All In, All Flame | Pastor Rusty Nelson

You can do a lot of “right” things and still drift from the one thing Jesus wants most: love that stays alive. Pastor Rusty takes us into Revelation 2 and the message to the church of Ephesus, a community praised for hard work, endurance, and testing false teachers, yet confronted with a piercing line: they lost their first love. That tension feels uncomfortably current for anyone who has served faithfully, stayed the course, and still sensed their heart cooling off.

We follow the image of Jesus walking among the lampstands like a priest tending the fire, then trace the Old Testament pattern of consecration and anointing. Blood prepares the ear to hear, the thumb to serve, and the foot to walk straight. Oil empowers what redemption has made possible, pointing to the Holy Spirit as daily supply, not yesterday’s memory. Along the way, Pastor Rusty unpacks why Ephesus mattered, how truth and love must stay together, and why orthodoxy without intimacy turns into religion.

The takeaway is practical and personal: keep the oil flowing and keep the wicks trimmed. Fresh prayer is intimacy, not a punch clock. Trimming the wick means letting God deal with the slow char of pride, offence, bitterness, distraction, wrong motives, and spiritual fatigue so our lives give light instead of smoke. If you’re hungry to be all flame again, press play, share this with a friend, and subscribe and leave a review so more people can find it.

Transcript

Welcome And Declaration Of Faith

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Welcome to the Rock Family Sermon of the Week. For more information about our church, please visit the RockFamily. Now join us for a message from Pastor Rusty Mill.

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Say this with me. I am what his word says I am. I can do what his word says I can do. I can be what his word says I can be. So right now, I will hear his word. I'll receive his word and I'll obey his word because I love his word. Take your Bibles, turn with me to Revelation chapter 2. I'm gonna jump in on the series all flame, but I want to talk to you about the fire that was to never go out. Never to go out. God would not permit the priesthood to allow the fire to go out. If it went out, it's because they let it go. They didn't follow what He had prescribed. And I want to talk to

Grief And Gratitude For Mom

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you about that today. But right before I read this passage, I do want to say it's the first time I've gotten to preach since my mom's home going. And my dad is sitting on the front row, and uh I want to say on behalf, I I sent it out in social media, but I haven't got to tell you this personally. And on behalf of dad, my brother Greg, and his wife Laquita, and my wife Lisa, and all of our family, I I still have no words to say thank you. How you have loved on us. And um just in honor of my mother, and she was the real thing, and I just want to say thank you. Thank you for loving on us and for caring for us. Every text I still have, I've been going through texts trying to answer. I still have over 200 unanswered texts that I'm I'm I just get overwhelmed. I just look at it, you know, and I'm like, but I didn't want to do something that's just group, you know. I but thank you. Thank you so very much, and the hundreds and the thousands of texts we've received, and I just wanted to tell you thank you. Revelation chapter 2, beginning with verse 1. I'm gonna read seven verses. And to the angel of the church of Ephesus, write the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know who you are, that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you. You've abandoned the love you had at first. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the works that you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have, you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. And I ask you right now that you would allow my tongue to be the pen of a writer. That somehow I could write your heart, not only to your amazing people sitting in this room, but those that are watching online, those that will watch it later. Speak to our hearts, I pray, to be all flame for your name. In Jesus' name. And everyone said, Amen. I was wondering why everything was blurry, and I left my glasses. I think. Yeah, I think I did. I don't know which one's my wife going right now. No, that's thank you. Thank you, brother. I just everything that's that's kind of creepy right there. That's just I was wondering why you your faces were just blurry, you know. Just you're you're dim trying to figure that out. But but if I I'll but I'll get my glasses and I'll be able to

Jesus Walks Among The Churches

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see my notes a little better. But I want you to go with me in this passage because this address is happening right after John the beloved has had this encounter on the Alapatmos. Tradition says he was probably boiled in oil. To where he was so marred that Nero, thank you so much. Whoa! There you are. Woo! That it turned the stomach of Nero, so he put him out on this island called Patmos, a prison island. And there he had an encounter with Jesus. He turned around to see the voice that was speaking with him, the one who is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, who holds the keys of death and hell. The one who was, who is, and is to come, the one, the one who's the all-conquering one. He turns to see the voice speaking behind him, and he saw seven golden lampstands. And one who was walking in the middle of the golden lampstands was one like the Son of Man who was clothed with his garment down to his feet. His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow, his feet looked like they were on fire in a furnace. His eyes were like his eyes. His eyes. But out of his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword. And he said, When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He was so holy and I was so other. He was so righteous, and I realized I'm nothing without him. I cannot be anything. Here is this man who is who is willing to suffer martyrdom for his sake, and yet he's not the Jesus that walked with him on the Sea of Galilee. No, this is the King of glory. This is God eternal. This is the one who was, who is, who is to come. And John said, when I saw him, I just I couldn't stand anymore. Because he's who I live for, he's who it's all about. It is God eternal, it is the one who sits on the throne, it is unto the Lamb. It is the one who deserves blessing and glory and honor and power and dominion and surrender, everything about my life. He is worthy. It's all for him. It's all for him. It's in that place that he sees him walking in the midst of the lampstands. Why is that important? Because they're representing the seven churches. It's representing God Himself, Jesus in glory, is walking, looking, judging, loving, caring. He is the high priest. He is fulfilling the priestly duty because it was God who gave the priestly duty. In Numbers, in Exodus, where he's establishing the priesthood. But he's not just establishing someone to minister before him, he is establishing a structure of relationship. One that in the old covenant no one could come. Only one priest once a year, Yom Kippur, go behind the holy of holy veil into the Holy of Holies. But here is now Jesus is walking. He's not behind a veil. No, the veil was torn from top to bottom. Now he's walking right in the middle of all of us. He's coming as the priest, but yet he's established a priesthood. Do you not know you're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people? You are a priest as much as I am a priest. I only'm a part of a gifting that was never to be lords over people. We were to be the servants of all apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists. We were to be people who help equip the saints for ministry that will work. And if there's ever a day in America we need some real ministry that works, it's today. Because everything we're trying to do in ourselves, the world is laughing at who we think we are, and we've not seen through his eyes who we really are. Now please hear me today. I'll have you out of here by three o'clock because I have a plane to catch, and I've got to have time to get over and get there. Because you made it in the rain. I thought, why not enjoy ourselves? If Pastor Scott can do it, I can do it. But we are priests. Do you know that in Leviticus, when the priesthood was being established, see, God is always about redemption and he's also about anointing. Now please hear me. This isn't for someone sitting next to you. This is actually, I'm preaching to a mirror today. Because when I began to dig into this two weeks ago, when I sat on the front row and Pastor Scott began this series, and he preached one of the most incredible sermons on Pentecost, I think I've ever heard. It was powerful. It was not calling you into just an experience or a moment of Pentecost, it was calling you into a lifestyle of Pentecost. And I believe in encounters, I believe in experience, but my friend, when your experience is not labeled and it is not founded on the word, something has gotten out of balance and God wants to set things in order because I believe the next great move of God that is coming around the world is going to be word and it's going to be spirit. Are you hearing me? But I was sitting there while he was just preaching that message, and I got a little distracted because he said one thing that my mind just and I started, I was taking notes with him and I was getting notes for myself. Because I was I started thinking, he said, you gotta you gotta trim the wick, the wick. You gotta keep the oil. And it took me back to Leviticus, and I realized, wait a minute, where's all this going? Because God established a priesthood and it was a redemptive work first, and he said, Because one of the first lights that was to never go out, it was the light and the fire on the altar.

The Fire That Must Not Go Out

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That fire was never to go out because it was all symbolic of the one who was coming, but it stood for redemption, and redemption always requires sacrifice, which always requires blood. Without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness of sin. And then there is an anointing. He anoints us for service. So you look in Leviticus, and there is first of all the redemptive role. He said, Moses, I want you to take and take an animal, slay the animal, and I want you to take the blood of that animal and put it. We're preparing priesthood. So I want you to put it on the right earlobe, I want you to put it on their right thumb, and I want you to put it on their right big toe. Why? Because I am raising up a people who will be, I'm gonna redeem their ability to hear. I'm gonna consecrate their ear to be able to hear the voice of God. That you'll be able to say, speak, Lord, because your servant is hearing. I'm listening. Put it on the right thumb, which is consecrated for service. It is the work of the ministry. Everything the priest puts his hands to do belongs to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all as unto the Lord. Why? Because it all belongs to him. If we take ownership, we will forget what stewardship looks like. And put it on his big toe. Consecrated, walk for direction. Where the priest goes, how he lives to be holy before the Lord. You see, the blood prepares us. But then they would be anointed with oil. Then he wanted them anointed for service. He wanted his presence to come upon them. So not only were they anointed with a blood of redemption, as it were, for them to hear clearly, to be able to know what to let go of and know what to hold on to. How many know that's what your thumb does? It'll give you the strength to hold on, grip down, or let go. And the big toe is your balance. It helps you in your walk to walk straight, to not look to the left nor to the right. Listen, we're talking about a little hear me. How do I be all flame? How do I keep a flame that is to never go out? Because God gives the fire. My responsibility is to maintain the fire. He said that sounds like a works base. No, it has nothing to do with works. For by grace are we saved through faith. It's not of works, lest any man should boast. You were not saved by work, but let me tell you something. Anyone that ever that never told you you were not saved to work, to have responsibility is trying to sell you something. Or trying to get their latest gimmick to make their name or their brand. But the blood is what prepares us. May I have some tissue, please? The blood prepares us. The oil is what empowers us. And it is the ministry that flows both consecration, hear me, and anointing. It goes together. Thank you. Will you marry me? Under the old covenant, are y'all getting anything out of this? Come on, just stay with me. We're going somewhere. I'm only on page one. Father. Under the old covenant is the designated priesthood. It's their responsibility to tend the flame. Under the new covenant, we are priesthood. God gives the fire. He gives the light. But we steward it. He's writing to this church called Ephesus.

Ephesus Revival And Love Gone Cold

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Now listen, we we're all a part of a church. If you looked at this, we're part of the church. If you call this home, we're part of the church. Really? Of Huntsville. Ephesus wasn't it's just singular church building. It was actually God's kingdom is a little bigger than the rock. Is that not right, Pastor? God's kingdom is a little bigger than what we try to say. Well, I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos, I'm of Cephas, I follow this guy's podcast, I got this guy's podcast, I'm gonna do what they say, and I just want to look at people and go, shut up, would you? Stop. Stop. Well, I like how, well, sure, we all have different personalities. We have people who we kind of relate to. But my friend, when it comes to the kingdom of God, it is the church of Huntsville he would have written to. Whether we have listened or not, but we are all a part of the church. We are an organism, we're alive, we're living stones put together that God is building a house to dwell in. We're these tabernacles, we're these temples, we're these nails, we are the holy of holies of God, and we become the temple working as a tabernacle together. So he's writing to Ephesus. What about Ephesus? Here's the first church. Jesus is walking as a priest, he's walking in the midst, and the first church he addresses is Ephesus. It's the third largest city that we know is known in the world at that day. It was the New York City of the day. It was a primary seaport, it was a major economic center. It was famous for immorality and idol worship. Specifically, the temple of Diana was there. Which there was an entire prop-up system that made the idols of Diana that went around the world. Silversmiths profited by manufacturing all of these idols. But what happened in Acts chapter 19, they had a revival. Paul shows up at this place, at this city, and revival takes place. And it was real. People burned all their magic books and all their occult artifacts. They brought every Harry Potter thing. All right, here we go. The value of what was burned, just shh, the value of what was burned, everything, anything, listen, I'm I'm not here to get into your library. What I am here to get into your heart is this that the moment he takes lordship of your life is the moment everything you put your hands to, everything you put your eyes to, everything you walk in front of and walk behind. Everything is his. It belongs to him. It is to be related to him. It is about following him. The value of what was burned were 50,000 silver coins. That would have been equivalent to over $5 million today. Demetrius, the silversmith, he stirred up the whole city in Acts chapter 19. The church actually grew out of that. It is believed in church history that Ephesus grew to over 25,000 people. You're talking about growth. And it was not an attractional church. They didn't send out forms to see what kind of church you wanted to be a part of. They kind of show up, demons were cast out, people were kind of stirred up, and they just got changed. There were three great men who invested in this place. Paul was the one who planted it. Timothy, his young son in the faith, was assigned as the pastor of Ephesus. So here he is pastoring Ephesus, and it's where John the Beloved would end his days. He would pour out, he died at age 90, approximately, and he would die at Ephesus. We know more about Ephesus than any other New Testament church. In Acts 18 and 19, this revival, it is the letter of Ephesians that is one of the most encouraging yet mysterious letters in all of the Bible. And Paul wrote it to the church at Ephesus. In 1st and 2 Timothy, here is this young pastor. He's trying to teach him how to pastor. He said, Let no one despise your youth. He's trying to say, son, you got altars here. You got people are gonna do these things to you. What are leaders? What are elders? What are deacons? All of the church is being defined, and young Timothy is in Ephesus, pastoring this massive revival, and Paul is trying to encourage him in 1st and 2 Timothy. 1st, 2nd, and 3 John. John is bringing an alignment. Everything about John, you will always find. Most Bible teachers believe that 1, 2nd, and 3 John was written to the churches of the region of Ephesus. It's where John spent his latter years. When you compare these letters to the message Jesus is giving the church at Ephesus, you can see how John's letters were both a warning and a corrective that the church did not fully take to heart. What was John's message? You know what the main message? 1, 2nd, 3rd John? If you want to know the love of God, go read the Gospel of John. No one wrote about the love of God like John. And 1, 2nd, and 3 John, you're going to find these topics, these phrases. Beloved, let us love one another. You're going to hear him say in 1 John 4, 8, he who does not love does not know God because God is love. He's going to say, whoever loves God must also love his brother. He mentions love over and over and over again. And tradition says that in his old age, if you came up on John and he said a few words to you, he would start weeping. And you know what he would say? He would say, Little children, love one another. Little children, love one another. Little children, love one another. He said it all throughout Ephesus. Little children love one another. Love is from God. Love is not just what he does, it's who he is. He that says his love was poured out in our heart by his spirit. Love one another. Love God, hate sin, love one another. It's when you really start to win. Well, that was poetry. The Ephesian believers were fighting. But what you'll find is doctrinally in 1, 2nd, and 3 John, it's all about having sound doctrine, fighting false teaching, which is necessary. Welcome to the internet. Everybody's fighting false teachers and false teaching. Most of the time it's false to them. And sometimes, you know, you're going, I believe in standing up against false teachers and false teaching. But hear me. John's message was essentially this: right doctrine without love is incomplete. You cannot claim to know God while hating your brother. Love is evidence that you have passed from death unto life, he said. So truth and love have to walk together. You can be right and be wrong all at the same time. You can be right about what you say, but wrong in how you say it, in the attitude and arrogance for which you gave it. See, the Ephesian church eventually excelled in guarding truth, but seems to have struggled maintaining the warmth of love. I'm going somewhere, please, hold on. So here's John's letters. Love one another, walk in truth, welcome one another, avoid pride, stay close to God. In Revelation 2, Jesus says, you have truth, you test false teachers, you persevere, but you left your first love. See, it's almost as if Jesus is saying to them, you listen to John's warnings about false doctrine, but you failed to listen to his repeated call to love. See, no church other than the Ephesians had any greater teaching. Yet Jesus' concern was not their theology, it was their affection. I'm talking all flame here. Just hold on. It wasn't just have good theology or doctrine. It's where are your affections settled in? See, orthodoxy, everybody wants orthodoxy. Listen, I came up liturgical. I I came up with the apostles' creed, with the creeds and the responsive readings. I thank God. I listen, I grew up as a candle boy. I lit the candles, man. Had a long red dress.

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My dad. The Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord is in his holy temple.

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I I I love those readings. I haven't I I will go back, but I remember one day and I had a white shawl that spread over my red dress. And that one Sunday we had four candles to light. That was big for you know about a nine, eight-year-old. And so I got up, my my partner in crime, whoever that was in lighting, that day, man. We I lit the first candle, everything was cool. The second candle I lit, the first candle caught my shawl on fire. And before I all flame, off lame. Make you bless Christ. All flame. And before, before it engulfed me, my dad jumped down and beat the fire out of me right in front of everybody. So I'm not against orthodoxy and having a foundation and knowing that we are part of something that's bigger than just the latest church that's being planted. We're about something that goes all the way back to the upper room that comes all the way into this room. But orthodoxy without intimacy becomes religion. Truth without love becomes cold. And love without truth becomes compromise. The mature church holds both truth and love together. So this message is not just to come out of the blue. No, God, this is what Jesus was telling the Ephesians. They knew what he was talking about. You say, that's a heavy message. You've done all these things. See, it was a message from him, and he said, I hold you in my right hand. He's holding the seven stars. He's holding the pastors, the angels, the stars. They were, he's speaking to the angel, and he's saying, I'm holding these churches in my hand. I'm walking with you. So he walks among them the way a high priest tended to the menorah. He was inspecting it, he was presenting it, he was watching it. He's affirming them. He's saying to them, I know your work, I know your labor, I know your perseverance, you've tested false prophets, you've exposed liars, you have not fainted, don't give in. You didn't give in, you didn't give out. You even hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans. Who in the world were the Nicolaitans? That would be a good rap song. Named after Nicholas, who was one of the seven deacons. We don't know if Nicholas turned or they just tried to use him. But what we do know, Jesus said, You hate the deeds of them, and so do I. Notice what he didn't say. You hate the Nickelodeons. Nicolaitans, the Nickelodeons. You ever have one of those days? I'm having one right now, brother. Just I'm gonna tag and let you preach. Oh Jesus. Spirit of Pastor Scott just comes all over you then. He said, he didn't say I hate the Nicolaitans. He said I hate their deeds. See, if we're not careful, we'll teach the church to hate people. Instead of what they do, we'll start despising them. And I can't hate who he loves. How can I ever win who he loves if I despise being with them? It wasn't the listen, the lost. Sinners do what they do. They sin. But when we get offended about everything, you can hate what is happening and still love who it happened through. But here's the Nicolaitans. They represented the spirit of compromise. They sought to blend Christianity with world practices. Worldly practices. They excused sin and they weakened the church's call to holiness. Jesus said, I hated that. He strongly opposed their deeds because they led people away from faithful obedience and purity. See, the Nicolaitans were also, they believed that if you said, as long as your spirit was okay, you can do anything you want to in your body. They were very immoral, sexually immoral. They justified everything that they did. And they were in the church, corrupting people in the church, and they got their eyes off of the Holy One who was speaking, who John fell at his feet like dead. And they only looked in mirrors, reflecting of what they could do or be themselves. But they were hardworking, doctrinally serious, they were morally vigilant. This is the church. Now I'm going, I'm gonna tie it in. In so many ways, the church at Ephesus was the model church. They were the ones everybody would come to their conferences to see how they're doing it. How have you become so big? How have you become so bright, yet you are so doctrinally sound? They became this model. But one thing was missing. Jesus said, I have one complaint against you. You don't love me or each other the way you did at first. In the Greek, the word your love, the first one, it actually is saying you have let it slip through your fingers. Left doesn't mean to abandon. It means to lose grip on it. Somehow you let go. It's not a dramatic rebellion. It's a gradual loosening of the grip. It's reduced to routine, to machinery. It's doing, doing. I gotta do this. We do this. This is what we do. This is what we do. The reason why and the passion for got lost. I remember the first time I fell in love with Lisa. How many remember when you you fell in love? I know the the six is it six love languages? How many love languages are there? My wife made up two more, so I think there's she's not here to address that. I think we have seven, which is complete. It's all about what can I do? How can I serve? How can I? How can I meet you in your love language? It's beautiful. But do you know there are things we can do for our mate over and over again to begin that only the routine is there and the acts of service are there, but the heart is far away. Because I hadn't done anything for her when she caught my eye. The moment she walked into the room, and I went, God, you have done good with that. It is well with my soul. It affected a passion. It was out of this passion, this love, I was watching develop and grow. It was out of that that I wanted to, I wanted to serve, I wanted to help. I picked up a vacuum. It wasn't trying to do things to get something or get things from her. But if long life together, sixty-seven years, and they both, the last words they said to each other was, I love you. There is something about passion that speaks to the heartbeat of God. Because it's the kind of love we don't stir up within ourselves, it is the kind of agape love he gives us so we can return it back. He calls them out and he says, You must love the Lord your God in essence, because it's the greatest commandment. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, strength, and soul. And that's how you can love your neighbor as yourself. If I'm not loving him, I will never know how to love them. It is by loving him that I understand the heartbeat of why he loves them. Because he loves me. And he says, the only thing I have want I've required from you is what you could not give me within yourself. So when God so loved the world, when God is love, when his love is poured out in our heart by his spirit, now it's a stewarding and a response to a fire of the love he has given us. And by him loving us, we can turn and say, Oh, I love you. Jesus said, Remember, recall what was, let your heart race again. Repent, change your mind, change your direction. Not emotion, but make a decision in this. And return, do the first works. Go back to the place of passion. If you don't repent, I will come and remove your lampstand. Your lampstand. Not mine, but yours. That what will be removed is it will not be me leaving you. But this passionless life will ultimately remove you from me. I will remove this lampstand.

Keep The Oil Flowing Daily

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There are three things can I give you very quickly? Are y'all with me? I'm almost done. The first thing I want you to see what were the three requirements of the priest? They were this. Here was the oil. It was one was the sacrifice, the altar, the fire was to never go out. But the second was the menorah was to never go out. He's walking among the menorah. He is looking, he is watching, he is caring, he is seeing. Here is the priest, and here are us. How do we be all flame? How do we keep the fire burning? The number one thing, and these are three quick things I'm going to give you because this is a requirement of us as priests. Number one is keep the oil flowing. Keep the oil flowing. That was the requirement of the priesthood. They were to keep the oil. Three things to keep the menorah burning, never going out. What is the flowing oil? What does it represent? It means the Holy Spirit. It has to do with intimacy, it has to do with fresh anointing, divine supply. What does all that mean? It just means it has to be completely dependent on Him. It is the Spirit of God that you keep the oil. The fire only burns where oil is present. It is represented of Holy Spirit. There are, there's one, there are baptism, there are many fillings. Listen, I've been praying lately. God fill me afresh with the Holy Spirit. Spurgeon said we leak. Look at your neighbor and say, you old leaky looking thing, you. The guys would come. Johnny, I love saying that. Johnny, would you come? See the danger of running on yesterday's oil. It was just yesterday. It was just, no, there is something about today. Refreshing today. Surrender today. Yielding today. Samson didn't realize he was drifting. He still had moments. He had giftings. He had his history. He would get up and shake himself. But the oil had lifted off of his life until one day he shook himself and there was no more anointing. And he was taken captive by the enemy. And the very strength of his life was reduced to nothing. Until he cried out to God again. You can lose sensitivity before you lose activity. Just being busy. Listen, I know. I was a pastor for a pastor of this church 25 years. There were seasons I was so busy that if not careful and I wasn't. Sometimes I would think my busyness was good enough for my being. And he never wanted me busy. Stuff would start the joy. I'd have to go back and remember. That's why Jesus is calling them to remember. Because you can lose sensitivity before you lose action. Keeping the oil flowing, prayer is not just our punch clock. It's not just Tuesday night. I encourage you to be here on Tuesday night. It's not just Wednesday. I encourage you to be here on Wednesdays. We need we have to have corporate prayer, but prayer is not a discipline to complete, it's an intimacy to pursue. Please hear me. Prayers is not something we check the box. Yes, there are times of discipline where I'm going, okay, I don't feel anything. I'm just gonna get up and do what I know to do, and by doing what I know to do, God's gonna lead me to what I'm supposed to do. However, it is not it is not a discipline that you complete, it is an intimacy that we're pursuing with Him. That's why worship, it's not performance, it's surrender. The word that we read. This word. One thing I'm I love this young generation and the heart in this house to just, I mean, what do you call it? Bible shred. I I my brain's still trying to. Kick in. My brain was shredded. So I haven't Bible shredded, and my brain is shredded. But I love the hunger. Why? It's just in one month, in 30 days, shredding through, reading through the Bible, understanding. Here's the flow. Here's the stories of redemption from Genesis to Revelation. Man, I want the word to be a lamp to my feet, a light to my path. Yes, the word is not for information, it's for encounter. Obedience. It's just opening up the doorway. Intimacy, overperformance. This was Ephesus' fatal trade. They traded intimacy for just performing for God. The second thing is keep the wicks trimmed. Keep the wicks trimmed. That was the responsibility. Go look it up. That's what they had to do in the tabernacle. They had to keep the oil in the lamps and they had to keep the wicks trimmed. See, the wick is what draws the oil to the flame. But over time the wick becomes charred. When there is a charred wick, smoke increases, light decreases, and fire weakens. And where there is smoke, the flame or the embers may still exist, but you lose clarity. What does the wick represent? I believe in our life. What does it represent? This is what I was sitting here on the front row two weeks ago. You said trim the wicks, keep them where they need to be. It's a buildup, it's pride, it's offense, it's bitterness. It'll start charring your life when distraction and spiritual fatigue, unhealed wounds char you. Wrong motives will char you. Compromise will char you. Self-reliance, this is about me, myself, and I will start charring your life. Things don't necessarily extinguish the fire, but it will start distorting the fire. Come on, hear me. When they go untrimmed, more smoke. You have the light. It's activity without clarity. It's having a form of godliness, but you deny the power thereof. The flame becomes unhealthy because it's emotional instability, it's spiritual exhaustion, it is the loss of discernment, and others struggle they can't see clearly because of all the smoke and mirrors that may be around our chardwick's life. Your life is meant to illuminate. How many of you like being in a smoky, smoke-filled room? I mean, come on, man, one of the greatest things they ever did in a restaurant is the no smoking. Why? Because I didn't want my food tasting like the smoke. And actually, secondly, I wanted to see clearly. If you're in a smoke-filled room, man, and that's what that's what an untrimmed wick will start producing smoke. And we get a lot of smoke and mirrors. We got a lot a lot of things that are pretension. They're not, there's no clarity. But man, when when we learn to all flame and say, God, show me. I want to keep my attitude trimmed. Lord, pruning, you are the God not only comes and teaches me and shows me what needs to be trimmed in my life, but it's also called pruning. And pruning is not punishment, it is preparation for what's coming. Come on, I'm almost done. Wow, I've said that 14 times. And Johnny's up here trying to get me to stop. It's pruning our attitude. And I've had a few over the last few years that I've had to say, God, you gotta prune this in me. Ambitions, dependencies, habits. See, God doesn't hate us, He loves us. And He wants the fire of that love in our life to become clearer day by day by day. My friend, your old wounds, your offenses, your old ambitions, all of that will be a smoke-filled room that you cannot see clearly until you allow God to prune that and allow you to have the clarity to trim the wick so the fire can burn. It's not an occasional file. It's in the Hebrew, it's called Tamid. Tamid means unceasing. The fire of the altar is to be Tamid continually. Always. The fire of the menorah was to be tamid continually. Always. Fire goes out slowly. So God is speaking to this church in Ephesus and says, all of the things you're doing. The main thing that I want from you is just love me. Let me love you. Love me. Let it come loud to your life. Here's the close.

Ephesus Ruins And Personal Response

SPEAKER_02 49:54

Pastor Jay and Melanie, they are board members. He's been a board member of this church for 27 years. He and Melanie are on a cruise right now. And part of the stop that they're having on this cruise is something of a lifetime they've wanted to do for years. Is they're going to stop and go view Ephesus. See, if you try to find Ephesus today, you'll only find ruins. There's remains of a library, broken columns, and silence. The church that received the letter that was the most beautiful letters in all the scripture. That church no longer exists. The one that Jesus warned, repent, or I will remove your lampstand. They didn't. So he did. You can't find it. But when he calls us to say, renew, revive that first fire of love. It's fresh oil. It's trimmed wicks. It's a holy fire. It is the manifest presence of God moving freely in our life. So I have to look at my own personal life and say, Lord, where am I? How can I be all flame if it's dim? How can I be all flame if I've got so many charred things that I have that I have condoned or even just put up with? You say, wait a minute, Rusty, I didn't ask for these things to happen to me. No, we didn't. There are things in my life I did not ask for it to happen in my life, but when it did, now God says, I will give you the strength and the power to respond the way I want you to respond to this. I'll give it to you. Because the priesthood responsibility was never to admire the lampstand, but it was to take care of it, to tend it daily, continually, faithfully. And here's my last close. A.W. Tozer said this. I'm looking for the fellowship of the burning heart for men and women of all generations everywhere who love the Savior until adoration becomes the music of their soul. Until they don't have to be fooled with or entertained and amused. Jesus Christ is everything. He's all in all. Awful. Not smokied rooms. But saying, God, here. Give me clarity. Show me. Reveal to me. Lord, I thank you that the Church of Huntsville is a church that will have clarity. And will be lights set on a hill that cannot be hidden. A clear light. One that lights away that says, just come. Follow me as I follow him. It doesn't mean perfect, but it means one's being perfected. As I follow him, he's perfecting. He's working all things together for my good. Why? Because I love him. Just because he loved me. Father, thank you for your word today. I thank you for your people. I thank you for your presence in this room. God, I pray that even on this day where I have probably gone a little longer today than I intended to, but Father, I pray you would speak to every heart. Call us by our name. Let us hear. Let each hear today, I love you. Come and follow me. Remember, remember. Remember that first love. Remember when I first found you. Let that passion of praise rise up inside of you again. Let it clear the fog and the smoke away. Let it clear, clip every charred moment that has tried to define you and cause the fogginess of your life to lose your way. Come, remember, repent, turn around. It's right in front of you because I'm here with you. No one looking around just for a minute. You say, you know what, Rusty? Maybe just one of the things you've said today has struck a chord in my heart. I want to be all flame. I need Jesus today. Rusty, would you pray for me? If that's you, lift your hand right now all over this room. I just want to pray for you. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. In the balcony. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Someone else, lift it high. Say that's me, Rusty. Pray for me. Yes. I'm not exaggerating the hand raises. But God is doing something right now. God is speaking to you. Someone else, you can put your hand. Anyone else, put your hand, God bless you, brother. Lord, today, yes, yes. Maybe you're here and you once knew the love of God. Busyness, life, tragedies. Just stuff started, started charring your life, man. And it's been so you can't see clearly. And you've forgotten, but God is calling you to remember, and He's calling you back to your first love. And if that's you, lift your hand. I want to pray for you right now all over this room. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Someone else, yes. As the team gets ready to come, or just someone comes to comes to sing. I want to pray for you right now. I want you to stand your feet and I want to pray for you. And then here's what I want to ask you to do. I want to ask you to allow our prayer team to pray with you today because you don't have to leave here the way you came. Please hear me. You don't have to leave here the way you came. I believe God is speaking to us, even as a church. I know the mandate, I know the assignment on this house. I still know the touch and the hand of God that's on the city of Huntsville. And I believe God has ordained churches to be in this community for us to be a light of Him, not just another thing. But God has called us. But it begins with us as individuals. Father, I thank you for every hand that was lifted in this room. Lord, there were probably 25, 30 hands that went up today. Maybe it was, Lord, I just need you, or maybe it was today, Lord. I want to I want to come back to my first love. I hear you today. God, I remember. And I'm turning away from where I am, and I'm I'm coming back to you. God, restore to me the joy of your salvation. Then I will teach transgressors your ways. Then sinners will be converted to you. God, here's my life. I surrender it all. Father, I pray today no one would walk out of these doors the way they walked in. And they would say when they leave today, as for me and my house, we will circle.

SPEAKER_00 57:39

We hope and pray. This message was encouraging. And join us live on our website or Facebook on Sundays at 9 and 11 AM. You can stay connected with us on Facebook and Instagram at the Rock Family. Have a Jesus filled week.