We are in a series for those that do not know. We are in a series that is called the full-runner
vision and lifestyle. We are about halfway. We'll see how today goes. I'm going to try to get you
out of here by noon. It's a joke, apparently, now in our church. That's all right. I'm not offended.
I'm much sure past that. We are about halfway in our series and we're going to start hitting
today. We'll see how the Lord leads. We're going to start hitting the... there's three parts,
or I should say three main scriptures to the series, which is Luke 7, John 3, and Ephesians 4.
Today I want to hit Ephesians 4. So we're about halfway, but I want to give a quick Sunday
overview. And then we want to answer a question because we've opened up the floor.
We've opened up the floor to have people ask questions about the series.
You can email them to me. You can send me a text message. If you don't have my phone number,
you can find it online. You can find my email as well online, I believe.
If not, it's just Igor at wordoflifemn.org. And so I want to give a quick Sunday overview.
Then we want to answer a question that came in and then we'll get into today's message.
But quick Sunday overview. Last Sunday we talked about what a forerunner is.
And we kind of concluded that with a forerunner is one who prepares
the way for the Lord. This series, just for those that haven't heard this yet,
this series is mainly coming out of the life of Jesus and coming out of the life of John the
Baptist. They were both forerunners. John the Baptist is a primary example of what a forerunner
is. I've been saying this now for a few Sundays, but Jesus actually talks about John the
Baptist and he refers to him as a greater example of what it means to be a friend of
God more than even Abraham. And that's actually found in Matthew chapter 11. I told you I'd give
you the scripture. So here I am giving it to you. Matthew chapter 11 starting at verse 7 to verse
11. You can read that on your own. But that's where Jesus refers to John the Baptist as being
greater than just a prophet. He says he's the greatest, greatest prophet born of woman.
And then he says even more. And that reference, I'm not going to get into that teaching now.
But he's referring to him as a greater example than even Abraham is of what it means to be a friend of
God. Jesus, we talked about last Sunday that Jesus was a forerunner or is still a forerunner.
A forerunner is one who goes before and he prepares the way. That's what a forerunner does.
Jesus has gone before us. He has died on our behalf. He has gone before us as a man.
Believe it or not, Jesus is a hundred percent man and a hundred percent God in heaven.
I said Jesus is a hundred percent man and a hundred percent God sitting in heaven
with wounds in his side, in his hands. He is wounded standing as a great intercessor for our
behalf. And he is preparing a place for us. As a great husband prepares things for his
wife and his bride. So Jesus is preparing or has prepared and still is preparing a place for us,
his church, as his bride. As his eternal companion. Come on, if that doesn't give you joy then I
don't know what does. We're not just walking empty here on this earth. We're not just professing
a Jesus that's just for for this age. If we're professing a Jesus just for this age,
man I feel sad for you. Because there's there's a Jesus for us in the age to come that is going to
surpass what we have here. Are you hearing me? Jesus is preparing a place for us to be with him
in eternity. To love him and be loved by him. Let me say that again. To love him and be loved
by him. If you think you felt the love of God here just wait till you get into eternity. I'm excited.
I don't know about y'all but I'm excited. I also talked about that a forerunner is one who holds
dear to the things of God the Father's heart. You guys remember that? And if you really boil
it down there's a lot of things that God holds dear to his heart. But believe it or not there's
things that he the Father holds a little bit more dear to his heart than others. And if you really
boil it down the things that God the Father holds dear to his heart are recorded in in Matthew.
And it's it's found in Matthew chapter 22 verse 37 and verse 40. And there the Pharisees they
come to him and they ask you know teacher what is the greatest commandment? They're trying
to test them. And Jesus says the first and greatest commandment is love the Lord your God
with all your heart soul and mind. What is Jesus talking about? He's talking about first love.
He's talking about first love. That's what the Lord is talking about.
And then he continues to say in the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself.
I want to pause and I want to park there for a second because I made a statement last Sunday
and I stay true to that statement and I want to make it again today. But I said this last Sunday.
I said if you've lost your first love onto the Lord, you've lost everything.
If we have lost our first love onto God, if we have stopped, let me put it this way,
if we have stopped fulfilling the first and greatest commandment, we've lost everything.
Friend, I don't care that you prophesy. Friend, if you've lost your love onto the Lord,
I don't care about your dreams, your visions. I don't care about your word of knowledge
because according to what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, he says you're just a sounding
symbol. You're nothing. If we have lost our first love onto the Lord, we've lost everything,
friend. And there was many Christians that are actually deceived,
fulfilling the second commandment. They're doing all of this. Let me put it to you in this
perspective. They're being a Martha, but yet missing the point that there is my king sitting
in front of me and all he's asking me is to just be at his feet. Did you actually,
do you actually know that the second commandment, the trueness of fulfilling the second commandment
comes out of the first? I'll put it to you this way. It is hard. I would say it is nearly
impossible to be with God alone and love on him and learn from him of who he is
to then leave that place and not love a people. It's hard.
Because when you begin to walk in first love towards Jesus, you begin to love what he loves.
Did you know that? And you actually begin to hate what he hates. Do you know that God actually
hates things? No, no, no. Some of you don't. Some of you don't. And if you don't know what,
read your scriptures. Because in the scriptures it says these six things, I what?
And he says these other two are an abomination to me. I believe it's the psalmist that writes this.
I'm going off my memory. I believe it's the psalmist that writes that God hates sin.
There are things that God actually hates. So when you begin to walk in first love towards
him, you begin to love what he loves. And how many of you here can agree with me that God loves lost souls?
How many of you can agree with me that God loves the brokenhearted?
God loves the people that our society has deemed to be they're done. They've put a period on him,
but God says I'm not done with them yet. Okay, so now let me ask you a question.
Okay, I'm not bringing you into a trap. If you're agreeing with me, let me ask you a
simple question. If you are actually, I feel the Lord on this, if you are actually walking
in first love, we have a harvest field in Cambridge. If God really loves them,
if God really loves them, I said if God really loves them, why do we have very few that
actually go there? I'm not bringing you into a trap. I'm simply asking you a question.
If we walk in first love towards God and we say God, you love the lost souls,
you love the brokenhearted, God, you have patience to walk with people, and we say amen pastor,
we agree, we agree, but there is no follow up. Friends, I'm not bringing you. I'm not
trying to ask these questions to trap you. I am simply trying to show you truth of how
many people have actually lost their first love onto the Lord.
We've lost it. Our hearts have grown cold. Our hearts have grown callous. We read the scriptures
as a chore. We look at God as something we have to do rather than God. I love you.
Let me ask you a question. You don't have to answer it. When is the last time you
read the scriptures and wept? I said, don't answer me. Did you not hear that? It's not funny.
I'm not laughing. I'm not laughing. I'm asking you a question. Don't answer me.
With you answer me is telling me how boastful you are. I didn't ask you to answer my question.
I'm asking for those people that are sitting here and saying, pastor, you're right.
Friends, the church has grown cold when it comes to the things of God.
We have lost our first love onto our bridegroom. We come to church because mom and dad said we
got to come to church. You haven't met Jesus then. Or maybe you met him but you left him
in the dust. I'm not trying to be mean. I am simply trying to show you some truth.
And a forerunner, that's why there is very few in our day and age because a forerunner
is one who holds fast to the things of God and they maintain it regardless of what
everybody else is saying. And people will say things like, but really come on, you can
you can miss prayer. God understands. Yes, God does understand. But if I claim that I'm walking
in first love, God is my number one priority. Above my wife, above my children, above events,
above anything else. God, if I am a forerunner, God, you're my priority.
Let me read to you what first love is. Because we read 1 Corinthians 13 and we call
it the love chapter. That's what we call it. And we apply it, we apply it to marriages and we
apply it to all these things. Awesome, great. But did you know that he's actually talking
about what first love is here? Listen to this. 1 Corinthians 13, 4. Love suffers long. That's
me a breakthrough. God, you promised me and we're suffering. We're maintaining God, but we're going
to continue loving you. Despite the fact that I have not yet seen it, I will suffer long until
I do. Why? Because I love you. We have pastors. We have people in the church
that give up on things. Here's my question. Why? Let me put it this way. Why do we
hear so much burnout in the churches? Why do we hear so much burnout in the churches?
Because we got pastors. We got leaders. We got congregants. Fulfilling the second commandment,
yet not doing the first. Can I tell you a secret? Listen to this. Listen. If you want to
avoid burnout in your life, walk in first love. Don't go to some seminary school or
some teaching or counseling of how to not be burnt out in the ministry. It's simple.
It's simple. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and you'll never be burnt
out. Because loving him, listen, loving him with all our heart, soul, and mind is constantly
growing in how much he loves me. First love comes from understanding what he's done for me.
It's not what I can do for him. It's, you've done this for me. My God, how can you not love
somebody that has died on the cross, that has given themselves for you?
Doomed. We were doomed to eternal condemnation. Yet a man by the name of Jesus, who is God,
came in the flesh. Because why? He loved me. That's it. That's it.
Everything's wrapped around in love when we're talking about God.
Oh, when we're talking about the things of God, everything is wrapped around love. Why? Because
the Scripture says, according to 1 John, that God is love. It's not something he does. It's not
something he flaunts. It's who he is. He is love. So everything he does is wrapped around love.
Listen to this. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself.
Is not puffed up. Does not behave rudely. This is all talking about first love.
This is all talking about first love. That means that if I'm walking in first love
towards God, I am not puffing myself up amongst my brothers and sisters in the church
of how spiritual I am. I am not puffing myself up by belittling somebody else
to gossip about them or to point out their mistakes. Do you see what I mean that the
church has lost its first love? Because we see all of this in our day and age today.
We see people flaunting their spirituality. Can I tell you something and I'll get into it in today's
message if I have time? People think that you're mature because how spiritual you are. That's
false. People try to show their maturity of how spiritual they are. Well, I had a dream
and I had a vision. Cool, so did Martin Luther King Jr. He had a dream. Does that make him a spiritual
person? The most mature person? Not necessarily. He's talking about first love and first Corinthians.
Does not seek its own. My God. First love does not seek its own.
Let me say that again. First love does not seek its own. It loves what he loves.
It does what he does. Does not seek its own. Is not provoked. Thinks no evil. This is talking
about first love. Thinks no evil. Somebody cuts you off on the road. I hope. I hope they
hit a deer. Right? Right? Is that just country thinking or is that city thinking too?
I hope a big buck just jumps out and just, ah, get him Jesus.
Does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. Bears all things. Friends,
first love bears all things. Bears all things. Don't try to, don't try to fill it in and say,
well, maybe all things. Bears all things. Listen. Bears all things. Believes all things.
Hopes all things. Endures all things. And then it says love never fails. What type of love
is he talking about there? He's talking about first love. We say, well, God, it says that love
never fails. Yes, if you're walking in first love. That's why I said there is no, there is no secret
recipe of how do I avoid burnout in the ministry? Or how do I avoid burnout and following God?
It's simple friends. It is so simple that it goes over our heads like this. And if you're
taller, it kind of goes up a little bit. To avoid burnout is to love him. That's it.
And we love him because why? There you go. You're with me this morning.
Let's carry on. I think I'll get somewhere today. A forerunner is one who lives a lifestyle
of fasting and prayer. I talked about that last Sunday. It's such an unpopular thing in the church
these days. Did you know that there was a statistic? I don't know if it was done by Barna or somebody
else, but it was a reputable organization that did a poll. Did you know that they said that an
average pastor, I'm not even talking about congregants, I'm talking about an average pastor
spends a maximum, friends listen to me, this is staggering, a maximum of 15 minutes in prayer
a day. I said maximum 15 minutes in prayer a day is what an average pastor in America spends.
To fast and to pray has become such an unpopular topic to where now churches
only fast. It's January, let's take a 21-day fast. What about the rest of the year?
What about the rest of the year?
We're according to the life of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, they lived it. They didn't just
oh it's January, hey John, we got a fast for 21 days. No, it was they did it.
They did it on a daily basis. They did it on a weekly, on a monthly basis. They lived it because
they understood when you live a lifestyle of fasting and of prayer, you actually have the
ability to access things of God that you can't unless you're living that lifestyle. Did you
know that? There is riches and glory of God that are literally accessible to us,
but we will not attain them nor get them if we choose not to do our part.
Prayer, fasting has become very, very unpopular in the church today,
but a forerunner is one who maintains that. They live it. A forerunner is one who says,
yeah, I'm going to discipline my flesh and I'm going to bring it to submission to the
spirit of God and I will choose to fast. It's not going to be easy, but I'm going to choose it.
Why? Because it's going to give me some access to know Jesus more. You're saying, well, hold on,
now you're preaching works. I'm not preaching works, friends. I'm not preaching works. I'm
preaching being a doer is what I'm preaching. We confuse that. We confuse works with being
a doer and being obedient to God. Pastor, don't give me that work stuff. I don't want to hear
it. We're saved by grace through faith. Don't give me that work stuff. Friends, have you not read
James? Have you not read James? Many hearers in the church today, did you hear me? Now you see,
now you're hesitating to say amen because you're like, hold on a second, where is he going?
Is he going to bring us in somewhere? I'm not bringing you anywhere yet.
We got many hearers in the church, but very few doers in the church.
I'm not preaching new works. I'm just simply, I'm laying out the menu in front of you. You want
us, you want to know God more? Here. Here are the practical biblical things that I have not,
I'm not only preaching to you, but I've implemented in my life. I know the fruit of it.
Here they are. Fast, pray, walk in first love, and then out of the first love, understand that
you're going to love people. And sometimes it's hard, so you got to go back and you got to pray a
little bit more. Help me, God. Help me, Lord, and give me fervent love for these people in
Jesus' name, and then you're praying the Spirit a little bit. Right, pastor? You still with me
this morning? I'm not being too harsh with you, and if I am, I'm not even going to apologize.
Honestly, friends, I don't say this as a rebuke. I don't say it even as, I'm simply showing you the
truth of how we as a church, and when I say we, I'm not just saying our local body, as a church,
as a church, we have lost our first love unto the Lord. Last Sunday I said we are not desperate
enough for Jesus to come back. We're just, we're not. We can say we are, but we're just
not. And I ask the Lord, I'm talking about myself, stirring me, Lord, a greater hunger.
Cause me to go after him more, Lord. Help me, Holy Spirit. Counsel me, Holy Spirit,
because I haven't arrived either, by the way. And we'll get into that, pastor, if you
want to come up here, we're going to answer the question that came in. You want to come up
here? I thought you're going to leave me here by myself. You're like, I ain't going up there,
after what you just did, you're on your own. Float. I want to read the question, by the way,
I do want to let him know, this question did not come in from our children's department.
Just want to flat out say that right away. So you guys are like,
our children's department is complaining. This question did not come in from our
children's department. We're keeping every question anonymous, so it doesn't matter who asked,
but because the way that the question is, I wanted to lay that out so nobody's going to
question as well. They're going to be like, Kristen, did you send it in? Kristen, I know you didn't
send it in. Here's the question. It's kind of two questions in one, and you can answer it first,
and I'll answer it after you. The question is, does Jesus love children? If yes, then we are
supposed to love children according to what Pastor Igor spoke last Sunday, because this question
came out of last Sunday. According to what Pastor Igor spoke last Sunday of first love,
which then produces loving your neighbor as yourself. In other words, loving what God loves.
So if we are supposed to love children, why is it so difficult to get people to help
minister at the children's church, children's events, just in general, the whole children's
ministry? That was the question. If Jesus loves children, why is it so hard for us, and you
know, if we're walking in first love, why is it so hard for us to basically serve in that capacity?
Go ahead. All right, so he asked me to join him and answer this question, and I thought, well,
I'll be quick answer, and I'll go sit down. And yesterday, the Lord enveloped me a little bit
on this. Give it to them. So I'm going to be a little straight, but you heard from him as a
revivalist. Now, you're going to hear from me as a teacher. Could you go to Revelation
chapter 2? He's talking first love. This is the chapter it comes out of. I'll be in the New
King James Version here in Revelation, and he's talking to the Church of Ephesus,
and I want you to notice something. We'll start at verse 2. I'll just start reading.
They can catch up with the computer. I know your works, your labor, your patience. So these
people were not being lazy, sloppy Christians. They're at it, and that you cannot bear those
who are evil. So they did not agree with sin. They put their foot down on it, and you have tested
those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars. So they're dealing with
false leaders in the church, and you have persevered and have patience. Wow, they're
hanging in there. They're being strong, and have labored for my name's sake, and have not
become weary. So they're not burning out. Man, these people got it together.
Nevertheless, verse 4, I have this against you. You've left your first love.
So all the stuff they were doing was great, except it wasn't...
How can I say this? Everything they were doing was wonderful, but they weren't doing what God
wanted them to do. So read on. Nevertheless, I have this against you. You have left your first love.
Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen. So they were in first love at one time, and now
they're not. Repent and do the first works. So Pastor Igor is not going to preach works. I am.
Christians quote, we are not. We don't have to do works. We don't have to do the works
of the law. But God is heavy into works. Jesus just told you right here. I need you working.
Do we do the works of the law? No. And we won't take time to explain the difference.
Do the first works, or else I will come quickly and remove your lampstand from its place,
unless you repent. This was a sin that needed to be repented of.
You said, but they were doing all kinds of stuff. This is the typical Christian.
We start by saying, God, whatever you want, our relationship with God, that first love,
is God, whatever you want, I want to meet your desires. Whatever you want of me, I'll do it.
And then as time goes on, that kind of comes back to, I don't like doing certain things.
I don't like doing this. I don't like doing that. I don't like doing the other.
But I'll do all these things. Well, are all these things that you're doing for God,
and I'm presuming here? So maybe I shouldn't even presume that. Maybe I should just back
up and ask the question. What are you doing for God? Are you doing anything for God?
Oh yeah, I'm doing all these things. So now we're back up to that.
If you can't answer the first question positively, well, now we're deep doo doo.
Okay? But I am doing things for God. Here's the question. Are you doing the things for
God that God asked you to do? See, in verse two and three, these people were doing awesome things.
But they weren't doing what he asked them to do.
What has he asked you to do? Are you doing that? That goes the first love. It's like a relationship
with you're dating somebody or early marriage husband or wife, honeymoon phase. You want to
meet the desires of the other person. You love them. You want to pour into them. Honey,
whatever you want, little poo poo. You know. Your marriage must be really good. You just
get into that right now. I'll tell you later. We want to meet the desires because we're in that
first kind of love. And about five, six years into it,
I don't want to do what you want. I'm going to do what I want.
And we've left first love in the relationship. That's the first step towards a rotten marriage.
Okay? What did you do at first? You know, when people come and sit in front of me for counseling
and they say, oh, we got marriage problems. Well, let me ask you a simple question.
How did you treat each other when you were dating? All you have to do is return to that
and your marriage will be fine. Because if you were treating her so bad when you were dating,
she wouldn't have married you. Well, see, marriage problems are not hard to solve.
But to get over our stubbornness and our selfishness, that is the death area. Because, well, I don't
want to treat her that way anymore. Well, why are you selfish thing? You know, it's just that simple.
Verse six. But I'm going to throw you a bone, Jesus says. I have, but you have,
but this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate,
which confirms what Igor just said. God hates things. Certain things he hates.
So if you've got an ear and you're listening to the Holy Spirit, listen up to what I'm saying,
is what Jesus is saying here. You say, what are the Nicolaitans? There's a couple of three
layers of things that they were proponents of. And Jesus just said, I hate them.
The first layer of things that the Nicolaitans promoted in the early church was sexual
immorality and indulgence. It's okay to be sexual outside of marriage.
That's what they were promoting. And what is in the church today? When is the last time we heard
in church a pastor address the, any kind of fornication, adultery,
any kind of the sexual immorality? I mean, we can just go on listening, but we don't have to.
When is the last time you heard a pastor say, I hate that? Well, you can't say you hate that.
You're a bigot. I don't know. Jesus said it in verse 6.
He hates it. But we don't want to offend anybody, so we just don't say anything.
And people are doing all kinds of sinful garbage that needs to be repented of.
But the pastors, the leaders of the church are failing because they're not calling what Jesus called.
It's sin. I hate it. Okay. So there is first love. So now there's two groups of people
that Jesus in Scripture said, if you do something like this to these groups of people,
you're doing it to me. And I'm going to give you the references. If you could look up Matthew 18
verse 5, I'm going to do amplified. So he's talking about children here. And this is the,
if you offend a little one, or you damage a little one, it'd be better if you had a
millstone tied around your neck, you drowned the depth of the sea, blah, blah, blah.
You know, it's kind of like probably better treat kids right. And what are we doing in America?
You think God's pleased with America with the way we deal with children? We traffic them? It's like
a lot of millstones getting ready. Verse 5, he says, whoever receives and accepts and welcomes
one little child like this for my sake and in my name receives and accepts and welcomes me.
So that's one place where he says, if you do something for someone, it's like doing it to
me. The other place is in, let's see if I can find it here. Let's go this way. My iPad is supposed
to be helping me and it's not. There it is. Matthew 25. And here I'm back in the amplified
again. And here he's talking about his coming and the verse 31 is where it starts. We won't
start reading. I just want to read a couple of verses. His coming and things that are going to
happen in judgment and judging the nations and the people of the nations. And verse 35 is where
we'll start. For I was hungry. You gave me food. I was thirsty. You gave me something to drink.
You all know the Scripture. Verse 36, I was naked. You clothed me. I was sick. You visited me
and helped me in ministering care. I was in a prison. You came to see me. And the people
are going to say, when in the world did we do this? And verse 40 he says, I tell you, in so far as
you've done it, to one of the least of these in the estimation of men. One of the people who men
or mankind looks the least favorably on. Oh, there's just a bunch of bums. There's just a
bunch of, well, those are the ones he's talking about right here. The ones that you consider
less than you. The least of these, my brethren, if you did it for them, you did it for me.
So there's two groups of people that he said, if you do it to them, you did it for me.
First love, doing what Jesus asked us to do, doing what he loves. So if Jesus walked in
to the children's department this morning, physically, walked in there, and I said, folks,
we need 10, 15 people over there to welcome him and receive him.
We'd have sections emptying out to go over there.
But we have children coming, even visiting children coming.
And nobody wants to be over there welcoming and receiving and helping with the children.
But the children are Jesus. If you do it for them, you've done it for me.
He was very concerned about children. He loves them. What's our problem?
I told you I was going to get a little direct. What is our problem?
Now, we can take it as a compliment that, oh, we just want to stay in the service and see what God's
going to do. That's great. That's wonderful, especially if you're a baby Christian. But if
you've been living for God for 10, 15, 20 years, and you still need the services to survive,
you have a problem. You're not close enough to God yourself yet.
We should be doing what he asked us to do. Take care of the children.
Why is it in this church we struggle with people being willing to be over there taking care of
children? You know why? We lost our first love. Okay, so now let me make the second
application, the one that we just read. I was hungry. You gave me food. I was thirsty. You gave
me something to drink. I was a stranger. You brought me together with yourselves. Welcome me,
entertained and lodged me. There is TBO and mission 61. I was naked and you clothed me.
We are sending clothes out now in the trailer load. And thank God for Sarah who's doing
most of the sorting and bagging and putting it all together. But literally,
we're sending clothes out by the trailer load. I was sick and you visited me with help and
ministering care. I was in prison in prison and you came to see me. So clothes, great. We're
doing good. Sick. Pastor Dave's problem. He's going to have to deal with that. Of course,
he needs a team. How many of you have, you know, he's asked, how many would you be on my
team? How many you got in your team, Dave? Three. Zero. Oh, I thought you meant three. It's zero.
One or two. See, so when you're ministering to people and visiting them who are sick,
verse 40, you're doing it as unto Jesus. It's like Jesus were laying there sick.
If I'd say Jesus is in the hospital, can somebody go see him and pray with him?
The whole church would empty. We wouldn't get done speaking. The whole church would empty out. I'm
there. But nobody will help Pastor Dave on the visitation and pre-hospital visitation team.
That is an indication of a sickness lost in the body. Okay, so you go through these,
a lot of them are mission 61 and TBO. Now interestingly enough, where we struggle the most to get help
is mission 61 and TBO, which is doing that list of items.
And some of you have even said, oh yeah, I'm going to help out a mission 61 and TBO. And you
once maybe, and you quit. You have growing to do. Something is wrong with you.
You can't even keep your word. So yeah, don't come to me with a prophecy or a word of
knowledge when I know you can't even keep your word. Yeah, let's get the horse back in front of the
cart again. So that was all I was going to say. Perfect. And then, and then, you know, it's good.
I got one more thing to add. You add it. And I want to tell them why we're maybe speaking so
harshly today. I'm not speaking harshly. Well, maybe I am then. You might be, but I'm just
doing good teaching. Because I'm over here like get a pastor.
The Lord told me he said, some people are not going to TBO because they're using me as the excuse.
You? Me. Why? Pastor Verne is not a TBO very much. Why should I be there? Must it be that
important or Pastor Verne would be there? So I'm going to try to explain this,
but I'll be blunt so you get it. It's just good teaching friends. It's just good teaching.
Apparently, you know nothing about business. You must have been an eight to five worker
and punched your clock all your life because you know nothing about how business runs.
Why don't you see the manager at Walmart at the checkout? Why don't you see the
manager at Walmart stocking shelves? Why don't you see the manager at Walmart greeting you
at the front door? Why don't you see the manager at Walmart managing the departments?
I can tell you why. I can tell you why. You know why? I can tell you why.
Well, because they used to do it and now they're training others to do it and they're overseeing
it. Because if they did everything, they no longer have time to do it all. 100%.
I don't have to be a TBO. We already have a good minister of TBO.
What do you need me? You don't need me there.
So, Lord gave that to me yesterday and so I keep tracking my hours. It's a self
self-regulation thing. So I thought, well, let's just add up the hours.
This week, just this last week, and I'm under command to take two days off.
On Thursday, I take Thursday and Saturday. I like it to be Friday and Saturday, but that's not
working for Mary's schedule as well as Thursday and Saturday dudes. So I break them up.
Maybe someday I can get Friday and Saturday. Put them together.
I'll believe with you. I'd like them back to back.
I'll believe with you. But Thursday, my day off, I spent most of the morning on the phone
with the state about the building. Saturday, the Lord nudged me and he said,
amongst other things, he said, go to TBO tonight. And he talked to me about a few things at TBO.
Okay? So I went to TBO. This week in five days, not counting the two hours it took me to go to TBO.
There's going to be questions. I better answer it.
Pastor Igor said, because we were talking about track your hours and watch how much
you're working is on the other. He said, do you count Sunday mornings as work?
I said, yes. He said, how can you count Sunday mornings as work?
I said, it's easy. Let's just you and I not show up for about a month of Sunday mornings and see
what they all think. Go to Fiji. Hawaii, someplace. Somewhere. Yeah. And let them figure it out
themselves on Sunday mornings. If we weren't here on Sunday mornings, you would start saying,
are you the pastor or not? So this is part of our portfolio, part of our job.
Without TBO last night, in five days, I spent 57 and a half hours working this week.
If I include TBO, which I added on the Saturday, I would have spent almost 60 hours this week in five days.
There is a lot of stuff that goes on in the manager's office that you never see.
Yeah. But since you're not in the manager's office, go help at TBO.
Well, I like to sit home Saturday nights and do nothing. Well, there is part of the disease.
Because we don't see the people at TBO. We don't see the children at word of life. We don't see
each other as Jesus saying, if you do it to these, it's like you're doing it to me.
Do you think that comes under first love? It's the only two places. He said,
do it for me. Do the work for me. Return to the first works. Minister to me first,
which is part of four runners. Exactly. Thank you. Yeah, you guys can clap for that.
My answer is very short, but it goes into right what you just said.
When that question was asked, the first answer that I got was
people are fearful of missing out. That's why I think a lot of people choose not to serve
in different departments is because there's a fear of missing out. Missing out on a service,
missing out on what God could do for me. And here's the secret to that. That if we actually
walk in first, I've learned this in my own life, that's why I'm sharing the secret.
If we actually walk in first love towards God, we never miss out from him.
Literally. So people are fearful to, well, I don't want to miss a Sunday service. What if
Igor preaches not till afternoon? You know what I mean? I don't know. I'm trying to be funny here,
but it's not so funny. But yeah, I just think people are fearful to miss out.
They're afraid that they're going to miss something that God wanted to tell them
or something that God wanted to do where it's like, well, listen, if you're walking
in first love, you're never going to miss out on what God actually has for you. You won't. You just
won't. He'll talk to you about stuff. He'll have you do stuff when you're at home in the car,
do in laundry, cook in a meal for your wife, whatever the case may be.
Some of the men are like, well, I don't cook a meal for my wife. Maybe it's time for you
to cook a meal for your wife. I just want to throw this in there real quick of
maybe to some of you, and I probably won't even get into the message today, pastor.
Yeah, haha, ironic, huh? Maybe to some of you, what was spoken sounded a bit harsh.
Maybe some of you are like, well, why are you grilling us? Why are you on our case?
Da-da-da-da, so on and so forth. Friends, I want to tell you something that we are all
susceptible of. That's why we may sound harsh, which is genuinely, this is good teaching.
I would rather have my pastor tell me this way, truth, yes. Truth than him telling me or her telling
me, hey, you're fine. Just keep doing what you're doing because here is the reality. Here is the
reality. We are all susceptible of losing our first love. This is across the board.
This is not like, oh, okay, we have those that are in leadership or those that are in high hierarchy,
so to say in the church. They'll never lose their first love. Friends, we are all susceptible
of losing our first love. Sometimes you need to have conversations like this to kind of wake
you up a little bit and really, and get real with yourself and ask yourself the question,
am I really walking in first love towards the Lord? Is it about him? Is it really about Jesus
in my life? Or is it about the approval of men and women in my life?
Is it really about Jesus? Am I really discovering the Lord? There is a facet of God
that we can only learn when we are in private, when we're loving on him.
But there's a whole other facet of God that we can learn when we begin to fulfill the second
commandment. Did you know that? There is actually a whole other facet of God that we can grow in
and understand when we begin to serve one another. You can sit in your closet all day and pray to
God in secret, which that is the first thing. If you're not doing that, don't even come out
and serve. I'm just gonna be honest with you. Don't even come out and serve. Seek him in your
private place first. And if that means that's 15 minutes a day for you, cool. Seek him for 15
minutes. But don't you dare come out and try to tell people that God loves you when you yourself
don't even realize how much God loves you. Like honestly, think about it. How can you
tell somebody Jesus loves you when you yourself don't even realize how much he loves you?
How can I as your pastor tell you you need to love Jesus and you need to walk in first love
if I myself at home am not fulfilling that? That makes me a hypocrite.
That makes me a hypocrite. If I'm here telling you there's a necessity
to walk in first love towards the Lord, but yet myself at home, I'm not walking in first
love towards him. We just, we can't do that. That's why I'm encouraging you. Seek him. If it's
10 minutes, cool. Start with 10 minutes. If it's 20, cool. Start with something and say,
Lord, every day I'm gonna give you this amount of time. With great intentionality, aside from
everything else, with great intentionality, Lord, I'm giving you this. Why? Because I
want to know you. And the more I know you, the more you will give me the ability to love
people. I am yet to talk to somebody who knows the Lord yet doesn't love his people. I'm yet
to talk to somebody. I am yet to meet somebody who actually knows Jesus yet is not after lost souls.
If you know somebody, bring him to me. I'd love to talk to them. I would love to know
Jesus they know. I would love to know which Jesus they know. Let me give you a sneak peek of what
we're gonna get into next Sunday. You guys still with me? They're still with me. Are you guys still
with me? You're still with me? Okay, good. All right, let me give you, let's see how far we
get into it. So Ephesians 4 banner is about, I'll tell you this in a nutshell, it's about
maturing the saints. Which we just did, literally, which we just did. Let's read Ephesians 4 and
we'll see how far we get into it. This is Ephesians 4 starting at verse 11. This is the Ephesians 4
banner that is over forerunners. This is a call of a forerunner to walk in this, by the way,
okay? It says, and he himself gave some note. This is talking about Jesus. The Apostle Paul
is talking about Jesus. And he himself, so let's add Jesus. And Jesus himself gave some to be apostles,
some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. Why? For the equipping of the saints,
for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Not the body of so and so,
but the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God.
To be a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Let me say this
after reading those few verses. If there is one thing, okay, now before you say amen, because
I'm going to make the statement and I know that I know some of you are going to be like,
amen, I agree. So before you just agree with me here right away, I'm going to add something there,
okay? If there is one issue that is very prevalent in the body of Christ today is immaturity.
If there is one issue that is very prevalent in the body of Christ today is immaturity. Amen.
Now let me tell you something. Do you know why we're immature? It's because of pastors,
it's because of leaders, it's because of a lack of apostles, it's a lack of prophets, it's a lack
of teachers, it's a lack of the body actually functioning together. You know what the problem
is? That you have pastors that make statements of immaturity, not realizing you're talking
about yourself. The reason why the body of Christ today is immature is because pastors
have stopped growing in the things of God. They have stopped pursuing Jesus. And we are quick to
point the finger at somebody else. You're immature, you body of Christ. Pastor, it's your
responsibility. I ask myself that question. I put myself put, you know, so to say on the,
what do they do when you come to court? On the auction block? Sure, auction me off, that's fine.
On the stand, thank you. I put myself on the stand and I say, my God, what am I doing?
I ask this question. What am I doing that people are not maturing? Why? Because I'm called
to operate and not just operate. I'm called by God to hold an office of a five-fold. I'm called to that.
So we have an immaturity in the body of Christ because of the body of Christ itself.
Corinthians writes it this way. Paul writes it this way to the Corinthians. I think it's
Corinthians 12. When he's talking about the body and he says, if one member, if one member
is struggling or if one member is hurt, the whole body is affected by it.
The whole body is affected by it. If my finger hurts, my body is doing everything it can
to make sure that my finger is restored. If I am fighting a viral infection, my whole body is
fighting to defeat this viral infection. It's not like my body's like, oh, you're on your own,
dude. Yeah, we're just going to chill here. We're going to point fingers and say, man,
you sinned, you look at you. No, my whole body begins to work to begin to address the issue.
So now we have an immaturity across the body of Christ, which tells me that the five-fold
are not fulfilling their duty. Did you know that each and every one of us are actually
called to operate into at least one of them? Some of us even two. Did you know that?
Each of us are actually called to who? Jesus gave these gifts to who? To everyone,
to everyone who is born again and filled with the spirit. We are all called to operate in the
five-fold, but there are those who are called to hold the office of a five-fold. And you're
saying, well, what's the difference? Here's the difference. When you are called to hold
an office of the five-fold, you know that you know that you know that you know God is asking you to
lay down your life for the sake of the gospel. What I mean by that is that everything you do
is basically it's like a ministry. It's full-time ministry. God, I'm laying my life down.
I'm not fighting satisfaction in my business. I'm not finding any satisfaction with doing
anything else but this. That's what it means when you hold an office of one of the five-fold.
That's the only thing that satisfies you. I'll give you an example from my own life.
When my wife and I, when we had our business for many years,
was I satisfied to an extent? I was, but there was an area of my life that I was like,
I know this is not forever. God, I know that you called me to the ministry full-time.
There was a little satisfaction, but there was a portion that I knew that was
missing. And it wasn't until we came on staff here for full-time ministry,
people would ask me, they're like, well, how is it? How is it being a pastor and in full-time
ministry? You know what I told them? I said, I may not make as much money as I did in my
business, but I am far more satisfied in here. And I'm not going to get into the personal
of how, yeah, I'm not even going to go there with you. People would ask me, they're like,
how is it? I said, you know what? Our life has changed. I'm living in North Branch.
My God. Thankful, thankful for the people that would allow me to live there. They've blessed,
there's a family that has just blessed my wife and I. They've blessed my wife and I, our children,
they have, their hearts are generous and they allow us to live in North Branch. It's a blessing.
But friends, if you were going to ask me three years ago, my wife and I were just talking
about this, if you were going to ask me three years ago, that God was going to say,
Igor, you're going to move up to the country in the boonies, in the sticks, I'd laugh at you.
I'd say, haha, good one. You're not a prophet. You're a prophet lying to me right now is what
you're doing. You're not prophesying. You're prophesying. So people ask me and I say,
I have never been so satisfied as I am right now. I have never been so satisfied. I've
made a lot of money. Yes, I have. My business has made a lot of money, but for some reason,
but for some reason I have never found the measure of satisfaction that I have now in full-time ministry
because I'm called. I'm called to hold an office of it. That's the difference.
Now each of us are called to operate in the five-fold. We are all called to operate. That
means we are all called to lead someone or some or a group of people. So when we start
complaining, okay, I'm bringing some truth here. When we start complaining about the
immaturity in the body of Christ, friend, you're talking about yourself, that means you're not
doing something right because if one member of the body suffers, so does everybody else.
So maybe we should change our language a little bit. Maybe we shouldn't complain so much
about other churches and say this and that. Maybe we should say, God, give me the love for the Catholics.
Father, give me the love for the Lutherans. Father, give me the love for the Baptists. God,
give me the love for people in the body. Give me a burning love, God, and give me a way that
I can serve them. I said serve them. Not come with a title. I'm coming as an apostle. Serve them.
The five-fold is given for what? To edify the body of Christ. It is to serve the body of Christ.
Did you know that in Romans 12, we find three different facets of gifts in the Bible, by the
way. Or I should say not three different facets. Let me reword that a little bit. But there is
the Father who gives gifts. There is Jesus who gives gifts, which is right here in Ephesians 4.
And then there's the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are given by the Holy Spirit,
recorded in 1 Corinthians 12. Romans 12 talks about God the Father giving gifts.
All these, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, they are all giving these gifts,
not for the purpose of I have a title of an apostle. I have a title of a pastor. I have a title of a
prophet. I have a title of blah blah blah blah blah. These gifts are given by the grace of God to
the measure of faith for the sake of maturing the body of Christ. I will say this. I will
say this. I hope and I wish that every church would have a pastor that would out serve the
congregants. You're saying, what do you mean by that? I'm talking about serving in a capacity
to then teach a people what servanthood actually looks like. And I don't know about you,
but I believe our pastors have out-served some of us. And I should say most of us.
I believe that they've out-served us in ways that we would never even serve.
The commitment that they have, that is an example to us. That is the call to be,
to be in one of the five-fold it's to out-serve. You are to show an example. Not, let me say this,
because this scripture is running through me. Let me say it this way. Jesus said,
I came not to be served, but to what? But to serve. That's the mentality that we should have.
We should come to actually serve one another. And in serving one another,
we bring about a maturity. We bring about a maturity. Are you still with me? Can I go
for a little more here? No? All right, let me go there a little bit.
I said this earlier. Maturity, that's right. Maturity is not being spiritual.
People think, well, because you're a spiritual person, because you see angels,
because you have dreams and visions and you prophesy and da da da. We right away,
without even thinking, we right away, we kind of throw those people as well. They're the mature
ones. I've been around the block enough. Some of the most immature people that I have been
around in the body of Christ is this category of people right here. Some of the most immature
Christians that I personally know and I've been around are in that category.
They have the dreams, they have the visions, they have the prophecies, they have the word of
knowledge. Maturity is not, I should say, measured in how spiritual you are. Can I tell you where
true maturity is in God, where the body of Christ comes to maturity? It's in our character.
True maturity of the body of Christ is actually in our character.
That's true maturity. That is true maturity. When we are actually mature in our characteristics,
when we actually walking and we hold a godly character within us. That means that if I'm
mature, the way that I respond to situations are different than an average Christian does.
You want to know how mature you are? Face something in your life and watch the way that you respond
to it. That right there measures your maturity. Somebody says something about you that is
criticizing, it could be a joke, it could be a hu-hu-ha-ha, and you respond with offense,
that tells me how mature you are. I said that tells me how mature you are.
So now the five-fold is given to now help people develop a godly character that they would
be raised up to a godly character. And the gifts, the gifts of the Holy Spirit,
they compliment that, friends, I am not against the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I am only for them.
I am for them. But oftentimes we take, well, I operate in word of knowledge,
I prophesy, and oh, I must be really mature, not necessarily. The gifts are given to us to now
better a people, to mature a people, to encourage, to exhort, to help overcome certain things.
Jim, you teach on the gifts, on the nine gifts, and you teach on the five-fold.
If you haven't taken Jim's class, highly encourage you to do so. You have a booklet,
don't you, on it? You have two of them. If you have questions on the gifts or on the five-fold,
I'm not going to go too much into depth on it, but you do really well with doing that.
If you're interested in that, come to Jim after service today.
Maturity, let me tell you this the way that I measure maturity. I measure maturity by a person's
consistency. That's how I measure maturity. You're saying, well, what do you mean? I'm
pretty consistent. I'm not talking about the plateau consistency. I'm talking about the uphill
consistency. Constant growth. Anybody can be constant here. Anybody can coast and be constant.
I'm good. Been in the church now 20 years. Woo-hoo! Been in the church now 40 years. Woo-hoo!
What facets of God did you learn? What facets of God did you learn? The consistency
to hold steadfastly onto God and to grow and to grow in Him is how I measure maturity.
Personally, it's not how you prophesied or how you did this or the other. It's the constant
growth. Because watch this. Maturity, according to Ephesians 4.13, a sign of maturity is knowing
Him and not just of Him, according to Ephesians 4.13.
We are mature when we actually know the Lord and we're growing in the knowing of Him.
I've said this before. I'm going to keep saying it. There are far too many Christians that know
things of Him, but don't know Him. That tells me that there is a lack of proper gospel teaching
from the pulpits in majority of America. Us pastors are doing something wrong then.
I'm not pinning this on the congregants. I'm pinning this on pastors. What are we doing
wrong as pastors that people aren't actually knowing Jesus. They're only knowing of Him.
You with me? A forerunner is one who operates or some even hold an office of the five-fold.
And a forerunner is one in a most practical way. I'll explain to you how we did it for many years
and still do. A forerunner is one who lives this and then they bring people with them.
It could be one individual and you're bringing them with them and you're helping
mature them. That's a forerunner. As I was talking about a forerunner, we were talking about
spiritual adoption is bringing somebody with you and you're helping them mature.
This right here, this is the Ephesians four banner. What a forerunner does is a forerunner
will either lead and the expression that we're using is like a home group.
You still following me? I kind of did one of these here real quick. You still following me?
So a forerunner or the way that I'm teaching it to be expressed is through the home.
You can only do so much in maturing somebody at a coffee shop, though it's good for us to carry
this to coffee shops, dinners, whatever the case may be, but there's only so much you can do
in a coffee shop to help somebody mature. But when you begin to bring somebody into
your home, you're bringing them into your personal space and you have the ability
to pour into these people. You have the ability for these people to identify their destiny and
more than just identify it, help them unlock their destiny so that they could be a disciple
and they could begin to rise up other or raise up other disciples. It's interesting because the
last command that Jesus gave to his disciples before he ascended into heaven is what did Jesus
say? Go and... hold on, hold on, hold on. Go and baptize. In the name of who? The Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. What did he mean when he said go and baptize? Somebody tell me,
what did he mean when he said go and baptize them? Come on, somebody help me. He was talking
about water baptism, right? Okay, do you know what the word baptize or to be baptized means
in the Greek? It is to be completely submerged and immersed. So here Jesus is saying go and
baptize them in the name of the Father. In other words, immerse them and submerge them in who God
the Father is. Bring him back up, immerge him in and submerge them into who Jesus is. Bring
him back up and then do it with the Holy Spirit as well. You're saying, do you want us to
baptize people three times? Maybe sometimes. If you're a really big sinner, we'll keep you
under there a little longer. I haven't had anybody drown yet when water baptism.
So Jesus gives the command. He says go and baptize them in the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Give them the revelation and the understanding.
Immerse them into the things of me so that they can be my disciple. And they would
replicate that. And they would replicate that. That's what a forerunner does.
Remember, a forerunner goes before, scouts the land, prepares the way of the Lord,
then he comes back and he grabs people with him. So in the most practical way,
what we're wanting to establish in this house is we're wanting people to rise up,
take people under them, and begin to actually help the body of Christ mature.
That's what we're after. Friends, if there's one thing, and I've shared this with you
before, if there's one thing I'm about, I'm about maturing the saints.
Somebody told me this once. They said, they said, Igor, they said, you're gifted. And I said,
oh, thank you. No, they said, you're gifted in making people feel uncomfortable. I said, yes,
that is true. I am gifted to make people feel uncomfortable. For the sake, listen,
for the sake of knowing Jesus. For the sake of knowing Christ. Paul says, I'm a fool for the
gospel. I'm a fool for the gospel. Friends, so what we're trying to do in this local body,
in this church, is we are desiring that God would raise up for runners and that these people would
take however many people God entrusts to them. It could be one person. Praise God. It could be
10 people. Praise God. We are wanting to mature as a local body in the things of God.
That's what we want to do. And that's what the fivefold is given. Remember, each and every one of us,
to some measure, is leading somebody. It could be your wife. It could be your kids. It could be
your coworker. Each one of us are given a sphere of influence. What are we going to do with it?
What are we going to do with that sphere of influence? So let's do this. It's just a
little afternoon. Let's stand at our feet. I'm going to pray and then we'll dismiss you.
Father, we thank you. Father, we thank you that your son Jesus, when he ascended on High Lord,
he gave gifts to all men. He gave gifts to all men, God, for the sake of edifying your body,
for the sake of readying your body, your church. Father, I'm asking you that you would help
us. Help us in the realms of where we are still immature. Help us in the realms, God,
where we still need to grow in things. I'm asking you, Lord, that by your spirit you would speak to us
and even send people around us that would have the ability to just pour into us, that would take
us under their wings and to pour into us that we, God, as a church, as a body would come to the
perfect man, that we would come to the fullness, that we would come to the fullness of Christ.
Father, I bless each and every individual here. We thank you for this time. We thank you for your word.
We thank you, Holy Spirit. We love you and we bless you. In Jesus' name, amen.