Revelation Pt. 4: Welcome to the Faith Alive Sermon Podcast. This is a replay of a past sermon from Faith Live Church. Whether you missed it, want to hear it again, or share it with someone you know, we're glad you're here. This sermon is by Rich Casanova, Director of Church Operations. Wow. What a powerful time of worship. Look, I just got to tell you this, isn't it part of these notes? I just got to tell you something that just inspired me so. When I see people up here and I see people continually coming for prayer, man, that warms my heart. That's so awesome. That's such a that's such a need, right? And what a power that you and I, you and I can come. The feet of Jesus and lay down burdens, or we can make a praise, or whatever it is, but how powerful it is that people will stand here in agreement with you. And I love to see people coming up, right? Because sometimes that takes some boldness. I remember sitting out there before and thinking, I don't want to go up there and have people think I have a bunch of problems, right? But man, there's so much power. And I gotta tell you, from having been praying for people before. To me, that's that's just a that's a very humbling ability, right? To be able to do that. To be able to take and us agree and take your burdens or take your praises or take an unspoken prayer request to the Almighty, ever-loving God. So can we give a hand to our prayer warriors that come up here? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that when you do that, right? Because I think I'm the only one that does that. But anyway, thank you so much. And I'm so Excited to be with you. I know I say that every time, but look, if you know me, that's just how I go, right? That's how I go. but I I I really like the way we're doing this. We're taking pastor's message on Sunday, and it's so good. It was so good, right? They're just so in-depth. And now we're gonna take it one step a little bit further, and we're gonna see how can we use all that information. And I I just love that format. So tonight we're gonna talk about the danger of an unnoticed drift. And let's think about that. There's something dangerous about drifting because drifting doesn't require a decision. You don't wake up one morning and decide, you know what, today I'm going to move further away from God. You don't have to intentionally turn your back on Jesus. You don't have to stop going to church, stop serving, or even stop believing, and you can still drift. Sometimes all you have to do is stop paying attention to the direction that you're moving. Think about being in a boat. You're in a boat and you're just there kayak fishing, whatever you're doing, and it might seem really still, but if you close your eyes a while, you'll be somewhere else because that water underneath you is a slow moving current and it's pulling you away. And have you ever done that and not been paying attention and look, all of a sudden, you're not where you were before, and you didn't even realize that you drifted because nothing is anchoring you to that spot. So that's how we want to talk about that tonight: being anchored. In that spot, focused on Jesus. Because you can move away from something without ever intending to leave it. And I believe, I believe that's one of the greatest dangers in our relationship with Jesus is just that slow drift away. And I I think that really speaks to us because most of us don't wake up one morning and decide we're going to stop loving God. It happens gradually, that move. We miss a morning of prayer because we're running late. We skip a little bit of reading scripture because we're tired. We start to replace quiet time with another podcast, another news update, another scroll through social media. So much comes at us. It's it's the day and age of instantaneous news, instantaneous this, instantaneous that. We forget to have that quiet time. And slowly that can erode with our relationship with Jesus. See, none of those individual moments really seem like that big of a deal. But over time, something begins to change. We're still attending church. We're still serving. We're still doing what we've always done. But our conversations with God become shorter. Our sensitivity to his word becomes weaker. And our priorities begin to shift. And here's what makes this dangerous our spiritual routines can remain intact long after our spiritual intimacy with God has drifted away. We're still doing the things that we've done. Because that's what we do, right? Now you've heard me say this before. Is there a sign seating at church? Yes. You say no, but then you get there with your family, somebody else is in there, and you're like, hey, hey, peace be with you, but maybe over that way, okay? Because sit here. We become routined. We take comfort in the routine. We sit in the same place. We sit by the same people. We do the same things. And pretty soon, in that routine, we become complacent. We become comfortable. And sometimes that can move us away from our intimacy with God. That's what makes this letter to Ephesus so important in Revelations. See, on Sunday, we heard Jesus commend the church for their hard work, perseverance, and commitment to truth. But then Jesus exposed something they apparently weren't recognizing themselves. They had abandoned their first love. So I want to draw your attention to something tonight. Jesus didn't tell them they needed to work harder. He didn't tell them they needed to do more ministries. He told them they needed to come back. Because the answer to spiritual drift isn't always doing more things. Sometimes it's reorganizing what we've allowed to come between us and the one who matters the most. Tonight I want us to answer three questions. What is quietly pulling me away from Jesus? And I say when I say us, I mean me too. I don't want you to think I'm up here. And I have it all figured out, right? Just a person, just like you. I get pulled away. I get refocused. So, what is quietly pulling me away from Jesus? Have I replaced my relationship with God with religious routine? What needs to change for me to return to my first love? Those three questions. Because the dang the greatest danger of drifting isn't how quickly it happens, it's how long we can drift away without realizing that we've moved. If it's a sudden shift, we know that. If it's a gradual drift, it's gradually pulling away, and the enemy keeps chipping away a little bit at your time, at your focus, pulling you away, knowing the things that hurt you, and probing. And you begin to give him a little room because you give life to those things that can cause us to drift. So the first thing we have to do so we don't drift away is recognize the drift before it becomes distance. That's the first thing. What you fail to pay attention to today can pull you away from what matters most tomorrow. So in Hebrews chapter 2, verse 1, it says, We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard so that we do not drift away. Careful attention. That to me sounds like focus. That sounds like laser focus. Careful attention, right? oftentimes because of the way that I am. I tend to, my my brain is always going in different directions. And I'm very easily distracted. Huh? And my wife's like, amen, amen, right? Yeah, I'm easily distracted. I'm easily moved away. Sometimes it's hard for me to focus on something. That's why I'm I feel like I'm pretty good at tactical things. I'm not always good at strategic things. Because tactical things happen really fast. And you have to make decisions really fast on the fly and solve problems on the fly. I love that. I do well in that. Long term project? I'm gonna tell you something right now, parents. I was the kid on Sunday night as Disney was starting at seven, that's what used to happen at seven o'clock. Disney would start and I'd be, hey mom, do we got any shoeboxes? I got a diorama do tomorrow. How long did you have this assignment? I don't know, long time. Do we have shoeboxes? Right? I was terrible about that. But when I had to do it at the last minute, man, I'd get her done, right? So sometimes that strikes with me. We have to pay the most careful attention. Let that sink in, right? Notice the language. The writer doesn't say we have to pay attention so we don't run away. He says so we don't drift away. You have to stay focused long enough so you don't begin to drift. Drifting is subtle, it's gradual. Many times it happens without us even recognizing it. Think about the church at Ephesus. They were still working, persevering, persevering. Still defending sound doctrine, yet Jesus identifies something that they lost. I think about that a lot. I think about that a lot. Especially as a growing church family, right? we have to have systems, we have to have procedures, we have to have these things in place. But guess what? None of it matters at all if our primary focus is not on the love of Jesus Christ. None of it matters at all if we're not all together in this to work towards the glory of God. Otherwise, it's just a bunch of things, right? And so we don't want to lose focus. We live in a culture that makes drifting incredibly easy. Our attention is constantly being pulled in different directions. Social media, entertainment, work, financial pressures, hobbies, and even politics can compete for our time and emotional energy. So sometimes good things even become distractions that we allow to take away our time from God. I don't have time to pray this morning. I gotta get in and do my ministry. I gotta get in and serve. I gotta write this. I gotta teach that. But somehow I'm forgetting to spend time with God. And I begin to push that aside. And then my assignment becomes misaligned. My focus becomes misaligned. The Greek verb for drift away in Hebrews 2 1 is I can't say this one because I can't roll my R's. So I'm just gonna do the best I can. It's called parareo. And there is a little roll. I listened to it today in the Greek. I'm like, let me hear how this sounds. Well, I can't do that, right? But it's par parario. And what it does is it conveys the idea of slipping or drifting past. And in the Greek, it means carelessly drifting away. Think about that. What we're being warned about is not to carelessly drift away, to misalign our priorities. The way the warning isn't limited to an intentional rejection of faith. It also cautions us against failing to pay attention to what we've heard. Here's the important lesson: Spiritual drift doesn't always begin with a rebellious heart. Sometimes it begins with a distracted heart. We must be careful not to confuse being distracted with having completely abandoned our faith. But we should recognize that unattended distractions can gradually reshape our priorities. That's what happens. And it and look, we're all human beings. And when we start to get That gradual drift. So, what are we gonna do about that? How are we gonna help against that, fight against that? Well, first, we need to identify our strongest current. What's really underneath you? What moves you, right? So you need to ask yourself what constantly captures your attention? Is it emotions and energy? Is it social media? Is it work? Politics, entertainment, or something else? You really need to make an examination of that. And start to establish a daily spiritual anchor. What's gonna hold you in that drift? Because look, let's face it, there's a current always moving underneath us. There's illness, there's financial troubles, there's hobbies, there's all things moving us. So we have to have a spiritual anchor to hold us in place. So let's think about that. What's gonna be we have to establish that anchor. So begin each day with scripture and prayer before allowing the demands of the world to take over. Even 10 intentional minutes can begin changing your priorities. Now, I'm not telling you to put a time block on it. But if you force yourself at least that much, right? Take time. Listen. Stay spiritually anchored so that when the distractions come, you can still stay focused on what really matters. Examine your reactions. Well, this one's for me. When something frustrates or angers you, ask, is my response being shaped by the Holy Spirit or by the other impetus, the other voices I've been listening to? What is my reaction based on? Is it based on emotions, anger, frustration, whatever voices are feeding into me other than the voice of the Holy Spirit? Or is it Jesus that's feeding into me, shaping my response? That's intentional. So you need to check your compass. So here's your challenge this week. Whenever you find yourself frustrated, distracted, or emotionally consumed by something, stop and ask yourself three questions. What's influencing my thoughts right now? You don't have to take a big long time to do it. Just do it. Is my response reflecting the character of Christ? Man, that's a tough question, right? And I'm not saying it to beat you up or to beat myself up. But just look at that. What is my response? What is factoring into that? Does it reflect the character of Christ? Or am I allowing the situation to draw me closer to Jesus? Or am I allowing it to pull my attention away from him? And then when we start asking that, we begin to take our thoughts captive and we begin to intentionally look through a different lens. And that's what we have to do. See, it's easy to look through the broad lens of the world, through distraction, through frustration through whatever, sometimes it's difficult to get to that narrow, focused lens of focusing on Jesus Christ. And that's where you really have to hone in and it's intentional. So before you respond, take a moment to pray. Prayer isn't something, we talk about prayer, isn't something you have to do, well, I got 10 minutes to pray and then I you should be praying all day. All day long, in and out. Right? For everything. That's what it tells us to do. Pray about Everything. That means everything, right? I told you guys a story before. I put the rocking chairs together at the house. I was trying to do it in record time. Directions are for people who don't know how to do things, right? So I put the rocking chairs together on the front porch and I had I didn't even know I put them together fast. But my wife goes, What's wrong with the one? I'm like, There's nothing wrong with the one. Now looked at it, I had put the thing the back part of it on backwards. But I did it fast. Take a moment to pray. Lord, how do I respond to this? What's the best? What would what would you have me do? You know what? If you have a question and you're like, where can I look to find an answer to this situation? It's right here. It's right here. It's in your Bible. It's not in a YouTube channel. It's not on a TikTok. It's not even in a podcast. It's right here. This is where you need to start. Devoting your attention, focusing your attention, praying this way so that this relationship becomes closer, so that this relationship will become stronger. And then you begin to learn to respond in that manner. So but recognize and drift is only the first step because sometimes the problem isn't what we've stopped doing, sometimes it's what we've continued doing without the right heart. So don't confuse spiritual activity with spiritual intimacy. Busy, busy. Doesn't always mean equate to effectiveness, right? Don't confuse activity with intimacy. John chapter 15, verse 5 says, I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do what? You can do nothing. Apart from me, you can do nothing. Being productive for Jesus is not the same thing as being connected to Jesus. Some translations will say, if you abide, and we'll talk about that in a moment. In John chapter 15, Jesus gives us an illustration, I believe, speaks directly to the condition of the church at Ephesus. He describes himself as the vine and his followers as the branches. Think about that for a moment. A branch doesn't wake up in the morning and say, I've got to work harder today. I've got to produce more fruit. I've got to prove I'm a good branch. It doesn't. It produces fruit. Because it remains connected to the vine. It's life, its nourishment, its ability to produce fruit all come from that connection. And that's the that's the that's that's the perfect example that Jesus gives us. Jesus gives us all those things. He gives us life. He gives us nourishment to your soul. Fulfilling. I'm telling you, nothing will fill that void but Jesus Christ. You'll try to fill it with other things. You may try to fill it with substances, with hobbies, with profession. If I just got this job, if I just got this boat, if I just got this thing, if I just got this rifle. Now that's different. No, that's not different, right? You'll fill it with other things, but until you fill it with the love of Jesus Christ, you'll never be satisfied. You won't have nourishment. So let Jesus nourish you by staying connected, by remaining connected. By abiding. We can become so focused on producing results that we neglect the relationship that makes the genuine spiritual fruit possible in the first place. We can measure our spiritual success by how we're doing or how much we're doing. How many ministries am I involved in? How often do I volunteer? How many Bible studies am I attending? How much am I contributing? Those are meaningful things. I'm not taking away from that. Please don't stop serving. We need you. I'm not saying that. But they don't substitute for abiding in Christ. They don't substitute for remaining in Christ, for spending time with Jesus. They don't substitute for that. It's part of that. So I don't want you to think, well, I'm serving. Is that bad? No, serving is what? But if that becomes your entire focus and you think that's what's gonna produce fruit, it's not that. You have to stay connected to Jesus Christ. See, Jesus never asked us to choose between loving him and serving him. He never said it's one or the other. He calls us to serve because we love him. And here's where this becomes personal, at least to me. What happens when the activity stops? See, I'm a busy person. I'm not any busier than anybody else, but I'm a I keep busy. I'm doing things all the time. Sometimes I have to stop. And then what's hard for me is listening and waiting in the stop. Listening for God and the stop. That's hard for me. So I have to intentionally force myself to do that. If that's you, then I'm telling you, we have to still we have to take that time and we have to fill that emptiness, that empty time with Jesus Christ. And ask yourself this: Are you still intentionally pursuing Jesus? Or are you just hoping that He'll be there because you're involved. I'm at church so I'll probably run into Right. Hope I see ya at church, Jesus. Are you pursuing him? Not just hoping he's gonna stand next to you, not just waiting, but pursuing him. I want you, Jesus. I want you in my life. I want to come after you. I want you to be there. Pursue. Pursue. Sometimes our relationship with Him must be deeper than the responsibilities that we carry. A branch is alive, its fruit isn't manufactured through mechanical effort. It grows because life is flowing through it, and that's what Jesus desires for us. He doesn't simply want religious performance. He wants a living, growing relationship that produces genuine spiritual fruit, not performance, right? Jesus repeatedly emphasizes abiding throughout this passage. Some translations say remain, some say abide, but they both say that same thing ten times in the first ten verses of chapter 15. Ten times. And we counted several times. My wife and I did. I said let's make sure. One time I came up with nine, but it's ten. How many of us know that if Jesus tells us something ten times, he probably wants us to get a hold of that, right? And I think that's important. And I'm not saying that to be insulting. I think sometimes when we read scripture, we just we buzz through it. Think about that. Ten times Jesus reminds us to remain, to abide. Both of those things mean the same thing. So think about that. That's a warning. Ten times. If I had to teach somebody something ten times, I would be so crabby with them, right? I came up under the tutelage of I told you once, I showed you one time, so I'm pretty generous. If my kids are watching, I probably showed you two times. They'll be calling me. Think about that. So just hey, it obviously expresses the importance. That focus isn't on occasional sp spiritual experience. It's an ongoing relationship of dependence upon him. You know what I love right now? A bunch of people are counting. I love that. I love that. Somebody's got to come up with eight and be like, I only saw eight. And I'm gonna be like, well, you better count again. Right? I'll see fingers. One, two, three, four. I gotta start over. Yeah. I love that. See, activity can be visible to everyone while intimacy with Christ remains a matter of the heart. Think about that. You can be so busy showing, doing, being visible. Look at me. I'm praising. I'm praying. I'm laying it out. Where's your heart? Right? Where's your heart? Think about that. Psalm 139, verse 23 through 24. And you guys know I love the Psalms. But this is a powerful prayer. This is what Pastor would tell us is a little bit of a dangerous prayer. Not because it's dangerous, but because it's convicting. Search me, God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way of God. Everlasting. When you pray that that's an important prayer to pray. It is. David isn't simply asking God to examine what he does. Hey, Lord, take a look at what I'm doing. Is it good? No, he's saying, look at my heart, examine me, test me, know my anxious thoughts. This is tough here. See if there's any offensive way in me, right? Because sometimes the hardest thing to recognize isn't what we're doing wrong. It's when we're doing right things, but for the wrong reason. Right? We can convince ourselves. Well, I'll pray tomorrow. I'm so busy today. God will understand that. He knows what I'm doing. He sees where I'm at. I'll go to church next week because I'm tired. I'm tired. I shouldn't say it that way. If you're tired, I'm sorry. I'll go to church next week. God knows where I'm at. It isn't about coming to a building. It's about communing with church, with God. It's about being around a body of believers. It's about giving God your best, right? That's what is going on. So here's some practical action steps. Evaluate your motivation. Be honest with yourself. Why am I doing this? Before serving, giving, teaching, or participating in ministry, ask. Am I doing this out of the love of Jesus or simply because it's expected of me? Now again, we all have days. Look, I'm not gonna say we never have days where we might just be like, here we go again, right? But that's when you really gotta draw on the love of Jesus, right? Practice abiding or remaining, not just accomplishing. Set aside time with God that has no agenda beyond knowing Him. This is this is one I really have to get Convicted on me 'cause I'm a checklist guy. I'd like to get stuff done. I got this done, I got that done. I didn't get my wife's list done again, but I'm working on it for twenty three years. Okay. Look, you don't need to prepare a lesson, complete a study, or accomplish anything measurable. You just have to spend some intimate time with God. Invite God to examine your heart. Make Psalm 139 23 through 24 part of your daily prayers. Ask them. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal where your motivations and priorities need alignment. Show me, God, where I need to realign my priorities. Let your relationship produce your service. So instead of asking only, what do I need to do for God today? Begin asking, How can I remain close to Jesus and allow his love to shape what I do today? And you might say, Well, that's semantics, but it's not. It's a it's a heart change, right? Not what can I get done on my list, but where can I do this to reshape my relationship with Jesus? So challenge three times this week. And if you do it more, that's awesome, right? But if you haven't been three times this week, spend fifteen uninterrupted minutes with Jesus without an agenda. That's a hard one for me. When I wake up, I got I got things to do. I got I got I got coffee to drink, right, dear? We got things to do. But don't have an agenda. Read scripture, pray, listen, and simply focus on your relationship with Him. So far, we've recognized the danger of drifting. We've examined the difference between activity and intimacy, but recognizing the problem is not enough. Jesus gives us a clear response and it requires more than good intentions. See, returning to God, returning to this way, requires a decision, not just a desire. We all want to, but we have to make the decision that we're going to do that. Right? I want to do a lot of things. But I have to make that decision that I'm going to do this or that, right? It's the same reason gyms are full from January 1st through the 12th. Right? Everybody wants to get in there. I'm not knocking on people. We're all people, right? We all want to do that. This is the year, I'm doing it, right? And then we, you know, something happens. We can't do that with Jesus. We can't get into that kind of thing. We have to force ourselves, right? We if you have the desire, it's kind of like, if something were to happen to your family and somebody tried to hurt somebody that you love, man, I know, I guarantee all of you would go to protect them right away. But that's an idea, that's not a plan, right? And maybe some of you have that plan. Love it. Same way here. I have a desire to follow Jesus. Well, I gotta make a decision that I'm gonna do that. I gotta make that decision. I gotta do that. You cannot return to your first love while refusing to change what pulled you away. See in Revelation chapter 2, verse 5, Jesus gives the church at Ephesus three clear instructions. This is what Pastor Jordan spoke about on Sunday. Remember, repent, and return. So I want you to get something out of that. Jesus doesn't tell them to start another program. He doesn't tell them to work longer hours. He doesn't tell them to develop a better organizational structure and a cool chart. Get yourself a graph together. No. He tells them to address the condition of their hearts and return to the earlier works of love. Think about the first time you really gave yourself to Jesus. The first time you truly felt the love of the heart of Jesus Christ. Man, remember that fire? Now look. Nobody's saying you have to continue that emotional momentum. It just means you have to get back to where you were. Remember. Remember what your relationship with Jesus was like when you first began following Him. Remember the hunger you had for God's word. Remember when prayer wasn't simply something you did before meals or at church. Right? It was something you were so fervently searching for. You needed it so bad. And you got it. And you were on fire. Fire. Look, it's hard to sustain that momentum over for long periods of time emotionally. But it's not hard to sustain that momentum if you've got Jesus fueling your heart. That's where it becomes a decision. Not suggesting that spiritual maturity means you have to constantly recreate the emotions of your earliest days as a believer. Just want you to remember to recognize when our priorities have changed. Remember when you were excited to share what Jesus had done in your life. So remember. Second, repent. Repentance involves more than a feeling of conviction during a sermon. We learn that. Repentance means what? Changing direction. Right? About face. That means to go the other way. It requires a change of mind and direction. And sometimes that means ask making some difficult decisions. It might mean turning off the television. It might mean putting down the phone. It might mean rearranging your schedule. here's a hard one. It might be stepping away from an unhealthy influence. Maybe someone is pulling you away. Maybe something, some substance is pulling you away. And you might have to make a hard decision. Is this person I'm around? My one of my friends, are they dragging me back down to what used to be? Right? Pastor Chad would say it all the time, right? Can't fly with eagles if you're hanging around with turkeys, right? But in serious, right? Those can be hard decisions. They can be hard decisions. It requires a change of mind and direction. Maybe it could be apologizing to someone you treated poorly. It's tough one. Maybe it could be forgiving someone who hasn't ever done anything to deserve your forgiveness. And guess where that falls? I love you, but Jesus Christ forgave you, and we have done nothing to deserve that forgiveness. So who are we to hold that against someone else? But it can be so difficult. I get it. I get it. You guys know my story, right? I never got a chance to forgive my real father for all the violence, all the other things. Never got the chance. Because I never said it. I never went to him and professed that. Now I forgave him in my heart. I did that. But I should have said something to him. But I didn't. It's too late now. So sometimes it it could put us, it would take us out of our comfort zone to do that. Because if we're serious about returning to Jesus, something in our lives might need to change. it doesn't mean we have to be solemn and and ho ho ho, right? It doesn't mean that. We had Bible study at our house one time and we're all laughing and carrying on and my son came out of his room and he goes, What are guys doing? we're having Bible study. He's like, it don't sound like it. Then he went, did his thing, right? What's it supposed to sound like, right? We're having fun. We're we're serving a loving God. We're having a sense of humor. There's nothing wrong with that. But it is a decision and we have to be serious about making that connection. You can't keep feeding the distractions that are starving your devotion. Follow me? Right? So we have to remember, repent, and then what? Return, right? We have to return because Jesus told the church to do the things they did at first. Put love back into action. Return to intentional prayer. Return to studying scripture. Return to worship. Man, you guys were singing it tonight. I love it when they step back and let you guys have it for a little bit. I love that. You guys brought it. It was really it's really inspiring. It is. Not because of the loud or whatever, it's because you are spending time in relationship with Christ through worship time. You are worshiping God through your music, and that's awesome. You've heard me say this before about the musicians used to lead the warriors into battle. That's who went first. It was the musicians. So they led you tonight into battle. And you were right there with them, and you were singing, and that was really cool. That was really good. So Even those of you that think you can't sing, I heard you, you're good. Sounded awesome. Right? Here's something important. Returning to your first love doesn't necessarily mean doing more. For some of us, it may mean doing less. Less noise, less scrolling, less arguing, less worrying about things we cannot control. Look, I've done all those things, man. I've worried. My oldest son will be 39 years old this year. I still worry about him. Right? He's a wild lamb firefighter, I worry about him. My daughter's 33, I worry about her. My youngest son is 31, you know what I'm doing. I'm worried about him. But you know what? God has them. So I have to oftentimes give that to him. And more important, we have to spend more time with Jesus. More intentional conversations with our families. More compassion toward people. I'm the guy that says, used to be a people person until people messed it up for me. Not you, right? No, I don't mean that. But but in all sincerity, right? Sometimes that can pull you down. And we have to show more compassion. And it's easy to show compassion to people we love. It's easy to show compassion to people who agree with us. It's harder to show compassion to those we don't. But you know what? Jesus made them. Jesus loves them. Jesus showed you compassion. So we have to do that. Sometimes it can be hard, but I challenge you that we did do that. And we have to have more obedience to God's word. James one, verse twenty-two. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. That reminds us not to merely listen to the word, but do what it says, right? I heard the word this week. You gonna go talk to that guy? Are you kidding me? I hate that guy, right? That's what this passage calls us to do. So Jesus gives us this warning to the church. He's still addressing and calling to repentance. He tells them that if they refuse to repent, he will remove their lampstand. This is a serious warning about the church's continued standing as a witness for Christ. Let me assure you, let me assure you, church family, that your pastors, Pastor Jordan, Pastor Jim, Pastor Jim Beck, Everybody that works here and serves here, let me assure you, we are doing our best to seek God first. Are we perfect? No, we're humans. But is our priority Jesus Christ? 100%. Do we stand on his word in the Bible? 100%. Why do I tell you that? So you feel assured that we're trying to anchor ourselves as well. We're we have the ability to drift just like you do. But we want to anchor ourselves so we can be in this together. Let me assure you. That letter that was written for the Church of Ephesus contains both a warning and a promise. The warning reminds us that our love for Christ matters. The promise reminds us that life is found in him. So This week, right now, starting right now, remember what strengthened your relationship with God. Identify one spiritual practice you've neglected that once helped you grow. Repent of a specific misplaced priority. Don't simply say I need to do better. Identify what needs to change and bring it before God. Move direction. Return through one intentional action. One intentional action. Don't make this too hard. Restart a time of prayer. Read scripture with your spouse. I love that. We do that in the morning time. We have these big Amish mama and papa chairs, right? And we sit in them and we drink coffee and read scripture, right? Do we are we perfect? No. Do we try our best to read scripture and do that? Of course we do. Pray with your children, so important. Pray with your children. Let them see you do that. Model that behavior. Reconnect with a small group. Choose something specific and begin this week. Invite accountability. Don't shy away from it. Invite it. Share your decision with someone you trust and ask them to encourage you and check in with you. Hey, I'm starting a new prayer program. Hey, can we do that together? Right? Hey, people that work out, there's times I don't feel like it, but I say, hey man, I don't know if I feel like it today. My buddy will say, Well, I do. Let's go. Right? And then the day they don't, then I'm there. Does that make sense? It's just an accountability piece, right? We can do the same thing with this. Man, I've been so busy to pray. Nobody's too busy to pray. Let's pray right now. okay. Follow me? Get in that. Choose something specific. Invite accountability. Share your decision with someone you trust. Before you leave tonight, please. Before you leave tonight, make three decisions. Make three decisions. One distraction you're going to reduce, pick one. One spiritual practice you're going to restore. And one person you're going to invite into that process. Make that decision tonight before you leave. Let's ask ourselves, how far have we drifted? Here's the question that we all need to wrestle with tonight. If someone examined my schedule, your schedule, my conversation, your conversation, your priorities, my priorities, if they examined all that and the things that occupy our thoughts, would they be able to tell that Jesus is your first love? What'd it reflect through all of that? Not because we earn God's love through our schedules or our performance, but because we love eventually shapes how we live. Maybe tonight you recognize that you drifted. Not because you stopped believing, but because you stopped paying attention. Maybe you've allowed your career, your hobbies, politics, social media, or even ministry responsibilities to slowly crowd out your relationship with Jesus. Here's the beautiful thing about the passage: Jesus doesn't simply identify the problem, he gives us a way to respond. Remember. Repent, return. You do not have to leave tonight in the same spiritual condition in which you arrived. But you have to make that choice. You can begin by simply making changes today. And remember the promise at the end of the letter: Jesus offers life to those who overcome. So tonight, don't simply ask yourself whether you're busy for Jesus. Ask yourself whether you've been. Walking closely with him. Because the goal of our Christian life isn't simply to accomplish more for Jesus. It's to become more like Jesus as we begin to grow close to Him. I want to challenge you to remember, repent, and return. Will you join me in prayer? Heavenly Father, thank you for loving us enough to reveal the things that are pulling our hearts away from you. Lord, forgive us for the times we've allowed distractions, responsibilities, and even good things to take priority over our relationship with you. Lord, search our hearts tonight. Reveal to us where we've drifted. Show us the habits, attitudes, and priorities that need to change. Show us. Give us the courage to repent. Give us the discipline to return and the desire to remain close to you. Lord, we don't want to simply be busy Christians. We want to be faithful followers of Jesus Christ. Let our love for you shape our families. Lord, I just pray Jesus over every family that's represented here tonight. All the loved ones, the spouses, the children, the grandchildren, great grandchildren. Lord, you've you you offer so many blessings. I just pray protection and healing, provision. Courage over every family that's hearing the word in person, online. Lord, I pray for this community out here. I pray for the one who's never heard the good news of Jesus Christ. That somehow they will be connected and they will be able to come to you. And Lord, if if one of any of us, if it's our testimony that brings us closer, Them closer to you, then thank you for the deliverance of the hard times. Thank you for the things I've gone through, for the times I've had to suffer that have made me stronger. And all glory to you who delivered me and anyone here else from that suffering. Let our testimony become a weapon. War. Lord, restore what we've neglected and help us walk closely with you. Lord, I lift up everyone listening, everyone right here, right now, that they would lean into you. lean into you and feel the love of your healing heart. They would feel the strength of your nourishment to their soul. That their thirst would be quenched with the living water Jesus Christ. Lord, I thank you and praise you for all you have done, for all you're doing in this community, for all you're doing in this church, for all you're doing in the individuals that are here, the individuals that are aligned, the individuals in their families. I just thank you for that, Lord. Lift all of this in the mighty, matchless name of Jesus Christ. I pray a special blessing over everyone listening and over everyone here. In the mighty, matchless name of Jesus, we all agreed and said amen. You guys have a wonderful night. Thanks for listening to the Faith Alive Sermon Podcast. We hope this message encouraged you. If it did, be sure to subscribe or share it with someone else who may need it. If you want to get connected or reach out to one of our pastors, go to our website at faithalive.church. We'll see you next time.