SPEAKER_02: Hello, Professor Timothy here, First Baptist Church of El Daredo, Europe, joined us today in a series called A Good Soldier of Christ Jesus, which is a study in 2 Timothy chapter 2.
SPEAKER_02: Throughout this series, we're going to learn a lot about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus who makes disciples of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And so we're going to run this race as we walk through 2 Timothy 2.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm so thankful that you've chosen to join us today, and I hope you are encouraged by God's word.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Open with me to the book of Revelation, chapter 2.
SPEAKER_02: Today we'll be in Revelation 2, verses 1 through 7.
SPEAKER_02: Revelation 2, 1 through 7.
SPEAKER_02: I'll read those for us now.
SPEAKER_02: Revelation 2, 1 through 7.
SPEAKER_02: To the angel of the church in Ephesus, write, The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
SPEAKER_02: I know your works, your toil, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.
SPEAKER_02: I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.
SPEAKER_02: But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
SPEAKER_02: Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first.
SPEAKER_02: If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.
SPEAKER_02: Yet this you have, you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
SPEAKER_02: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
SPEAKER_02: To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God.
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_02: Lord Jesus, thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_02: Would you teach us in these moments what it means to live a life of devotion to you, to work and to serve and to believe, and do all of that out of a devotion for you, because of our love for you.
SPEAKER_02: Teach us now, speak now by your spirit, we ask in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: This morning I really want us to see one thing out of this passage, and it's simply this it's only when worship precedes our works that our works become worshipful.
SPEAKER_02: So it's only when worship precedes our works that our works become worshipful.
SPEAKER_02: That's really where we're going throughout the entirety of this morning, and that's what we need to learn from the church at Ephesus.
SPEAKER_02: And we saw last week in chapter one, as we saw the introduction to Revelation, that John is exiled on the island of Patmos.
SPEAKER_02: The Holy Spirit is giving him this vision.
SPEAKER_02: Quite literally, Christ is giving him the words to say, and Christ has written really these letters to these seven prominent churches.
SPEAKER_02: And we're gonna see what exists in these letters, but we saw a lot last week.
SPEAKER_02: We saw the fact that this book of Revelation is a book that is meant to be studied and learned and understood, and by the way, a book that's supposed to be read to provide encouragement for Christians.
SPEAKER_02: And so now what we see is that these letters begin to the churches, and the first church on the route is the church at Ephesus.
SPEAKER_02: And it begins again in verse 1 by saying this to the angel of the church in Ephesus right.
SPEAKER_02: Now that's kind of strange language to our ears, to the angel at the church of Ephesus.
SPEAKER_02: Really, uh, two things might be happening.
SPEAKER_02: One, that's just a general statement, meaning the church at Ephesus, of figurative language, the angel of the church at Ephesus, just to the general church at Ephesus.
SPEAKER_02: It could be that John has in mind that each of these seven churches has somewhat of a guardian angel.
SPEAKER_02: Uh there was one person who mentioned that it could be, a commentator mentioned that that that could be to the pastor.
SPEAKER_02: The angel is the pastor at the church at Ephesus.
SPEAKER_02: I do wonder if that's not just a pastor saying that that thinks a little highly of themselves.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
SPEAKER_02: But what I think is just referring to the angel of the church at Ephesus, just to the general church that exists there.
SPEAKER_02: And so, what is he writing?
SPEAKER_02: Well, first, before even that, let's talk about Ephesus itself, which was a very dark place.
SPEAKER_02: It's a very large place, a town of about 250,000.
SPEAKER_02: I guess I shouldn't call it a town, a great city of 250,000.
SPEAKER_02: It was a place that was a harbor city, really, for all the Mediterranean, flowed towards Ephesus when coming towards Asia Minor.
SPEAKER_02: It's a city that there were four major highways that converged at Ephesus.
SPEAKER_02: Again, a large city that was devoted to two types of worship.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, number one was the worship to the gods or goddesses.
SPEAKER_02: They had one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, which was this great temple, great in size, great temple to Artemis, this goddess.
SPEAKER_02: They would worship this goddess.
SPEAKER_02: Not only that, but uh they worshiped the governing authorities.
SPEAKER_02: They worshiped the emperor.
SPEAKER_02: When our presidents leave office a little while down the road, they get a presidential library.
SPEAKER_02: Just last month, former President Obama opened up a library, his presidential library in Chicago.
SPEAKER_02: We know here in the state of Arkansas, we have a presidential library for Clinton in Little Rock.
SPEAKER_02: That's a very neat thing that we have.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine with me, though, if you lived in a society, and I'm thankful we don't, that instead of opening libraries after they leave office, that they opened temples where you would go and worship these individuals.
SPEAKER_02: Quite literally, that's what happens if you live in Ephesus, if you live in the Roman Empire.
SPEAKER_02: Their statement of the day was this: that Caesar is Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Caesar is Lord, and they treated the governing authorities as if they truly are uh deities.
SPEAKER_02: They are lords.
SPEAKER_02: And so, in one society, you have the worship of all these foreign gods and goddesses, you have the worship of uh mere mortals who were treated as deities, and in the middle of all of this, you have this little group of Christians.
SPEAKER_02: Throughout the city of Ephesus, in these little house churches, they were meeting, and they were something, saying something entirely different than Caesar is Lord.
SPEAKER_02: They were this group that had the audacity to believe something different, that Jesus is Lord.
SPEAKER_02: And here is this little group of believers, this church that probably started in around A.D.
SPEAKER_02: 52 when Priscilla and Aquila come to Ephesus.
SPEAKER_02: Paul comes a little bit later and spends two years in Ephesus.
SPEAKER_02: They had Timothy, we read 2 Timothy over the summer, that that has been a leader in the church.
SPEAKER_02: So they've had unbelievable leadership, but they're in a very dark culture.
SPEAKER_02: And so to the angel of the church in Ephesus, right, the words of him, verse one, who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
SPEAKER_02: This is referring to Jesus Christ, the authoritative one who uh walks among the churches, these seven churches.
SPEAKER_02: And then he says this, verse two, and look with me now.
SPEAKER_02: I know your works.
SPEAKER_02: To the church at Ephesus, I know your works, your toil, your patient endurance.
SPEAKER_02: What is he saying here?
SPEAKER_02: This is an unbelievable compliment, an unbelievable commendation to this church.
SPEAKER_02: And just to let you know how this letter goes, I'm convinced that uh Jesus was the uh uh original uh champion of HR.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, he handles this so well in HR terms, the what it what we might call the compliment sandwich, that he brings, he brings in the church and says unbelievable things about them, and then he drops an absolute atomic bomb on the desk.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the problem.
SPEAKER_02: And then even in verse 6, he's gonna compliment them one more time before they walk out the door.
SPEAKER_02: But we begin with the compliments.
SPEAKER_02: I I know your works, I know what you're doing, I know what what the things that you do as a church, and and by the way, uh they're very impressive.
SPEAKER_02: I know that he might say this, that in a dark society that that gives its livelihood to the worship of anything other than Jesus, you are uh standing firm and you are doing great works of ministry, even in a very dark place.
SPEAKER_02: I know your works, and then that word your toil.
SPEAKER_02: There's something about that word toil that's even deeper than just works.
SPEAKER_02: There is kind of sweat behind that word.
SPEAKER_02: Uh that that is that is hard labor.
SPEAKER_02: I I know you're working hard for the sake of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: I know you're enduring patiently.
SPEAKER_02: So uh they've got the right practice, they've got the works, and not only that, verse two continues, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not.
SPEAKER_02: You found them to be false.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 3 I know you're enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.
SPEAKER_02: So not only do they have right works, I would argue they have right beliefs.
SPEAKER_02: How do I know this?
SPEAKER_02: Well, this is a church, as we just see in verse 2, that when false teachers seek to come and infiltrate uh the ranks of their church, they will cast the false teaching out.
SPEAKER_02: They will cast the false teacher out.
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, how how does a church know when false teaching exists?
SPEAKER_02: How does a church know when a false teacher is among them?
SPEAKER_02: They know because they know the truth.
SPEAKER_02: They're able to spot the counterfeit because they know the truth so well.
SPEAKER_02: So think about this church.
SPEAKER_02: They have the right practice.
SPEAKER_02: I know your works, they have the right beliefs.
SPEAKER_02: You know when false teaching is among you, and you're able to call it what it is and cast it out.
SPEAKER_02: If you want another example, look down with me at verse 6.
SPEAKER_02: The compliment on the back end.
SPEAKER_02: Yet this you have, you hate the words of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
SPEAKER_02: The Nicolaitans is a group, and to be honest, we don't fully know who they were and what they are about, but the general understanding is that they were a group of self-proclaimed believers, but they love to use their, again, self-proclaimed belief in Christ as a license to live however they want.
SPEAKER_02: They loved this idea.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, because I proclaim to know Christ, I am free to live how I want.
SPEAKER_02: And they engaged in all types of sin, and they did it under the banner of saying, you know, I know Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Again, they were living out a false gospel, a false reality of the Christian life.
SPEAKER_02: But Jesus commends this church that even the false teachers, the Nicolaitans, you put to the side, you cast out of the church.
SPEAKER_02: Again, I just want to say this again.
SPEAKER_02: They had right action, they had right belief.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 4.
SPEAKER_02: But I have this against you.
SPEAKER_02: First of all, how how could Jesus have anything against a church like that?
SPEAKER_02: The works are there, the knowledge is there.
SPEAKER_02: Quite honestly, if any of us moved to a new town and saw a church that acted and worked and existed, that sounded like this church, we would go to that church.
SPEAKER_02: What in the world might Jesus have against them?
SPEAKER_02: But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
SPEAKER_02: I have this against you.
SPEAKER_02: You have abandoned your first love.
SPEAKER_02: If we really think about it this morning, we can see and come to the conclusion of the reality that the right belief and the right works are not always enough.
SPEAKER_02: And by right beliefs, I mean the the facts, you the head knowledge.
SPEAKER_02: Think about it like this.
SPEAKER_02: If if I take my marriage to Katie, think about this this for a second.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine I would argue, and I hope this is the case, that I have the right belief, the right knowledge, that I know about marriage.
SPEAKER_02: I believe marriage is designed in uh the early chapters of Genesis.
SPEAKER_02: Designed, ordained by God, instituted by God, that exists between a man and a woman, and is this uh uh a picture, not the only picture, but a picture of the gospel, and I believe God designed it.
SPEAKER_02: Not only that, I know the facts about my own marriage.
SPEAKER_02: I know the facts that we were married on uh August the 1st of 2014.
SPEAKER_02: I shouldn't have said uh right before that.
SPEAKER_02: August the 1st, 2014, in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
SPEAKER_02: These are the facts, and I know the facts.
SPEAKER_02: Not only that, and I don't want to speak too highly of myself, but I would argue there are works present.
SPEAKER_02: Again, I just said August 1st, just a couple weeks ago.
SPEAKER_02: I took Katie to dinner on her anniversary.
SPEAKER_02: I got her a nice anniversary gift a few weeks ago when we got home from vacation.
SPEAKER_02: I took her car over to the car wash, I got the out wash, I vacuumed the inside on you know, on big days, important days.
SPEAKER_02: I love to have flowers delivered.
SPEAKER_02: Like the works, I would argue, uh most of the time are there.
SPEAKER_02: But I think we all know something that those facts and those works, if that's all there is, it's not quite enough.
SPEAKER_02: Because imagine with me, and God forbid this would be the case, but imagine with me.
SPEAKER_02: If Katie said, you know, Taylor, um our anniversary dinner, that the the food sure tasted good, but my goodness, I'd love a conversation with you.
SPEAKER_02: The the car sure is clean, the flowers sure smelled nice, but I I I I I just want connection with you.
SPEAKER_02: When was the last time we talked about something deep, something heavy?
SPEAKER_02: Like God forbid that would be the case, but you and I both know, and it doesn't have to be in a marriage relationship, any relationship, just the facts about the situation and the works are not enough.
SPEAKER_02: Is there an underlying devotion behind all of this?
SPEAKER_02: And here is my fear.
SPEAKER_02: And I know that it can be true because it's the case in Ephesus.
SPEAKER_02: My fear is that it is possible for First Baptist Church of El Dorado as a community, but also us as individual uh Christians, that we can know the facts, and I hope you do, that we can do great works, and by the way, I know you do, and I know this church does, but but it can be done outside of the underlying motivation of I just love Jesus, of absolute devotion to Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And really, we see this idea all over Scripture.
SPEAKER_02: If you have time later today, go to Jeremiah chapter 2 as the prophet speaks.
SPEAKER_02: And he even brings this up.
SPEAKER_02: I won't go there, but I'll paraphrase.
SPEAKER_02: Basically, the Lord looks at the people of God and says, Do you remember the old days?
SPEAKER_02: Do you remember when you were excited about a relationship with me when I brought you out of Egypt and you loved me so deeply?
SPEAKER_02: And then he says this, drops this bomb.
SPEAKER_02: What did I do to your fathers that that now you don't love me in that way?
SPEAKER_02: How is it that it's now become uh this relationship that's just based on you going through the motions?
SPEAKER_02: Sure, I'll go to the temple, I'll give my sacrifice, that's what I'm supposed to do.
SPEAKER_02: What happened to the devotion behind it?
SPEAKER_02: Think about uh Luke chapter 10, when Jesus goes to the house of Mary and Martha.
SPEAKER_02: There's a perfect example that Jesus gives us from Scripture of the beauty of when devotion is behind our love for Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Because what does Martha do?
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is coming over, and all Martha can think to do is getting the house prepared, getting the food prepared, everything's swept, everything's in its perfect place, and she starts to get angry at her sister Mary.
SPEAKER_02: Because all Mary's doing is just what?
SPEAKER_02: Sitting at the feet of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: You should be helping me work.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus tells Martha, actually, Mary has done the better thing.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, there's a time for works, but first, there's a time for devotion.
SPEAKER_02: Think about 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 1 through 3.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe 1 Corinthians 13, the love passage, you'll often hear it at weddings, and that's a good time for it, but it's really about uh love in the Christian life in general.
SPEAKER_02: And what does Paul say here?
SPEAKER_02: If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I'm a noisy gong or a clanging symbol.
SPEAKER_02: If I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but I don't have love, I'm nothing.
SPEAKER_02: If I give away all I have and deliver up my body to be burned, but I don't have love, I gain nothing.
SPEAKER_02: What does Paul want us to see?
SPEAKER_02: That right belief, as in the right facts, the head knowledge, and the right works are not enough in and of themselves.
SPEAKER_02: I I hope they're there.
SPEAKER_02: I pray they're there for all of us.
SPEAKER_02: But if there's not love behind it, if if the love for Jesus and the love for others is not the motivation behind it, we we've completely missed the mark.
SPEAKER_02: Look with me now at verse five.
SPEAKER_02: Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen.
SPEAKER_02: Repent and do the works that you did at first.
SPEAKER_02: If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.
SPEAKER_02: These are difficult words, but look with me, verse five again.
SPEAKER_02: I see three things.
SPEAKER_02: Remember, repent, and return.
SPEAKER_02: Number one, remember.
SPEAKER_02: So maybe this morning, if you find yourself in a place where you're going through the motions, it feels like.
SPEAKER_02: Where maybe your spiritual life doesn't have the vibrancy that it used to.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, you say, I remember those times in life.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, when I was young, when I first came to know the Lord, and everything was fresh and new.
SPEAKER_02: I remember being a student in high school, and oh, those worshipful uh nights at the summer camp or or or this event or reality check, and and and you look, and maybe in your own life you you say it just doesn't feel as vibrant as it as it did.
SPEAKER_02: The devotion, uh have I lost my first love.
SPEAKER_02: Well, first remember.
SPEAKER_02: Remember in your own life, think back to this.
SPEAKER_02: Think back to when you came to know the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: That moment, that time, that season in your life when you realized I'm a sinner and I need a savior, and then you realize there's a savior that died for me.
SPEAKER_02: The joy of that.
SPEAKER_02: I don't have to live lost in my sin, but but I can know, but I can know that there is a Father in heaven who loves me deeply, loves me enough to die for me, to rise from the grave.
SPEAKER_02: Remember where it started.
SPEAKER_02: Remember your first love and the one who loved you even before you could love him back, who died for you even while you were yet a sinner.
SPEAKER_02: Remember from where you have fallen.
SPEAKER_02: And next is this repent.
SPEAKER_02: If if John here, really Jesus here through John, is telling us to repent, that means that us forgetting our first love is actually a moral issue, a sin issue.
SPEAKER_02: That God, I've made this a thing about going through the motions.
SPEAKER_02: I've made this about just showing up and looking the part.
SPEAKER_02: Well, repentance means if I'm going that way in sin, I'm now gonna walk away and go that way in obedience.
SPEAKER_02: Repent of just going through the motions, and then he says this remember, repent and return.
SPEAKER_02: Remember, repent, return.
SPEAKER_02: I I want to say something to make a point this morning, and and I I mean nothing to put myself on any platform because I don't need to be on any platform, but I've been so blessed in my life, and I'm so thankful.
SPEAKER_02: I I look with such gratitude to the Lord that I've been able to uh have some some great theological education and some incredible.
SPEAKER_02: Leaders that are so much higher and in greater authority than I'll ever be willing to pour into me.
SPEAKER_02: And I think about being a student at the Pruitt School of Christian Studies at Washita, and the Pruits, members of this church for many years, and some of my favorite stories I ever hear about members of this church have the name Pruitt attached to it.
SPEAKER_02: But unbelievable people.
SPEAKER_02: And I was able to learn and grow there.
SPEAKER_02: And then I went to seminary, and y'all, this is unbelievable.
SPEAKER_02: You graduate from seminary and they give you a piece of paper and it says, master of divinity.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: The audacity of that phrase.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, truly the audacity of that.
SPEAKER_02: That somehow in 2016 I was able to master divinity.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, come on.
SPEAKER_02: And I've even gotten to do a little bit more work, and it's just, it's humbling to think about the fact that I that that the Lord has blessed me with opportunities.
SPEAKER_02: And again, I want to prove to y'all that I'm not just saying this to think highly of myself, because I promise I'm not.
SPEAKER_02: And here's the proof.
SPEAKER_02: Because there might be a temptation among you or among me or anybody that studies the Word of God or anybody that goes to any Bible study or any class or even gets any degree, there might be a temptation to think, okay, at each level, with each Bible study, I'm now going to move on to the deeper and the more important and the more critical, deeper theological items.
SPEAKER_02: You might even say that at each, you know, with each degree, there's a, hey, you're going to deeper places.
SPEAKER_02: Let me tell you, the deepest theological thing I have ever done, I have ever experienced, the deepest and most critical moment of theology I have ever engaged in did not happen in a college classroom or seminary classroom or any classroom like that.
SPEAKER_02: The deepest theological thing I have ever been a part of happened in a first grade Sunday school classroom when a sweet teacher was just telling me about Jesus, and for the first time in my life, I just said that I am a sinner and I need a savior.
SPEAKER_02: That's it.
SPEAKER_02: At six years old, I I reached the mountaintop, and I won't go deeper than that.
SPEAKER_02: I'll learn more.
SPEAKER_02: I'll learn different things along the way, Lord willing.
SPEAKER_02: But but I won't do anything more important than that, deeper than that.
SPEAKER_02: And this is the importance for all of us to know and to understand that when you think about your first love, where you started, the fact that you have a savior in heaven that loved you so much, loved you right there in your peace so much, that he would die for you and rise from the grave for you and wants a continual relationship with you, that's as good as it gets.
SPEAKER_02: That's as uh unbelievable as it gets.
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, when you realize that that's the kind of devotion that Christ Jesus has for you, the love he has for you, then when we remember those things, we repent, we return to that reality, then we realize that that reality motivates everything else about our lives.
SPEAKER_02: Do you love Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: That seems like a silly question.
SPEAKER_02: Uh I would hope you do.
SPEAKER_02: I would hope you would say yes to that.
SPEAKER_02: But do you love him?
SPEAKER_02: Notice I didn't say do you do things for him?
SPEAKER_02: Do you know about him, but but do you love him?
SPEAKER_02: Uh many years ago, now it's you know 25 or so uh years ago, worship leader uh uh Matt Redman uh wrote a song called The Heart of Worship.
SPEAKER_02: And uh the heart of worship, you may remember it from way back when, when the music fades, all stripped away.
SPEAKER_02: I simply come, I'm coming back to the heart of worship.
SPEAKER_02: Fascinating story behind that song.
SPEAKER_02: It was at the really at the very beginning of uh the kind of contemporary worship trend, at the very beginning of it.
SPEAKER_02: And uh at the beginning of that, you know, sound systems were getting bigger and were getting louder, and you know, uh we uh we'd hang up lights in the building that would turn this color and that color, and uh some churches that were way out there might even pump a little fog in the room before, you know, the the Holy Spirit fog coming in the room.
SPEAKER_02: And and uh at the beginning of this, uh the the whole contemporary worship trend, and and they wrote this song simply because of this.
SPEAKER_02: The pastor at Matt Redmond's church saw what was going on and just wanted to make sure that his church understood that behind anything else must be a devotion to Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And so what he did for us period of time was take the sound system away.
SPEAKER_02: The pastor did this, take the sound system away, the lights away, even I think the majority of the musicians away, and and it was mostly just their voices, and and they worshiped that way for a period of time.
SPEAKER_02: And Matt Redmond talks about this and says it was very awkward for me because I was, you know, the worship leader of the church, and basically, even my job was basically taken away because uh they they they did it without me.
SPEAKER_02: They just used their voices.
SPEAKER_02: But what Matt Redman talks about was that was such a sweet time for their church because they really had to make a decision.
SPEAKER_02: Are we here just for, you know, some cool experience on a Sunday morning, or are we here because we love Jesus deeply and we want to worship?
SPEAKER_02: And out of that, this song was written that I'm coming back to the heart of worship where it's all about you.
SPEAKER_02: What is the importance of this kind of devotion?
SPEAKER_02: Look at the end of verse 5.
SPEAKER_02: These are harsh words, but if not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.
SPEAKER_02: If not, I will come and remove the lampstand unless you repent.
SPEAKER_02: What does this mean?
SPEAKER_02: Really, removing the lampstand just really means just removing your influence.
SPEAKER_02: And I don't mean influence just in a look at us type way, aren't we impressive way.
SPEAKER_02: I mean influence for the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: I'll remove your ability to be a city on a hill for a lost world to look to.
SPEAKER_02: And I just want to tell us something this morning, and and the the harsh words uh just because we've received harsh words uh from the Lord, and and we need these words, and I'll insert our name simply because this is where we are this morning, but any church can say this.
SPEAKER_02: Here is the truth of the matter, and and you know this.
SPEAKER_02: Uh uh God does not need First Baptist Church of El Doredo.
SPEAKER_02: That's the end of the sentence right there.
SPEAKER_02: God does not need First Baptist Church of El Doredo.
SPEAKER_02: God's mission will continue if this afternoon we close our doors forever.
SPEAKER_02: God's kingdom will expand, and his kingdom will come if First Baptist Church is not a part of it.
SPEAKER_02: Now, here's the exciting part, the other side of that.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what what wakes me up in the morning.
SPEAKER_02: God delights to use First Baptist Church of El Doredo.
SPEAKER_02: God delights for us to be a people that desire to be used by him and want to give our lives to serve him and to be a church that has devotion to him and wants to serve a lost world because we love him.
SPEAKER_02: And the same that is true of Ephesus is true for us.
SPEAKER_02: If we uh let ourselves just look inward and just become a church that just wants to go through the motions, the Lord could remove our lampstand, our influence in a broken and lost world.
SPEAKER_02: But the other side of that gets me so excited that if we want to be individual Christians and a collective church that just says this from the bottom of my heart, I just love Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: From the bottom of my heart, I know what Jesus has done for me and it's changed everything.
SPEAKER_02: From the bottom of my heart, I want to love people like Jesus first loved me.
SPEAKER_02: If we're that kind of people, there is no telling what the Lord desires to do.
SPEAKER_02: Uh I think there's something so special when uh when Christians just tap into that first love and return to that first love.
SPEAKER_02: I think there's something special when anyone uh in any walk of life just finds themselves at home with their uh first love.
SPEAKER_02: I was fascinated.
SPEAKER_02: You may have seen the story, I don't know, of just a couple weeks ago of a 73-year-old man named Lewis Cobb.
SPEAKER_02: 73-year-old man named Lewis Cobb.
SPEAKER_02: He grew up wanting to be a baseball announcer, a play-by-play announcer.
SPEAKER_02: And uh he grew up wanting that, and he didn't end up uh doing that as his full-time job.
SPEAKER_02: He he actually was a career uh substitute teacher.
SPEAKER_02: Uh and uh it's fascinating that just uh a couple of weeks ago, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Major League team, they had an auction.
SPEAKER_02: They had an auction, and one of the prizes up for bid was a chance to call one inning of uh Phillies baseball on the Phillies Radio Network.
SPEAKER_02: Like, truly, your voice for an inning is going out to the larger Philadelphia area and beyond, certainly, and you get to call an inning.
SPEAKER_02: Now, uh you and I both hear that and think, wow, that is a dangerous idea.
SPEAKER_02: Because don't you know someone with money to lose would would uh or money to spare would love to just get on the radio and have an audience of X number of thousands and thousands of people and just, you know, just shoot the breeze for a little while.
SPEAKER_02: But Lewis Cobb, this career substitute teacher, he he grew up with a passion for calling radio, the baseball on the radio, and he saw his opportunity to just tap into his first love.
SPEAKER_02: And for just a second, I just want you to hear for about a minute just what it sounds like when someone taps into his first love.
SPEAKER_02: It's the most beautiful thing.
SPEAKER_02: Can we play this video?
SPEAKER_01: We are headed to the third inning.
SPEAKER_01: Phillies on top two to one, and we're pleased to welcome uh Lewis Kalb from Medford Lakes, New Jersey.
SPEAKER_01: He is our Phillies fantastic auction winner.
SPEAKER_01: He uh outbid the competition to uh spend an inning and do some play-by-play in the booth.
SPEAKER_01: And Lewis, uh welcome.
SPEAKER_01: Glad to have you here.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Scott.
SPEAKER_00: It's a thrill to be here.
SPEAKER_00: It's a lifelong dream to be in the Phillies broadcast booth.
SPEAKER_00: So here we go.
SPEAKER_00: Painter with the first pitch to Ortez.
SPEAKER_00: It's in there for strike one call.
SPEAKER_00: Phillies with two in the bottom of the second to take the lead.
SPEAKER_00: As we start the top of the third, now Paiter delivers.
SPEAKER_00: It's bounced foul towards the Phillies dugout.
SPEAKER_00: And they count one and one.
SPEAKER_00: Phillies winning the first two games of this series.
SPEAKER_00: One more to go tomorrow night, and then a three-game set with the Blue Jays over the weekend.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, Pater delivers.
SPEAKER_00: It's a check swing, it's a call, strike three, he got him.
SPEAKER_02: How did you know the regular guy was just worried about his job in that moment?
SPEAKER_02: How in the world did we let this guy come in here and do this?
SPEAKER_02: Just a classic old school Vin Scully type voice for the that was made for this.
SPEAKER_02: And that that guy, Lewis Cobb, took every opportunity to just tap into his first love, and then for one inning in Philadelphia on one night, he let the world know that he's really good at what he does.
SPEAKER_02: And he loves to do it.
SPEAKER_02: I it was such an amazing thing to listen to, and I just loved it so much a couple weeks ago.
SPEAKER_02: And I just want to tell you, church family, what you just heard really for a baseball game, I believe that's in a sense what it sounds like when you and I just tap into our first love.
SPEAKER_02: When our works become something we do out of sheer delight for Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Let me tell you what it sounds like when people tap into their first love.
SPEAKER_02: It sounds like, it sounds like this, when someone can stand down front a week ago and just say something that formerly didn't exist and say, we're gonna feed college kids next week.
SPEAKER_02: And I kid you not, after the final amen of that service, within 30 seconds, the meal was taken care of.
SPEAKER_02: Because there's people at this church that just love Jesus and ran up to tell me, we'll do this, it's done.
SPEAKER_02: It sounds like what tapping into the first love sounds like is life group leaders all over this campus that get here early, that study the week leading up to it, and just want to teach, whether they're in first grade or eighth grade or twelfth grade or or you know 150th grade, whatever it might be, they just want to love and to teach.
SPEAKER_02: It just looks like an outreach team that has uh spent the last week at the new dorm on the South Ark campus just giving out welcome bags so that our new students here in town feel like they're at home.
SPEAKER_02: There's just something beautiful that happens when a church taps into this reality.
SPEAKER_02: I believe in Jesus, I love Jesus, I want others to know about Jesus, and that's what fuels everything I do.
SPEAKER_02: May it not be said of First Baptist El Dorado, it has not been said to this point, may it not be said in the future that we have lost our first love, but would it be said of us that we are a church that embraces deeply our first love, and that it is our love for Jesus that fuels every other thing that we do?
SPEAKER_02: Would you bow your heads with me in this moment, Lord Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: What it what a privilege it is to come into this room and to worship you, to be with brothers and sisters in Christ, to be with friends.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, what a gift.
SPEAKER_02: But Lord, would this not just be a place where we go through the motions?
SPEAKER_02: Would this not be a place where uh we we just kind of uh we come because we're quote unquote supposed to?
SPEAKER_02: Would this be a place where we come to worship and adore Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: And as a church, would all that we do be done for the sake of the fact that we love Jesus deeply?
SPEAKER_02: Lord, if there's anybody here this morning that wants to join this church family, I pray that they would come.
SPEAKER_02: Would they come and join this family so they can join us in the worship of Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: If there's someone that for the first time wants to worship Jesus, for the first time wants to know that you sent your son to die for them, to forgive their sins, would they come now, be introduced to Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: If they want to talk about baptism, if they just want to pray together, whatever it may be, would they now come?
SPEAKER_02: And Lord, for all of us, we have a response to give in this moment.
SPEAKER_02: Would we respond in worship?
SPEAKER_02: Not because we're quote unquote supposed to, because we have to, because it's quote unquote what you do on a Sunday morning, no, because we have a Savior that loves us deeply and we love you deeply in return.
SPEAKER_02: Would we worship you now in Christ's name?
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Would you stand up now as we worship?
SPEAKER_02: I'll be down front for anyone that would like to respond this morning.