IS THERE EVIDENCE OF OUR FIRST LOVE?
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com (Two part)
Text: Matthew 24:44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
WE SO TEACH A GOD OF LOVE, GRACE AND MERCY THAT WE TEND TO BYPASS THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF GOD… THE BEMA SEAT. DO YOU CONSIDER YOU SHALL STAND BEFORE GOD, READY OR NOT… OUR WORKS WILL BE EVIDENCE… WE WILL BE TRIED BEFORE THE THRONE OF GOD.
THE BOOKS WILL BE OPENED… HOW EASY IS IT TO FORGET? GOD SAYS I KNOW YOUR WORKS… GOD KNOWS WHAT YOU DO AND WHAT YOU DON’T DO… NEGLECT IS AS BAD AS ABUSE. WE WILL BE JUDGED ACCORDING TO OUR WORKS.
Revelation 2:2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
Revelation 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
Revelation 2:13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
Revelation 2:19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.
Revelation 3:1 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.
Revelation 3:8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
Revelation 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
WILL THERE BE SOMETHING AGAINST US WHEN WE COME TO THE BEMA SEAT OF GOD…??? DO WE HAVE AS MUCH LOVE AND WORKS AS WE USED TO HAVE? HAVE WE SEEN A DEATH OF PASSION, ZEAL AND FAITHFULNESS TO THE CHURCH AND TO JESUS?
God has called JOHN to a cave on the island of Patmos. Patmos was used as a prison camp for convicts. While John was deserted by man, God visited with John and John penned the book of Revelations.
Revelation 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
John is thought to be the only disciple that lived to die of natural causes. He out lived the other 11. He had a great lesson. Listen to John’s heart. You have run away from your duties and responsibilities? John warns about getting away from our first love—why? He ask us: What is going on with our spirit man?
ARE WE EXPECTING THE IMMINENT RETURN OF CHRIST JESUS?
*Imminent: Expected, READY TO TAKE PLACE. Happening very soon, not surprised, impending, near, nigh, cannot be avoided, at hand.
WHAT CAN POOR PLANNING DO? UNHEEDED WARNINGS… NOT READY? UNEXPECTED?
THE GREAT MOLASSES TSUNAMI? What are you expecting at 12:40 PM in the afternoon? Children were playing. Those that worked the night shift were sleeping.
Let us understand what SORGHUM MOLASSES really is… Molasses is something like honey. It is a sugary-sweet product from sugar cane. MOLASSES is 5,000 to 10,000 times denser than water. It is impossible to swim in SORGHUM MOLASSES.
Boston had a 50 foot tall steel holding tank. As a whole the molasses came from the CARIBBEAN AREA. The sorghum molasses was used in making liquor and munitions. World War 1 had demanded tons of molasses. Many people warned the company and the area this 2.3 million gallon tank was a great danger. SEEMS NO ONE LISTENED. The tank often made rumbling noises.
It was 40 degrees on January 15, 1919 in the north end of Boston, Massachusetts. Businesses and farmers formed a MOLASSES CO-OP. They built a huge 2,300,000 gallon tank to store MOLASSES as a reserve for the area. This huge storage tank was filled with 2.3 million gallons of molasses. The weight of that much MOLASSES is guessed to have been 13,000 tons. The weight caused a stress failure.
1/15/1919 there was an unexpected event. The huge molasses tank ruptured and the molasses pushed through the streets at 35 miles an hour. 21 PEOPLE WERE KILLED and 150 PEOPLE WERE INJURED. The newspapers reported there was a 15 foot high wall of thick molasses traveling 35 mph. Buildings, electric poles, horses and people were destroyed. The local fire station was knocked off its foundation. There was a ½ mile path of total destruction. North Boston had been warned many times. Profit was the motivation. Jobs were at stake. Alcohol and liquor were in great demand. The warnings were unheeded.
EVIDENCES? If you were taken before a judge to be on trial for your Christianity would there be enough evidence to convict you? CAN WE LOOK IN THE MIRROR AND SEE OUR SPIRITUAL SELF? IS THERE SOMETHING AGAINST US…??? DO WE HAVE AS MUCH LOVE AND WORKS AS WE USED TO HAVE? HAVE WE SEEN A DEATH OF PASSION, ZEAL AND FAITHFULNESS TO THE CHURCH AND TO JESUS?
God has called JOHN to the island of Patmos and John is warning of great danger. John is writing to the EPHESIAN CHURCH A HEAVY WARNING… The Ephesian church had been a great leader in the zeal and works for the risen Savior. In a spirit of gradualness the ALIVE SPIRIT FADED AWAY. The Holy Spirit tried to challenge and warn the Ephesians GET A NEW GRIP AND RE-IGNITE THE FLAME!
Revelation 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
CAN WE IDENTIFY THE SIGNAL SIGNS THAT WILL CONVICT US AND LEAD US TO REPENTANCE? WHERE IS OUR ZEAL, PASSION AND FIRST LOVE?
• We miss church until we don’t miss church. The preacher has stood looking out the door dreaming and praying for you. It gets easier and easier for you to run away from your duties and your first love—Why? What's going on in your heart and your family?
• You tend to seek your own and you forget God’s priorities… Seek ye first Matt. 6:33
• We refuse to acknowledge our coldness, therefore we will not confess and repent…
• You are easily offended and you stay angry with others.
• YOUR FIRST LOVE SHOWS YOUR PATIENT ENDURANCE?
• Losing your first love, you lower your expectations and standards.
• We quit praising and worshipping and interceding for others when our love fades.
• Everything is “DO I HAVE TO…?” Do I have to tithe? Do I have to attend church?
• We have lost our love and our WANT TO… Do we volunteer?
• I want the preacher to cut the sermon short so I can get to the restaurant before the other churches. I desire food more than the spiritual gifts.
• How much do you READ THE BIBLE?
• How much time do you spend at the altar in the Holy of Holies?
• Could TV, Facebook, the computer and your hobbies push God to the back seat?
• How much QUALITY TIME DO YOU SPEND WITH GOD? It will tell?
• We sing SWEET HOUR OF PRAYER and pray 5 minutes? There goes the love?
• Is church attendance not important to you? Is your absence from church important?
• APATHY AND COLDNESS RULES YOUR SPIRIT… I don’t care… when the first love leaves.
• You allow bitterness to thrive in your heart. You refuse to forgive others.
• Your main offerings that you give are EXCUSES? Do you believe your own excuses?
• You never change… you stay the same old same old?
• You never testify.
• Your leisure time honors your flesh not your spirit person…
• You never witness to the lost and dying world?
• I can tell where I stand with the Lord by what I see? When I am close to the Lord I cannot see other people’s faults?
• When I grow cold I watch other people? When I have my first love I am not turning around watching people at church, I am listening for myself.
• I can’t stop birds of temptation from flying over my head… BUT I CAN STOP THEM FROM BUILDING NEST IN MY HAIR!
• When love grows cold, I want to please people… I don’t care about eternal values. You think church is about rules and tradition and there is NO PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS.
• You spend more time reading magazines, books and watching movies? Love moves away?
• You hang around with the wrong crowd… you are no better than the friends you hang with…
• You compromise with the world? Dirty jokes? Foul language?
• You love to wink and flirt with the devil and the world… if you look like the world, act like the world, and smell like the world you probably are the world…
• YOUR JOY HAS TRICKLED OUT…
• You fall in love with bad habits. Sin becomes acceptable and the norm.
• You are lazy and do little to help others.
• When the first love is gone you seldom invite and bring others to church.
• Cold love? You want to feed your ego… all the attention, the preacher never brags on you?
Matthew 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
• You see a drop in your giving… time, talent, energy and money. You give little, and spend God’s money to satisfy your own desires.
• When our love is cold: WE SO TEACH A GOD OF LOVE, GRACE AND MERCY THAT WE TEND TO BYPASS THAT WORKS ARE AN EVIDENCE… WE WILL BE TRIED BEFORE THE THRONE OF GOD. THE BOOKS WILL BE OPENED… HOW EASY IS IT TO FORGET… FORGET GOD SAYS I KNOW YOUR WORKS… GOD KNOWS WHAT YOU DO AND WHAT YOU DON’T DO… WE WILL BE JUDGED ACCORDING TO OUR WORKS.
THE SPIRIT OF GOD DESIRES US TO REMEMBER AND CORRECT OUR COLD LOVE.
Revelation 2:5 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.
How easy is it to forget… we must remember where we have been? Where we are? Where we are going? Can we remember the height where we have been? Remember you have fallen. When we remember we will know we must repent. If we don’t repent the LIGHT will go out and the lamp will be removed. We must repent.
It is a dangerous issue when we can’t remember from where we have fallen and repent? We must do our first works over?
CONCLUSION: If we are born once we will die twice. If we are born twice we will die once… We must keep our PASSION, ZEAL AND LOVE FRESH DAILY. As a city person I never understood that A COW HAS TO COME FRESH TO KEEP GIVING MILK. The cow has to be with the Father to have new life to keep giving milk.
I CAN NOT QUIT: I HAVE A FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES… Where there is little love the fire goes out.
Jeremiah 20:9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr.
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