Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Well, good morning village church East. It is great to see you this morning. Uh, we've had a little bit of technical difficulties this morning, so hopefully you have stuck with us. Uh, you might need to press that refresh a couple of times on your screen, but hopefully all of those things are behind us. Uh, this morning, it's one of the blessings that actually came out of 2020 is the fact that we actually are a church online now. And so, regardless of what happens, whether the fountain view center, that we're the community center that we're in gets closed or it's open, we can still be with you in your homes. And that is an amazing blessing. Thank you for all our, our team members this morning. Uh, you and believe that the, the, the worker ants that move around here in the morning, putting all of this together.
Speaker 0 00:00:47 And I just want to say you guys, thank you very much for all of the help that you are each Sunday, the faithful service that you give to our church so that we can be online like this. My name is Greg Jarvis. I am the lead pastor here at village church East. It's my privilege, uh, to kick off the new year with you this morning, 2021. I didn't know if I'd make it to 2021. I remember growing up, I watched this space show called space 1999, and I thought, Holy smokes, 1999. That is a long way away. Well, now we're up to 2021 and I'm still alive and kicking and you are too. And, uh, I looked forward to what happens in 2021. A lot of people are saying 2020 was a worst year of their lives. And I think it's important for us to remember that even in the trials and even in the tribulations of our lives, that God still has a plan and has a purpose this morning.
Speaker 0 00:01:38 I want to just remind you of the prayer requests that I prayed this morning, as well as, uh, we got, uh, Chris McHugh. Some of you know him, he's having surgery tomorrow. If you can keep him in your prayers, there's, uh, we have so many different things that we're praying for each, each week, but, um, each one of us understands the power of prayer, this power that, uh, that we have as an offensive weapon, uh, against the enemy that we, we fight against on a regular basis, we've put on the armor of God and we have this, uh, this prayer that close all of us and gives us the ability to remember that Jesus is with us and that we are stronger because greater is he, that is in us than he, that is in the world. I wanted to pick out a special message for our very first message this morning, the first one of the new year, this is actually a message I did about six years ago.
Speaker 0 00:02:29 And, uh, I never actually do the same message twice. Uh, but once in a while, I'll pull it something that I did before. That means meant a lot to me at the time. And, uh, and, and kind of revamp it and put it into a new context. This is one of those messages that I did a while ago. So in all, in all, uh, uh, divulging of information, this actually has turned to be out, to be one of my favorite messages that I've actually ever done a little did I know, six years ago, how prophetic this actual message would turn out to be this message deals with the heart of the church. And the bottom line is our heart as a church must constantly be monitored because it can easily,
Speaker 1 00:03:16 Oh, of course, as I was praying
Speaker 0 00:03:19 Over, over this and thinking over, how can I get us to kind of re-examine our heart for what we do. We're coming into our fifth year as a church. Can you believe it we've been a church for five years? I don't remember five years ago and dealing with the questions of setting up this, this tear down set up kind of a church in the middle of a community called Carol stream at fountain view center. And I kept fighting with that because I'd never done it before. It's not something that I was used to been in ministry for over 30 years now, but never done anything like this. And as a, as I prayed about it as Beth and I spent time in prayer about it, um, we, we felt like the Lord was directing us to do this. And now we're five years into it.
Speaker 0 00:04:01 And we have a wonderful blessing of not only having a church in the heart of the community, but we also have the blessing of being a church that reaches into many different States now and reaches into even different countries. So I wanted to pick out a message that kind of, kind of reached us where we're, I know you're at home and there's a few here just essential personnel to make sure we're up and running this morning. But I wanted to pick something that would get us to look at the heart. And so I landed on this one. And my first question to you, we'll give it away. How many of you have ever have one of your favorite top 10 movies,
Speaker 1 00:04:39 Wizard of Oz? You know, this movie, when I
Speaker 0 00:04:42 Saw the wizard of Oz freaked me out, uh, I just kinda just was a weird kind of movie with know little people running around and which is getting crushed by houses and this and this guy standing behind the curtain. And he's kind of freaky too. And then you got all of these weird dressed individuals one's lacking, uh, each one of them lacking some important organ, whether it's their brain or their heart or their, whatever it is. And I watched the movie and I could, I still remember it, but mainly because I think it freaked me out. One of the guys that kind of got to me was a 10 minute. I always wondered this question and I don't know if you ever have or not, but why did the 10 men have an ax?
Speaker 1 00:05:25 You ever asked yourself that,
Speaker 0 00:05:26 Why did the tin man have an accent? Why was he standing in the middle of a field? And why did he have no heart? Well, one thing you should know about the tin man is that he did lack this organ as a hard, but you're kind of walking into the wizard of Oz in the middle of a bigger story. I don't know if you know this or not. It's like, it's like star Wars. When in the seventies we walked into the third chapter of star Wars and it's like, where did all these people come from? Darth Vader? Ooh, where did he come from? This where's vases. Same kind of deal. You walk into the middle of a story. If you go way back to the beginning of the wizard of Oz, you will find out why the tin man had no heart and you'll find out why he had an ax.
Speaker 0 00:06:10 Here's the story of the tin men. The tin man's name actually was Nick chopper. He was a, he was an individual who his dad cut trees for a living, and he made money off of this family business. He was an ordinary man who chopped down trees and sold them as his father. Did. He fell in love one day with the servant girl and they planned on getting married, but the servant girl worked for an old woman and she was very angry that this man, Nick chopper was going to steal away her servant girl. And we find out that this old lady was actually the wicked witch of the East. The servant girl was her servant. And so she was so angry that Nick chopper was going to steal away her servant girl, that she enchanted his ax. Nick now had an ax that had a mind of its own, and it began to every time he would start using it, it began to chop off his limbs.
Speaker 0 00:07:11 I know this is a crazy story. So this ax would chop off the limbs. Remember this is written quite a while ago, like in the 19 hundreds, you ever re read a children's story in the 19 hundreds, it'll freak you out, man. So Nick chopper had this accident began chopping his limbs off. Well, Dick had a friend who was quick clue, clip and clue clip made tin. He was a tin maker. And so every time Nick would chop off, one of his limbs clue clip would make a piece of prosthetic piece and put it back on him. The acts took on so much life and started taking off so many different limbs so quickly that clue clip, there was a fastest he could do to just put this guy back together and in an effort to keep Nick chopper alive in doing it so quickly, he forgot to add one essential organ. And that was
Speaker 1 00:08:05 His heart.
Speaker 0 00:08:06 The irony now is this Nick now a tin man was Noah no longer able to love the servant girl because he liked
Speaker 1 00:08:15 His heart. Eventually
Speaker 0 00:08:18 The tin man found himself outside in the rain rusting in a field. And this is where Dorothy comes in. Dorothy finds this tin man in the field, rusting away
Speaker 1 00:08:30 In the wizard of Oz. The moral of this
Speaker 0 00:08:33 Story is in an effort to keep Nick alive so that he could marry his true love, clue. Clip, forgot to report replace the most important part, which was the tin man's heart. And so now the 10 men could no longer love the woman he was driven to stay alive
Speaker 1 00:08:52 For. I'm telling you the story because
Speaker 0 00:08:56 It's a representation of these characters that tell us something about life. Sometimes we get so overwhelmed by the immediate that we forget the essentials. Sometimes we get so overwhelmed with the immediate that we forget the essential. Sometimes we get so driven by the immediate, in our journey. We lose sight of what's really important to us when we started the journey. And so this morning, I want to introduce you to a church that had the exact same problem as Nick chopper. This is a church that was strong, a church that began in the new Testament. One of the very first churches that was planted in what we now know as Europe, Asia minor. This was a church that was on fire for Jesus. This was a church that other churches wanted to pattern their churches after our church, that made an impact for the kingdom of God and essential church.
Speaker 0 00:09:59 And let me introduce you now to the church at Ephesus. Now, if you don't know where emphasis is, you can see the picture there. That's where emphasis is kind of in a modern day Turkey. It was established as one of Christianity's very first churches. When Christianity took root after Jesus had ascended into heaven after his resurrection, it became actually a mother church to any many other local churches, a local church plant filled with excited people and growing like gangbusters. It began strong out of a deep desire to love and serve and teach about Jesus Christ. The church was commended. If you read in the book of Ephesians, this church has commended over and over and over again. Paul writes to this church because they are such an impact thing, church for the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he lists out all of the ways that they are impacting their community and Ephesians one, one, it literally starts this way.
Speaker 0 00:11:02 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Jesus Christ. Now, how would you like the apostle Paul to start his letter to our church? That way that's pretty good. You are a faithful bunch of believers I'm writing to you because you are a called group making a difference because of your faithfulness for Jesus Christ. They were devoted in their, in their, uh, both in their, uh, uh, personal devotion and as a church to learn more about God and in doing so, they were able to point out a lot of the apostasy that was going on around them. They were faithful in their, to the saints.
Speaker 1 00:11:55 Yeah,
Speaker 0 00:11:56 You can, you can read in Ephesians one, it's filled with theology. These people were steeped in their knowledge of God and it bled out into the way they loved others. Paul talks about it again in the first chapter for this reason, because I've heard of listen to this. I've heard of your faith in the Lord, Jesus,
Speaker 1 00:12:14 And your love toward all the saints. So I do not cease to give thanks for you.
Speaker 0 00:12:20 I mean, this is just the first chapter. Paul is throwing accolades at these folks like, like they're, they're like, they're the best thing since sliced bread, which they,
Speaker 1 00:12:30 How back then they were faithful.
Speaker 0 00:12:33 They're loved. They were devoted to Christ in their knowledge of God's word. And in the process, their hearts,
Speaker 1 00:12:40 We're still humble. You read it.
Speaker 0 00:12:43 And Ephesians two for by grace, you've been saved through faith. This is one we love to memorize. And this is not your own doing it as a gift of God, not a result, not a result of works so that no one will boast. They knew who they once were and they're not boasting about who they are in Jesus. They only boasts
Speaker 1 00:13:02 About Jesus Christ. They're
Speaker 0 00:13:05 Humble. And they loved the man,
Speaker 1 00:13:08 The God who saved them and Ephesians
Speaker 0 00:13:12 Three 17, not only did they love one another, they love Jesus. Paul continues to write to them, to know the love of Christ, that surpasses knowledge, and to be filled with all the fullness of God and the very last verse. Listen to this.
Speaker 1 00:13:26 Grace, be with you all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love in corruptible. There are 20 references to love in the book of Ephesians.
Speaker 0 00:13:39 Listen, these people love the Lord, their God, with all
Speaker 1 00:13:42 Their heart, all their soul and all their strength. They were a formidable powerhouse for Jesus Christ. The church,
Speaker 0 00:13:56 Because this was driven both to love Jesus and to serve one another out of a deep
Speaker 1 00:14:00 Love for Jesus Christ. They had one love and it drove them to do all kinds of different ministry for Jesus.
Speaker 0 00:14:10 I have a little diagram here that I just want to show you this morning, that kind of puts it into perspective. There one love was for Jesus and they had multiple ministries that would reach out into their community that would serve one another. And Paul writes them and says, listen, listen. It is so obvious. You love Jesus. It is so obvious that your ministries to other are demonstrating a deep love for Jesus Christ. I wish I wish all,
Speaker 1 00:14:35 All the other churches would follow your example.
Speaker 0 00:14:39 Their love took on action. And Paul specifically commends them for doing certain things. There are ministries. You might say, well, Craig, what kind of ministries that they sold their to help them? Those who had nothing, they, they shared food. This was all in Ephesians with those who had nothing, they help the widows. They help the orphans. Listen. History records this church as being an incredible church that did ministry like no other churches did in Rome. One of the rules, one of the laws that they had is if you had a child and you didn't want the child, especially if it was a girl, because boys were more accepted in this culture, you could take this child that you did not want this baby. And you could put this baby into a field that the government set aside and you could leave your baby there until the baby died. And they even had people that they hired to pick up these bodies and burn them afterwards. This is what the government allowed them to do in this day.
Speaker 1 00:15:38 Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:15:41 To get rid of children, they didn't want, do you know what they Fijian church did? They saw this horrific behavior and the Ephesians church started a ministry where they would go alongside and scoop up these children and adopt them into families of the churches
Speaker 1 00:16:02 Has done amazing.
Speaker 0 00:16:03 That's why, when you read the book of Ephesians, you'll find the word adoption all over the place. You know why they understood what it meant. They understood what it meant to sacrifice something that they had to bring somebody into their families and treat them as their own sons and their own daughters and their own brothers and their own sisters. But over time, listen church over time,
Speaker 1 00:16:27 Something drastically went wrong
Speaker 0 00:16:33 In revelation two verse one, this same church
Speaker 1 00:16:37 Is addressed. Okay.
Speaker 0 00:16:39 And in revelation two in verse one, this, this verse was written 40 years after the book to the Ephesians, the book to the church at Ephesus, this church that Paul was saying, everybody should do what you people are doing. This verse was written by the APOs by John in revelation two in verse one to the angel of the church at Ephesus,
Speaker 1 00:17:05 Right?
Speaker 0 00:17:07 The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lamp stands. I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves as a parcels and are not an a, found them to be false. And we could stop there and say, yes, emphasis the church at emphasis is still going strong, still doing the ministry, still doing what they are commended for doing in the book of Ephesians.
Speaker 1 00:17:41 But then the next verse says this.
Speaker 0 00:17:43 I know you are in during the, and during patiently and bearing up for my name's sake. So you have not grown weary, but I have this against you. Verse four, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
Speaker 2 00:18:01 How's it possible
Speaker 0 00:18:03 That a church can keep doing all of the ministries that make a difference? How is it possible that a church can be so active at reaching into the community and making a difference for the kingdom of God? How is it possible for this busy Beaver church To get condemned like this in verse four, still doing all the stuff they had started doing at the beginning, but God has something against them. It has to be something outstandingly bad. It has to be something that pulls us over. And here's what it is. Church. I have this against you. You have abandoned. The love you had at first,
Speaker 0 00:18:54 You see emphasis has lost their primary focus. The church is still working hard. Toil them, Dan doer. This is hard work. How is their theology? It's still strong. They test those who call themselves to be apostles. And they say, you're not really an apostle. How do we know that? Because God's word says this, and you say that, and that's not right. There's still testing. There's still following God's word. There's still trying to keep pure in their generation. They are enduring for the name of Jesus Christ. So what in the world is God. So disapproving over simply this. They have lost their first love. And apparently that's a bad thing.
Speaker 0 00:19:46 Now your brain be saying to yourself, well, Craig, what does first love mean? Listen, it does not mean primary love. It does not mean like first place kind of love. Like I love this thing first in my life. You know what this is talking about. This is a love that is like the first moment love or the first encounter love. There's a difference. This is a love that changes everything about who you are. It changes the way you think, the way that you, the way that you behave, it changes the way that you speak. It's like when you, when you trip over something that you begin to love so much and you didn't see it coming, it just like, it's there. Your first moment you fall in love and your life changes. It only happens a few times in our lives, but we all know what that's like.
Speaker 0 00:20:39 Do you remember when you came to Jesus for the first time, do you remember the moment you decided you realize you were falling in love with Jesus or you're falling in love, maybe with somebody else. It's a kind of love that punches you in the gut. It's kind of love that drives you to make decisions that change the trajectory of your life. What am I willing to give up for? This person is an unmistakable love. You cannot explain, but you'll never get over. And it's the kind of love. You love to love emphasis, let their guard down and allowed their love for Jesus to repeat replaced with cold orthodoxy and rote ministry, they were going through
Speaker 1 00:21:22 Through the motions.
Speaker 0 00:21:27 The simple love for Jesus was not the igniting flame that caused him to do anything anymore. Over time, they began to love what they were doing more than who they were doing it for second generation that came up after their parents. These 40 years that passed, they were, uh, they were adapting. They were moving with their community. They were still doing powerful ministry, but they forgot that they love Jesus. And that was the igniting fire that caused them to start the whole thing
Speaker 1 00:21:57 In the first place. And so on this diagram that I have,
Speaker 0 00:22:02 Let me show you what happened over this 40 years at the beginning, they had one love that drove them to do multiple ministries. But 40 years later, they had multiple ministries and that caused them to have multiple
Speaker 1 00:22:16 And the time period between the two 40 easy, simple years.
Speaker 0 00:22:25 Over time, they're focused to begin to be more in the ministries that they did rather than the person they did the ministries for. They simply forgot what they started this church for
Speaker 1 00:22:36 In the first place. And it only took 40 years.
Speaker 0 00:22:42 Let me just remind you. This is not about emotions too many churches teach this passage this way and they teach it's the emotional love. It's like, it's like the final twang of the guitar that sends a shiver up your spines and causes you to be drawn into worship. And that's what we need more of. We need better music. We need better ministries. We need a more dynamic speaker. It's not any
Speaker 1 00:23:06 Of that.
Speaker 0 00:23:09 This is each individual's love for Jesus Christ that drew them into a life style of worship, not just what they experienced on Sunday, but something that, that drove them to go scoop up babies in the middle of the night that were dying in a field. Something that caused them to change everything about who they were and what they had because of their deep devotional, their love for the one who rescued them.
Speaker 1 00:23:38 First, John four written by the same guy, just a few,
Speaker 0 00:23:42 Two years earlier, who understood what love really was first, John four 12 says this, no one has ever seen God. If we love one another God abides in us. And his love is perfected in us. You see, we can't see God, but we can see each other. And you know how we see God best in each other is when we
Speaker 1 00:24:03 Love one another.
Speaker 0 00:24:06 That's when God's love is perfected in us, not perfected like flawless, perfected, like becoming
Speaker 1 00:24:13 Pleated, literally something that has made clear
Speaker 0 00:24:19 Visibly in the church. God's love for us is clearly seen in how we love one another. And it's a same guy writing about this love because he understood it. It's about perfecting the love that we have for Jesus in the way that we love one another. And here's the danger church. We begin thinking doing ministry is loving Jesus,
Speaker 1 00:24:47 And it's not. It's just doing ministry. You forget who you're serving. You forgot what
Speaker 0 00:24:54 While you're serving. You just keep serving like the Energizer bunny that gets wound up. And all it knows how to do is beat the drum. And it just keeps going and going and
Speaker 1 00:25:05 Going somewhere
Speaker 0 00:25:07 Along the way, the church stopped loving each other and started loving doing stuff
Speaker 1 00:25:11 More. This
Speaker 0 00:25:13 Is a hard question that we must ask ourselves in the church. When we ask ourselves what is the real object of my affection? This means basically that I can serve and minister, but I must love people. Not the ministry that I do. This means that I can teach, but I must love people. Not the teaching. It means that I can build, but we love people. Not the building. It means that I can teach theology, but we love people. Not the theology that we teach. Question. How do you treat people that differ with you in theology? Because if you treat them as less than an individual, Hey, you love theology more than you love people. It's not that difficult to figure out. We love one another first. This is why first Corinthians 13, read it. Every wedding that you've ever been to says this. If I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and knowledge, and if I have all faith so I can remove mountains, but if I have not love, I am what church, nothing. You can know the deepest depth of theology. You'd be able to teach it in front of a million different people. They can go home and all of your grasp of God's word. But if you do not love the people that you teach, you might as well stay home. You're nothing.
Speaker 1 00:26:30 Nothing
Speaker 0 00:26:35 Does not mean the doctrine should be neglected. Let me not. Let me just make that clear. It just means that the one thing emphasis was for they forgot to do
Speaker 1 00:26:47 The
Speaker 0 00:26:47 Greatest of these is love. The object of your affection is not how much you know, in your head, it's sitting next to you in your,
Speaker 1 00:26:56 So
Speaker 0 00:26:56 The church at Ephesus had to quickly change or they would be cast out
Speaker 1 00:27:00 Unusable verse
Speaker 0 00:27:02 Five. Remember Jesus says to this church, remember therefore from where you've fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. See that now repent and do the works you did at first. Well, the emphasis was doing the same works and they're doing the same ministry. Now they're doing it for a different reason. So John says to them, remember the works you did at first 40 years ago. Remember
Speaker 1 00:27:24 What you were when
Speaker 0 00:27:26 The book of Ephesians was written to you remember do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
Speaker 1 00:27:35 Unless you repent, remember redo or get removed
Speaker 0 00:27:41 Number from where you came, repent, turn around, do a one 80, make a concerted decision to change from one direction to go into a different direction and redo live out the love you had the first kind of love. The first moment
Speaker 1 00:27:55 Kind of love do the works you did at first, but do them out of a heart that loves the savior and not the works you do. Same works. Different purpose.
Speaker 0 00:28:12 Church is a place where love is clarified and perfected for the world to see. And how tragic is it is when churches are busy, but there's no love being perfected.
Speaker 1 00:28:21 It was churches. How tragic
Speaker 0 00:28:27 Do you know how to judge? Whether a church loves ministry more than they love
Speaker 1 00:28:31 Savior. You know how to judge that,
Speaker 0 00:28:34 Uh, folks at home. Do you know how to judge whether or not a church loves ministry more than they love the savior? They do the ministry for easy take away the ministry and see how they react
Speaker 1 00:28:44 Fond.
Speaker 0 00:28:47 I can't tell you how many meetings I've been in, where I've suggested, Hey, maybe we should do a different ministry than this ministry and all hell broke loose in the meeting. No, no, no, no, no. This ministry is making a difference. We're going to do this ministry. I've been called to do the, this is my ministry.
Speaker 1 00:29:02 Oh boy. Oh boy, you see healthy churches, love people, not ministries. And the danger is you will get removed.
Speaker 0 00:29:14 You might continue to gather, you might have money in the bank. You might look like you still are a church, but there's no light there because there's no
Speaker 1 00:29:23 Love there. You will be insignificant for the kingdom of God.
Speaker 0 00:29:29 Churches like emphasis are given a second chance though. And this is the very good news. If you do a read a little bit of research at the church at Ephesus, you'll find out emphasis from this moment forward when they are given these verses in the book of revelation, they change. They become a booming church. Again, not just in growing in numbers, not just in, in doing ministry, but God used them to continue to change the world. Why? Because they repented. They made things, right? They heated the warning in revelation two from, from John. And they began to love their savior. Again, you see it's just human nature church. It's just human nature. The object of our love does become the object of our affection. The object of our love will become the object of our affection. This is why God says to us, Jesus Christ says in Matthew six 21, where your treasure is there will your heart be also, you'll wonder why he doesn't say where your heart is. That's where your treasure is. It says where your treasure is. That's where your heart is. Why? Because the object of your love becomes the object of your affection. If you love your treasure, it's going to show it. It's going to show your treasure shows where your heart is.
Speaker 0 00:30:47 The heart of this church needs to be fixated on Jesus Christ. We do what we do out of a love for Jesus. It drives everything else we do. And everyone else we love. So what, well, this is the first Sunday of our fifth year. Let's start it with a heart check. Let's open that tin can and look inside and see if there's a heart beating for Jesus inside. How are we doing? You might say, well, Greg, I think we're pretty healthy. Look what we're doing as a new kind of church. Look, look at all the ministries that we're having. Well, Ephesians would say the same thing. The church had emphasis would judge themselves in the same way they were successful. They seem to live like a tin man. They lost their heart for the love of the person that they began living,
Speaker 1 00:31:39 But they were still busy.
Speaker 0 00:31:42 I did this message, like I said, for the first time, about six years ago and little did I know the prophetic overtones, this message would have shortly after the Lord, put this message into my heart. The church where I was preaching was removed. Their candlestick was removed like the church at Ephesians in revelation, chapter two. I'm glad to say there's a new growing congregation there now, but it is not the same as, uh, as the organization that was there six years ago, you see, because churches who do not regularly evaluate themselves like Ephesus was called to evaluate itself will suffer, ruin. There'll be busy. They'll keep their folks running. They'll do ministry. They'll have large buildings and may even have money in the bank. But before God they're like rusting tin, man getting rained on, in an open field, their fruit shine for a moment, but eventually rot off the branch and sink into infertile soil.
Speaker 1 00:32:48 In the five years of village, church East we've empowered,
Speaker 0 00:32:51 Affected our community. We've given time and money to support families in our community. We've continued to fellowship with churches in the area around us. We continue to see the kingdom of God grow because we have these relationships with these local churches. We've participated in community parades, in gathering and social events. The mayor has attended our services. We've seen over 20 baptisms, some in backyards, and most of them in the community pool in the middle of this community, we've seen many start to follow Jesus. We finished two years now, financially stable in the black self-supporting. As a church, we have a presence online every week to regular viewers in over seven States and two different countries, including the us three. Our church has tripled in size over the last four years. We are on a good chorus, but my responsibility as your pastor, as your elder is to be sure the ship remains on course, because we are not about doing events first.
Speaker 0 00:33:49 We're not about compelling our people to serve, to gain recognition. We're not in love with a building, a philosophy, a ministry, or a reputation. We are in love with Jesus Christ. We're not aiming at being a mega building with a mega agenda to obtain a mega reputation. We're about growing small because we believe when we grow small, when we grow small, we impact one another. With the love of Jesus Christ. We're not compelled by anything but one thing, not by our love to stay busy serving, but by our love for the one we serve like the tin, man, let us open up the cavity and find out each one of us individually in this church are we compelled by the love of our savior? Are we compelled to serve out of a love for our savior? Are we compelled to grow out of a love for our savior? Are we compelled to participate in ministry out of a love for our savior? Have we lost our first love
Speaker 1 00:34:51 Or where
Speaker 0 00:34:51 Are we in love with ministry or in love with the savior? Am I more concerned about people or about people being in the church? Am I spending more time preparing to minister or more time on my knees, praying for souls? Am I invested more in our resources or the people that use the resources that we can use to help them? Am I investing my personal resources and the efforts of this church to love this community? Am I involved more with my ministry at church or my neighbors who live next to me?
Speaker 1 00:35:28 Okay.
Speaker 0 00:35:28 A heart that is filled with the love of Christ is more compelled to love people than it is to love ministries. We must be compelled for the love of Jesus,
Speaker 1 00:35:38 Luke six, five. This love compels us to love. Even the unlovable. Jesus said, this love means, love your enemies. Do good land and expect nothing in return. And your reward will be great. You will be sons of the most high for he is kind to the ungrateful and to the evil.
Speaker 1 00:36:07 Do you know what speaks volumes to the community in which we serve? It's not how many ministries we have. It's not our programs. It's not whether we have a building or meet in a community center. It's not the quality of our music or whether we're online or offline or the screen goes black or sound is weird. You know, it speaks volumes. You know what, what the loud speaker is that you hold to your lips, that people hear the loudest to know what that is. It's none of those other superficial things. It's whether or not this church loves the one who loves them. Do we love Jesus
Speaker 2 00:36:53 First?
Speaker 1 00:36:56 All of these other things have a place. We are trying to improve our online presence. We are trying to do better ministries. We are trying to make things, look and feel comfortable and professional. We want to do our best for Jesus. They all have a place. We collected an offering. Beth gave the announcement this morning. We were able to give $2,500 to our community to help out a hundred different families through, through a ministry that's already here in the community. Why? Because they're already doing a great ministry. We would just want to come along and support them. Why do we do all this? Why don't we try and sacrifice? And why do we, why do we bend over backwards to do the best we can simply because we have a love for Jesus. And that compels us to do everything else we do. What speaks volumes to the world around us is when they're able to look at us and say, Oh, there's love in that place.
Speaker 1 00:37:53 There's love in that place. They must really love the Lord that they serve. And that's why church. I want this church. I want us together individually, whether we're here in this place or at home or out in the workplace, living our lives on a weekly basis on a daily basis, or whether we're gathered together, we are passionate about one thing, just one thing. And that is Jesus Christ. We want to impact souls with a love that we have for our savior. And we do it one person at a time. So church first message of the new
Speaker 0 00:38:36 Year is an invitation to open up that tin chest and make sure your heart is still beating first and foremost, with a love for Jesus
Speaker 1 00:38:47 Christ. Let's pray, father. I'm thankful for
Speaker 0 00:38:52 The opportunity to do this message, this message that I'm compelled by. Because I remember when I first fell in love with you just as a little kid, didn't know much, didn't understand much didn't know much theology. All I knew father was that you loved me. You died for my sins. I needed your help. I couldn't get to heaven on my own. And I would never have a relationship with you. Not here in this life, nor in the one to come. But because of your love for me, Lord, you ignited a love I could have for you because you first loved us. We love you.
Speaker 0 00:39:38 So father, I pray that you would regularly take my mind back to that first moment. That first encounter kind of love. And that that would ignite my passion to serve others. I pray as a church, we would be ignited with this kind of first encounter love. And that would be the spark that drives everything else we do. I'm so thankful that you've allowed us to impact this community. I'm so thankful that we don't have a lot of signs up front, but people know we're here. I'm so thankful that you have given us this ability to make a difference through the ministries that we can do. But father keep our eyes focused on you as a church, keep our hearts knit to your heart. May our love for you. Drive everything else that we do. It's so easy for us to lose sight. So easy for us to get off track. So may you use this message again as a prophetic word so that our church would be reminded together. Once again, as, as we regroup and enter into 2021 together that if ever we're asked the question, what do you love the most? Our first response without even thinking would be, I love the Lord who loves me. I love Jesus Christ. And may that drive everything else? We do. I pray in Jesus name.
Speaker 1 00:41:09 Amen.
Speaker 0 00:41:13 We finish our service each Sunday with the time of communion. And so I'd invite you. If you're at home, this is a good opportunity for you to kind of stretch your legs. Maybe send one of the minions in your living room to go grab some things around the house, just crackers and juice or whatever you have. We'll be fine. This is an interesting way that learned to do communion over 2020, as we're separate from one another. We don't have things to give you. So just find something in your house because it's not, it's not the Cracker. That makes a difference. It's not the juice that makes a difference. It's what those things stand for and what they stand for for us as a church is they stand for the death of the one we love the most.
Speaker 0 00:41:58 Jesus loved us first and that drove him to the cross. He was the only candidate with a life that was sinless, perfect blood. And when they nailed him that cross that blood flowed out of him and the imitation of the father is this. If you accept Jesus Christ, if you accept this love that God has for us in the giving of his son, then you can know a love for God. Like you've never known. You can be brought into this family, adopted into this family of God. And you can have a relationship where you put your head on your pillow at night and know that you are forgiven for your sins. You don't have to carry that guilt, that weight around with you anymore because Jesus took it all on the cross. Washed it away. If you want to have a relationship with him, you can have that.
Speaker 0 00:42:49 He's still at work today. He's still making, offering an offer of salvation today. Do you remember the verse that we read there? Salvation and another none other for there's no other name under heaven. Given among men whereby we must be saved for God. So loved the world that he gave. His only son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. And if that's you, if you're thinking of yourself, I don't know that kind of relationship. You can click on the side of your computer. And it says, how do I start my journey with Jesus? Click on that. Follow the prompts. That card goes directly to me. I'll get in contact with you this week and we'll have a conversation. Our goal is to, is to let you know what we do is out of a love for Jesus. And we want you to love him as much as we do
Speaker 1 00:43:34 Because that'll change your life.
Speaker 0 00:43:36 You said you drank the bread that you eat. One pictures of the body with the bread, one pictures, the blood that was shed. That's the juice. It's a physical opportunity for us to remember how much God loved us, that he would give his only son before we do that this morning, hopefully you've got all your, all your stuff there that you need at home right now. But before we do that, I just want to give you a moment. This is a great way to start off the new year. If you'd be bold enough in your homes here in this place, bow your heads have a conversation with God. I don't know what it's going to be about this morning. Maybe God is laid something on your heart for the message. Maybe you just want to say, you know what? God teach me to love you more.
Speaker 0 00:44:17 Just teach me to love you. Like, like I should to love you as much as all the other stuff I choose to do or to say, or to participate in more than spending time with you, teach me a deeper love for you. Maybe that needs to be what it is, but whatever your prayer needs to be, I'm going to give you a moment to have that time with the Lord right now. If you just bow your heads in the silence of your hearts and pray to God in silence, he hears every single word, and then we're going to sing a song and then I'm going to come up. I'll read a passage of scripture. We'll eat and drink together. Don't eat and drink yet. Wait until I get back up here, we'll eat and drink together. We do that as a reminder, all of us need this message including yours truly. So let's take a moment and pray together in the silence
Speaker 3 00:45:03 Of our homes.
