DEEPER LIFE BIBLE CHURCH WORLDWIDE
END OF THE MONTH SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICE. ( TIME OF REFRESHING).
DATE: 28/06/2020.
MESSAGE ANCHORED BY THE GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT.
TOPIC: THE PRIORITY OF FIRST FAITH, FIRST LOVE AND FIRST WORKS.
REVELATION 2:1-7; 1 TIMOTHY 5:13.
God bless you all, I welcome you to our Sunday worship service, and I praise the Lord how He is keeping us, and I appreciate the fact that you're there strong, healthy waiting for more of the blessings of God. The Lord will not disappoint anyone of us IN Jesus Name Amen. Once again, I welcome you and I appreciate the fact that we are here together to serve the Lord and worship the Lord together today.
As you have learnt from the time of searching the Scriptures together, we actually read from Revelation chapter 2 from verse 1 all through to verse 7. We are going to do that now. In that book of Revelation we have read, is talking about Jesus Christ the head of the church, He's still very much in charge, you might have think because of the world wide devastation, you might have think that, because of that, Christ is sitting back, not at all, He's still the One that is holding the seven stars in His right hand, and that seven number represents the entirely, the completeness of the people of God, all the members, all the servants, all the ministers, all the children of God, the Lord JESUS Christ holdeth the seven stars, and those seven stars represents the church. You will be a star in the hand of the Lord IN Jesus Name Amen. You will not fall, and your light will not go dim IN Jesus Name Amen. The candle sticks are the churches, and He's walking in the midst of those seven golden candlesticks, and as a member of the church of the living God, you will know that Christ is the head of the church, and therefore, He knows everything,.just like we have parts of the body, and there's nothing any member of the body can do that the head will not know, hands cannot do anything, feet cannot go anywhere, heart cannot think anything, eyes cannot see anything, mouth cannot speak anything that the head will not know, no member of the body can hide anything from head, he knows everything, and so Christ as the head of the church He knows what all the members are doing, they cannot do anything in the secret that He will not know about it, they cannot do anything in the public that He will not know, and He's talking to us, and if you're doing what He's expecting, if you're doing what He's desirable and what is good and what is profitable, you must be very happy, others may not know, but Christ know, He knows that you're not lazy, He knows that you're not idle, He knows your patience, in the situation when you're praying and the answer has not come, and you believe God, and you're waiting for God, He knows everything. We mustn't deceive ourselves, there are people that close their eyes, and they walk through life and there are members of the church that close their eyes and they walk with a closed eyes, Jesus wants us to differentiate ourselves between the people that speaks evil thing, and the people that do evil things, and the people that go the evil way and the people that act in an evil way, and you know, people that go in the way of evil, the people that has deeds and the examples that are evil deeds, Christ is watching them.
Here in Revelation we have read, the Lord Jesus Christ was commending these ministers in Ephesus, and He be commending you too, He should be appreciating you too, the Lord is sending His message to the church, He's the head of the church and He's sending the message to all the members of the church, He's the bridegroom and the Husband, and He's sending His message to the whole bride, and He says, he that has ear to hear should hear. You see here, He's talking to the church and not to the world, He's talking to His own body and He says, if we hear, if we follow all the instructions He's giving us, if we follow all the directions He's leading us, He says to Him that overcome will He give the tree of life. Also, He has something that He commended them for, but He has somwhat against that church of Ephesus because they have left their first Love, there's something Christ refers to as the first love, there's also something the word of God refers to as the first Faith, hold that firm.
I. It's the First Love.
II. It's the first Faith.
III. It's the first works.
It's so essential and important that, we should drive at those three things, we should hold on to them firmly.
POINT ONE: THE PRECONDITION OF THE FIRST FAITH.
HEBREWS 11:6; 1 TIMOTHY 5:12; LUKE 18:8.
If we are going to have anything from the Lord, the precondition of the first Faith and that same first Faith that we have, the faith that brought us into the Kingdom will keep us in the Kingdom, that first faith must continue because that first faith that brought us must keep us in. When we mention faith, there are different kinds of Faith.
What are the Different kinds of Faith we have?
I. There's a Natural Faith. Matthew 7:9-10. You know in the family, the child has faith in her parents, in the family, if a child will ask his father for bread, he believes he's going to have the bread and the father is not going to give him stone. That's natural faith.
II. There's Devilish faith. James 2:19; Luke 18:30-31. The devil also believes and tremble, so you cannot just say faith faith, faith, the devil believes there's God, but he tremble he doesn't not repent, he knows that Judgment is coming and the Judgment day could come anytime, and yet he doesn't repent. And so you need to be watchful of what kind of faith you have. Those demons believes that JESUS had the power that if He commanded them to go inside the pig, that's exactly where they will go, if He told them to go into hell, that's exactly where they will go, He's not to torment them before the day, before the time of their judgement. They believes but they didn't repent, many people claim to believe and they do not repent, they have the devil's faith and the people that say they trust anybody that's just natural faith, the faith that matter now is the FAITH in Christ for Salvation. Understand that.
III. Faith in Christ for Salvation. Acts 4:12. When you believe that, and you believe that Jesus is the Saviour, that's the faith we are talking about. When you believe that JESUS Christ died on the Cross of Calvary, and you believe that He died for you and He died to take your sins away, and you put that personal faith, personal trust and personal confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ, that's the faith we are talking about. That's the precondition of staying and abiding in the Kingdom, the precondition of enduring till the end, so that we will be there on that final day when the Saints are matching in. The precondition is FAITH.
I. Conversion through repentance and Faith. Mark 1:14-15; Acts 3:19,26; 17:30-31; 20:21.
The precondition is to have Faith in the Lord, you don't have to die in your sin, Christ has come, He's the one that has brought Peace we can have, He's the One that has brought Peace we can have with God, the relationship and the reconciliation we can have with God. When you believe that Christ is the Saviour and you turn away from sin and you come to the Saviour, it's personal faith that you know that Christ died for you, and the Spirit of God will bear witness in your heart that you're a child of God, that's the first Faith that we have and that's the faith that get us into the Kingdom, turn away from evil, and to be converted, and to be change, and to enter into the Kingdom of God, and to be transform, and to have a new life, here is the condition, repentance is the condition.
II. Consistency with the Righteousness of Faith. Romans 10:6-10; Galatians 5:5-6; Philippians 3:9; Hebrews 11:7.
After you have been saved, after giving your life to Christ, and now we know that we're born again, we are children of God, there must be consistency, there must be continuation and there must be constancy. This kind of righteousness we are talking about is not self righteousness, it's not a moderate good moral life, this is the righteousness that comes by faith, you have faith in that JESUS Christ that He's sited at the right hand of God. And He has done everything He ought to do for your salvation you believe in the resurrection already that JESUS Christ was crucified, that He died, that He was buried, in the third day, He rose triumphantly and because you believed in your heart that JESUS died for you, and He rose for your justification. The word of Faith which we preach, which we hear and taken in, and give your consent to, that you understand and you believe in your heart, that's how righteousness of faith come and continue. It's not a cooperate faith, it's a personal faith in God that makes you to continue, you believe in your heart, and you're sure beyond any shadow of doubt, you confess that with your mouth, you believe that in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, your salvation is in Christ the Saviour, and your assurance is in the fact that He died for you, and your assurance is in the fact that He rose again and there's no doubt in your heart, you give your life to the Lord, you're the one to believe in your heart and confess with your mouth. I pray that will be confirm in your life. Not righteousness by works, not righteousness by trials, not righteousness of self punishment, not merit righteousness, not by rolling on the ground, not righteousness by trying to pay for all the bad things you have done, you believe that JESUS Christ has carried all the load and all the guilt, everything He has carried away, and you have that waiting attitude for the hope of righteousness by Faith.
Conversion is the commencement of the Christian's life, the beginning of a Christian's life is by repentance and Faith, and the continuation after conversion it's by consistency and constancy with the righteousness of Faith, and all these are the confirmation in our lives. The people that sees us will know that we are believers, the people that knows us, they look at us, they look at our disposition, they look at everything we do, they see that things has changed since Christ came in our Spirit.
III. The Confirmation we have through the Renewal of Faith. Galatians 2:20; 2 Corinthians 5:7-8; Ephesians 3:17-20; 6:16; 1 Peter 1:4-5.
the Spirit is confirming, in our souls, even in our minds, He's confirming and in our neighborhood, the people around us, they can see that things are totally different, there's confirmation from within, there's confirmation from without, there's confirmation from heaven and there's confirmation on earth. When you're born again, you have faith in Christ, is the Faith that brought us into the Kingdom, but you know, day by day, you're renewing that faith in the Lord. Everyday, you're renewing your commitment, you're renewing your Faith, everyday, you're saying you belong to Christ, you're a child of God, the blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed you, the blood of Jesus Christ keeps cleansing you from every sin, Satan does not abide in us, because we are children of God, in your weaknesses, the Faith is making you strong, temptation may come, trials may come, but Christ lives in you. In your day to day activities, the life that you live in the natural, as you interact with friends around you, you will live by the faith of Christ, you're always remembering that JESUS Christ gave Himself for you, He loves you, and because of that, you're living, you're walking by faith, we walk by faith in Christ, you're not going to walk by the winds blowing, Christ will overcome, the things you see by your side as you move around, you're not moving around like somebody who is empty, who doesn't have any strength and any backbone, you know that Christ lives in us, bad because of that, you can pray and He will give you all that you ask, even exceedingly and abundantly He will give it to you, and you're able to conquered all the first darts of the wicked.
POINT TWO: THE PRIORITY OF THE FIRST LOVE.
REVELATION 2:4-5; MATTHEW 10:37; JOHN 21:15.
The bride of Christ that has first love in the Lord is desirable, that first love we must keep to remain desirable, and it's demanded of the Lord, that's why we must keep to that. There are different kinds of love.
Different Kinds of Love.
✔️ There's Natural Love. Genesis 37:3. Jacob loved Joseph because he was the son of his old age, Isaac loved Esau, that's natural love, on the other hand, Rebekah loved Jacob because of she has known about Jacob, that's family love, and that's natural. The Love the Lord is talking about is not just the natural love.
✔️ there's erotic Love /Flehsly love. Judges 16:15. Do you remember Delilah and Samson, that is lust, it's fleshly lust and that's not the kind of love He's talking about.
✔️ Divine Love. John 3:16. This is the love of God, and this is the kind of love Christ wants, it's agape love, it's that divine love the Lord Jesus Christ is talking about. That's heavenly love, that's the kind of love Jesus expected, first love and He said you have lost that first love, and He wants you to come back to that first love.
I. The continuation of full Fireproof Love. John 15:9-14; Hebrew 13:1-4; 1 Peter 1:7-8; Romans 8:35-39.
When you love Christ so much, no fire can destroy that love, and that full love that you're not diminishing, it abides and remains in your life. It's not just an empty love, it's not a shallow love, it's full and it's relating to Christ, and it's a flowing love that flows in your heart to Christ all the time, and because we love Christ, we love His people, we love His body, we love His members, we love His followers, we love God disciples, that same love, that fireproof love, that fire cannot destroy, that fire cannot devastate, it's not just a word of mouth, it's not loving in tongue, is not loving in profession, it's real, it's definite, it's practical, it's visible, it's observable, the fire will come, fire of persecution, fire of misunderstanding, fire misrepresentative, all that fire will burn and tries the faith, and it will tries the love, and the faith, and the love will remain until the appearing of Christ. Although you pray, He doesn't here physically, and His presence is there, you love Him, you believe Him, yet his is the love, although the fire may rage, although the persecution may come, although difficulties and challenges may come, the love is still there like the fireproof, everything is still intact, whatever persecution may arise, whatever fire may rage, whatever opposition may confront us, trials doesn't cancel the love, pandemic and things to come cannot separate you from the Love of Christ.
II. The Condemnation of Feeble, fickle love. Galatians 4:15-20; Matthew 24:12-13; Hosea 6:4; 8:3,12.
when the Love becomes feeble, fickle, false and when loves doesn't continue, it will bring condemnation. The Lord is asking today, where is the blessedness of that love? He wants our love to grow, but people are now following the Lord cold heartedly, the enthusiasm is no more there, the excitement is no more there, and the pursuit is no more there, the zeal is no more there, the passion is no more there, but Christ wants that your zeal, your love, your passion, your consecration will continue till the end, that your love will not fade, your love will not becomes feeble, fickle and you will not fall by the way side IN Jesus Name Amen. If that's going to be so, you must renew your consecration, and you must renew your devotion to the Lord, and your decision that you have made to the Lord, cheerfully, and come back from the fade and feeble and fickle love.
III. The consecration with fixed, fervent love. Songs of Solomon 8:6-7; Exodus 21:5-6 Mark 12:28-30; 1 Corinthians 13:1-7; 1 Peter 1:22.
Even the coal of fire cannot destroy that love, the first love we have for the Master, the first love that we have for the Lord, this love we fixed on Christ, this love that is fervent, hot, passionate, compassionate can not be destroyed. And because this love that flows freely unto the Lord without any reservations, we will not allow any fire of persecution, any action of men to destroy it. We must first of all have the purity of heart, that's what will keep the Love where it ought to be. The blood of Jesus Christ must cleanse, wash and purify us before we can demonstrate this kind of love, it's unpretending love, it's a love that is hot, fervent, it's the love for the brethren, is a kind of love that continue serving the Lord, it's a kind of love that is flowing into the Lord.
POINT THREE: HIS PREFERENCE FOR THE FIRST WORKS.
REVELATION 2:5; JOHN 4:34; REVELATION 2:26-29.
He wants us to understand that there's first works coming out of the first Love.
I. Christ's Requirements of the First Works. Revelation 2:5; John 6:28-29; Matthew 5:16; Titus 2:14.
God sent His only Begotten Son, and if your faith is shifting from that foundation, if your Faith is shifting from the Saviour, this is returning to the world, you have your confidence you pin your hope on Christ, He's the only way, He's the foundation, when we come to the Lord, we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that's commencement, that's the beginning and then we come to Him, He purifies us, He sanctifies us, He takes adamic nature away from us, the adamic nature had a downward pool, a devilish pool, it doesn't allow a person to run fast, it doesn't allow any person to believe and do the work of God everywhere you go, you want people to see the work of the gospel, even in your life, in your character you're not going to hide your Christian's faith, the excitement, the enthusiasm you have, let your light shine before men, it makes us ready everytime to act right, to do upright and to lift people and to help people.
II. Constant Readiness for Fruitful Work. Mark 13:34; Titus 3:8,14; 2 Timothy 4:5; Acts 8:4.
You have the understanding that Christ has given you work to do, you have your portion, we are not talking about workers in the church, that's wonderful but we are talking about the work He has given us to do in life, you see somebody suffering, you pick him up and the Lord has assigned us to take care of His creatures, and to take care of the believers, we have a work to do, it's a work to save lives in your community, it's a work to encourage people in your community, it's a work to lift up those who are fallen, it's a work to aid and to act what Christ would have done if Christ were there, preach to that neighbour, help everyone, it's the work that is fruitful, and you're ready everytime, you're checking up among the brethren, you're watchful, you want to maintain good works, it doesn't matter whether he's from another tribe, you just want to do good unto everyone, you're careful and you're watchful and you're ready to maintain good work. You will not do anything that is not profitable unto your neighbour, you will not do anything that will push your neighbour down, you're looking at how you can increase the Joy and that perish lives you will rescue. You will not be fruitless IN Jesus Name Amen.
OK. Crowning Rewards for Faithful work. Revelation 2:25-29; 3:11-13; 1 Corinthians 9:25-27; 2 Timothy 4:5-8.
Everything you do, do it for the upliftment of the believers in Christ, do it to bring sinners to the Lord, the Lord will reward you, it's a crowing work we are doing, it's a good work we are doing, you have the first Faith, you have the first love, hold fast unto it till He Comes, and you have the first works, you have the good works and the godly works, hold fast till He comes. You will overcome trials, you will overcome temptations and discouragement IN Jesus Name Amen. You will overcome sicknesses, you will overcome any arrow, any attack. You're an overcomer IN Jesus Name Amen.
What Christ would have done if He were on your street, do it, Christ would preach to everyone If He were here, do that same thing, He would have being preaching the gospel if He were here, He would have being uplifting people, He would have been lifting up people, pointing souls to His death, and encouraging people and enlightening them to see according to the scriptures, preach as Christ would have preach if He were here, If you do that, and when He comes and He set up His Kingdom you will be there, you're going to bring the first love back, you're going to bring the first Faith back, and you're going to do the works again and the Lord will crown you on the final day. The Lord can come at anytime, what work have you done to merit rewards and the crown when He comes? You understand when devil bring temptation, he want you to fall and when persecution comes, the devil is watching so you will be weak and you'll be down, and he wants your hands togo down, he wants to take your crown, no man will take your crown IN Jesus Name Amen. Christ will come sooner than you thought, and sooner than you're expects. Hold fast your first faith, hold fast the doctrine of the word, hold fast the first convictions, hold fast your first consecration, hold fast until the end, keep on doing good works until the end and keep on serving God fervently and Joyfully and happily and cheerfully.
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