Have you left your first love?

I want to make a recommendation that each of us should consider each day you get up until you get up again. Not letting Jesus Christ become a background in our lives. In our life of faith when we came to the Gospel, when we gave our lives to Jesus Christ, many of us did not have a schedule to be with the Lord, many of us had no impediment, it did not matter if the world rose up against us, but we wanted to being where the Lord was, we wanted to hear every word, we wanted to hear every teaching. We did not forget a service, we did not forget a conference, we did not forget a meeting of churches, we did not forget the cell, we did not forget anything, we did not forget our responsibilities. We could forget about those who had to eat at home, but not what happened while we were getting to know the Lord. The first love is important to maintain through time.

Do you know why? Because it's not just the first love, it's the only love. It is not only the first love but it is love. And each one of us must get up every day and think about how today I show my God, my Lord, my Christ, that I love him. How today I am willing to take concrete steps in my spiritual life, in my emotional life, in my physical life to show the Lord, Lord, I love you.

And I want to invite you to think for a moment that it is necessary for our lives to be convinced, for our hearts to be convinced, for our minds to be convinced that without the love of Jesus Christ our life does not have a clear meaning, nor a direct course, nor a safe course with Christ we have eternal life, with the love of Christ we have salvation. Through the love of Christ our sins have been forgiven. Through the love that Jesus Christ demonstrated for us on the cross of Calvary, our life was called as a new, complete and total life, through the love of Jesus Christ reflected on the cross of Calvary we were made children of God.

Don't you think it's a privilege? I believe it is a privilege to be a child of God. At the beginning of Chapter 2 in the book of Revelation he tells us a little about the church of Ephesus, an interesting church. And although there are many serious studies regarding these cards, I have always admired these cards as the personality of each one of us. These 7 letters, or these 7 churches, for me, in a very personal opinion, I don't know if they are going to send me to say things over the internet or not this time, but it has to do with certain characteristics in our lives that we sometimes fulfill and are reflected in one of these cards. And I felt impacted by the church of Ephesus, which often reflects our personality, that desire to serve the Lord, to love him, not only through our works, nor through our conduct, but through the behavior of others.

The church of Ephesus represents those men and women who have converted to the Lord and who have given their time to the Lord, and who have given their money to the Lord, and who have given their family spaces to the Lord, and they have given so much more for the Lord that they have become an important part in the growth and development of the churches in the cities. The church of Ephesus represents those people who get so deep, so intimate with the Lord that there is nothing, that there is nothing that can make them look the other way.

I know your works. I know your works. And there are a series of details in the works of this church that many times we feel identified with. Sometimes we have come to church sick, but we have to be in the church, we have to be with the brothers, we have to be supporting the cell, we have to be supporting the activities of the ministries, we have to be there, present. A work church, a church where men and women not only have full time, as a brother in my church says, but also part time and part time in situ. Working people, sacrificed people, even charge to get home. People who have resolved even about their own physical health, to show their love for the Lord. People who have, in some way, received insult or persecution or have had to suffer loneliness for loving the Lord.

This somehow represents this church of Ephesus. You know what? The Apostle Paul, 30 years ago, when he wrote the letter to the Ephesians, in the book of Ephesians, Chapter 1, verse 15, Paul, the Apostle Paul was amazed at the love and faith that this church had. 30 years after the book of Revelation was written, this letter in the book of Ephesians. Paul was amazed, Paul had already been a few times, one of the last times he spent more than two years preaching the Gospel, speaking about the things of the Lord, being amazed by the things that the Lord was doing.

The Ephesus church had an important quality, like many of those churches. The early church had such a great gift of discernment in the early days of the church. Notice that they stripped naked, they knew who was a bad Apostle. We have to find out from the news about two years later. They knew who their bad leaders were. The Lord, the Holy Spirit was working in those churches, in such a broad way, in such an open field that they were, they had such a great sensitivity of the Holy Spirit to be able to realize who was not preaching sound doctrine.

Discernment was important. The gift of miracles was important in those times. What do you think of today? Will it be important too? Okay, but we're not going to talk about the gifts. But it is important to maintain these characteristics of this church, to keep it in mind, which often identifies with us, with our way of being, with our way of living, with our way of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

He says that he has suffered, you have been patient for the love of my name, but over time the liturgy and the routine were displacing the love for Jesus Christ by human rules, by custom, simply by what seems to me and what does not seem to me. seems. That is why the Lord in this verse 4 reproaches the church of Ephesus: I have something against you. Mira is telling him, I recognize everything that you have done for the good of the Gospel, for the spread of the Gospel, I know that what you have done you have done well, but over time there was something that you left aside, and it was to look at me, it was to love me, it was to do things for love of me, it was to stop doing things for love of me, it was to speak for love of me, it was to stop speaking badly for love of me.

Today, we have a challenge at this time, to be a church that loves the Lord with all its heart. And that he demonstrates it not only in his actions, not only in his sayings, not only in his thoughts, but in his way of living, in his way of projecting this Gospel. There are many of us who are probably locked in the middle of our activities, and we think that's loving the Lord. We get stressed from so many activities that we have, we even get bad-tempered from so many activities that we have. We leave our family aside, we leave our children aside, we leave our environment aside, because of so many activities we have. We are no longer loving Jesus Christ, we are more loving the idea of the organization whom we are serving. We serve the Lord and through that service many of those around us are impacted, but because we serve the Lord.

A church that serves the Lord is a church that does not forget that its first is Jesus Christ. A church like the one that each one of us shares in our daily lives is one that never forgets that Jesus Christ is its passion, it is everything. I have something against you, that you have left your first love.

And that in First Timothy, Chapter 5, verse 12 is referred to as a… it is like falsifying the first faith, it is like falsifying the first love. They did not keep the first love. We have to learn that the way of the Lord is a process and we must keep day by day, that mentality of being a church loved by God through Jesus Christ.

When we love the Lord, when we recognize his love in us, our faith becomes true, our love becomes real. We are not going to forget what the Lord put in our lives at the beginning.

Paul had already written in Ephesians, Chapter 1, verse 15 his admiration for this church, for its love, for its faith and its love. Ephesians, Chapter 1, verse 15:

“…it was because of his love and his faith towards all the saints…”

This was written 30 years before it was written again, before John wrote in the book of Revelation. But this love had been filled with rules, but this love had been filled with impurities, but this love had been filled with harshness, but this love had been filled with difficulties that develop in relationships with people, with those who are children, with whom they are called saints. This love was disfigured by those who in some way exercised some wrong leadership. This love became more conditioned to the extent that if it is with my interests, I support, if I don't have my interests stored there, better I don't support. The church needs to shake off that liturgical, religious routine that has often brought harm to the people simply for having stopped loving the Lord.

We need to get rid of all that can prevent God's love from flowing through us in different actions, in different ways, as he wants to act with us. When the love of Jesus Christ invades our entire being, we must worry day by day that it does not leak out, that it does not escape, with a lot of prayer, with a lot of reading of the word of the Lord, with fasting, with getting together, with looking at each other. eyes honestly, looking in our brother at the face of Christ for which Christ was crucified, and not looking at the brother as our enemy.

I have something against you, that you have left your first love. I go out of commitment, I do it out of commitment, I give out of commitment, out of commitment to whom? By commitment to whom? We must analyze our hearts, we must open our hearts, let the Holy Spirit reprove our entire being and begin to reveal to us what are the real motivations that we have today to serve the Lord. We must let the Holy Spirit work in our understanding, renew our understanding every day, as Romans says, Chapter 12, we must be constantly renewed. Because? Because in that renewal we are going to realize those things that do not please God and we can correct them in time.

Do you know what the idea is? Keep loving the Lord with all our hearts. Do you know what the idea of this is? It is to continue believing that his love is enough for us. Do you know what the idea of this is? It is believing that the love of God can do everything in our life and I believe that when the love of God is there there are miracles, there are healings, there are signs, there are prodigies, there are provisions, there is his presence, there is his anointing, there is his authority. The love of God present in us reflects the company of Jesus, the company of the Holy Spirit, the company of the Father, the company of this divine, powerful God who will lead us from victory to victory.

Let us take care of the church not to change its love for the interests that each one of us has, including the leaders. Let us take care to change the love of God, that it is not changed by the liturgical and religious routine. There is a very famous phrase, I heard it on the radio, that I do not share very much, I have a relationship with God, not a religion. And it's nice, but you know what? I have come to understand that my religion is my reconnection with the Lord, this reuniting with God. You don't have a problem talking about my religion being Christ. Don't be guided by that famous little phrase they play on the radio. Relationships are broken, when one reconnects with the Lord, there is nothing that breaks that. There is nothing to tear it apart because I am linked, relinked.

That means religion, reconnecting, reuniting and through Jesus Christ this relationship, which was simply a relationship from creator to creation, was transformed from Father to son. That provokes the love of Jesus Christ in us. That is caused by the love of Jesus Christ in our lives. We are no longer strangers, we are no longer upstarts, we are family for the love of Jesus.

The church needs to be aware, love is God, love is the greatest, the love of God through Jesus Christ gave us salvation. The love of Christ is, according to John, Chapter 13, verse 1, it is invariable. You can be with someone next to you and one day you love them more than another. According to John, Chapter 15, verse 9, God's love is divine. According to John Chapter 15, verse 17, the love of God is an advocate, notice. Love is a lawyer. In Romans, Chapter 8, verse 35, it's a traditional evangelical verse, I love to tease evangelicals with this. Do you know it by heart or not? Romans Chapter 8, verse 35, who will separate us from the love of Christ.

So the love of God, the love of Jesus Christ is inseparable. According to Galatians, Chapter 2 verse 20, the love of Christ is sacrificed, it is by his sacrifice that he loved us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ, who? Religion, relationship, tribulation, angels, principalities, powers, what is above, what is below? Who? Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

So if you were thinking of following religion simply because you liked the church club. Stop thinking like that. Begin to understand that this is done for the love of God, for the love of the Lord, and our life must be wrapped in that love, and we must allow ourselves to be wrapped by the love of Jesus Christ. Do you want to live in victory? Never stray from the love of the Lord. Do you want to see your request answered? Never stray from the love of God. Don't let what the Lord has put in your life get cold. Salvation A great price was paid for salvation. That alone is enough to love the Lord. Nothing more, if we have more, if we have less that doesn't matter. It is the salvation that he gave us through his sacrifice on the cross of Calvary.

You are here because you love the Lord. He is not here because he has nothing else to do on Wednesday. He's not here because he just got bored at home and came over. You are here because you love the Lord, because you want to see all who love the Lord here with you and worship and bless his name, declare your love before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. God's love surpasses all understanding. God's love surpasses all knowledge. God's love surpasses all emotion. God's love surpasses everything that can be considered important in this humanity.

So, that the Lord does not say I have something against you, but rather tell him, well good and faithful servant. In the little you have been faithful, in the much I will put you. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Hallelujah! Give the Lord a round of applause.