Maybe this one will work. Yes, awesome. How about them 40 year old up knees need a little break? Amen. Somebody. And can you just, in your own way, right there where you are? I'm going to share for just a minute. Right there where you are, can you just tell him thank you?
There was an instance where A woman came and visited Jesus and she poured out this expensive perfume. That doesn't make sense to us culturally. Thank you. Um, but they poured out, she poured out this perfume on Jesus' feet. Everybody was indignant, everybody was so angry. And Jesus made the comment the person who has been forgiven much loves much. And the deficit in the church, when it comes to not being able to proclaim. Or worship or say that you love the Lord comes sometimes because we forget how much we've been forgiven of. And that's why I want you to just take one more second, because some of you, some of you, He rescued you out of the pit, but for some of you, you're like that woman, and you know the mercy of God on a level some have never tasted. So just one more time, if you could just close your eyes for just one second. And church, we we, I promise you, as long as we can, we're never going to get tired of honoring and worshiping God. This is not about us. What has He done for you? And you might be able to list a lot of things, but I want to take you back to the foot of the cross, to the one who's been forgiven much, loves much. Can you recall your lostness? And so we just offer praise to him for just one more second. Lord, thank you. I know me. I know where I was. I know what I was in. I have given lordship to lesser things that produce bitter fruit in my life. And I love you. Because you have given to me undeservingly. I have received so much from you. So we thank you, Father. We thank you that you are merciful and kind. And for the one who Who is not seeing their that remembers and can't recall their lostness. Father, as a gift to them, Father, would you help them remember where they were before you found them and before you rescued them? We thank you for it. It's in Jesus' name. We pray. Amen.
I want to share with you quickly, and um, I don't know that this will be a dynamic word. Man, aren't you just thankful? Can you give it up for the worship team and just I I like these nights because uh it to me it's an opportunity uh to just really I think the way Lexi said it earlier in service this morning was it's more laid back. Um and it it kind of feels a little bit more intimate. I know with this this uh partition kind of being closer, it kind of pushes us all together. Some of y'all don't get your buffer seat like you like. So um I just want to share really quickly, and I it's probably not gonna be dynamic. I I'm not gonna um I'm not gonna be doing a lot of shouting. I think it's a lot of um, I want to call us to something. If you're if you belong to Move Church, we're starting to fast tomorrow. I want to start and end with this same thing. So many of us need to spend time in the presence of God this week. It's crucial to your life that you don't just pass this moment by. You need to fast and you need to pray because God's at work and He's doing things that only those who are aware spiritually. Can can make use of. And if you find yourself dull with God right now, I think this is a great time for our church. I'm not saying, I'm not, please don't hear me casting stones. Even if you're in the most vibrant part of your relationship with Christ, um, everybody I think could benefit from leaving everything that pleases you in a natural sense and clinging to Christ for the next seven days. We as a church have opted not to do these larger fasts because we believe seven days is more accessible for people. Most people don't fast regularly. And fasting draws you unto God in a way nothing else can. When Jesus can become true food and true drink, it is a place that you'll never regret missing a meal to find that. And I just really want to encourage you and challenge you. Um, I again, I don't think you're a lesser Christian if you don't fast, but I believe you find places in the presence of God that you don't unless you fast. Can I say it that way without maybe damaging anybody? Um, so I really encourage you guys to do that. And even if you're not, I know we've got a bunch of guests with us tonight. I'm so thankful for other people coming and hanging out with us tonight and and just being with us because it's the body of Christ, isn't it, Moo Church? I mean, that's just I I I wish that we, you know, it's gonna be like that in heaven. Sometimes I just wish we could do more of that now. Um, and I I believe that that's coming. I'm actually gonna go ahead and forecast something for you. I think this North Jefferson area is about to be hit. With some real revival, but it's not going to be big church services. It's going to be the body of Christ mobilized to proclaim the gospel. We're not trying to get people to come to our church. We're trying to get people in love with Jesus and we're going to be representations. And and and I've had conversations over the last couple of weeks where I said, I know plenty of gospel-driven, Jesus-loving, spirit-filled churches around here. Go to one, even if it's not us, find a church, get in involved with a group of people who love Jesus so you can learn how to love Jesus. And And uh I just think we're we're on the cussment on Wednesdays. I'm I'm telling you, I I wish I could bottle up what these pastors are praying and we could just dump it on the churches. I believe it's coming. I really do. Um, God always starts with leadership, and the fact that I'm gathering with uh some pastors on we shouldn't be together. A bunch of Baptists and a bunch of Pentecostals and a bunch of non-denoms and a bunch of ex-Methodists. And I mean, you just we're all over the place. And yet when we come together, Christ is being glorified. I just can't. I just can't express it in a way that would hopefully move you where I'm where I'm moved. You know, sometimes I'm guilty of getting something from the Lord, and I just want everybody else to get on board. And so, you know, it's just a really good gift.
Um, I want to turn you to a few different places. Number one, I want you to go to
John 21. If you've got a Bible, I said this morning, I don't want to hear some more pages flipping. Let me see if I can hear it. Ooh, it's the saints rustling. It's the saints rustling in the Bible. If you're having to do it digitally, You're missing the oil. You're missing the grace of God right now. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.
John chapter 21. I said turn to John, didn't I? I didn't tell you what chapter, did I? That's my bad, Chandler. Chandler's trying to keep me in line over here. Thank you, brother.
John chapter 21. I'm gonna ask you this question, and I I did not I Cameron did not know what this always happens. So thank you for just being who you are, Cameron. It's um me and me and Cameron have this. Actually, people used to think Cameron was my dad. Funny story. When we owned the coffee shop, we were gonna do this joke about us doing a thing in the paper where it was gonna be like father and son opened coffee shop in Warrior, Alabama, because everybody would be like, is this your son? But uh I'd be honored to be your son, Cam, okay. Uh but Cam did Cam did not know what I was gonna be talking about tonight. And exactly as God would lead, I believe this is such a Holy Spirit moment for us um for this question. Because I thought when we landed on that song about Jesus, I love you, it is so it in some instances is so easy to say. It just flies off our tongue and it just comes out, you know. And then in other places, for some of you, like Cam said, it's maybe a very difficult thing for you to say to even say, I love Jesus. To sit in a song where the chorus is, Jesus, I love you. Oh, how I love you. When in your heart, you may not be stirred that way. It's easy to sing it as a chorus in the congregation, but it's it's hard to do at home when you're just living your life. And the question is do you love the Lord Jesus? And I couldn't, I couldn't think of anything to I hate actually now preaching one off sermons. When we're going through, like we were going through as a church, going through Ephesians, the text is there. You just go to the text, you study the text, you preach the text. That's how it works. But on nights like this, it's like, what do you talk about? And I felt like the Lord brought me back to several instances. We're going to read one of my favorite passages here in just a second, but I want to ask the question first.
Do you love the Lord Jesus? I'm being very specific with my words. I'm not just saying, do you love Jesus? I'm saying, do you love the Lord Jesus? Because Jesus is the King of Kings. He is the Lord of Lords. He is our victor. He is the name above every name. There is no, y'all, there is no one like the Jesus we love and worship. There's nobody like him. No one can match him. No, no one's blood does what the blood of Jesus does. No one's obedience does what Jesus' obedience does. There's no one like Jesus. And so, yeah, I'm glad that we're a Pentecostal church because I don't understand, me personally, how we can say that we love this God and this God loves us, and it not cause some kind of movement, some kind of articulation, some kind of noise. The psalmist said, make a joyful noise. So that's why I love the Pentecostals, because the Pentecostals will make some noise over Jesus, right? And that's not to put down any other place. It's just, it's always been a weird thing for me that we say that the God of the universe loves us and there'd be no actual response. We're so scared of being emotional because we'll be emotionally driven. I'm saying, get in the passenger seat where you belong, emotions, but come on for the ride, baby. We're going. So it's easy for me to emotionally get there. Some of you are good at emotionally getting there. And so when the song's right and things are working out in your life and God graces you, man, you can say, man, I just love my Jesus. But maybe when things aren't really rolling how you want, is it? Do you love the Lord Jesus? Period. Not even question mark. Do you love the Lord Jesus? And like that be it. Do you love him? And this is not to stir any condemnation. I just want you to think with me for a second. Before you really answer it, think what does it mean to love Jesus? If he was to stand at the door tonight, and before you came in, our Lord Christ Jesus was standing at the door. And he said, Show me how you love me. What would you do? What would you do? What would you say? This is interesting, isn't it? Because we measure love, don't we? We like to look at it in a sense of, well, if these things are being done, then. Then this is it would make sense. If this is being done, then of course we would look at that in marriage, we looked at in relationships, and we say, if this person loves this person, they're gonna do X, Y, and Z. I I actually don't have any problem with that. My question would be: when even we were singing that song, my heart would be, Lord, don't let that just be us just saying that. The way that the prophets would say, Don't let that be just something that comes from your lips. God's uh um charge against Israel was, you you say these things with your lips, but your hearts are far from me. And is the church sometimes guilty? Of course we are. Are we guilty of saying that we love Jesus, but our hearts are so far from a heart that loves the Lord? It gets easy, doesn't it? And listen, I'm I'm I'm being serious. I am not. If you're already gonna get an ick feeling like, oh my gosh, you're condemning me, John, I'm not. I want you to think. I really do. I want you to think for a second. Do I love the Lord Jesus? Or is it possible that I've started to go down this path of I say it. I maybe do things every once in a while that look like it, but I don't know. Maybe my heart's grown cold toward the Lord. And I just thought over the last few weeks, I'm so thankful that this fast was scheduled because I can say it, Crystal. I y'all, as far as somebody that's good at saying it, I'm among the best. But sometimes my little heart. Get so far from God. And I just find myself hard towards Him. I'm not responsive. I'm not willing to sacrifice. I'm not willing to give. I'm not willing to do anything for God. I just want, Lord, let it just be that your cross saved me because there's a lot of other things that I want to give my affections to. And the reason this scripture is my favorite scripture is because I identify with Peter on so many levels.
John chapter 21, verses 15 through 17, Jesus has come back from the dead. Let's not act like that's a little thing. You know, that's another thing that we talk about a lot in the church, and it's just kind of like, yep, Jesus raised from the dead. No biggie here. I don't, you know, what's the big deal? He rose from the dead. It's a huge deal. We don't have hope for the life to come if Christ hasn't been resurrected. So it's a big deal. Now think about it if you would have been there firsthand. Jesus has been resurrected and he's already come to the disciples a couple of times, but this time is unique. The reason you may have heard me say this, the reason this is unique to me, and the reason I really like this is because the resurrected Jesus, come on, everybody use just your brain for a second. Don't be spiritual with me. Just use your brain. The resurrected Son of God has just died for the sins of mankind and comes back to life, and he cooks breakfast for the people who literally left him in his moment of need. Now I've got a couple things I'd be doing if I had just resurrected myself. He's the one, by the way, this isn't like Jesus was resurrected. He said he had the ability
to lay his life down and then take it back up again Possibly quoting John 10:18. Jesus, the Son of God, resurrected. I'd have some things I'd like to square away, but it wouldn't be over a hot meal. There would be some things said, some things done. Come on. You, you, you leave me high and dry. Oh, well, I'm gonna find you. And you're not getting breakfast. I'm cooking breakfast and I'm eating breakfast in front of you, but you're not getting breakfast. Come on. Some of y'all acting like you ain't petty. And I've seen petty. I know you wouldn't be getting breakfast. But come on, just this is why I love this story because isn't he compassionate? Doesn't he remember that we are dust? Doesn't he remember? Doesn't he know that sometimes it's hard for you to love him because you're getting pressed? Listen, God is not sitting in a gold throne room just north of us looking at you, going, I can't believe. In fact, he is filled with compassion. Jesus cooks breakfast for his disciples, and then he has a side chat with Peter.
And In verses 15 through 17, you hear what Jesus says to Peter. And it kind of sounds weird, but I want you to go with me. Turn to his disciples. He got um, where am I at, guys?
John 15. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, now listen to what he says. Do you love me more than these? He takes, by the way, this is a little MO of Jesus, in case you've never read through the Gospels. Jesus every once in a while would take a couple of his buddies to the side. He had the twelve, but then he'd take these three: Peter, James, and John. Now, John's the one in whom account we're getting here. John referred to himself as the one whom Jesus loved. And now he must have been eavesdropping. On this side convo, and they did this a lot. They were very petty with each other. If you read the Gospels, Peter, James, and John, James and John are constantly trying to be Jesus' right hand man. And for some reason, Peter would get called out from among them. And James and John are like, Well, I'm the one who Jesus loves me. I know. And he writes his gospel, even tells in his gospel, he refers to himself as the one Jesus loves. And yet he eavesdrops on this conversation with Jesus and Peter, and he hears Jesus ask Peter, Do you love me more than all of these? Now you could take that one of two ways. Either Jesus is saying, Do you love me more? And in sense, do you love me more than the rest of these than you love these guys? Or the better translation or the thought would be is do you love me more than what these can love me? And Peter doesn't bat an eye. I hope you can get from this what has helped me in this. Because I'm about to remind you of Peter. Peter says, how to me, the audacity. He says, Do you love me more than any of these can love me? And the way they love me, do you love me? And listen to what Peter says.
Yes, Lord, you know that I love you Likely quoting John 21:15. I don't know how Peter thought this way. How did Peter have the audacity to say, yes, Lord, you know? Why are you even asking? You know. Some might say, well, you know, Jesus just wanted to check. God never asks, even the Son, Jesus, never asks questions that he doesn't already know the answer to. That would make him not uh omniscient. Omniscient meaning he knows everything. So Jesus is not asking this question so Peter can give him understanding. He's asking this question so Peter can have understanding. So Jesus says, Peter, do you love me in a way more than these do? And Peter says, Well, duh. Because that's Peter. That's in my mind, that's Peter. Duh, come on. Like you know I love you. 16.
He says, he said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me Likely quoting John 21:16? We don't know if it was 15 minutes later and they had had a couple more bites of fish and biscuits. We don't know. Peter said,
Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, Tend my sheep Likely quoting John 21:16–17. And he said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved. Why do you have to ask me so many times? You got somebody in your life that you know knows you better than anybody? And if they questioned you about a certain thing, it would hurt you. Peter knows Jesus knows that he loves him. So he doesn't understand. Why are you asking me? I'm now you're upsetting me, Jesus. And I still think this is pretty crazy because of what we're gonna share here in just a second. And then I I want us just to take a second just to be in the presence of God before we eat, before we fast next week. We're gonna gorge ourselves before we eat. I'm just kidding, we're not gonna do that. Okay. In Jesus' name, we're not gonna gorge ourselves. Come on. This is the this is that last part. He says,
Peter was grieved because he said to him a third time, Do you love me? And he said to him, You know everything. You know that I love you Likely quoting John 21:17. Some of you struggle so much with the validation of your love for God because there are things that get between you and the Lord, and you think that your love is simply conditioned on whether or not you live perfectly or not. Now we know that's not true, but how many of us live that way? How many of you, right now, you don't have to answer this question, have distance between you and God because of the way you've lived and the things you've done. That gap only exists in as much as you believing and interacting with it. The love of God has closed the gap between your inability and the capability of Christ. The fact that any one of us would not act just like Peter shows us how we have compounded over generations a thought that if we are not doing everything exactly right, then there's a gap between me and God. Do you hear Peter? Peter is saying, I'm upset that you don't know that I love you. You know everything. Why would you ask me that?
Let me push you to two scriptures that I think are very interesting, and then I just want to pray over us. I don't understand how Peter could have that kind of have kind of that kind of confidence after you look at what he does in
Mark 14, 32 through 41. I'm just gonna give you that scripture if you want to look at it later. It's a very pretty famous passage of scripture. Jesus is about to go to the cross, he's about to be betrayed by his one of his disciples, he's about to be abandoned by Peter. Denied by Peter and abandoned by the rest of his disciples. Some of them so eager to not get caught being with Jesus that uh John tells us that one of the disciples actually fled naked. They grabbed his clothes, ripped his clothes off, and he still hightailed it out of there. And he's in the garden and he's going to pray. And he begins to tell his disciples, he says, I'm gonna go pray. And this was apparently a spot they would go and pray often. And
he took with him Peter, James, and John Possibly quoting Luke 9:28 just a little bit further. And he said, Pray with me, because my soul is in great distress. I hope you don't do this. If you do this, don't do it anymore. Can I just issue this? If someone tells you, can you please pray? Drop everything you're doing right there and just go ahead and pray. Don't you dare say, I'm going to pray, and then you just forget. Because sometimes our friends come to us, people come to us in need, and they're saying, My soul is in great distress. But Peter, James, and John don't stop and pray. They don't watch and pray. They instead they fall asleep. And I've heard all kinds of stuff. You know, well, it was the middle of the night, everybody's really tired. And this is my thought. Not to guilt trip us, not to be legalists, not to be putting burdens on ourselves that we don't need to be. But if Jesus asks something of you, do it. If Jesus asks something of you, like the proverbs say, keep your promises even if they hurt you. Do not leave the commandments. In fact, John would write in 1 John, he would say, and his commands are not burdensome. Many of you are burdened by obeying Jesus. But did you know that Jesus' love language is obedience? He says, if you love me, you'll obey my commands. That's in
John 15. Now, John is the gospel of love. He's all he's talking about is the love of Jesus. But then he says he records Jesus' words. If you love me, do what I'm telling you to do. I'm not saying I will love you if you do. I'm saying you need to show your love for me by doing what I'm asking you to do. You see, God's love for you has already been stapled at the cross. But your love for Him, it's TBD. Where does it show up? Some of us are quick to sing worship songs and get emotional and cry. But when God issues a command to our heart from the Word of God or from our conscience, and He says to do this is right and good, we will steer away from it. We will not suffer the consequences of obedience because it's again, it hurts us too much. My question would be, is do you love Jesus? And Jesus says, I'm going to go pray. And it ends up that this Jesus goes through this three times, pouring his soul out. Father, if there's any other way for
this cup to pass from me, nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done Likely quoting Luke 22:42. And he comes back and he finds those buddies asleep. And to me, this always is a call to prayer. Listen, I don't know what we have to do. I I I'm I I'm at the point, you know, I'm not upset. I'm definitely not upset, but I was talking to a pastor friend of mine, and he was just talking about how the church that he pastors, there's a prayerlessness in the church. And I said, man, I'm not trying to be that guy that's like, that's just how it is, but I think there is an apathy in the church, and the biggest issue is not people. People are like saying, we're biblically illiterate. That might be partially true, but we just don't have people that are people of prayer. Jesus comes back to his friends and he says, Could you not keep watch with me for just an hour? I know some of you are going, bro, if I can go 15 minutes, that's an absolute miracle. But I think that the deepest need of the church is if I really do love God, I should be a person of prayer. Some of you have have never experienced the beauty of sitting in the presence of God and talking to the Lord and having him reveal himself to you. To just pour out on you. You've never experienced that.
That's why I'd really encourage some of you to fast this this week. Maybe this would be that time where the Lord does that. But Peter is amongst those people and he's caught. He fails his friend. Can we just say it bluntly? He fails his friend. And there's another instance where later on,
Mark 14, verses 71 through 72, it's at this point where. Peter's already been asked twice. Jesus has been arrested, and Peter's been asked twice. I think I know you. You're one of Jesus' followers. And he's already said, No, I don't know this guy. And the third time he gets asked and he swears at the guy, I'm telling you, I don't know this man. And Jesus had already told him that he would do this, which I mean, again, here's go back to this breakfast scene. Who does this? Jesus knows that Peter's going to betray him. Even Peter is told by Jesus
Satan has asked to have you and sift you like wheat Likely quoting Luke 22:31, but I have prayed that your faith may not fail. And when you turn, When you turn, in other words, when when you realize that this isn't the last, when you realize that this isn't over, that your whole life isn't completely falling apart, I want you to go and encourage the brothers. He knows this is going to happen, and he still denies even knowing his best friend. And then we come back to the story of Jesus cooking breakfast for his disciples. There's so many other things that I feel like I could say, but for the sake of time, Peter says, You know I love you. The audacity, after three days prior, falling asleep in his moment of greatest need, and then denying even knowing him, wouldn't those be classic proofs that you in fact don't love Jesus? If you had felt if put yourself there, Jesus is with you. You're his best bud. And he says, Will you pray with me and you fall asleep? And he comes back and he's like, bro, come on. All right, I disappointed you. I didn't really do what you wanted me to do. Then a few hours later, you're like, I don't even know him. I don't even know him. And Jesus has to hear it, by the way. Jesus hears Peter's denial of even knowing him. And then at this breakfast, Jesus even says, you see, he's given him an opportunity. Does he really know? Or was this just like a surfacing? Does he really understand what he has with me? Peter, do you love me? Of course I love you. And here's the beauty. I don't know what happened in Peter in those three days, but something had to have changed. Because in the middle of Peter literally running away, weeping bitterly that he had denied even knowing his best friend, from that day until the day at breakfast, something must have registered with Peter. Even though I denied him, even though I fell asleep on him, even though I wasn't faithful to him, I love him still. And I'm even at the point where I'm saying, how dare you even ask me? Of course, what where do you get confidence like that? Wouldn't you? I mean, I'm just looking at the story. Wouldn't you be like, there are plenty of reasons for Jesus to ask you this question, Peter? You've acted like a moron. You have acted like you're the worst best friend. You are literally the worst. What do you mean? Why are you asking me? You denied knowing me. You fell asleep on me, bro. I was literally about to go to a cross and die, and I'm pouring out my heart to the Father, and you're over there catching Z. What do you mean I don't have I why am I asking you I do I love you? And this this whole thing is people think that that Jesus asked Peter three times to erase Jesus or Peter denying Jesus three times, but I don't think it has anything to do with that. I think it gave Peter three times to assert what was absolutely true, even though I have done dumb things, I love the Lord. Now I maybe took a long time to get to that one statement, but this is kind of the the the rub tonight.
Do you love the Lord? And if Jesus was standing at the door of your heart and said, Do you love me? Would you have the audacity of Peter to say, Of course I love you? Because some of you are in a rough patch with Jesus right now, but you're treating it like you're dating someone in high school. Like you know, you like you ghost. How many of you, I'm not going to ask that question, actually. Let me avoid that situation. Oops. Don't treat Jesus like you've treated other people. Don't treat Jesus like a relationship gone bad. Some of you are not showing you love Jesus, but you do. And this call tonight is: every time Peter said, Of course
I love you, Jesus would respond with this: then feed my sheep Possibly quoting John 21:17. In other words, then go prove it by doing something. The church in Ephesus in Revelation was told, I love everything. They were written a letter. Everything you're doing is great, but I have this one thing against you.
You have left your first love Likely quoting Revelation 2:4. Now, you would say, Well, I've loved plenty of people. Before I got saved, I love plenty of people. He's not talking about the first one you ever had, he's talking about first in order. Your first love. He's number one.
You have left Christ as your first love Likely quoting Revelation 2:4. Many of you love Jesus, he's just not your first love. And I think that's what Peter needed. Peter needed to be asked so that he could make sure that the arrangement wasn't Jesus is somewhere on the list. No, Jesus is first. And I challenge you to this that if you've got uh some misordered or misguided affections towards Christ, align them tonight. Take the next seven days and get your heart before the Lord and ask God to help you love your Lord, help you love your Lord. Jesus, because to act like this is just something that happens to you by osmosis, it doesn't. Many of you have missed so many opportunities to learn the love of God because you think it should just happen. It should just happen to you. No, no, no, it doesn't just happen to you. Get before God. Let the Holy Spirit do his work in you, where he sheds
the love of God abroad in your heart Possibly quoting Romans 5:5 so that you can be like Peter. And you can have the audacity to say, of course I love you.
Now it's the it's the idea of the order of my love. Do I love Jesus as first? Do I love Jesus as my first love? And I want to pray over us in that. Look again, I said this wasn't going to be like some boisterous word, but I think it's a core challenge to where we are as a church because I'll be honest with you. I was telling Lexi and Chandler this the other day, if you don't mind me spotting this conversation, saying this conversation on the spot. But this is honest to goodness the truth. Whatever we do as a church, if more people are not falling in love with Jesus, we are doing a bad job. I don't care if we're running 200. I don't care if our budget is in the black. I don't care if we get a building. I don't care about any of that stuff if it doesn't mean more people loving our Lord. We we just, guys, can I have y'all on board with that? That that is the cry of our heart, would not be that we have more nice stuff, or that the that at the end of your life are they gonna say that you did a lot of good? Or are they gonna say this would you wouldn't it be such a marvelous thing at your funeral that they were to say, I don't know what they did. I just know they love Jesus. I know this person loved Jesus. It wasn't because your worship was out of control on Sunday morning. It wasn't because you gave the most. It wasn't because you did all these kind gestures. It's because your Lord was your first love. Let your life be ordered by that. And by the way, it's already happened. If something else is your first love, your life has been arranged by that, by the way. Whatever you give yourself to in affections, your life will be ordered under that. How you spend your time, how you spend your money, if you'll give your life to other people. Some of you, gosh, guys, if I could, if I could do a heart transplant, I would do a heart transplant in a heartbeat. Pun intended. Like literally get the heart in you to give of yourself just as Jesus has given himself, because he's your first love. As I pray that, um, I just want you to take a second and just be before the Lord yourself. I really, really, really, really want you to engage in this fast. For some reason, in my mind, there are people at move that are so resistant towards fasting. I don't know if that's true or not. It's just a just something that's in my mind. And there is such liberty in not feeding your flesh and no longer giving provision to your flesh. I really would. No, don't I want to say this for for somebody. I think it's for somebody. Um Don't we're not trying to be David Goggins, okay? Do do the hardest thing possible so you can prove that you're really spiritual. That that's not what we're doing. But but some there is something, there is somebody in here that you're good at giving up the least during times like this. You're like, yeah, that will be enough. And the Lord is asking, I think, for something more from you. And so I've just even say that if there's a resistance in your heart tonight, ask the Lord. Ask some of your brothers and sisters. Say, hey, what are you doing for the fast? Maybe it'll spark you. It's maybe a great time for you to really tuck away with the Lord and have your loves rearranged so that He could be your first love.
So let's pray that. And then I'm going to dismiss this and give us a couple of things. Father, we love you. But sometimes that that order is out of whack. Pray for fresh affection towards you. I pray, Lord, that you would break off some of this dullness that might exist on some of my brothers and sisters. It certainly existed on my heart. God help me to love you. It's so easy to love other things. It's so easy to give myself to other things. I'm asking Lord Jesus. Would you come to my heart? Would you, would you help me in reordering my love? Give grace for it. These next seven days, would you bless those who participate in this fast? Not that they're super spiritual, but that just they would, they would literally, by their fast, they would be saying, I will give up whatever I have to give it up. But even the things that are most necessary to me. I'll give them up for true food and true drink to be in the presence of God, to know you more deeply, to love you more greatly. God, I pray that's the work that's done in us over these next seven days that we come out as lovers of God, that we get a rearrangement in the order of our loves. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Let me give you uh a couple of things. If some of you maybe you came in here and um uh I just asked this. We we really do believe that God gives um A ministry to the church when we're together. So if you during worship or before you got here, I know some of you, you might have encouragement or a word for somebody. Find that person, pray over them, just you know, share the love of Christ in that way. That kind of ministry is so sweet and so needed. Maybe you sit down at the table with them while we eat. Um, but don't let ministry stop because the music and the preaching is no longer going on, okay? Um, two things: kids have already eaten. Okay. But make sure you grab them before you eat. Okay. So bring them along with you. They may want more of your food. Who knows? But they have been taken care of. Okay. That's number one. Number two, um, there is a table by the baby's room that is for our gluten-free people. You don't want them to dye your hands. So make sure that they get to that. Non-gluten free people, don't eat the gluten-free people's food, okay? Come on, somebody. Let's protect our gluten-free people. Amen. Come on. In Jesus' name. All right. Love y'all. Thank y'all for coming and hanging out. We've got food for you on the other side. Grab your kiddos, hang out, eat some.
