Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
hallelujah that's something i think that i want to talk to you about today i want you to turn to the gospel of john the gospel of john chapter 21 we'll start there i think i want to talk to you today about loving god i think it's something that we constantly need to check ourselves about do we love god do we love god more than anything else do we love god more than this world do we love god more than the things we have do we love god more than our family do we love god more than money i mean do we love god more than um than anything and this the reason this is on my heart right now is because i'm just burdened by what i see going on in christianity today because really what i think is going to get most people in the end most christians who fall away in this time and this season of apostasy that we're in i think what's going to get more than anything else is those who think that they're okay and they've really lost their love and passion for god but they say well i believe in jesus i believe in god i'm a christian i was saved but somewhere along the line they they just lost their their their zeal their passion their first love you know and this is something that you know you that ought to trouble you sometimes it ought to stir you up and go you know god do i am i really am i really passionately in love with you do i love what you love and hate what you hate do i want to be with you do i want to hear you you know even that song is beautiful as that song is and we love singing it i love your presence but you know it's easy to love god when he's manifesting his presence on you and you feel all that peace and that his love and you feel all that power and the reality of of jesus is is on you and all over you and it's easy to go lord i love your presence but do you still love god or do you love the feelings god gives you do you really love god or do you love the blessings you know and i think that's why it's one of the reasons why god lets trials and tribulations come into our lives do we still love him when things don't work out the way we would like them to work out i mean the greatest time of trouble and persecution and trial is about to come
on the world to end this thing out and i think the reason is is that god is going to allow these things to happen to find out who will love him when everything is falling apart when it is difficult when it is painful when it is a struggle when there is temptation on every side when there is darkness on every side will we still love him and trust him no matter what happens see the test is always going to be to see whether we love god with all of our heart i want to show you this because this is what jesus asked peter you know the question you know and i could preach on god's love for us everybody ought to know that one right i think god made it clear right bible says that god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life right it's amazing the bible says that while we were yet sinners christ died for us he's commended his love toward us and god has showed the fact that he loves us right and as i've said and you've heard me say many times that's not in question that's never in question the question is do we love him the question is how much do we love him the question is is our love for him growing or is it waning what's happening um this is after peter had denied the lord and of course this is after jesus had died on the cross and rose again from the dead and and jesus appears on the the shore so let's go i guess we'll go down to verse 12 and this is when jesus had appeared on the shore and they were all out fishing and they they came to the shore and jesus was sitting there cooking some fish for them and verse 12 jesus said to them come and dine and none of his disciples just asked him who art thou knowing that it was the lord so he must have looked a little different after his resurrection and he said this is now the third time that jesus showed himself to his disciples after that he was risen from the dead [Music] so when they had dined meaning after they had eaten their dinner or lunch or whatever it was in front of everyone now imagine this in front of all the other disciples jesus turns to simon peter just to simon in front of everyone and he turns and he says to simon peter simon son of jonah love us thou me more than these and he said unto him yea lord you know
that i love you he saith unto him feed my lambs and he saith unto him the second time simon son of jonah loveth thou me and he said unto him yay lord you know that i love you he said unto him feed my sheep then he saith unto him a third time simon son of jonah loveth thou me and peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time loveth thou me and he said unto him lord you know that all things you know that i love you and jesus said unto him feed my sheep now the reason i bring that out is because the lord asked us that question i mean peter in a way i mean peter demonstrated his his love toward the lord his commitment his discipleship he had forsaken his job his fishing career he'd even left his family behind for a season to follow jesus all over israel as he preached the gospel three years but then at the end of that time you know peter peter had some pride in his heart peter had some ambition in his heart he had some selfishness in his heart and all of that came bubbling up to the surface and and of course peter ended up denying the lord and even cursing him but do you think for a minute that that was really what was in peter's heart [Music] i mean sometimes our actions don't match what's in our heart but jesus didn't let it go [Music] jesus confronted the issue even further but the question he kept asking do you love me now what's interesting i can go into the the greek words in this verse because he asked him do you love me matter of fact let's look at it he said in the first verse he said simon peter verse 15 he said simon son of jonah do you love me more than these he used the word agape there do you agape me more than these do you love me with a supreme unconditional love even when things don't work out the way you want when you know i'm doing what's best for you no matter what that's the love he's talking about there [Music] do you love me like that so you know what peter answered him back with basically peter answered back and said lord no because he said lord you know i love you he used the greek word phileo meaning you know i love you i'm fond of you you know i love you as a friend i don't know that i can say that i love you with the love that loves even when things aren't working out so actually peter was thinking back about his failure he was being honest you know i i you know i i love you this way i don't know if i love you this way right so jesus asked him again let's look at this he said
verse 16 he said to him a second time simon son of jonas do you love me more than these and peter answered him the same way jesus do you agape me do you love me supremely do you love me unconditionally do you love me no matter when things are good or bad you love me this way and peter said lord i filleto you i'm fond of you i like you i love you i know you are the lord i love you the best way i know i i can but i failed in this when things got tough i failed so i don't know the reason the third time it bothered peter is because jesus asked him when he said in verse 17 simon son of jonah loveth thou me he used the word phileo do you even love me that way do you even are you even really fond of me and look at me as someone that you really care about so peter it says was grieved in his heart because basically what jesus was saying say okay you want it you won't say you agape love me but do you even fellow love me is it really real how much do you love me do you really love me and this question god asked of us i think all these last few days i've been praying about what the lord wanted for this sunday and it was just it just stayed on me i think that most christians in the world and most christians i think particularly in america do not understand what it means to love god the kind of love that god wants us to have for him if they did there wouldn't be so many idols in their lives there wouldn't be so much sin there wouldn't be so much compromise there wouldn't be it just wouldn't be that way and that's just you know and sometimes i think we end up loving church or we end up loving um we end up loving worship or loving things around god sometimes even more that that kind of inoculates us it you know well i i go to church and i worship or i read my bible so that means i love god and the lord does really do you really do you really do i really if you don't ask yourself these questions see sometimes i wonder and see the reason the reason that this bothers me is that i know that so many people are falling away right now i know so many people are falling away from from god from their relationship with god while they still think they're okay this is the one of the most troubling things to me in the world as a as a christian as a minister that you can fall away from god you can
fall away from your relationship with god you can fall away from truth you can fall away and deceive yourself and think you're okay and that's that was the story of the of the church at laodicea haven't we we've read that many times the thing that that that just jumps off the page at me is when jesus says to this church i wish you were hot or cold what is he talking about he's talking about loving me i wish you were passionate the word hot there is the is is zeo or when he says be zealous and repent means be like boiling water fervent passionate i wish you were passionately in love with me but you're just kind of so so and he said the problem is you don't even know [Music] you don't even know that you are this way you say i am rich i'm increased with goods i have need of nothing this is the most dangerous place any christian can be is to thinking i got it i'm okay and it and and this is where the majority of christianity particularly in america is where we we live lukewarm compromised say they love god but they really love the world and they love other things a whole lot more and let it get bad in their life one time and they they start complaining and cursing god because god isn't blessing them enough god isn't giving them what they want right let me show you some verses go back to um not back but forward go to second timothy these are just some verses that have come to my mind in the last few days second timothy chapter three and this is a you know an end times passage here last days verse one second timothy three one but i'm going to pull out something i want you to see here verse 1 he says this know also that in the last days perilous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents unthankful unholy without natural affection truce breakers false accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good traitors heady high-minded look at what the last one he says here lovers of pleasures more than lovers of god
and then he says that these people are pretending to be christians because he says having a form of godliness and the only godliness he's talking about is is the only godliness to be found is in christianity so he says having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof and from such turn away so he goes down this list that sounds like he's talking about a bunch of heathens but then he makes it certain these are people who pretend or appear to have a form of godliness but do not have the power of the relationship with god they supposed to have the power of it you want to know where the real power of god comes from is when you love god more than you love anything else in this world i'm going to show you something what drains the life out of us is when we start loving other things any time we start loving other things more than we love god we may still love god but we love other things more than god we are idolaters and we drain the very power of the gospel out of our lives and this is why you know the church is powerless because we don't love god with all of our heart soul mind that is the first commandment love the lord thy god with all your heart all your soul all your mind and all your strength that's in matthew 22 everything and this is what the lord is looking for and i don't want to fall short in this and i don't want you to fall short i don't want you to be deceived i want to show you this this is this is amazing to me but go hold your spot there in timothy because we're coming back to second timothy four but go to first john first john chapter two now he loved the lord there's no question about the apostle john loving the lord right now let's read this this is first john chapter 2 verse 15 16 and 17. and it's what's interesting is what it goes right after this goes right into verse 18. now let's look at it what is the command here from john love not the world here's what's interesting the word love there is agape see here's the thing with agape love can i say this only christians can have it because the bible says the holy spirit sheds abroad this love in our hearts we can't even make it up ourselves right
but once god gives it this ability to love strongly beyond the normal human being what does he say [Music] christians can take this agape love and love the world with it okay that's why he says here love not the world neither the things that are in the world okay [Music] if any man loved the world they say any man if any man loved the world the love of the father is not in him let's stop right there command from god through john love not the world now what's he talking about he's talking about the worldly system the worldly sins the worldly religions the worldly compromise the the worldly entertainment the worldly thing the things the world is after lust and he'll he'll name him we'll look at him a second but what does he say love not the world if any man that would include some people say he's not talking to christians here no any means any right if any man or woman loves the world the love of the father is not in them meaning you can't do both at the same time not the way god wants you cannot it is impossible you hear what i'm saying impossible if you are loving the things of the world you might be saying you love god but you do not [Applause] and sometimes you know what it is sometimes it's just pure neglect it's just pure neglect of god you do not neglect what you love right let's keep reading this though he says love not the world neither the things that are in the world if any man love the world the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life and this is not of the father but is of the world and the world passes away and the lust thereof but he that doeth the will of god abideth forever so doing the will of god shows what must show that you love god right the will of god now let's back up if any man love the world love that the father is not in now go back to let's well let's hope keep
holding your place in in second timothy 4 because we're coming to that but go to colossians chapter 4. colossians 4. you there colossians 4 paul is addressing some christians and we'll just drop down he's speaking we'll look at verse 12 here he says epaphras he's saluting some people and naming some people says epaphras who is one of you a servant of christ salute you always laboring fervently for you in prayers that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of god for i bear him record that he has a great zeal for you and them that are in laodicea and hieropolis and then he says this luke the beloved physician and demas greet you then he goes on to say salute the brother and which are in laodicea memphis and the church that is in his house and then he talks to them on further but i wanted you to see that paul is talking about luke the beloved physician and demas these were two christian brothers everybody know who's luke is because he wrote the gospel of luke and he wrote the book of acts and luke traveled with paul for a season of his ministry and luke that's how he could write the book of acts because he actually witnessed it with his own eyes so luke traveled with him but also this guy demas now go over to second timothy chapter 2 this is later in paul's life right before paul is martyred for his faith in rome and he writes this about some people and he says this second timothy 4 he uh gives timothy some instructions look at verse 9 he says do your diligence to come shortly unto me why [Music] for demas has forsaken me having loved this present world and is departed unto thessalonica creations unto titus to dalmatia only luke is with me take mark and bring him with thee for he is profitable for the ministry and tychicus have i sent to ephesus and then he gives them some instruction i mean just simple stuff he says the cloak or the coat that i left at troas with carpus when you come bring and the books but especially the parchments i love this as one of my favorite verses alexander the coppersmith did be much evil the lord reward him for his works
but i wanted you to see something here paul says colossians a number of years earlier he says luke is with me demas is with me but here some time passes and he says please come quickly timothy because demas has left me demas has forsaken me having loved this present world so paul was talking about a little more than demons just left paul or left the ministry but but demas left his relationship with the lord he left loving the lord he loved the world and he left boy have we seen that happen the reason i'm the reason i'm bringing this up is because you need to understand people are going to come and people are going to go [Music] people are going to start out walking with the lord they're going to get saved they're going to get on fire for god and then some of them are going to love start loving the world again and leave that's just the way it is i hate to see it it grieves my heart but this is the issue they start loving the world sometimes it's a boyfriend sometimes it's a girlfriend sometimes it's a job sometimes it's a money sometimes it's this sometimes it's that but they're just you know it's start loving the world maybe it starts out by you know what not going to read the bible and go to church and start watching movies or hanging out with the wrong people or or whatever it is but gradually that love for god starts waning and the love and it only tells me one thing that the love for the world is growing the love for the world the love for the things in the world and see this is what makes christianity at times difficult because we live in this world we are surrounded by its lust and its desires and its pressures and its entertainment and its all of its all the facets out there and and most everyone around us even some christians and most and all of course all non-christians are all about loving the world loving the entertainment loving the lust loving the the the money the career loving loving loving loving everything the world has to offer and everything within everything in society everything in our culture everything around us is trying to pull us with it and this is why the lord said in romans through paul do not be conformed to this world
that means don't let this world press you into its mode but be transformed by the renewing of your mind give your body as a living sacrifice see this is this is the hardest concept for christians to get a hold of in this world we are supposed to take up our cross and die to the world and the lust of the world and the desires of the world worldliness is killing the church and here's what's so amazing all of this is clearly in the bible and yet what has the church done to try to get people to church is that they have become worldly they have used worldly music and worldly marketing techniques and worldly ideas and worldly manipulation and worldly advertising all kind of worldly things and guess what when you use worldly junk all you're attracting is worldly people and you'll never get the love of the world out of them to fully love god if that's the way you use it but here's what grieves me so bad so few anymore want to listen to the real gospel that jesus said take up your cross deny yourself and follow me hate evil hate compromise i you know i'm wondering if i i believe few get saved correctly anymore because they're just the gospel's not preached to them can i say this you you can't be saved if you don't get two concepts down if you don't get the two concepts down of number one who jesus is god in the flesh the messiah the savior the redeemer the one who died on the cross for the sins of mankind that rose from the dead that's the king of kings and the lord of lords if you don't understand that he's the god of the old in the new testament he's everything if you don't first know and believe who he is you can't be saved you're believing in a false jesus if he's not the one of the bible right but the second thing is if you never saw yourself as a sinner lost damned on his way to hell on her way to hell if you never saw yourself as that sin was what was separating you from god and that you had to repent and turn away from the sin and the things that god said were wrong and follow him and change completely you cannot be saved this is the problem this is what's blocking so many some may even say well i believe in the jesus who died and rose again from the dead who's god in the flesh i believe in
him but they haven't taken up their cross they haven't realized i deserve to go to hell i am a sinner i was lost he came and died so i could be saved it is a wonderful thing wow jesus forgive me i don't deserve you to forgive me forgive me cleanse me i want to do it your way because i want to be with you i want to love you i love this world it didn't work out too good that's what's so amazing christians begin to forget why we came to the lord in the first place the things that were killing us we said jesus we need forgiveness and help to get free from those things but then years later as we've we we grow up we begin to what go back to them i don't get it that's why paul said if i build again the things which i destroyed i make myself a transgressor i'm not going to go build back what i what i wanted jesus to destroy in my life that was destroying me and i'm not saying look we're all tempted and we're all pulled and the temptations and the pull of the world is only going to get stronger in the days ahead it's going to take some very very determined people to not cave and start loving the world and that's what's so dangerous about it it's can you imagine a man who was friends with the apostle paul a man who worked side by side with the apostle paul who heard the gospel who got taught the true gospel who saw luke and timothy who were with the men who wrote the gospels i'm going to love the world guys has been it's been real enjoyed it but i gotta go over here and find me a woman i gotta go over here and make some money i gotta go over here and you know my family alls into this you know gnostic thing i gotta go over here and do this i just can't i can't do this anymore i and granted paul's life was hard maybe the guy saw i don't i can't do what i can't go through what these christians are going through because this time rome was just killing them left and right this was nero time maybe he said i don't want to die for this i can't die for this faith maybe who knows but it says plainly in the scripture demas has forsaken me having
loved this present world how many people i tell you i i have led a lot of people to the lord in my 25 years led unto jesus led them into the baptism the holy spirit the gift of speaking in tongues taught them about healing taught them about deliverance and casting out devils seeing them do wonderful things for god lead others or see them lead others to jesus and now they're gone they're living in the world they're drinking they're sleeping around they're bound by pornography and fornication or adultery or and they go to some church that that won't teach them about anything that won't confront their sin and they're comfortable and they're sealed in their deception of loving the world and they think they're loving god and when they when it's all over they're going to go to heaven and i just read it to you if any man love the world the love of the fathers not in him this is why y'all want to know i mean here's it's just us y'all want to know why i preach like i preach it's because i know this i know there's going to be a whole lot of people standing outside jesus gone come back the rapture the resurrection is taking place and he says they're going to be people knocking at the door saying lord open to us they really thought they were getting in open to us and jesus i don't know who you are why depart from me they but they they were sure [Music] they were getting in positive ah we don't need that kool-aid that preacher's dishing out we got this right i've heard it all man i'm just like please read the book before it's too late it's not my words i wish they weren't you know can i be honest for a minute can i just be downright i i sometimes i wish i didn't have to preach i'm gonna be honest with you even after last week when i preached last week some of the stuff i've been preaching that's so heavy about what's coming i just wish i didn't have to you know like lord either i offend people or i run people off or i make people mad and
you know i mean my whole life even my relationships with my family up like this one minute they hate me one minute they love me well i mean they hate me want me a lot and i ain't change the thick it's just where they are one minute they're live in the world and they hate my guests the next minute they you know they're agreeing with me next minute they're you know i'm like it'd have been easier you know just hang out with them never say a word i you know to keep the peace you got to keep the mouth shut but that's not what jesus said to do is it not what jesus called me to do not what he called you to do either really nobody it's like jeremiah he said oh that oh that you know oh that my mother had not given birth to me i mean he said that because i just feel like he said i feel like i'm nothing but a man of strife because why his words from the lord shook and disturbed people they wanted hope he didn't have a message of hope the message of hope he had here's a few of you if you get right god said i'll spare you but the rest of it's getting destroyed and jeremiah goes i wish i couldn't do you know that jeremiah said even at one point said i'm not speaking anymore in his name let's read jeremiah 15 through 20. you'll get it if you hadn't read that i'm not speaking anymore and i'm done lord i'm done with this prophet thing this prophet gig i'm through with it they hate me everybody hates me my own family hates me i'm done i'm through and what the lord are coming back and saying if you get your act together then and you speak what i say to speak then i'll be with you and i'll protect you they will fight against you but i will be with you jeremiah finally said i tried to keep my mouth shut but it was like a fire in my bones y'all just don't know do you want me to tell you the truth this morning about i i feel like i was supposed to preach this at the last second but if i really preach this morning what i would what's really burning on my heart y'all probably couldn't take it [Music] especially after last week i'm overwhelmed i'm over i'm overwhelmed with what i'm learning what i'm seeing what i'm discovering about how late this hour is
and the darkness that is about to descend upon this world upon the united states i mean you want something heavy i'll give you this i firmly believe now after what i've been seeing and studying i believe russia is going to full scale launch against us and that the only way any part of america will survive is god's direct intervention i mean god knocking some missiles out of the air making them disappear that's where i believe we're headed the world's about to change forever and christians are loving the world and the world's about to burn up and pass away the worldly system is about to to take its final biggest step down the toilet it's already there but it's going on down into the sewer and we we there's no and we're loving stuff that's being flushed away i won't say what it is that taco y'all remember the taco y'all weren't here for the taco this is the poo taco we'll get you some cds here soon but see i i mean and i and i and trust me i'm holding back we need to do this listen to me y'all everybody look this way i'm going to stop here in a second it's going to be a short message because it's only now 12 o'clock this is what you have to tell people and especially you know keith green used to say this i know how i miss him he is missed by many people missed in this world we we could have used somebody like him around he used to say he believed that his ministry primarily was to get christians saved most people around you that say they're christians love the world
and they are not ready they are not ready for death for their death they are not ready to stand before god they are not ready for the judgment seat of christ they are not ready and you got to get it dealt with in your heart and you got to share this with people you know i could almost again this morning with what's on my heart preached about the 10 virgins five were ready and five thought they were ready and here's what's even more dangerous about the five who thought they were ready they actually started trying to get ready more and didn't make it there's just people all around us who aren't going to make it and this uh this this burdens my heart this is why i'm asking you to pray for me tonight and pray for it whom you are there are going to be people listening hope to god someone listens because so many are not ready they're just not ready i don't know if this doesn't trouble you then i'm troubled about it not troubling you you know this is this is you know why america was greater back in the day back in the 40s and the 50s and the 60s because almost every church baptist methodist pentecostal preached like i'm preaching right now this is old-fashioned it's funny you used to work right and then america gets away from it they move away from the gospel and what was it that yeah i saw um lee grady posted this on facebook the other day and i'd heard this quote many times but it's from william booth and i i don't i won't have it exact but you can look it up this is william booth the founder of the salvation army he was a man of god him and his wife catherine booth you talk about being on fire the salvation army back then under them and in the 1800s was not like it is now i mean they were on the street they were preaching i mean you know he wrote the song send the fire you know i mean um but they someone asked him before he passed away what was his greatest fear for the end of the century of the this was like in 1901 they asked him this and for the end of the century he said my greatest fear he said is that we will have we will have how did he put it basically we'll have
christianity without the cross without christ he said we'll have how did he put it i wish i had this in my head it's just left me but basically he goes on down that we would have you know um we would have praise and worship without the holy spirit we would have oh yeah he said we would have preached forgiveness without repentance i mean he nailed it he nailed every bit of it and i was like wow there used to be there used to be some men of god around we are almost extinct these old-fashioned preachers i mean i get criticized for the way i preach and the things i say and for stands that i take on things but i'm sitting there going men like keith green and leonard ravenhill and david wilkerson and that's that's what i cut my teeth on thank god i told nancy this was funny i said when i came back to the lord in 1987 teenager i thought finney and whitfield and wesley and and keith green and leonard ravenhill and dr michael brown and i the way they preach repentance and holiness and loving god and not loving the world and i said i thought that's just the way it was then i come back to alabama and find out [Music] wow the church world's not like this i mean that was 25 years ago and it was still that breed of preacher was dying out i mean i got christians right now charismatic pentecostal spirit-filled christians that have no clue they think the things that i preach and the way i preach them and the way i go about doing these things they think it's it's not of god and i look back on men like william booth and smith wigglesworth and all those guys and this is the way they preached but now christians think that what was normal christianity is now not normal you're strange if you preach that stuff now anyway i need to quit well i've got let's look at one more verse let's just just so you see it matthew 22. we'll end where we started i just think you ought to see where it
is i quoted it for you but we'll look at it matthew 22 are you there verse 36 master which is the greatest commandment in the law [Music] which is the greatest commandment in the law and jesus said you shall love the lord thy god with all thy heart with all thy soul with all thy mind this is the first and great commandment and do you know that you can't even love your neighbor that's the next commandment you can't love your neighbor correctly unless you love god you know that want to give you that verse first john 5 one of my favorite verses you know why it's one of my favorite verses because it's not just saying oh you know i can't if i had a hundred dollar bill for every time i've had somebody tell me that i wasn't walking in love because i confronted some sin in their life or made them uncomfortable lord i'm telling you i've had preachers say that preachers in adultery i confront them about it i'm not walking in love okay whatever you say but look at this verse this verse verse 2 by this we know that we love the children of god so you want to know if you love if you're loving people right how do i know if i'm really walking in love by this we know that we love the children of god when we love god and keep his commandments for this is the love of god that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous so [Music] and then he says what for whatsoever is born of god overcomes what ah there it is again it's all over it's follow the pattern by this we know we love the children of god when we what first love god this is why it's so dangerous when a christian lives in compromise sin worldliness loving the world you know what they what they're doing they are not only are they not loving god they are not loving their neighbor because the greatest thing you can do is be an example to them of someone who's passionately in love with god who obeys god who god is who who is consumed with god that's the best way to show that you love your neighbor it's not taking them brownies that's wonderful and sweet but in it interesting that the love
chapter says that you can give everything you have to the poor and it not be love you can give your body to be burned and it not be love right people skip over that one they said well we got to show love so we got to give to charities and help the poor that is all true we should do those things but he says you can give everything you have to the poor give your body to be burned and still not have love why because love is first predicated on loving god and obeying him if you don't do that you can tell me all day long i love my neighbor i love my brother or sister and christ no you don't because you're not being example to them dark is cheap right [Music] it's that taco all right let's pray thank you jesus father help us lord we pray god that we want to be a people who are in love with you passionately love you passionate about obeying you passionate about not loving the world not being drawn away into compromise and worldliness and the sensuality and the lust and the pride that's in this age the lord that we've truly it forsake it stand strong and love the lord our god with all of our heart soul mind and strength so that we can be an example to those around us so that we won't be a stumbling block oh god if if if the church world could ever get a hold of this that we have got to break up with the devil and all of his trinkets and all of his junk that he lures and dangles in front of our face to lure us away father help us see help us lord like you did with the church of ephesus and you showed them that they were doing a lot of good things but they had left their first love and you told them to repent and go back and do their first works the things that they did when they were passionately and fervently in love with you sometimes lord that is not easy to get back where we once were so lord i pray for each one in this room i pray for myself i ask for grace and help to be a people that love god with all of our heart soul mind and strength then we will be able to love our neighbor as ourselves
we'll be able to love our enemies lord so much talk about love but i think we get it out of order many times so help us lord i pray in jesus name amen