WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:05.040 We are in a series for those that do not know. We are in a series that is called the full-runner 00:05.040 --> 00:11.340 vision and lifestyle. We are about halfway. We'll see how today goes. I'm going to try to get you 00:11.340 --> 00:18.660 out of here by noon. It's a joke, apparently, now in our church. That's all right. I'm not offended. 00:22.120 --> 00:28.020 I'm much sure past that. We are about halfway in our series and we're going to start hitting 00:28.020 --> 00:35.180 today. We'll see how the Lord leads. We're going to start hitting the... there's three parts, 00:35.520 --> 00:41.180 or I should say three main scriptures to the series, which is Luke 7, John 3, and Ephesians 4. 00:41.380 --> 00:46.340 Today I want to hit Ephesians 4. So we're about halfway, but I want to give a quick Sunday 00:46.340 --> 00:51.080 overview. And then we want to answer a question because we've opened up the floor. 00:52.300 --> 00:56.000 We've opened up the floor to have people ask questions about the series. 00:56.680 --> 01:00.800 You can email them to me. You can send me a text message. If you don't have my phone number, 01:00.980 --> 01:04.240 you can find it online. You can find my email as well online, I believe. 01:04.660 --> 01:10.760 If not, it's just Igor at wordoflifemn.org. And so I want to give a quick Sunday overview. 01:10.980 --> 01:15.060 Then we want to answer a question that came in and then we'll get into today's message. 01:15.480 --> 01:20.060 But quick Sunday overview. Last Sunday we talked about what a forerunner is. 01:20.620 --> 01:24.300 And we kind of concluded that with a forerunner is one who prepares 01:24.300 --> 01:30.460 the way for the Lord. This series, just for those that haven't heard this yet, 01:30.800 --> 01:36.000 this series is mainly coming out of the life of Jesus and coming out of the life of John the 01:36.000 --> 01:41.880 Baptist. They were both forerunners. John the Baptist is a primary example of what a forerunner 01:41.880 --> 01:47.960 is. I've been saying this now for a few Sundays, but Jesus actually talks about John the 01:47.960 --> 01:53.300 Baptist and he refers to him as a greater example of what it means to be a friend of 01:53.300 --> 01:58.260 God more than even Abraham. And that's actually found in Matthew chapter 11. I told you I'd give 01:58.260 --> 02:03.880 you the scripture. So here I am giving it to you. Matthew chapter 11 starting at verse 7 to verse 02:03.880 --> 02:09.520 11. You can read that on your own. But that's where Jesus refers to John the Baptist as being 02:09.520 --> 02:16.280 greater than just a prophet. He says he's the greatest, greatest prophet born of woman. 02:16.360 --> 02:20.160 And then he says even more. And that reference, I'm not going to get into that teaching now. 02:20.160 --> 02:26.640 But he's referring to him as a greater example than even Abraham is of what it means to be a friend of 02:26.640 --> 02:33.840 God. Jesus, we talked about last Sunday that Jesus was a forerunner or is still a forerunner. 02:34.340 --> 02:39.220 A forerunner is one who goes before and he prepares the way. That's what a forerunner does. 02:39.760 --> 02:47.020 Jesus has gone before us. He has died on our behalf. He has gone before us as a man. 02:47.020 --> 02:52.240 Believe it or not, Jesus is a hundred percent man and a hundred percent God in heaven. 02:55.130 --> 03:01.190 I said Jesus is a hundred percent man and a hundred percent God sitting in heaven 03:01.910 --> 03:08.830 with wounds in his side, in his hands. He is wounded standing as a great intercessor for our 03:08.830 --> 03:16.150 behalf. And he is preparing a place for us. As a great husband prepares things for his 03:16.150 --> 03:23.770 wife and his bride. So Jesus is preparing or has prepared and still is preparing a place for us, 03:24.050 --> 03:30.910 his church, as his bride. As his eternal companion. Come on, if that doesn't give you joy then I 03:30.910 --> 03:38.350 don't know what does. We're not just walking empty here on this earth. We're not just professing 03:38.350 --> 03:45.210 a Jesus that's just for for this age. If we're professing a Jesus just for this age, 03:45.210 --> 03:52.310 man I feel sad for you. Because there's there's a Jesus for us in the age to come that is going to 03:52.310 --> 04:01.630 surpass what we have here. Are you hearing me? Jesus is preparing a place for us to be with him 04:01.630 --> 04:10.170 in eternity. To love him and be loved by him. Let me say that again. To love him and be loved 04:10.170 --> 04:17.390 by him. If you think you felt the love of God here just wait till you get into eternity. I'm excited. 04:17.730 --> 04:23.370 I don't know about y'all but I'm excited. I also talked about that a forerunner is one who holds 04:23.370 --> 04:30.470 dear to the things of God the Father's heart. You guys remember that? And if you really boil 04:30.470 --> 04:35.130 it down there's a lot of things that God holds dear to his heart. But believe it or not there's 04:35.130 --> 04:40.270 things that he the Father holds a little bit more dear to his heart than others. And if you really 04:40.270 --> 04:47.170 boil it down the things that God the Father holds dear to his heart are recorded in in Matthew. 04:47.590 --> 04:54.570 And it's it's found in Matthew chapter 22 verse 37 and verse 40. And there the Pharisees they 04:54.570 --> 04:58.650 come to him and they ask you know teacher what is the greatest commandment? They're trying 04:58.650 --> 05:04.230 to test them. And Jesus says the first and greatest commandment is love the Lord your God 05:04.230 --> 05:10.930 with all your heart soul and mind. What is Jesus talking about? He's talking about first love. 05:12.590 --> 05:15.570 He's talking about first love. That's what the Lord is talking about. 05:17.070 --> 05:22.990 And then he continues to say in the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. 05:23.850 --> 05:28.910 I want to pause and I want to park there for a second because I made a statement last Sunday 05:28.910 --> 05:35.390 and I stay true to that statement and I want to make it again today. But I said this last Sunday. 05:35.510 --> 05:40.990 I said if you've lost your first love onto the Lord, you've lost everything. 05:44.670 --> 05:51.350 If we have lost our first love onto God, if we have stopped, let me put it this way, 05:51.710 --> 05:58.650 if we have stopped fulfilling the first and greatest commandment, we've lost everything. 05:58.650 --> 06:06.030 Friend, I don't care that you prophesy. Friend, if you've lost your love onto the Lord, 06:06.370 --> 06:11.530 I don't care about your dreams, your visions. I don't care about your word of knowledge 06:11.530 --> 06:16.490 because according to what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, he says you're just a sounding 06:16.490 --> 06:26.910 symbol. You're nothing. If we have lost our first love onto the Lord, we've lost everything, 06:26.910 --> 06:33.130 friend. And there was many Christians that are actually deceived, 06:33.830 --> 06:38.750 fulfilling the second commandment. They're doing all of this. Let me put it to you in this 06:39.670 --> 06:48.370 perspective. They're being a Martha, but yet missing the point that there is my king sitting 06:48.370 --> 06:54.970 in front of me and all he's asking me is to just be at his feet. Did you actually, 06:54.970 --> 07:02.610 do you actually know that the second commandment, the trueness of fulfilling the second commandment 07:02.610 --> 07:10.750 comes out of the first? I'll put it to you this way. It is hard. I would say it is nearly 07:11.570 --> 07:18.310 impossible to be with God alone and love on him and learn from him of who he is 07:18.310 --> 07:22.330 to then leave that place and not love a people. It's hard. 07:25.130 --> 07:31.370 Because when you begin to walk in first love towards Jesus, you begin to love what he loves. 07:32.070 --> 07:39.790 Did you know that? And you actually begin to hate what he hates. Do you know that God actually 07:39.790 --> 07:45.550 hates things? No, no, no. Some of you don't. Some of you don't. And if you don't know what, 07:45.550 --> 07:51.330 read your scriptures. Because in the scriptures it says these six things, I what? 07:54.810 --> 08:01.730 And he says these other two are an abomination to me. I believe it's the psalmist that writes this. 08:01.830 --> 08:06.050 I'm going off my memory. I believe it's the psalmist that writes that God hates sin. 08:08.970 --> 08:15.130 There are things that God actually hates. So when you begin to walk in first love towards 08:15.130 --> 08:23.070 him, you begin to love what he loves. And how many of you here can agree with me that God loves lost souls? 08:25.910 --> 08:30.010 How many of you can agree with me that God loves the brokenhearted? 08:31.310 --> 08:37.470 God loves the people that our society has deemed to be they're done. They've put a period on him, 08:37.530 --> 08:42.910 but God says I'm not done with them yet. Okay, so now let me ask you a question. 08:42.910 --> 08:47.830 Okay, I'm not bringing you into a trap. If you're agreeing with me, let me ask you a 08:47.830 --> 08:53.690 simple question. If you are actually, I feel the Lord on this, if you are actually walking 08:53.690 --> 08:58.870 in first love, we have a harvest field in Cambridge. If God really loves them, 08:59.590 --> 09:05.990 if God really loves them, I said if God really loves them, why do we have very few that 09:05.990 --> 09:12.590 actually go there? I'm not bringing you into a trap. I'm simply asking you a question. 09:13.290 --> 09:19.730 If we walk in first love towards God and we say God, you love the lost souls, 09:20.030 --> 09:27.550 you love the brokenhearted, God, you have patience to walk with people, and we say amen pastor, 09:27.870 --> 09:34.070 we agree, we agree, but there is no follow up. Friends, I'm not bringing you. I'm not 09:34.070 --> 09:41.310 trying to ask these questions to trap you. I am simply trying to show you truth of how 09:41.310 --> 09:44.710 many people have actually lost their first love onto the Lord. 09:49.730 --> 09:57.870 We've lost it. Our hearts have grown cold. Our hearts have grown callous. We read the scriptures 09:57.870 --> 10:04.350 as a chore. We look at God as something we have to do rather than God. I love you. 10:05.590 --> 10:09.950 Let me ask you a question. You don't have to answer it. When is the last time you 10:09.950 --> 10:19.540 read the scriptures and wept? I said, don't answer me. Did you not hear that? It's not funny. 10:20.000 --> 10:26.500 I'm not laughing. I'm not laughing. I'm asking you a question. Don't answer me. 10:28.900 --> 10:34.100 With you answer me is telling me how boastful you are. I didn't ask you to answer my question. 10:35.020 --> 10:38.440 I'm asking for those people that are sitting here and saying, pastor, you're right. 10:41.160 --> 10:48.420 Friends, the church has grown cold when it comes to the things of God. 10:53.140 --> 11:01.340 We have lost our first love onto our bridegroom. We come to church because mom and dad said we 11:01.340 --> 11:08.760 got to come to church. You haven't met Jesus then. Or maybe you met him but you left him 11:08.760 --> 11:18.040 in the dust. I'm not trying to be mean. I am simply trying to show you some truth. 11:20.020 --> 11:25.560 And a forerunner, that's why there is very few in our day and age because a forerunner 11:25.560 --> 11:33.300 is one who holds fast to the things of God and they maintain it regardless of what 11:33.300 --> 11:38.980 everybody else is saying. And people will say things like, but really come on, you can 11:39.660 --> 11:46.500 you can miss prayer. God understands. Yes, God does understand. But if I claim that I'm walking 11:46.500 --> 11:54.760 in first love, God is my number one priority. Above my wife, above my children, above events, 11:54.920 --> 11:59.320 above anything else. God, if I am a forerunner, God, you're my priority. 12:03.070 --> 12:08.470 Let me read to you what first love is. Because we read 1 Corinthians 13 and we call 12:08.470 --> 12:13.770 it the love chapter. That's what we call it. And we apply it, we apply it to marriages and we 12:13.770 --> 12:17.710 apply it to all these things. Awesome, great. But did you know that he's actually talking 12:17.710 --> 12:37.570 about what first love is here? Listen to this. 1 Corinthians 13, 4. Love suffers long. That's 12:37.570 --> 12:43.150 me a breakthrough. God, you promised me and we're suffering. We're maintaining God, but we're going 12:43.150 --> 12:50.170 to continue loving you. Despite the fact that I have not yet seen it, I will suffer long until 12:50.170 --> 13:06.070 I do. Why? Because I love you. We have pastors. We have people in the church 13:07.450 --> 13:14.550 that give up on things. Here's my question. Why? Let me put it this way. Why do we 13:14.550 --> 13:20.830 hear so much burnout in the churches? Why do we hear so much burnout in the churches? 13:21.150 --> 13:27.610 Because we got pastors. We got leaders. We got congregants. Fulfilling the second commandment, 13:27.950 --> 13:34.410 yet not doing the first. Can I tell you a secret? Listen to this. Listen. If you want to 13:34.410 --> 13:42.450 avoid burnout in your life, walk in first love. Don't go to some seminary school or 13:42.450 --> 13:47.470 some teaching or counseling of how to not be burnt out in the ministry. It's simple. 13:48.810 --> 13:55.130 It's simple. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and you'll never be burnt 13:55.130 --> 14:02.910 out. Because loving him, listen, loving him with all our heart, soul, and mind is constantly 14:02.910 --> 14:11.370 growing in how much he loves me. First love comes from understanding what he's done for me. 14:12.450 --> 14:20.590 It's not what I can do for him. It's, you've done this for me. My God, how can you not love 14:20.590 --> 14:25.210 somebody that has died on the cross, that has given themselves for you? 14:26.710 --> 14:33.490 Doomed. We were doomed to eternal condemnation. Yet a man by the name of Jesus, who is God, 14:33.830 --> 14:38.810 came in the flesh. Because why? He loved me. That's it. That's it. 14:41.310 --> 14:44.050 Everything's wrapped around in love when we're talking about God. 14:44.990 --> 14:50.710 Oh, when we're talking about the things of God, everything is wrapped around love. Why? Because 14:50.710 --> 14:57.290 the Scripture says, according to 1 John, that God is love. It's not something he does. It's not 14:57.290 --> 15:04.330 something he flaunts. It's who he is. He is love. So everything he does is wrapped around love. 15:07.010 --> 15:16.350 Listen to this. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself. 15:16.870 --> 15:21.630 Is not puffed up. Does not behave rudely. This is all talking about first love. 15:24.310 --> 15:28.770 This is all talking about first love. That means that if I'm walking in first love 15:28.770 --> 15:34.270 towards God, I am not puffing myself up amongst my brothers and sisters in the church 15:35.070 --> 15:48.430 of how spiritual I am. I am not puffing myself up by belittling somebody else 15:48.430 --> 15:54.390 to gossip about them or to point out their mistakes. Do you see what I mean that the 15:54.390 --> 15:58.850 church has lost its first love? Because we see all of this in our day and age today. 16:01.290 --> 16:08.010 We see people flaunting their spirituality. Can I tell you something and I'll get into it in today's 16:08.010 --> 16:15.470 message if I have time? People think that you're mature because how spiritual you are. That's 16:15.470 --> 16:22.630 false. People try to show their maturity of how spiritual they are. Well, I had a dream 16:22.630 --> 16:30.830 and I had a vision. Cool, so did Martin Luther King Jr. He had a dream. Does that make him a spiritual 16:30.830 --> 16:40.720 person? The most mature person? Not necessarily. He's talking about first love and first Corinthians. 16:41.920 --> 16:48.840 Does not seek its own. My God. First love does not seek its own. 16:50.120 --> 17:01.580 Let me say that again. First love does not seek its own. It loves what he loves. 17:03.340 --> 17:17.670 It does what he does. Does not seek its own. Is not provoked. Thinks no evil. This is talking 17:17.670 --> 17:22.630 about first love. Thinks no evil. Somebody cuts you off on the road. I hope. I hope they 17:22.630 --> 17:29.250 hit a deer. Right? Right? Is that just country thinking or is that city thinking too? 17:32.950 --> 17:36.690 I hope a big buck just jumps out and just, ah, get him Jesus. 17:41.610 --> 17:49.050 Does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. Bears all things. Friends, 17:49.610 --> 18:01.870 first love bears all things. Bears all things. Don't try to, don't try to fill it in and say, 18:01.970 --> 18:09.930 well, maybe all things. Bears all things. Listen. Bears all things. Believes all things. 18:10.430 --> 18:16.910 Hopes all things. Endures all things. And then it says love never fails. What type of love 18:16.910 --> 18:22.590 is he talking about there? He's talking about first love. We say, well, God, it says that love 18:22.590 --> 18:28.850 never fails. Yes, if you're walking in first love. That's why I said there is no, there is no secret 18:28.850 --> 18:35.530 recipe of how do I avoid burnout in the ministry? Or how do I avoid burnout and following God? 18:35.830 --> 18:42.170 It's simple friends. It is so simple that it goes over our heads like this. And if you're 18:42.170 --> 18:51.370 taller, it kind of goes up a little bit. To avoid burnout is to love him. That's it. 18:53.070 --> 18:58.610 And we love him because why? There you go. You're with me this morning. 19:01.510 --> 19:07.210 Let's carry on. I think I'll get somewhere today. A forerunner is one who lives a lifestyle 19:07.210 --> 19:13.670 of fasting and prayer. I talked about that last Sunday. It's such an unpopular thing in the church 19:13.670 --> 19:21.570 these days. Did you know that there was a statistic? I don't know if it was done by Barna or somebody 19:21.570 --> 19:28.910 else, but it was a reputable organization that did a poll. Did you know that they said that an 19:28.910 --> 19:33.590 average pastor, I'm not even talking about congregants, I'm talking about an average pastor 19:34.230 --> 19:40.530 spends a maximum, friends listen to me, this is staggering, a maximum of 15 minutes in prayer 19:40.990 --> 19:51.530 a day. I said maximum 15 minutes in prayer a day is what an average pastor in America spends. 19:53.830 --> 20:00.750 To fast and to pray has become such an unpopular topic to where now churches 20:00.750 --> 20:06.130 only fast. It's January, let's take a 21-day fast. What about the rest of the year? 20:07.910 --> 20:09.170 What about the rest of the year? 20:11.730 --> 20:19.430 We're according to the life of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, they lived it. They didn't just 20:19.430 --> 20:25.470 oh it's January, hey John, we got a fast for 21 days. No, it was they did it. 20:26.290 --> 20:32.410 They did it on a daily basis. They did it on a weekly, on a monthly basis. They lived it because 20:32.410 --> 20:38.090 they understood when you live a lifestyle of fasting and of prayer, you actually have the 20:38.090 --> 20:44.570 ability to access things of God that you can't unless you're living that lifestyle. Did you 20:44.570 --> 20:52.990 know that? There is riches and glory of God that are literally accessible to us, 20:53.540 --> 20:58.270 but we will not attain them nor get them if we choose not to do our part. 21:02.190 --> 21:06.890 Prayer, fasting has become very, very unpopular in the church today, 21:08.190 --> 21:14.750 but a forerunner is one who maintains that. They live it. A forerunner is one who says, 21:14.850 --> 21:20.770 yeah, I'm going to discipline my flesh and I'm going to bring it to submission to the 21:20.770 --> 21:25.510 spirit of God and I will choose to fast. It's not going to be easy, but I'm going to choose it. 21:25.810 --> 21:32.210 Why? Because it's going to give me some access to know Jesus more. You're saying, well, hold on, 21:32.270 --> 21:36.750 now you're preaching works. I'm not preaching works, friends. I'm not preaching works. I'm 21:36.750 --> 21:44.430 preaching being a doer is what I'm preaching. We confuse that. We confuse works with being 21:44.430 --> 21:49.350 a doer and being obedient to God. Pastor, don't give me that work stuff. I don't want to hear 21:49.350 --> 21:53.650 it. We're saved by grace through faith. Don't give me that work stuff. Friends, have you not read 21:53.650 --> 22:04.450 James? Have you not read James? Many hearers in the church today, did you hear me? Now you see, 22:04.490 --> 22:08.670 now you're hesitating to say amen because you're like, hold on a second, where is he going? 22:09.270 --> 22:12.150 Is he going to bring us in somewhere? I'm not bringing you anywhere yet. 22:15.090 --> 22:19.870 We got many hearers in the church, but very few doers in the church. 22:22.110 --> 22:28.750 I'm not preaching new works. I'm just simply, I'm laying out the menu in front of you. You want 22:28.750 --> 22:34.330 us, you want to know God more? Here. Here are the practical biblical things that I have not, 22:34.430 --> 22:39.030 I'm not only preaching to you, but I've implemented in my life. I know the fruit of it. 22:40.070 --> 22:45.910 Here they are. Fast, pray, walk in first love, and then out of the first love, understand that 22:45.910 --> 22:50.370 you're going to love people. And sometimes it's hard, so you got to go back and you got to pray a 22:50.370 --> 22:55.750 little bit more. Help me, God. Help me, Lord, and give me fervent love for these people in 22:55.750 --> 23:01.250 Jesus' name, and then you're praying the Spirit a little bit. Right, pastor? You still with me 23:01.250 --> 23:06.190 this morning? I'm not being too harsh with you, and if I am, I'm not even going to apologize. 23:08.250 --> 23:14.450 Honestly, friends, I don't say this as a rebuke. I don't say it even as, I'm simply showing you the 23:14.450 --> 23:20.510 truth of how we as a church, and when I say we, I'm not just saying our local body, as a church, 23:21.190 --> 23:28.310 as a church, we have lost our first love unto the Lord. Last Sunday I said we are not desperate 23:28.310 --> 23:33.750 enough for Jesus to come back. We're just, we're not. We can say we are, but we're just 23:33.750 --> 23:39.050 not. And I ask the Lord, I'm talking about myself, stirring me, Lord, a greater hunger. 23:39.650 --> 23:45.350 Cause me to go after him more, Lord. Help me, Holy Spirit. Counsel me, Holy Spirit, 23:45.610 --> 23:51.010 because I haven't arrived either, by the way. And we'll get into that, pastor, if you 23:51.010 --> 23:55.930 want to come up here, we're going to answer the question that came in. You want to come up 23:55.930 --> 23:59.430 here? I thought you're going to leave me here by myself. You're like, I ain't going up there, 24:00.050 --> 24:07.970 after what you just did, you're on your own. Float. I want to read the question, by the way, 24:08.090 --> 24:12.070 I do want to let him know, this question did not come in from our children's department. 24:12.430 --> 24:14.650 Just want to flat out say that right away. So you guys are like, 24:15.050 --> 24:17.990 our children's department is complaining. This question did not come in from our 24:17.990 --> 24:22.150 children's department. We're keeping every question anonymous, so it doesn't matter who asked, 24:22.770 --> 24:29.410 but because the way that the question is, I wanted to lay that out so nobody's going to 24:29.410 --> 24:32.690 question as well. They're going to be like, Kristen, did you send it in? Kristen, I know you didn't 24:32.690 --> 24:38.530 send it in. Here's the question. It's kind of two questions in one, and you can answer it first, 24:38.650 --> 24:47.330 and I'll answer it after you. The question is, does Jesus love children? If yes, then we are 24:47.330 --> 24:52.570 supposed to love children according to what Pastor Igor spoke last Sunday, because this question 24:52.570 --> 24:57.830 came out of last Sunday. According to what Pastor Igor spoke last Sunday of first love, 24:57.830 --> 25:04.210 which then produces loving your neighbor as yourself. In other words, loving what God loves. 25:04.950 --> 25:10.730 So if we are supposed to love children, why is it so difficult to get people to help 25:12.410 --> 25:17.850 minister at the children's church, children's events, just in general, the whole children's 25:17.850 --> 25:24.570 ministry? That was the question. If Jesus loves children, why is it so hard for us, and you 25:24.570 --> 25:30.770 know, if we're walking in first love, why is it so hard for us to basically serve in that capacity? 25:31.490 --> 25:35.750 Go ahead. All right, so he asked me to join him and answer this question, and I thought, well, 25:35.810 --> 25:40.030 I'll be quick answer, and I'll go sit down. And yesterday, the Lord enveloped me a little bit 25:40.030 --> 25:46.510 on this. Give it to them. So I'm going to be a little straight, but you heard from him as a 25:47.090 --> 25:51.690 revivalist. Now, you're going to hear from me as a teacher. Could you go to Revelation 25:51.690 --> 25:57.090 chapter 2? He's talking first love. This is the chapter it comes out of. I'll be in the New 25:57.090 --> 26:01.770 King James Version here in Revelation, and he's talking to the Church of Ephesus, 26:02.430 --> 26:05.770 and I want you to notice something. We'll start at verse 2. I'll just start reading. 26:05.930 --> 26:12.470 They can catch up with the computer. I know your works, your labor, your patience. So these 26:12.470 --> 26:19.110 people were not being lazy, sloppy Christians. They're at it, and that you cannot bear those 26:19.110 --> 26:25.170 who are evil. So they did not agree with sin. They put their foot down on it, and you have tested 26:25.170 --> 26:29.730 those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars. So they're dealing with 26:29.730 --> 26:36.390 false leaders in the church, and you have persevered and have patience. Wow, they're 26:36.390 --> 26:41.410 hanging in there. They're being strong, and have labored for my name's sake, and have not 26:41.410 --> 26:46.750 become weary. So they're not burning out. Man, these people got it together. 26:47.990 --> 26:53.610 Nevertheless, verse 4, I have this against you. You've left your first love. 26:55.470 --> 27:03.150 So all the stuff they were doing was great, except it wasn't... 27:05.590 --> 27:11.730 How can I say this? Everything they were doing was wonderful, but they weren't doing what God 27:11.730 --> 27:18.950 wanted them to do. So read on. Nevertheless, I have this against you. You have left your first love. 27:20.150 --> 27:25.270 Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen. So they were in first love at one time, and now 27:25.270 --> 27:30.350 they're not. Repent and do the first works. So Pastor Igor is not going to preach works. I am. 27:32.570 --> 27:38.390 Christians quote, we are not. We don't have to do works. We don't have to do the works 27:38.390 --> 27:50.650 of the law. But God is heavy into works. Jesus just told you right here. I need you working. 27:52.110 --> 27:56.170 Do we do the works of the law? No. And we won't take time to explain the difference. 27:57.330 --> 28:01.690 Do the first works, or else I will come quickly and remove your lampstand from its place, 28:01.790 --> 28:05.090 unless you repent. This was a sin that needed to be repented of. 28:06.570 --> 28:11.070 You said, but they were doing all kinds of stuff. This is the typical Christian. 28:13.170 --> 28:20.210 We start by saying, God, whatever you want, our relationship with God, that first love, 28:20.290 --> 28:26.590 is God, whatever you want, I want to meet your desires. Whatever you want of me, I'll do it. 28:27.610 --> 28:32.510 And then as time goes on, that kind of comes back to, I don't like doing certain things. 28:32.510 --> 28:37.170 I don't like doing this. I don't like doing that. I don't like doing the other. 28:37.670 --> 28:42.690 But I'll do all these things. Well, are all these things that you're doing for God, 28:43.030 --> 28:47.230 and I'm presuming here? So maybe I shouldn't even presume that. Maybe I should just back 28:47.230 --> 28:55.750 up and ask the question. What are you doing for God? Are you doing anything for God? 28:57.370 --> 28:59.970 Oh yeah, I'm doing all these things. So now we're back up to that. 29:00.510 --> 29:06.050 If you can't answer the first question positively, well, now we're deep doo doo. 29:11.250 --> 29:16.790 Okay? But I am doing things for God. Here's the question. Are you doing the things for 29:16.790 --> 29:24.590 God that God asked you to do? See, in verse two and three, these people were doing awesome things. 29:25.650 --> 29:29.210 But they weren't doing what he asked them to do. 29:33.060 --> 29:38.880 What has he asked you to do? Are you doing that? That goes the first love. It's like a relationship 29:38.880 --> 29:45.200 with you're dating somebody or early marriage husband or wife, honeymoon phase. You want to 29:45.200 --> 29:52.140 meet the desires of the other person. You love them. You want to pour into them. Honey, 29:52.220 --> 30:01.400 whatever you want, little poo poo. You know. Your marriage must be really good. You just 30:01.400 --> 30:08.540 get into that right now. I'll tell you later. We want to meet the desires because we're in that 30:08.540 --> 30:13.200 first kind of love. And about five, six years into it, 30:15.860 --> 30:20.120 I don't want to do what you want. I'm going to do what I want. 30:21.460 --> 30:28.440 And we've left first love in the relationship. That's the first step towards a rotten marriage. 30:29.280 --> 30:35.640 Okay? What did you do at first? You know, when people come and sit in front of me for counseling 30:36.200 --> 30:39.420 and they say, oh, we got marriage problems. Well, let me ask you a simple question. 30:40.640 --> 30:46.500 How did you treat each other when you were dating? All you have to do is return to that 30:46.500 --> 30:51.980 and your marriage will be fine. Because if you were treating her so bad when you were dating, 30:52.100 --> 30:58.560 she wouldn't have married you. Well, see, marriage problems are not hard to solve. 31:00.440 --> 31:05.440 But to get over our stubbornness and our selfishness, that is the death area. Because, well, I don't 31:05.440 --> 31:11.520 want to treat her that way anymore. Well, why are you selfish thing? You know, it's just that simple. 31:13.440 --> 31:17.820 Verse six. But I'm going to throw you a bone, Jesus says. I have, but you have, 31:18.260 --> 31:22.460 but this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate, 31:22.740 --> 31:28.560 which confirms what Igor just said. God hates things. Certain things he hates. 31:30.020 --> 31:33.700 So if you've got an ear and you're listening to the Holy Spirit, listen up to what I'm saying, 31:33.800 --> 31:37.600 is what Jesus is saying here. You say, what are the Nicolaitans? There's a couple of three 31:37.600 --> 31:44.340 layers of things that they were proponents of. And Jesus just said, I hate them. 31:45.260 --> 31:50.740 The first layer of things that the Nicolaitans promoted in the early church was sexual 31:50.740 --> 31:59.680 immorality and indulgence. It's okay to be sexual outside of marriage. 32:01.720 --> 32:16.050 That's what they were promoting. And what is in the church today? When is the last time we heard 32:16.850 --> 32:23.730 in church a pastor address the, any kind of fornication, adultery, 32:24.430 --> 32:28.690 any kind of the sexual immorality? I mean, we can just go on listening, but we don't have to. 32:30.330 --> 32:40.650 When is the last time you heard a pastor say, I hate that? Well, you can't say you hate that. 32:42.670 --> 32:51.060 You're a bigot. I don't know. Jesus said it in verse 6. 32:53.880 --> 33:00.260 He hates it. But we don't want to offend anybody, so we just don't say anything. 33:00.680 --> 33:06.620 And people are doing all kinds of sinful garbage that needs to be repented of. 33:07.340 --> 33:16.720 But the pastors, the leaders of the church are failing because they're not calling what Jesus called. 33:18.360 --> 33:27.880 It's sin. I hate it. Okay. So there is first love. So now there's two groups of people 33:27.880 --> 33:35.400 that Jesus in Scripture said, if you do something like this to these groups of people, 33:36.300 --> 33:42.620 you're doing it to me. And I'm going to give you the references. If you could look up Matthew 18 33:43.420 --> 33:49.460 verse 5, I'm going to do amplified. So he's talking about children here. And this is the, 33:49.700 --> 33:53.100 if you offend a little one, or you damage a little one, it'd be better if you had a 33:53.560 --> 33:56.480 millstone tied around your neck, you drowned the depth of the sea, blah, blah, blah. 33:56.700 --> 34:00.520 You know, it's kind of like probably better treat kids right. And what are we doing in America? 34:02.040 --> 34:07.660 You think God's pleased with America with the way we deal with children? We traffic them? It's like 34:09.740 --> 34:17.020 a lot of millstones getting ready. Verse 5, he says, whoever receives and accepts and welcomes 34:17.020 --> 34:23.360 one little child like this for my sake and in my name receives and accepts and welcomes me. 34:23.740 --> 34:28.880 So that's one place where he says, if you do something for someone, it's like doing it to 34:28.880 --> 34:49.900 me. The other place is in, let's see if I can find it here. Let's go this way. My iPad is supposed 34:49.900 --> 34:55.900 to be helping me and it's not. There it is. Matthew 25. And here I'm back in the amplified 34:55.900 --> 35:02.860 again. And here he's talking about his coming and the verse 31 is where it starts. We won't 35:02.860 --> 35:08.120 start reading. I just want to read a couple of verses. His coming and things that are going to 35:08.120 --> 35:15.440 happen in judgment and judging the nations and the people of the nations. And verse 35 is where 35:15.440 --> 35:19.940 we'll start. For I was hungry. You gave me food. I was thirsty. You gave me something to drink. 35:20.100 --> 35:24.540 You all know the Scripture. Verse 36, I was naked. You clothed me. I was sick. You visited me 35:24.540 --> 35:28.900 and helped me in ministering care. I was in a prison. You came to see me. And the people 35:28.900 --> 35:35.100 are going to say, when in the world did we do this? And verse 40 he says, I tell you, in so far as 35:35.100 --> 35:41.080 you've done it, to one of the least of these in the estimation of men. One of the people who men 35:41.080 --> 35:49.000 or mankind looks the least favorably on. Oh, there's just a bunch of bums. There's just a 35:49.000 --> 35:53.200 bunch of, well, those are the ones he's talking about right here. The ones that you consider 35:53.200 --> 36:06.960 less than you. The least of these, my brethren, if you did it for them, you did it for me. 36:07.860 --> 36:12.880 So there's two groups of people that he said, if you do it to them, you did it for me. 36:13.860 --> 36:23.500 First love, doing what Jesus asked us to do, doing what he loves. So if Jesus walked in 36:24.380 --> 36:29.840 to the children's department this morning, physically, walked in there, and I said, folks, 36:29.980 --> 36:34.920 we need 10, 15 people over there to welcome him and receive him. 36:37.440 --> 36:41.100 We'd have sections emptying out to go over there. 36:43.640 --> 36:49.540 But we have children coming, even visiting children coming. 36:51.400 --> 36:56.140 And nobody wants to be over there welcoming and receiving and helping with the children. 36:58.260 --> 37:03.380 But the children are Jesus. If you do it for them, you've done it for me. 37:07.820 --> 37:13.780 He was very concerned about children. He loves them. What's our problem? 37:16.260 --> 37:20.100 I told you I was going to get a little direct. What is our problem? 37:20.720 --> 37:25.280 Now, we can take it as a compliment that, oh, we just want to stay in the service and see what God's 37:25.280 --> 37:31.820 going to do. That's great. That's wonderful, especially if you're a baby Christian. But if 37:31.820 --> 37:38.760 you've been living for God for 10, 15, 20 years, and you still need the services to survive, 37:39.360 --> 37:44.140 you have a problem. You're not close enough to God yourself yet. 37:46.220 --> 37:54.280 We should be doing what he asked us to do. Take care of the children. 37:56.240 --> 38:02.860 Why is it in this church we struggle with people being willing to be over there taking care of 38:02.860 --> 38:10.120 children? You know why? We lost our first love. Okay, so now let me make the second 38:10.120 --> 38:16.960 application, the one that we just read. I was hungry. You gave me food. I was thirsty. You gave 38:16.960 --> 38:20.780 me something to drink. I was a stranger. You brought me together with yourselves. Welcome me, 38:20.780 --> 38:27.120 entertained and lodged me. There is TBO and mission 61. I was naked and you clothed me. 38:27.460 --> 38:32.220 We are sending clothes out now in the trailer load. And thank God for Sarah who's doing 38:32.800 --> 38:38.060 most of the sorting and bagging and putting it all together. But literally, 38:38.060 --> 38:44.000 we're sending clothes out by the trailer load. I was sick and you visited me with help and 38:44.000 --> 38:51.640 ministering care. I was in prison in prison and you came to see me. So clothes, great. We're 38:51.640 --> 38:58.840 doing good. Sick. Pastor Dave's problem. He's going to have to deal with that. Of course, 38:58.920 --> 39:04.620 he needs a team. How many of you have, you know, he's asked, how many would you be on my 39:04.620 --> 39:13.100 team? How many you got in your team, Dave? Three. Zero. Oh, I thought you meant three. It's zero. 39:14.300 --> 39:21.200 One or two. See, so when you're ministering to people and visiting them who are sick, 39:23.620 --> 39:29.100 verse 40, you're doing it as unto Jesus. It's like Jesus were laying there sick. 39:29.980 --> 39:35.600 If I'd say Jesus is in the hospital, can somebody go see him and pray with him? 39:36.660 --> 39:41.400 The whole church would empty. We wouldn't get done speaking. The whole church would empty out. I'm 39:41.400 --> 39:49.440 there. But nobody will help Pastor Dave on the visitation and pre-hospital visitation team. 39:52.120 --> 40:01.220 That is an indication of a sickness lost in the body. Okay, so you go through these, 40:01.840 --> 40:10.520 a lot of them are mission 61 and TBO. Now interestingly enough, where we struggle the most to get help 40:11.280 --> 40:17.300 is mission 61 and TBO, which is doing that list of items. 40:18.020 --> 40:27.720 And some of you have even said, oh yeah, I'm going to help out a mission 61 and TBO. And you 40:28.320 --> 40:39.980 once maybe, and you quit. You have growing to do. Something is wrong with you. 40:41.400 --> 40:51.170 You can't even keep your word. So yeah, don't come to me with a prophecy or a word of 40:51.170 --> 40:57.050 knowledge when I know you can't even keep your word. Yeah, let's get the horse back in front of the 40:57.050 --> 41:06.710 cart again. So that was all I was going to say. Perfect. And then, and then, you know, it's good. 41:06.830 --> 41:11.090 I got one more thing to add. You add it. And I want to tell them why we're maybe speaking so 41:11.090 --> 41:16.390 harshly today. I'm not speaking harshly. Well, maybe I am then. You might be, but I'm just 41:17.150 --> 41:21.390 doing good teaching. Because I'm over here like get a pastor. 41:24.150 --> 41:29.950 The Lord told me he said, some people are not going to TBO because they're using me as the excuse. 41:31.110 --> 41:38.070 You? Me. Why? Pastor Verne is not a TBO very much. Why should I be there? Must it be that 41:38.070 --> 41:43.450 important or Pastor Verne would be there? So I'm going to try to explain this, 41:43.450 --> 41:50.410 but I'll be blunt so you get it. It's just good teaching friends. It's just good teaching. 41:50.550 --> 41:56.630 Apparently, you know nothing about business. You must have been an eight to five worker 41:56.630 --> 42:00.330 and punched your clock all your life because you know nothing about how business runs. 42:01.690 --> 42:06.950 Why don't you see the manager at Walmart at the checkout? Why don't you see the 42:06.950 --> 42:12.450 manager at Walmart stocking shelves? Why don't you see the manager at Walmart greeting you 42:12.450 --> 42:17.910 at the front door? Why don't you see the manager at Walmart managing the departments? 42:18.410 --> 42:22.150 I can tell you why. I can tell you why. You know why? I can tell you why. 42:22.370 --> 42:26.850 Well, because they used to do it and now they're training others to do it and they're overseeing 42:26.850 --> 42:32.530 it. Because if they did everything, they no longer have time to do it all. 100%. 42:34.950 --> 42:39.310 I don't have to be a TBO. We already have a good minister of TBO. 42:39.310 --> 42:42.710 What do you need me? You don't need me there. 42:46.150 --> 42:51.370 So, Lord gave that to me yesterday and so I keep tracking my hours. It's a self 42:53.210 --> 42:57.950 self-regulation thing. So I thought, well, let's just add up the hours. 42:59.270 --> 43:05.810 This week, just this last week, and I'm under command to take two days off. 43:06.410 --> 43:11.290 On Thursday, I take Thursday and Saturday. I like it to be Friday and Saturday, but that's not 43:11.290 --> 43:16.470 working for Mary's schedule as well as Thursday and Saturday dudes. So I break them up. 43:17.130 --> 43:19.990 Maybe someday I can get Friday and Saturday. Put them together. 43:20.390 --> 43:22.050 I'll believe with you. I'd like them back to back. 43:22.250 --> 43:27.910 I'll believe with you. But Thursday, my day off, I spent most of the morning on the phone 43:27.910 --> 43:35.070 with the state about the building. Saturday, the Lord nudged me and he said, 43:36.230 --> 43:40.610 amongst other things, he said, go to TBO tonight. And he talked to me about a few things at TBO. 43:41.150 --> 43:50.590 Okay? So I went to TBO. This week in five days, not counting the two hours it took me to go to TBO. 43:56.040 --> 43:57.800 There's going to be questions. I better answer it. 43:58.080 --> 44:01.700 Pastor Igor said, because we were talking about track your hours and watch how much 44:01.700 --> 44:05.320 you're working is on the other. He said, do you count Sunday mornings as work? 44:05.940 --> 44:08.500 I said, yes. He said, how can you count Sunday mornings as work? 44:09.100 --> 44:14.700 I said, it's easy. Let's just you and I not show up for about a month of Sunday mornings and see 44:14.700 --> 44:23.560 what they all think. Go to Fiji. Hawaii, someplace. Somewhere. Yeah. And let them figure it out 44:23.560 --> 44:28.940 themselves on Sunday mornings. If we weren't here on Sunday mornings, you would start saying, 44:29.260 --> 44:34.620 are you the pastor or not? So this is part of our portfolio, part of our job. 44:35.720 --> 44:42.920 Without TBO last night, in five days, I spent 57 and a half hours working this week. 44:43.920 --> 44:51.080 If I include TBO, which I added on the Saturday, I would have spent almost 60 hours this week in five days. 44:53.180 --> 44:58.620 There is a lot of stuff that goes on in the manager's office that you never see. 44:58.620 --> 45:06.120 Yeah. But since you're not in the manager's office, go help at TBO. 45:07.940 --> 45:13.460 Well, I like to sit home Saturday nights and do nothing. Well, there is part of the disease. 45:15.680 --> 45:22.300 Because we don't see the people at TBO. We don't see the children at word of life. We don't see 45:22.300 --> 45:32.180 each other as Jesus saying, if you do it to these, it's like you're doing it to me. 45:33.100 --> 45:41.400 Do you think that comes under first love? It's the only two places. He said, 45:42.340 --> 45:48.600 do it for me. Do the work for me. Return to the first works. Minister to me first, 45:48.600 --> 45:55.000 which is part of four runners. Exactly. Thank you. Yeah, you guys can clap for that. 45:59.120 --> 46:03.020 My answer is very short, but it goes into right what you just said. 46:04.220 --> 46:07.940 When that question was asked, the first answer that I got was 46:08.560 --> 46:16.840 people are fearful of missing out. That's why I think a lot of people choose not to serve 46:17.660 --> 46:24.460 in different departments is because there's a fear of missing out. Missing out on a service, 46:24.660 --> 46:30.440 missing out on what God could do for me. And here's the secret to that. That if we actually 46:30.440 --> 46:33.800 walk in first, I've learned this in my own life, that's why I'm sharing the secret. 46:34.260 --> 46:39.320 If we actually walk in first love towards God, we never miss out from him. 46:41.740 --> 46:47.100 Literally. So people are fearful to, well, I don't want to miss a Sunday service. What if 46:48.640 --> 46:54.360 Igor preaches not till afternoon? You know what I mean? I don't know. I'm trying to be funny here, 46:54.400 --> 46:59.960 but it's not so funny. But yeah, I just think people are fearful to miss out. 47:01.260 --> 47:04.280 They're afraid that they're going to miss something that God wanted to tell them 47:04.280 --> 47:07.620 or something that God wanted to do where it's like, well, listen, if you're walking 47:07.620 --> 47:12.120 in first love, you're never going to miss out on what God actually has for you. You won't. You just 47:12.120 --> 47:16.140 won't. He'll talk to you about stuff. He'll have you do stuff when you're at home in the car, 47:16.540 --> 47:19.200 do in laundry, cook in a meal for your wife, whatever the case may be. 47:20.260 --> 47:22.800 Some of the men are like, well, I don't cook a meal for my wife. Maybe it's time for you 47:22.800 --> 47:28.120 to cook a meal for your wife. I just want to throw this in there real quick of 47:29.940 --> 47:34.960 maybe to some of you, and I probably won't even get into the message today, pastor. 47:37.620 --> 47:45.960 Yeah, haha, ironic, huh? Maybe to some of you, what was spoken sounded a bit harsh. 47:47.000 --> 47:50.620 Maybe some of you are like, well, why are you grilling us? Why are you on our case? 47:51.100 --> 47:56.500 Da-da-da-da, so on and so forth. Friends, I want to tell you something that we are all 47:56.500 --> 48:02.000 susceptible of. That's why we may sound harsh, which is genuinely, this is good teaching. 48:02.000 --> 48:11.600 I would rather have my pastor tell me this way, truth, yes. Truth than him telling me or her telling 48:11.600 --> 48:18.760 me, hey, you're fine. Just keep doing what you're doing because here is the reality. Here is the 48:18.760 --> 48:28.880 reality. We are all susceptible of losing our first love. This is across the board. 48:29.800 --> 48:34.940 This is not like, oh, okay, we have those that are in leadership or those that are in high hierarchy, 48:35.160 --> 48:40.200 so to say in the church. They'll never lose their first love. Friends, we are all susceptible 48:40.980 --> 48:48.300 of losing our first love. Sometimes you need to have conversations like this to kind of wake 48:48.300 --> 48:53.340 you up a little bit and really, and get real with yourself and ask yourself the question, 48:54.340 --> 49:03.660 am I really walking in first love towards the Lord? Is it about him? Is it really about Jesus 49:04.260 --> 49:08.780 in my life? Or is it about the approval of men and women in my life? 49:12.130 --> 49:19.770 Is it really about Jesus? Am I really discovering the Lord? There is a facet of God 49:19.770 --> 49:23.590 that we can only learn when we are in private, when we're loving on him. 49:23.590 --> 49:29.950 But there's a whole other facet of God that we can learn when we begin to fulfill the second 49:29.950 --> 49:37.650 commandment. Did you know that? There is actually a whole other facet of God that we can grow in 49:37.650 --> 49:46.970 and understand when we begin to serve one another. You can sit in your closet all day and pray to 49:46.970 --> 49:51.290 God in secret, which that is the first thing. If you're not doing that, don't even come out 49:51.290 --> 49:55.910 and serve. I'm just gonna be honest with you. Don't even come out and serve. Seek him in your 49:55.910 --> 50:02.050 private place first. And if that means that's 15 minutes a day for you, cool. Seek him for 15 50:02.050 --> 50:08.050 minutes. But don't you dare come out and try to tell people that God loves you when you yourself 50:08.050 --> 50:13.350 don't even realize how much God loves you. Like honestly, think about it. How can you 50:13.350 --> 50:18.850 tell somebody Jesus loves you when you yourself don't even realize how much he loves you? 50:20.730 --> 50:27.810 How can I as your pastor tell you you need to love Jesus and you need to walk in first love 50:27.810 --> 50:33.470 if I myself at home am not fulfilling that? That makes me a hypocrite. 50:35.630 --> 50:39.650 That makes me a hypocrite. If I'm here telling you there's a necessity 50:40.150 --> 50:46.230 to walk in first love towards the Lord, but yet myself at home, I'm not walking in first 50:46.230 --> 50:53.650 love towards him. We just, we can't do that. That's why I'm encouraging you. Seek him. If it's 50:53.650 --> 51:00.770 10 minutes, cool. Start with 10 minutes. If it's 20, cool. Start with something and say, 51:00.910 --> 51:06.950 Lord, every day I'm gonna give you this amount of time. With great intentionality, aside from 51:06.950 --> 51:12.330 everything else, with great intentionality, Lord, I'm giving you this. Why? Because I 51:12.330 --> 51:16.570 want to know you. And the more I know you, the more you will give me the ability to love 51:16.570 --> 51:23.990 people. I am yet to talk to somebody who knows the Lord yet doesn't love his people. I'm yet 51:23.990 --> 51:33.250 to talk to somebody. I am yet to meet somebody who actually knows Jesus yet is not after lost souls. 51:35.350 --> 51:39.930 If you know somebody, bring him to me. I'd love to talk to them. I would love to know 51:39.930 --> 51:47.290 Jesus they know. I would love to know which Jesus they know. Let me give you a sneak peek of what 51:47.290 --> 51:54.490 we're gonna get into next Sunday. You guys still with me? They're still with me. Are you guys still 51:54.490 --> 52:01.670 with me? You're still with me? Okay, good. All right, let me give you, let's see how far we 52:01.670 --> 52:07.290 get into it. So Ephesians 4 banner is about, I'll tell you this in a nutshell, it's about 52:07.290 --> 52:15.850 maturing the saints. Which we just did, literally, which we just did. Let's read Ephesians 4 and 52:15.850 --> 52:20.570 we'll see how far we get into it. This is Ephesians 4 starting at verse 11. This is the Ephesians 4 52:20.570 --> 52:26.890 banner that is over forerunners. This is a call of a forerunner to walk in this, by the way, 52:27.270 --> 52:33.610 okay? It says, and he himself gave some note. This is talking about Jesus. The Apostle Paul 52:33.610 --> 52:41.770 is talking about Jesus. And he himself, so let's add Jesus. And Jesus himself gave some to be apostles, 52:42.370 --> 52:51.090 some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. Why? For the equipping of the saints, 52:51.450 --> 53:00.990 for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Not the body of so and so, 53:00.990 --> 53:10.630 but the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. 53:11.010 --> 53:18.230 To be a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Let me say this 53:18.230 --> 53:24.450 after reading those few verses. If there is one thing, okay, now before you say amen, because 53:24.450 --> 53:27.490 I'm going to make the statement and I know that I know some of you are going to be like, 53:27.490 --> 53:31.810 amen, I agree. So before you just agree with me here right away, I'm going to add something there, 53:32.010 --> 53:41.170 okay? If there is one issue that is very prevalent in the body of Christ today is immaturity. 53:44.570 --> 53:53.570 If there is one issue that is very prevalent in the body of Christ today is immaturity. Amen. 53:53.570 --> 53:58.650 Now let me tell you something. Do you know why we're immature? It's because of pastors, 53:59.350 --> 54:04.610 it's because of leaders, it's because of a lack of apostles, it's a lack of prophets, it's a lack 54:04.610 --> 54:10.670 of teachers, it's a lack of the body actually functioning together. You know what the problem 54:10.670 --> 54:16.530 is? That you have pastors that make statements of immaturity, not realizing you're talking 54:16.530 --> 54:24.310 about yourself. The reason why the body of Christ today is immature is because pastors 54:24.310 --> 54:32.510 have stopped growing in the things of God. They have stopped pursuing Jesus. And we are quick to 54:32.510 --> 54:37.630 point the finger at somebody else. You're immature, you body of Christ. Pastor, it's your 54:37.630 --> 54:45.310 responsibility. I ask myself that question. I put myself put, you know, so to say on the, 54:46.070 --> 54:52.130 what do they do when you come to court? On the auction block? Sure, auction me off, that's fine. 54:52.710 --> 54:59.150 On the stand, thank you. I put myself on the stand and I say, my God, what am I doing? 54:59.910 --> 55:05.470 I ask this question. What am I doing that people are not maturing? Why? Because I'm called 55:05.470 --> 55:14.230 to operate and not just operate. I'm called by God to hold an office of a five-fold. I'm called to that. 55:16.390 --> 55:21.910 So we have an immaturity in the body of Christ because of the body of Christ itself. 55:24.150 --> 55:27.950 Corinthians writes it this way. Paul writes it this way to the Corinthians. I think it's 55:27.950 --> 55:33.270 Corinthians 12. When he's talking about the body and he says, if one member, if one member 55:33.270 --> 55:37.650 is struggling or if one member is hurt, the whole body is affected by it. 55:40.090 --> 55:46.230 The whole body is affected by it. If my finger hurts, my body is doing everything it can 55:46.230 --> 55:52.690 to make sure that my finger is restored. If I am fighting a viral infection, my whole body is 55:52.690 --> 55:57.710 fighting to defeat this viral infection. It's not like my body's like, oh, you're on your own, 55:57.770 --> 56:01.490 dude. Yeah, we're just going to chill here. We're going to point fingers and say, man, 56:01.490 --> 56:08.610 you sinned, you look at you. No, my whole body begins to work to begin to address the issue. 56:09.810 --> 56:16.230 So now we have an immaturity across the body of Christ, which tells me that the five-fold 56:16.230 --> 56:24.130 are not fulfilling their duty. Did you know that each and every one of us are actually 56:24.130 --> 56:29.070 called to operate into at least one of them? Some of us even two. Did you know that? 56:29.750 --> 56:35.810 Each of us are actually called to who? Jesus gave these gifts to who? To everyone, 56:36.150 --> 56:44.090 to everyone who is born again and filled with the spirit. We are all called to operate in the 56:44.090 --> 56:51.170 five-fold, but there are those who are called to hold the office of a five-fold. And you're 56:51.170 --> 56:55.130 saying, well, what's the difference? Here's the difference. When you are called to hold 56:55.130 --> 57:02.210 an office of the five-fold, you know that you know that you know that you know God is asking you to 57:02.210 --> 57:07.570 lay down your life for the sake of the gospel. What I mean by that is that everything you do 57:07.570 --> 57:12.230 is basically it's like a ministry. It's full-time ministry. God, I'm laying my life down. 57:12.510 --> 57:17.430 I'm not fighting satisfaction in my business. I'm not finding any satisfaction with doing 57:17.430 --> 57:22.410 anything else but this. That's what it means when you hold an office of one of the five-fold. 57:23.670 --> 57:29.090 That's the only thing that satisfies you. I'll give you an example from my own life. 57:29.570 --> 57:32.210 When my wife and I, when we had our business for many years, 57:32.610 --> 57:38.130 was I satisfied to an extent? I was, but there was an area of my life that I was like, 57:38.170 --> 57:43.350 I know this is not forever. God, I know that you called me to the ministry full-time. 57:44.930 --> 57:48.310 There was a little satisfaction, but there was a portion that I knew that was 57:48.310 --> 57:53.390 missing. And it wasn't until we came on staff here for full-time ministry, 57:53.770 --> 57:56.970 people would ask me, they're like, well, how is it? How is it being a pastor and in full-time 57:56.970 --> 58:01.490 ministry? You know what I told them? I said, I may not make as much money as I did in my 58:01.490 --> 58:07.830 business, but I am far more satisfied in here. And I'm not going to get into the personal 58:07.830 --> 58:12.270 of how, yeah, I'm not even going to go there with you. People would ask me, they're like, 58:12.310 --> 58:17.410 how is it? I said, you know what? Our life has changed. I'm living in North Branch. 58:17.410 --> 58:25.250 My God. Thankful, thankful for the people that would allow me to live there. They've blessed, 58:25.650 --> 58:30.930 there's a family that has just blessed my wife and I. They've blessed my wife and I, our children, 58:31.210 --> 58:35.890 they have, their hearts are generous and they allow us to live in North Branch. It's a blessing. 58:36.250 --> 58:39.510 But friends, if you were going to ask me three years ago, my wife and I were just talking 58:39.510 --> 58:43.790 about this, if you were going to ask me three years ago, that God was going to say, 58:43.790 --> 58:48.030 Igor, you're going to move up to the country in the boonies, in the sticks, I'd laugh at you. 58:48.310 --> 58:52.810 I'd say, haha, good one. You're not a prophet. You're a prophet lying to me right now is what 58:52.810 --> 58:58.430 you're doing. You're not prophesying. You're prophesying. So people ask me and I say, 58:58.550 --> 59:07.790 I have never been so satisfied as I am right now. I have never been so satisfied. I've 59:07.790 --> 59:12.050 made a lot of money. Yes, I have. My business has made a lot of money, but for some reason, 59:12.650 --> 59:19.290 but for some reason I have never found the measure of satisfaction that I have now in full-time ministry 59:21.150 --> 59:24.750 because I'm called. I'm called to hold an office of it. That's the difference. 59:25.270 --> 59:31.030 Now each of us are called to operate in the five-fold. We are all called to operate. That 59:31.030 --> 59:37.670 means we are all called to lead someone or some or a group of people. So when we start 59:37.670 --> 59:42.550 complaining, okay, I'm bringing some truth here. When we start complaining about the 59:42.550 --> 59:47.910 immaturity in the body of Christ, friend, you're talking about yourself, that means you're not 59:47.910 --> 59:56.370 doing something right because if one member of the body suffers, so does everybody else. 59:58.210 --> 01:00:04.490 So maybe we should change our language a little bit. Maybe we shouldn't complain so much 01:00:04.490 --> 01:00:11.450 about other churches and say this and that. Maybe we should say, God, give me the love for the Catholics. 01:00:13.910 --> 01:00:19.350 Father, give me the love for the Lutherans. Father, give me the love for the Baptists. God, 01:00:19.470 --> 01:00:28.050 give me the love for people in the body. Give me a burning love, God, and give me a way that 01:00:28.050 --> 01:00:36.930 I can serve them. I said serve them. Not come with a title. I'm coming as an apostle. Serve them. 01:00:38.030 --> 01:00:48.830 The five-fold is given for what? To edify the body of Christ. It is to serve the body of Christ. 01:00:50.210 --> 01:00:55.190 Did you know that in Romans 12, we find three different facets of gifts in the Bible, by the 01:00:55.190 --> 01:01:01.290 way. Or I should say not three different facets. Let me reword that a little bit. But there is 01:01:01.290 --> 01:01:06.490 the Father who gives gifts. There is Jesus who gives gifts, which is right here in Ephesians 4. 01:01:06.810 --> 01:01:09.910 And then there's the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are given by the Holy Spirit, 01:01:09.990 --> 01:01:16.290 recorded in 1 Corinthians 12. Romans 12 talks about God the Father giving gifts. 01:01:17.610 --> 01:01:23.530 All these, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, they are all giving these gifts, 01:01:23.530 --> 01:01:30.230 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 01:01:30.230 --> 01:01:36.710 prophet. I have a title of blah blah blah blah blah. These gifts are given by the grace of God to 01:01:36.710 --> 01:01:45.090 the measure of faith for the sake of maturing the body of Christ. I will say this. I will 01:01:45.090 --> 01:01:51.910 say this. I hope and I wish that every church would have a pastor that would out serve the 01:01:51.910 --> 01:01:57.710 congregants. You're saying, what do you mean by that? I'm talking about serving in a capacity 01:01:58.250 --> 01:02:04.050 to then teach a people what servanthood actually looks like. And I don't know about you, 01:02:04.210 --> 01:02:09.770 but I believe our pastors have out-served some of us. And I should say most of us. 01:02:11.450 --> 01:02:14.970 I believe that they've out-served us in ways that we would never even serve. 01:02:16.030 --> 01:02:20.670 The commitment that they have, that is an example to us. That is the call to be, 01:02:20.670 --> 01:02:28.790 to be in one of the five-fold it's to out-serve. You are to show an example. Not, let me say this, 01:02:28.850 --> 01:02:32.150 because this scripture is running through me. Let me say it this way. Jesus said, 01:02:32.270 --> 01:02:39.590 I came not to be served, but to what? But to serve. That's the mentality that we should have. 01:02:41.050 --> 01:02:46.570 We should come to actually serve one another. And in serving one another, 01:02:46.570 --> 01:02:54.930 we bring about a maturity. We bring about a maturity. Are you still with me? Can I go 01:02:54.930 --> 01:03:01.090 for a little more here? No? All right, let me go there a little bit. 01:03:02.590 --> 01:03:08.910 I said this earlier. Maturity, that's right. Maturity is not being spiritual. 01:03:10.210 --> 01:03:13.550 People think, well, because you're a spiritual person, because you see angels, 01:03:13.550 --> 01:03:18.170 because you have dreams and visions and you prophesy and da da da. We right away, 01:03:18.230 --> 01:03:22.130 without even thinking, we right away, we kind of throw those people as well. They're the mature 01:03:22.130 --> 01:03:28.810 ones. I've been around the block enough. Some of the most immature people that I have been 01:03:28.810 --> 01:03:36.090 around in the body of Christ is this category of people right here. Some of the most immature 01:03:36.810 --> 01:03:41.410 Christians that I personally know and I've been around are in that category. 01:03:42.070 --> 01:03:46.670 They have the dreams, they have the visions, they have the prophecies, they have the word of 01:03:46.670 --> 01:03:54.610 knowledge. Maturity is not, I should say, measured in how spiritual you are. Can I tell you where 01:03:54.610 --> 01:04:00.770 true maturity is in God, where the body of Christ comes to maturity? It's in our character. 01:04:03.430 --> 01:04:08.630 True maturity of the body of Christ is actually in our character. 01:04:09.970 --> 01:04:19.970 That's true maturity. That is true maturity. When we are actually mature in our characteristics, 01:04:20.230 --> 01:04:30.050 when we actually walking and we hold a godly character within us. That means that if I'm 01:04:30.050 --> 01:04:36.010 mature, the way that I respond to situations are different than an average Christian does. 01:04:37.370 --> 01:04:42.910 You want to know how mature you are? Face something in your life and watch the way that you respond 01:04:42.910 --> 01:04:49.670 to it. That right there measures your maturity. Somebody says something about you that is 01:04:49.670 --> 01:04:55.250 criticizing, it could be a joke, it could be a hu-hu-ha-ha, and you respond with offense, 01:04:55.490 --> 01:05:01.050 that tells me how mature you are. I said that tells me how mature you are. 01:05:02.490 --> 01:05:09.950 So now the five-fold is given to now help people develop a godly character that they would 01:05:09.950 --> 01:05:17.070 be raised up to a godly character. And the gifts, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, 01:05:17.170 --> 01:05:21.910 they compliment that, friends, I am not against the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I am only for them. 01:05:22.430 --> 01:05:27.750 I am for them. But oftentimes we take, well, I operate in word of knowledge, 01:05:27.750 --> 01:05:34.630 I prophesy, and oh, I must be really mature, not necessarily. The gifts are given to us to now 01:05:34.630 --> 01:05:42.530 better a people, to mature a people, to encourage, to exhort, to help overcome certain things. 01:05:44.110 --> 01:05:47.670 Jim, you teach on the gifts, on the nine gifts, and you teach on the five-fold. 01:05:47.970 --> 01:05:52.910 If you haven't taken Jim's class, highly encourage you to do so. You have a booklet, 01:05:52.910 --> 01:05:57.710 don't you, on it? You have two of them. If you have questions on the gifts or on the five-fold, 01:05:57.830 --> 01:06:01.350 I'm not going to go too much into depth on it, but you do really well with doing that. 01:06:01.650 --> 01:06:04.030 If you're interested in that, come to Jim after service today. 01:06:07.070 --> 01:06:11.690 Maturity, let me tell you this the way that I measure maturity. I measure maturity by a person's 01:06:11.690 --> 01:06:17.350 consistency. That's how I measure maturity. You're saying, well, what do you mean? I'm 01:06:17.350 --> 01:06:24.210 pretty consistent. I'm not talking about the plateau consistency. I'm talking about the uphill 01:06:24.210 --> 01:06:32.210 consistency. Constant growth. Anybody can be constant here. Anybody can coast and be constant. 01:06:32.390 --> 01:06:37.010 I'm good. Been in the church now 20 years. Woo-hoo! Been in the church now 40 years. Woo-hoo! 01:06:37.370 --> 01:06:43.770 What facets of God did you learn? What facets of God did you learn? The consistency 01:06:43.770 --> 01:06:52.150 to hold steadfastly onto God and to grow and to grow in Him is how I measure maturity. 01:06:52.730 --> 01:06:58.410 Personally, it's not how you prophesied or how you did this or the other. It's the constant 01:06:58.410 --> 01:07:05.430 growth. Because watch this. Maturity, according to Ephesians 4.13, a sign of maturity is knowing 01:07:05.430 --> 01:07:09.950 Him and not just of Him, according to Ephesians 4.13. 01:07:12.570 --> 01:07:21.230 We are mature when we actually know the Lord and we're growing in the knowing of Him. 01:07:21.950 --> 01:07:27.830 I've said this before. I'm going to keep saying it. There are far too many Christians that know 01:07:27.830 --> 01:07:37.370 things of Him, but don't know Him. That tells me that there is a lack of proper gospel teaching 01:07:37.370 --> 01:07:43.470 from the pulpits in majority of America. Us pastors are doing something wrong then. 01:07:45.250 --> 01:07:50.770 I'm not pinning this on the congregants. I'm pinning this on pastors. What are we doing 01:07:50.770 --> 01:07:56.170 wrong as pastors that people aren't actually knowing Jesus. They're only knowing of Him. 01:08:01.560 --> 01:08:13.960 You with me? A forerunner is one who operates or some even hold an office of the five-fold. 01:08:14.260 --> 01:08:20.400 And a forerunner is one in a most practical way. I'll explain to you how we did it for many years 01:08:20.400 --> 01:08:26.820 and still do. A forerunner is one who lives this and then they bring people with them. 01:08:26.820 --> 01:08:30.580 It could be one individual and you're bringing them with them and you're helping 01:08:30.580 --> 01:08:37.600 mature them. That's a forerunner. As I was talking about a forerunner, we were talking about 01:08:37.600 --> 01:08:41.700 spiritual adoption is bringing somebody with you and you're helping them mature. 01:08:42.080 --> 01:08:48.120 This right here, this is the Ephesians four banner. What a forerunner does is a forerunner 01:08:48.120 --> 01:08:51.580 will either lead and the expression that we're using is like a home group. 01:08:52.160 --> 01:08:55.540 You still following me? I kind of did one of these here real quick. You still following me? 01:08:56.120 --> 01:09:00.160 So a forerunner or the way that I'm teaching it to be expressed is through the home. 01:09:01.320 --> 01:09:06.940 You can only do so much in maturing somebody at a coffee shop, though it's good for us to carry 01:09:06.940 --> 01:09:10.940 this to coffee shops, dinners, whatever the case may be, but there's only so much you can do 01:09:10.940 --> 01:09:15.920 in a coffee shop to help somebody mature. But when you begin to bring somebody into 01:09:15.920 --> 01:09:21.000 your home, you're bringing them into your personal space and you have the ability 01:09:21.000 --> 01:09:27.460 to pour into these people. You have the ability for these people to identify their destiny and 01:09:27.460 --> 01:09:33.240 more than just identify it, help them unlock their destiny so that they could be a disciple 01:09:33.240 --> 01:09:38.980 and they could begin to rise up other or raise up other disciples. It's interesting because the 01:09:38.980 --> 01:09:43.580 last command that Jesus gave to his disciples before he ascended into heaven is what did Jesus 01:09:43.580 --> 01:09:54.820 say? Go and... hold on, hold on, hold on. Go and baptize. In the name of who? The Father, the Son, 01:09:54.920 --> 01:09:59.220 and the Holy Spirit. What did he mean when he said go and baptize? Somebody tell me, 01:09:59.280 --> 01:10:06.720 what did he mean when he said go and baptize them? Come on, somebody help me. He was talking 01:10:06.720 --> 01:10:12.620 about water baptism, right? Okay, do you know what the word baptize or to be baptized means 01:10:12.620 --> 01:10:20.760 in the Greek? It is to be completely submerged and immersed. So here Jesus is saying go and 01:10:21.200 --> 01:10:27.180 baptize them in the name of the Father. In other words, immerse them and submerge them in who God 01:10:27.180 --> 01:10:34.960 the Father is. Bring him back up, immerge him in and submerge them into who Jesus is. Bring 01:10:34.960 --> 01:10:38.360 him back up and then do it with the Holy Spirit as well. You're saying, do you want us to 01:10:38.360 --> 01:10:41.720 baptize people three times? Maybe sometimes. If you're a really big sinner, we'll keep you 01:10:41.720 --> 01:10:47.140 under there a little longer. I haven't had anybody drown yet when water baptism. 01:10:49.320 --> 01:10:54.320 So Jesus gives the command. He says go and baptize them in the name of the Father, 01:10:54.780 --> 01:10:59.140 the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Give them the revelation and the understanding. 01:10:59.560 --> 01:11:05.000 Immerse them into the things of me so that they can be my disciple. And they would 01:11:05.000 --> 01:11:08.360 replicate that. And they would replicate that. That's what a forerunner does. 01:11:09.140 --> 01:11:14.080 Remember, a forerunner goes before, scouts the land, prepares the way of the Lord, 01:11:14.140 --> 01:11:18.980 then he comes back and he grabs people with him. So in the most practical way, 01:11:19.340 --> 01:11:24.900 what we're wanting to establish in this house is we're wanting people to rise up, 01:11:25.300 --> 01:11:30.260 take people under them, and begin to actually help the body of Christ mature. 01:11:32.040 --> 01:11:35.980 That's what we're after. Friends, if there's one thing, and I've shared this with you 01:11:35.980 --> 01:11:39.460 before, if there's one thing I'm about, I'm about maturing the saints. 01:11:40.840 --> 01:11:44.740 Somebody told me this once. They said, they said, Igor, they said, you're gifted. And I said, 01:11:44.780 --> 01:11:49.100 oh, thank you. No, they said, you're gifted in making people feel uncomfortable. I said, yes, 01:11:49.760 --> 01:11:56.160 that is true. I am gifted to make people feel uncomfortable. For the sake, listen, 01:11:56.460 --> 01:12:04.560 for the sake of knowing Jesus. For the sake of knowing Christ. Paul says, I'm a fool for the 01:12:04.560 --> 01:12:12.440 gospel. I'm a fool for the gospel. Friends, so what we're trying to do in this local body, 01:12:12.580 --> 01:12:18.520 in this church, is we are desiring that God would raise up for runners and that these people would 01:12:18.520 --> 01:12:24.620 take however many people God entrusts to them. It could be one person. Praise God. It could be 01:12:24.620 --> 01:12:31.080 10 people. Praise God. We are wanting to mature as a local body in the things of God. 01:12:31.480 --> 01:12:36.900 That's what we want to do. And that's what the fivefold is given. Remember, each and every one of us, 01:12:37.000 --> 01:12:43.420 to some measure, is leading somebody. It could be your wife. It could be your kids. It could be 01:12:43.420 --> 01:12:48.800 your coworker. Each one of us are given a sphere of influence. What are we going to do with it? 01:12:49.940 --> 01:12:53.760 What are we going to do with that sphere of influence? So let's do this. It's just a 01:12:53.760 --> 01:12:59.300 little afternoon. Let's stand at our feet. I'm going to pray and then we'll dismiss you. 01:13:03.590 --> 01:13:09.910 Father, we thank you. Father, we thank you that your son Jesus, when he ascended on High Lord, 01:13:10.570 --> 01:13:19.750 he gave gifts to all men. He gave gifts to all men, God, for the sake of edifying your body, 01:13:19.830 --> 01:13:26.570 for the sake of readying your body, your church. Father, I'm asking you that you would help 01:13:26.570 --> 01:13:32.870 us. Help us in the realms of where we are still immature. Help us in the realms, God, 01:13:32.870 --> 01:13:40.850 where we still need to grow in things. I'm asking you, Lord, that by your spirit you would speak to us 01:13:40.850 --> 01:13:46.390 and even send people around us that would have the ability to just pour into us, that would take 01:13:46.390 --> 01:13:53.190 us under their wings and to pour into us that we, God, as a church, as a body would come to the 01:13:53.190 --> 01:13:59.850 perfect man, that we would come to the fullness, that we would come to the fullness of Christ. 01:14:01.810 --> 01:14:07.250 Father, I bless each and every individual here. We thank you for this time. We thank you for your word. 01:14:08.110 --> 01:14:14.050 We thank you, Holy Spirit. We love you and we bless you. In Jesus' name, amen.