important–God, family and church.

And finally it means that we stop worrying about our daily needs and rest our thoughts on God’s promises and trust Him to take care of us.

I hope that these thoughts will help you make this New Year a year of blessing and intimacy with God. Next time we’ll finish up our study in “Making the New Year Count”.

May the Lord richly bless you as you walk with Him day by day.

Pastor Phil

Every new year brings with it new hope. The hope that this new year is going to be better than last year.

The hope that I can build on what’s good and put behind me what’s bad—that with God’s grace old things will pass away and this will be a new year of blessing and renewal.

The problem is for most people, when they enter into a new year, all they do is hope that things will change. All they do is engage in wishful thinking that things will be different but they never do anything to bring about any change.

In my life I want to make this year a year that I keep the greatest commandment of them all–

Mark 12:30 (NKJV)
³⁰ ‘And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first (supreme) commandment.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “Yes, that’s what I want more than anything else this year–to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength” then let’s look at how we might accomplish that together.

In our last study on this topic we looked at what it means to love God with all our heart.

I. To Love God with All Your Heart

A. Purpose in your heart to live a life of total obedience and commitment to God

B. Purpose in your heart to control what comes out of your mouth

C. Purpose in your heart to honor God with your finances

D. Purpose in your heart to bring God into every decision

Now we want to look at the second admonition in what Jesus said was the greatest commandment of all.

II. To Love God with All Your Soul

Whereas the heart is the seat of conviction and commitment, the soul is the seat of our emotions.

When we talk about loving God with all our soul we’re talking about having a passion for God!

All Christians love Jesus—but not all Christians are in love with Jesus?

This reminds me of the exchange that Jesus had with Peter after he had denied the Lord three times and Jesus sought to restore him to fellowship and service.

“So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” John 21:15 (NKJV)

The Greek word that Jesus uses for love is ‘agapao’ the verb form of ‘agape.’

Agape is a word that’s usually used in the NT to speak of God’s love.

A love that’s deep, fervent and unconditional.

So Jesus is asking Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me, deeply, fervently and unconditionally?”

Peter said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”

Here Peter responds with the Greek word ‘phileo’ which is a word that means ‘friendship love or affection.’

So when Jesus asked Peter—“Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me, deeply, passionately and unconditionally?”

Peter responds by saying, “Yes, Lord; You know that I am fond of You.”

“He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.” John 21:16 (NKJV)

Jesus said a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me deeply, fervently and unconditionally?”

Peter responded, “Yes, Lord; You know that I am fond of You.”

“He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.” John 21:17 (NKJV)

When Jesus asked Peter the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?”the Lord used the Greek word ‘phileo’.

So this time Jesus asked Peter—“Peter, are you fond of Me?”

Here Jesus comes down to Peter’s level because Peter would not rise to the Lord’s level.

It’s always a sad day when we bring the Lord down to our level, rather than rising to His level—the level of total commitment.

This is true in our human relationships. If you fall in love with someone and you desire with all of your heart to enter into a deep lifelong commitment with them (marriage) but they respond to you, “I just want to be friends” doesn’t that just crush you?

This is what many Christians say to the Lord when He wants their relationship to go all the way into the deepest of all possible commitments and they respond, “Lord, I’m fond of You–I just want us to be friends.”

It’s always sad to see Christians who, because of carnality and compromise, are satisfied to settle for a lower level of relationship with Jesus than a total full on committed relationship with Him.

This also reminds me of what Jesus said to the Church of Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2.

Revelation 2:2-4 (NKJV)
² I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars;
³ and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.⁴ Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

This was a church that had many good works of service and yet they had left their first love— they were going through the motions but had lost the emotion in their relationship with Jesus.

Jesus said to them, “I have this against you—that you no longer love Me as you did at first.”(Weymoth N.T.)

What is “first love”? It is the passionate love for Jesus that often characterizes the new believer.

It is an excited, fervent, unashamed kind of love. It is the “honeymoon love” of the husband and wife.

While it is true that mature married love deepens and grows richer, it is also true that it should never lose the excitement and wonder of those “honeymoon days.”

The word “Ephesus” means ‘darling’ or “desired one.”

The worst thing that can happen to any relationship—whether it’s your relationship with God or your spouse is when you begin to take the other for granted and you lose that desire for each other.

When that happens, even if your service to them continues it becomes meaningless.

The church at Ephesus fell into the trap of thinking that loveless service was enough to please the Lord.

That would be like a wife coming to her husband and saying, “I don’t love you anymore. I have no feelings for you at all, but I’ll stay married to you. I’ll go on cleaning your clothes, cooking your meals and taking care of the house but don’t expect any closeness or emotion from me.”

What husband would be happy with a relationship like that?

I didn’t marry my wife to have someone to cook my meals and clean my house—I can hire a maid to do those things.

I married her because I fell in love with her and she with me. And that makes all the acts of service she does for me special and beautiful because I know they are an expression of her love for me.

But without the love they would be meaningless. It’s obvious that Jesus wants more than service—He wants closeness and emotion in our relationship with Him. In other words He wants some romance!

When was the last time you told the Lord, “I love you” and it wasn’t tied to something you wanted from Him? It wasn’t embedded in some prayer request?

Some marriages have so degenerated that the words “I love you” are only used to get things from each other.

What is the solution for a relationship with Jesus that has cooled into affection rather than passion?

Jesus gives us the remedy Himself in Revelation 2:5—

Revelation 2:5 (NKJV)
⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works…

“First love” can be restored if we follow the three instructions Jesus gave.

First, we must remember (literally “keep on remembering”) what we have lost and cultivate a desire to regain that close communion once again.

Then we must repent—change our minds—and confess our sins to the Lord (1 John 1:9).

Third, we must repeat the first works.

“Yes, but what does that really mean?”

What were you doing when you were on fire for the Lord?

“I was going to church.” Go again!

“I was getting up early for morning devotions.” Do it again!

“I sang praise to the Lord as I drove down the street.” Sing again!

Remember—Repent—Repeat is the key to restoring your relationship with Jesus.

You will never be passionate about God if you don’t make the effort to spend time with Him.

Someone has coined the phrase, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” and I suppose there is some truth to that on a human level.

But let me say when it comes to your relationship with God absence from God only makes your heart less passionate for God.

Again, you have to purpose to spend time with God—everyday in prayer and Bible study.

Remember James said, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” (James 4:8a)

If you will start putting in the time to draw close to Jesus He will draw close to you and you will begin to see the passion return in your relationship with Him.

So purpose to start loving God with all of your soul this year. If you make small changes each day they will add up to big changes in your relationship with Him by the end of 2010.

May the Lord richly bless you as you walk with Him day by day.

Pastor Phil

Today we stand at the beginning of a new year. Of course what makes a new year special is the fact that it’s  new!

Every new year brings with it new hope–hope that in this new year God will make things in our lives new in the sense of new opportunities, new strength for victory over old sins, a new relationship (if you’re single and wanting a spouse)–the hope of a better year than last year.

As we have entered this new year there are probably certain things you’d like to see changed.

The problem is for most people, when they enter into a new year, all they do is hope that things will change. All they do is engage in wishful thinking that things will be different but they never do anything to bring about change.

And so it doesn’t take long for the hope of a new year to become the same old defeat and discouragement of the past.

As one author said, “We can waste the New Year away by sitting around and worrying about the things we failed to accomplish last year, or the mistakes we made through out the year. We can sit around and mope or have a pity party because things didn’t go the way we wanted them to. Or we can decide to make the most of this New Year that God as granted us. This could be the greatest year of your life if you make a conscience decision to do whatever it takes to have a great year.”

So what are you going to do with 2010? How are you going to make it count?

How will this year be any different than last year?

Last year was a tough year for many in our country. 2009 might have been, for many of you, a year filled with more disappointments, setbacks and failures than it was a year filled with joy, victory and blessing.

The bad news is there is nothing we can do to change last year. The good news is we can learn from the mistakes and heartaches of last year and today we have the opportunity to start over and make some changes.

It’s like God is saying, “Let’s start over—old things have passed away I want to do something new this year in your life.”

Now it’s true that change isn’t easy but with God’s grace and power it’s certainly not impossible.

God brings life to us in small pieces that we know as hours and days. And if we make small changes hour after hour and day by day–those small changes will add up to big changes month by month and year after year.

Of course any change for good in our lives will ultimately come from God’s Spirit working in us.

However it’s wrong to think that God does everything and we do nothing; that change comes about with no effort on our part.

Certainly God has a part and we can’t do His part; but we also have a part and it’s just as certain that God will not do our part either.

Now when we talk about making changes in the new year, I can’t tell you what to change–I can only work on me and you can only work on you.

In John Maxwell’s book, “Developing the Leader Within You” he shares a story of a Middle Eastern man who said, “ I was a revolutionary when I was young and all my prayer to God was: ‘ Lord, give me the energy to change the world.’ As I approached middle age and realized that my life was half gone without my changing a single soul, I changed my prayer to: ‘ Lord, give me the grace to change all those who come into contact with me, just my family and friends, and I shall be satisfied.’ Now that I am an old man and my days are numbered, I have begun to see how foolish I have been. My one prayer now is: ‘ Lord, give me the grace to change myself.’ If I had prayed for this right from the start, I would not have wasted my life.”

Bottom line: You’ll waste your life trying to change others—only God can do that.

Instead make this a year that you purpose with God’s strength to be a better person by making some positive changes in your own life.

In my life I want to make this year a year that I keep the greatest commandment of them all–

Mark 12:30 (NKJV)
³⁰ ‘And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first (supreme) commandment.

If you’re thinking to yourself–”Yes, that’s what I want more than anything else this year. I want to love God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength” then let’s look at how we might accomplish that together.

I. To Love God with All Your Heart

The heart is the seat of conviction and commitment. To love God with all your heart means to have a heart of commitment toward Him. But that won’t happen unless you purpose in your heart to do certain things.

A. Purpose in your heart to live a life of total obedience and commitment to God

In a recent George Barna survey that came out not long ago—

• Although large majorities of the public claim to be “deeply spiritual” and say that their religious faith is “very important” in their life, only 15% of those who regularly attend a Christian church ranked their relationship with God as the top priority in their life.
• The notion of personal holiness has slipped out of the consciousness of the vast majority of Christians. While just 21% of adults consider themselves to be holy, by their own admission large numbers have no idea what “holiness” means and only one out of every three (35%) believe that God expects people to become holy.

From the results of another survey taken a few years ago, in comparing the ethics of Christian and non-Christian adults, it was found that:

1. Almost as many Christians steal from work as non-Christians

2. Almost as many Christians use company phones for personal long distance calls, as non-Christians

3. Christians are just as likely as non-Christians to:

a. Falsify their income taxes

b. Commit plagiarism

c. Give bribes to obtain a building permit

d. Ignore construction specs

e. Illegally copy computer programs

f. Steal time from work

g. Exaggerate their products

h. Selectively obey the law

I’d say that we Christians need to make some real changes in order to make our “walk” equal our “talk”.

Obedience and commitment to God won’t happen by accident they are only going to happen ON PURPOSE.

“But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies…” (Dan.1:8)

B. Purpose in your heart to control what comes out of your mouth

Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”.

Psalms 17:3 (NKJV)
You have tested my heart; You have visited me in the night; You have tried me and have found nothing; I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.

1. Lying

I found this article in my local newspaper a couple of years ago. The title read, “Lies fuel Illinois firm that charges for alibis”. The article said in part,

“Roughly 50 percent of the company’s business revolves around hiding infidelity from a spouse. Mary is married, and Mary is having an affair. The Chicago wife told her husband she was sightseeing in Los Angeles last August, but that was a lie. Mary and her boyfriend were vacationing in Las Vegas, and Mary paid a professional cover-up company $350 to ensure that her husband would never find out. He didn’t. The Alibi Network, an Illinois company that specializes in its namesake — alibis — armed Mary with a fake airplane itinerary, fake hotel reservations and a fake hotel answering service; when her husband phoned Mary’s fake room in Los Angeles, the call was routed to her real cell phone in Las Vegas. Three months later, Mary doesn’t want her name printed in the paper. She’s planning on using Alibi again. Roughly half the Alibi Network’s clients use the service to hide an infidelity says, Michael DeMarco, vice president of marketing for Alibi. DeMarco doesn’t feel guilty. “If there was no demand, we’d have no company,” DeMarco said. “We didn’t invent lying. We didn’t invent infidelity. We just found a niche in an existing market.”

We read something like that and say, “Yea the world is full of liars…”

But in that same survey I mentioned earlier, taken among Christians:

91% said that they lie on a regular basis

75% said they lie to their friends

69% said they lie to their spouses regularly

50% said they regularly called in sick, when they aren’t

Once we get saved the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth moves into our hearts and truthfulness must be the hallmark of the Christian life.

2. Gossip

God’s Word has a lot to say about the evils of gossip.

“In a multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise.” (Proverbs 10:19)

“Where there is no wood, the fire goes out; And where there is no talebearer, strife ceases.” (Proverbs 26:20)

“Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” (Ephesians 4:29)

3. Bitter, angry and unkind words

“Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the rebellion of the workers of iniquity, Who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows–bitter words…” (Psalm 64:2-3)

I hope that you know that bitter, hateful words are like arrows that, once fired, cannot be recalled, and once lodged in the heart of another can continue to cause pain for many years to come.

We all remember the adage growing up, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.”

Our parents taught us to say that to the kids who were making fun out of us by calling us names.

As a kid I tried using that tip several times as a defense against the mean words that some directed at me, but I have to be honest it really didn’t stop the pain of those hurtful words.

As I got older and reflected on that saying a little, I came to realize, that although our parents meant well, the reason their advice didn’t help to stop the pain of unkind words is because that saying isn’t true.

Sticks and stones can inflict physical pain and may even break a bone or two—but those wounds usually heal without any lasting effects. But an unkind word spoken carelessly or in a moment of anger can wound for a lifetime.

Warren Wiersbe—“Never underestimate the power of words. For every word in Hitler’s book Mein Kampf, 125 people died in World War II. Solomon was right: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Prov. 18:21). No wonder James compared the tongue to a destroying fire, a dangerous beast, and a deadly poison (James 3:5–8). Speech is a matter of life or death.”

“If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless”. (James 1:26)

C. Purpose in your heart to honor God with your finances

1. Giving to God

We have heard the T.V. evangelists quote from the prophet Malachi with regard to giving to God:

Malachi 3:8 (NKJV)
⁸ “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.

Malachi 3:10 (NKJV)
¹⁰ Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.

Now, I personally don’t believe tithing is for the New Covenant. Tithing was a law of God given to Israel not the Church.

Tithing was a law that related to free men and women not slaves because a slave didn’t own anything it all belonged to his master.

We are bond-slaves of Jesus Christ—

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NKJV)
¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
²⁰ For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

So I don’t believe that we are under the law of tithing anymore as members of the New Covenant.

But I also don’t believe we should give less to God under grace than they did under law.

Just remember this—

2 Corinthians 9:6 (NKJV)
⁶ But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

2 Corinthians 9:7 (NKJV)
⁷ So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.

2. Spending on self

Most Christians spend their money as if it were theirs. They have forgotten that, even as they now belong to God, so does all of their possessions and resources.

Paul tells us that we are all stewards of God. A steward didn’t own anything he simply took care of what belonged to another.

The main responsibility of a steward was to be faithful. (1Cor.4:2)

As Christians our rewards will be determined by how faithful we were on earth in whatever the Lord called us to do as His stewards—over our household, our finances, our time, our kids and our ministries.

D. Purpose in your heart to bring God into every decision

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)
⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
⁶ Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths.

God is so much wiser than I am. I accept that in principle but not always in practice.

I can’t see the big picture like God does. I only have limited information of the situation.

But that never seems to stop me from making decisions based on my limited understanding—decisions that I often make without prayer and God’s guidance.

This often has devastating results in my life. How much better to seek God and not lean on my own understanding when making important life decisions. The One who said, “I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jer.29:11)

In this New Year purpose to love God with all of your heart each and every day.

First of all by purposing to live a life of obedience and commitment to Him in every area of your life.

Secondly by controlling what comes out of your mouth—purpose to use your mouth to honor God and build people up and not tear them down.

Thirdly purpose to honor God with your finances using them for His glory, storing up for yourselves treasures in heaven and not on the earth.

And finally purpose this year to bring God into every important decision you have to make so that God may direct your paths.

If you make these changes moment by moment and day by day when you come to the end of 2010 you’ll be able to say “To God be the glory great things He has done!”

We will continue our study on “Making the New Year Count” next time.

Until then, may the Lord richly bless you this year as you walk with Him day by day.

Pastor Phil