Do You Remember Your First Love

DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST LOVE?

Church, let us all take a moment and visualize how the ways of life have transformed the Word of God into the World and not the World into the Word of GOD. Society has attempted to displace the truth of the Word of God. The acceptance of lifestyles living today is now the new Way of Life, BUT IT IS NOT GOD’S WAY for each of us. See if we all go back down memory lane to the old church. When there was a Mother’s Board, the Senior Choir, and the Deacon Board leading the old hymn, I NEED THEE, OH I NEED THEE, EVERY HOUR; I NEED THEE! O BLESS NOW, MY SAVIOR, I COME TO THEE! We have turned away from our FIRST LOVE: let this scripture make it plain in Revelation 2:4-5 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. See in this passage, Saints; it is crucial to understand that we can no longer be transformed into the world by man's ways. See, as I prepared for my ministry studies, I had to study and apply the Articles of Faith in this Minister's walk, but for this message today, the third Article best gives the definition - THE FALL OF MAN: We believe the Scriptures teach that man was created in holiness, under the law of his Maker, but by voluntary transgression fell from that holy and happy state; in consequence of which all mankind are now sinners, not be constraint but choice; being by nature utterly void of that holiness required by the law of God, positively inclined to evil; and therefore, under condemnation to eternal ruin, without defense or excuse. Let us look at how the world celebrates sinfulness, but as true solid believers, are we disrupting the world enough to make a change? Or are we just living in this world day to day quietly? The point of the message today is to remind each of us to remember our FIRST TRUE LOVE.

Let me ask the question do you remember your first love? You know what I am talking about that first Love in a childhood crush, that high school crush, or the college sweetheart we all have experienced. But the Love I am talking about today is the Love we must have for Jesus Christ. Just visualize with me church, this example I want to put before you. Think back to your first child; you held them and cuddled them, you even laid them down for a nap in the crib, but if they began to wake as you laid them down, you turned on the mobile to play a soft lullaby to calm them back to sleep. The point is that the mobile was not in the bed beside them but dangled above them. Hold that example in your minds because I am going back to the message if we take a moment and look at how we dangle with the Holy Spirit, we dolly with Jesus, and the highest one is when we attempt to entertain God by just putting on a show for the people, as Rev. James would say, “looking pretty for the people in the public” and let me add a twist “not living right for GOD.” This is critical, for we all say we are CHRISTIANS, but do we truly live a CHRIST LIKE LIFE? See, to be CHRIST-LIKE IS to LIVE JUST LIKE JESUS, meaning you love your neighbor, care about the stranger, pray for everyone, help the needy, visit the sick and incarcerated, and even love your enemies as you love yourself.

Today, we are accepting everything plus anything and not truly accepting God. Let me begin with 1 John 2:15-19 The Apostle John clearly explains that Love is the crucial ingredient in our walk in Christ and not our walk in the World. See, today, the phrase I LOVE YOU is taken so lightly that there is no real meaning when we say it. Take a moment and ponder how many times you say that phrase throughout the day and search in your heart if it is the same love we share with God. The bases of this point is that we are to not love the world more than we love GOD, for when we put material, people, jobs, and so forth before the Lord, we become just like the children of Israel who suffered because of their disobedience to Love God First. Remember, in this passage, Apostle John emphasizes the importance of the right attitude as evidence of Christianity meaning the commandment of Love, which is our application of the word in action.