Forgetting What Matters Most [LIVE] - 08/09/2026

Come on, let's celebrate! Thank you, Jesus. We remember the stories, the disciples were born in a boat. Yet Christ came to them walking on the sea. He said, "Take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid." We remember our story. We are often overwhelmed by life and the stresses of life of all types. And so let us worship the God who comes to us in the storm, who acts us to trust in Him. Yes, God is our help and our time of need. We worship with hope in our hearts, so God of Jacob and God of the 5,000. You meet us in places where you're asking us to trust you. God who walks upon the waters and whispers in the silence, calm the storms that frighten us and quiet the noise that defens us to your voice. We thank you and we praise you for your presence. Meet us in the wind and in the whisper of life. Like in Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen. Amen. Brother, you're viewing online or you're in person for the first time. Welcome to Grace Way, it's time to worship King Jesus. Come on, let me see you cluck your hand. This is the way we praise the Lord here. Come on. ♪ I'm praising the valley ♪ ♪ Praise all the mountains ♪ ♪ I'm praised when I'm sure ♪ ♪ Praise when I'm doubting ♪ ♪ I'm praised when I'm doubting ♪

♪ I'm praised when surrounding ♪ ♪ I'm praised as the waters ♪ ♪ My enemies drowning ♪ ♪ As long as I'm breathing ♪ ♪ I've got a reason to praise ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ I'm praised when I'm feeling ♪ ♪ And I'm praised when I'm doubting ♪ ♪ Come on ♪ ♪ I'm praised 'cause I know ♪ ♪ You're feeling control ♪ ♪ My praise is a weapon ♪ ♪ It's more than a sound ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ I'm praised as the child ♪ ♪ That breaks your record down ♪ ♪ Come on, if you have breath in your body ♪ ♪ As long as I'm breathing ♪ ♪ I've got a reason to praise ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ I'm going to praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ No, I won't be quiet ♪ ♪ My God is alive ♪ ♪ How could I keep it alive ♪ ♪ I'm going to pray ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Come on, let me see you come ♪ ♪ The Bible says let everything that has breath ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, so if you have breath in your body ♪

♪ I want you to pray the Lord, amen ♪ ♪ Come on ♪ ♪♪ ♪ I'm praised as the siren ♪ ♪ Praised as the rain ♪ ♪ Praised as the rose and the feet in the grain ♪ ♪ I'm praised as the flame ♪ ♪ Praised as the true ♪ ♪ Praised as the stone body greater than you ♪ ♪ I'm praised as the siren ♪ ♪ Praised as the rain ♪ ♪ Praised as the rose and the feet in the grain ♪ ♪ I'm praised as the flame ♪ ♪ Praised as the true ♪ ♪ Praised as the stone body greater than you ♪ ♪ Sing it out, pray ♪ ♪ Praised as the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ I'm going to pray ♪ ♪ Praised as the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ I won't be quiet ♪ ♪ My God is alive ♪ ♪ How could I keep it aside ♪ ♪ I won't be quiet ♪ ♪ My God is alive ♪ ♪ How could I keep it aside ♪ ♪ I won't be quiet ♪ ♪ My God is alive ♪ ♪ How could I keep it aside ♪ ♪ I'm going to pray ♪ ♪ Praised as the Lord, oh my soul ♪

Come on, let me see you come! (upbeat music) So if you know it, we're going to see that. I'm going to declare who Jesus is, Adonai is Elohim. He lives in me, and Eloh should die. You're my prince of peace, and man you will. You're here with me, Your name is great, and greatly to be praised, Your name is great, and greatly to be praised, singing on night on night, Eloh, Elohim. He lives in me, and will should die, and my prince of peace, and man you will. You're here with me, sing Your name, Your name is great, and greatly to be praised, Your name is great, and greatly to be praised, Your name is great. And greatly to be praised, Your name is great, and greatly to be praised, so yes, You're greatly to be praised, so worth, so worth, and worthy You were, worthy You were, and worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You were, worthy You was, worthy You were, worthy Come on, Church, here it stands One, two, one, do you work? One, two, one, do you work? One, two, one, do you will be? One, two, one, do you work? One, two, one, do you work? One, two, one, do you work? One, two, one, do you will be? Whatever you want, whatever you want, whatever you want, whatever you want, whatever you want, whatever you want. Oh, we adore you, we adore you, we adore you, oh come on give them a shout of praise. Welcome to Graceway, my name is John Stevens and I'm so glad you're joining us today. Whether this is your first time with us or you've been watching for a while, we're really glad you're here.

You are a valued part of the Graceway family and it's a privilege to worship with you each week. No matter where you've been or what your story looks like, God isn't finished with you. Throughout the Bible, we see Him using ordinary people with imperfect pasts, doing incredible things. Your past doesn't define your future. In Christ there's always hope, there's always purpose and there's always the next step. If you have a family or friends who use the Pando app, encourage them to watch Graceway too. This is a great way to experience the same message together, even when you're in different places. One of the best things we can do is grow in our faith together, encourage one another and keep the conversation going long after the service ends. If you're currently in a correctional facility in Kansas or Missouri and would like to see Graceway offered where you are, let your chapel know. They can learn more about bringing Graceway to your facility by visiting visitgraceway.org/prison. As we get started, don't just watch the service, jump in. Worship, pray and listen and ask God to speak to you. I believe He has something He wants to say to you today. [MUSIC] Graceway, we're going to continue to worship King Jesus. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] There was mercy in your eyes to fulfill the law and rise to a virgin came the word from a throne of endless glory to a greater wind than dirt. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Morning that you rose, all of heaven held its breath Till that stone was moved for good, for the Lamb that conquered death And the dead rose from their tooth, and the angels stood it off But in so the fall will come to the Father our restore Come on, and the church of Christ was born Then the Spirit laid the grave, now this God pulled through the Lord Shall not kneel, shall not paint

Like his blood, and in his name, and his freedom I am free For the love of Jesus Christ who has resurrected me And Lord, grace wait, this is one of my favorite Sundays here, y'all It's baptism Sunday, until we get to celebrate with our brothers and sisters Who are getting baptized, so come on, let's witness some baptisms [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] ♪ Forever to the King of King ♪ [♪♪♪] Oh, man. I got to tell you all, I'm in my feels a little bit, all right? Can I tell you a story? Is that okay? All right, well, I'm going to where these said yes or no. So, about 25 years ago, I went to the Philippines and I met a guy by the name of John Stevens. He walked in with his brand-new baby girl at the time, and he and I really hit it off.

When we were in Cincinnati, he actually came up and was connected to that ministry, and then, I'll just be honest with you, for a significant season of his life. If God was that way, John was running the other way. And I love John and Ashnite prayed for John and his family for years and years and years. About six years ago, John and his wife moved to Kansas City and went to growth track. Amen, amen. Got into a small group, went through D1, now is disciplining somebody, and now John runs our prison ministry here at Graysway. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And every time I see John walking around and doing his thing, I'm just reminded of the goodness and power of God, right? So that's actually not the story. The story is that John grew up in Ocala, Florida, and today he got to baptize a guy that he had been praying for. That was Willie who got baptized, the big dude who got all misty, and John had been praying for Willie. And a few months ago, Willie called John not doing good, and John got to be there when God saved Willie. And then John said, "You ought to drive up from Florida and get baptized at Graysway and then come to Crossroads and help me at Crossroads." And Willie was like, "I'm down, let's do it." And you just got to see it. You just got to see it. Amazing, amazing.

So here's the moral of the story, and then I'll pray and we'll get on with it, all right? Number one, don't stop praying for people. Don't stop praying for people. God has plans and purposes, and God loves them more than you love them. And once God does what only God can do, you got no idea the amount of other blessings they're going to follow the thing. You're like, "God, if you would just give me this." And God says, "Actually, I'm going to give you that, and then that, and then that, and then that, and then that." And I just want to say to you, who's got a better than us, right? Who's got a better than us to be able to see God change people's lives in family, tree, and future? Who's got a better than us to be able to watch somebody who's a completely different person? Because Jesus loves them and loves you. God hears us, God moves on our behalf. It's an incredible thing. It's an incredible thing. All right, let's pray. Lord, we love you. Thank You, Lord, for bringing my friend home. Thank You, Lord, for hearing me when I pray. Thank You, Lord, for the calling they have on his life. Thank You, Lord, for what you're doing at Crossroads and at Ozarks and soon at Moonville and in Chillicoffee. Thank You, Lord, for Willy and for saving Willy and his sweet wife. Thank You, Lord, that they would come here and get baptized. Thank You, Lord, for the calling they have on Willy's life. Thank You, Lord, for the family tree that you're making here at Graceway.

People from all over our city and all over our country. Very different people, all coming under Jesus. Thank You, Lord, that our differences aren't too big for you. Thank You, Lord, that our past isn't too big for you. Thank You, Lord, for the decisions that we used to be making. Weren't too big for you. Thank You, Lord, for Grace and for 50th chances. - Thank you, Lord, for being long-suffering with us. Thank you, Lord, for hearing us when we pray. Thank you, Lord, for the church, a home that orphans can come to and find a father and find brothers and sisters. Thanks, Lord, for what you're doing at Grace Way. We know it to you, Lord, it certainly isn't any of us. So we just honor you today. We praise you today. Thanks for listening to us sing and receiving our offering and hearing our prayers. We ask you now to speak to us through your word, for your glory and our gift. In Jesus' name we pray, and all God's people said, amen and amen. It's awesome. Hey, pass some peace to somebody around you and then grab your seat. (instrumental music) (instrumental music) - Hey, y'all, do me a favor. Squeeze into the middle. We got some folks, good amount of folks in the back

looking for a seat. Squeeze into the middle, if you would. All right, I know some construction dust. Got my eye, I think, my eyes leaking. Sorry, it's all good. Hey, if you're a guest, man, thank you for being here. My name's Tim, I'm the lead pastor here. We're honored to have you today. If you're watching us online, man, we appreciate you. Hope you're doing well. And then come on one more time, church. Say hello to the men at Crossroads and at Ozarks. We love you, fellas. Love you, fellas. As Pastor Jeremy said, tonight, 21 days of prayer, let's keep praying, keep trusting, keep asking. And let me also just talk to you real quickly. We got baptisms happening today, and I'm sure that there are people in the room who, you're a Christian, but you've never gone public with your faith. So let me just, real quick, be clear. Nobody up there became a Christian because of the water they got dunked in. There's nothing special about that water. That's just Raytown water. Come on, somebody. All right? And so those aren't people who became a Christian right then. Those are people that God has already saved

and they're just letting you know. That's the reason that we get emotional about that is because that's the reason this church exists. For God to save people and set people free and call people into purpose and into ministry and to give you a fulfillment that you can only find in Jesus. So that's really the beginning of that story for those people. And I just promise you that you got to see willy get baptized, but I promise you that's not the last time you're gonna see willy. Come on, somebody, all right? And so we love to just see the origin stories of what God is doing. But some of y'all, you are a Christian. You've never gone public with your faith, and I just wanna challenge you that your private faith isn't worth much. I'm glad you got it. It's better than you're not having it. But faith is something that's supposed to be expressed. And some of y'all, you need to get baptized and you need to get baptized today. I know you're looking cute, you're looking handsome, you got your favorite shirt on, you're having a good hair day, so I hear, right? But listen, if God's telling you to get baptized, do it today, all right? Go out to the next steps desk.

We'll baptize you in the next service. If you say, I'm actually busy during the next service, cool, we'll baptize you at the end of the service. But don't hear from God and not do what God told you to do, okay? Church, you wanna see some more baptisms? I did too, I did too. Fellas, real quick, let me talk to ya. 20 days out from Kansas City Men's Conference. So excited about this. If you're not signed up, fellas for the conference, much like baptisms, let's not make excuses, let's just make sure we get signed up. Should be a graphic coming up, there it is. You can hit that QR code, you can go to that web address, you can sign up in the next steps desk shoot, you can come up to me and say, I don't know how to sign up, and I'll get you signed up, okay? But men, let's make sure that we're taking steps of faith and of leadership, let's make sure that we're growing so that our family can be growing, so our church can be growing. Come on, who you are is that important. And I say to you very often, you being the spiritual leader of your home, it's not a question of if you are, it's a question of how you're doing, okay? And so your wife can't blossom and bloom and thrive if you're not, your kids can't blossom and bloom and thrive if you're not,

our church can't blossom and bloom and thrive if you're not, man, okay? So once a year we get together, we do this, we got some incredible speakers, worship's can be awesome, Pastor Brandon Estelle's gonna be back in the building, we got Casey, Joe's, we got a swag drop for you, but more than anything, listen, the presence of God on August 29th, a bunch of men singing and hearing from God, not much better than that, all right? If you have a Bible, get over to Revelation chapter two. Let me very quickly pray. And then we got a lot to get to today. Lord, speak to us in power. Speak to us in authority. Speak to us for your glory. Speak to us for our good. We love you. We thank you and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're in week two of a series called Dear Church. Jesus' letters to the seven churches in the first century Asia minor. Last week I gave you a bit of a taster on the book of Revelation. If you missed that, you can go to YouTube or the website and get all that. But we're going to start into the letters that Jesus has written to these churches. And the first is to a church in the city of Ephesus. A couple of interesting things about the city of Ephesus. The city of Ephesus sat on a harbor. And one of the most interesting historical events is kind of the slow catastrophe around

that harbor. So, Ephesus sits on a harbor, but there was a river that was feeding that harbor called the Kaster River. And it would dump silt into the harbor. And it would fill up the harbor so that ships couldn't get into the harbor. And so, the people of Ephesus would dredge the harbor. They actually invited some Roman engineers to come in and put some infrastructure in place. But year over year over year they couldn't keep up with the silt. And their harbor began to fill up. Now the harbor is important because it's tied to economy and it's tied to population. It's tied to trade. And so if ships can't get in, products can't get in, money can't get in. So people need to leave Ephesus to go to places that can get access to those things. The harbor was the life source of the city of Ephesus. And here's what's interesting. If you go to Ephesus today, it is four miles from the harbor. Four miles. Now that's an interesting fact because the historical geography of the city of Ephesus is very reminiscent of what happened to the church in Ephesus. Ephesus is an important city in Asia Minor in the first century. And because of that, it's an important city in the New Testament. A guy by the name of Paul formerly Saul planted the church. Paul is the predominant author of the New Testament outside of Jesus. He's kind of like our first round draft pick, our first ballot Hall of Famer. And he planted this church. He spent the largest amount of time in Ephesus that he had anywhere else. And he wrote a letter to the church. We know it as the book of Ephesians. He had some friends, Priscilla and Aquila who spent time there.

He had a protégé by the name of Apollos who came through there. His primary protégé was a guy by the name of Timothy. And while Timothy was pastoring in Ephesus, Paul wrote him two letters, not creative. First Timothy. And then he wrote him a second letter that was called, he said, yeah, not creative. But you get it. Both of these, the book of Ephesians and the book of 1st and 2nd Timothy both find their audience in the city of Ephesus. And then Jesus' best friend, the guy by the name of John, the Apostle John, the guy who wrote the Gospel of John after Jerusalem falls in 80/70. He goes to Ephesus and he becomes one of the pastors at Ephesus. And he probably wrote 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John from the city of Ephesus. What I'm trying to say to you is that there are very few churches in our early church tradition that have the theological heritage or leadership heritage of a church like Ephesus. And so it makes sense that whenever Jesus begins talking to the seven churches of Asia Minor in the 1st century, he starts with Ephesus. It is also important to know that Jesus is going to say you're doing well on a lot of things and you're not doing well on this one thing, and that one thing is the one failure that's capable of wiping out every other virtue in every other church. It's that big of a deal. So I want you to open up your Bibles to Revelation 2, if you don't have a Bible we'd love to give you one. But let's go through it together. Revelation 2 and verse 1 begins to the angel of the church in Ephesus. Right. Now let's stop right there. Remember the book of Revelation is an apocalyptic book. Apocalypse doesn't mean horror movie or scary story. It means to pull back a veil. And so God is pulling back the veil on the other world.

He's collapsing the distinction between the heavenly and the earthly. And what we are finding out is that earthly churches possess some type of heavenly dimension and some type of angelic representation. letter is being written to in the same way. This earthly church, 2026, Raytown Missouri, has some type of heavenly representation and some type of angelic representation right now. So somewhere in heaven there is a Grace Way church and there is an angel of Raytown Missouri of Grace Way. God is talking, Jesus is talking to the angel of the church in Ephesus and then he says this, the words of Him, these next words are from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand. That is not the angel, those seven stars are the angels and the one who is holding those angels isn't another angel, the one who is holding those angels is the king. His name is Jesus. I don't know what your God holds or what your King holds, my King holds stars and angels in his hand and not like taking up all the space, just like just nicely in his hand he just slides in his pocket, no big deal, he's just that big of a deal and he's the one who is talking and he not only has seven stars in his right hand but he walks among the seven golden lampstands and we know according Revelation chapter one that the seven stars are the angels of the churches and that the seven lampstands are the seven churches. So this is not one lamp with seven branches, this is seven lampstands, each of which is a church, why? Because the job of the church is to bear witness of the kingdom and bring the light of the world to the darkness of the world. And so Jesus says, I'm about to drop some knowledge on you while I'm holding the angels and while I'm walking among the lampstands and what does this mean? It means not that Jesus knows about the church, no no Jesus knows about churches and how does he know about churches because he is there among them seeing what is happening beneath the surface. And if he was there among them, he is here among us seeing past, seeing past our Sunday best, seeing past our thin cultural veneers, seeing past our best efforts to look as proper as possible on Sunday morning. No, Jesus with eyes of fire sees past to what is really happening in Grace Way. And he is here and that should on one hand encourage you, wow, Jesus is here, wow, Jesus is here, yeah. And Jesus sees me as I actually am not as I want to be seen, not as I aspire to be seen as I actually am. Well, that's both wonderful and awful, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. And so the words of him who holds the seven

stars in his right hand who walks among the seven golden lampstands and then he says to the church at Ephesus, here it is, I know your works. Your toil and your patient endurance and how you cannot bear with those who are evil but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not and found them to be false. I know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my namesake and that you have not grown weary, but I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love that 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 I will remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. Yet this you have, you hate the works of the nickel aitons, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches, to the one who conquers, I will grant to eat the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Jesus is going to say three positive things about the church in Ephesus and the first is really a interplay between two words. He says, I know your works, comma your toil. And that first word works is just a general reference to the labor that the church has done for Jesus and in the name of Jesus. The second word, toil is different because it carries the connotation of labor that pushes you to the place of exhaustion. It's stronger. It's a more costly word than, hey, good job working. It's that the church at Ephesus has poured themselves out, has spent themselves in the doing of the work of God in their time. are working, and I know that you're working sacrificially." Secondly, he speaks to their theological courage. He says in verse 2, "How you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false, and then he will later say that you hate the work of the Nicolei iTunes." We'll talk about that in weeks to come. And he says, "Which I also hate." And so this is a church that is not theologically passive, is not theologically soft, but engages with what is happening in the church, and in the culture, and is ten toes down on the truth of God's Word. This is not a church that tries to stay away from conflict. This is a church that stands on God's Word. This is a church that acknowledges and sees and confronts forcefully, error in the church, and in the culture. This is a church that does not pet the wolves in the church, but takes them out back and puts a bullet in the head of the wolves in the church. We don't pet wolves in the church. We kill wolves in the church. We pet sheep. We punch wolves.

That's how the Bible teaches us to do it. And Jesus says, "Not only are you working hard, but you're doctrinally, theologically, stout, astute, faithful, courageous. You are doing it all well." And then he says, "Alongside toil, I see your patient endurance. I see your perseverance." And this Word is going to show up in all of the seven churches because at the end of the first century, the culture is pushing back violently on the kingdom of God. I'm talking actual persecution. I'm talking not somebody saying mean things on social media. I'm saying lose your job, lose your life, persecution. And in the New Testament, the language that Jesus uses is of a forward-leaning steadfastness under pressure. It is not the capacity just to keep standing, keep believing, keep obeying. It is doing it because it's hard, not in spite of it's being hard. Hey, let me say it to you this way. Some of us do the right thing when it's easy. Some of us do the right thing even though it's hard. And some of us acknowledge that sometimes it's hard because it requires the right thing. It's one thing to do it in spite of it's being hard. It's another thing for you to lean into the heart and stand with greater clarity and courage in the heart and keep leaning into that. And the Bible says that the Ephesians had done that in abundance and that they had not grown weary, that they had borne up under the difficulty of the time. And Jesus says, "I see your toil. I see your doctrinal and theological courage. I see your endurance." And he does it without qualification. He doesn't say, except that one time. He doesn't say, except on this one issue. He says, "Without qualification, y'all work hard, suffer well, you don't quit." And he adds, "You're doing it for my namesake." In other words, you're doing those three things for all the right reasons. This is a great church. Can I tell you if I get to the end of my tenure here at Grace Way and the reputation of Grace Way at the end of my tenure is they were doctrinally faithful. They patiently endured. They worked hard and poured themselves out for the name and the kingdom of God. I'm going to say, "That's pretty good. I'll take it." This is us looking back on some of the first grandparents of the ancestry of the church that is now. We are not detached from the move of God across time and place. We are not unique. We are not special. We are a part of a family tree. And the beginning of our family tree finds its roots in Western Turkey and the city of Ephesus. And Jesus says, "I'm there with y'all." And on these things, y'all are killing it. Y'all are doing great. I'm incredibly proud of you. I'm there. I see it. And it doesn't clarify

in any way, shape, or form. And he says in verse 4, "But all these things are true. But I do have this thing against you. You've abandoned the love that you had at first. And the tone that he uses is judicial. It is like a judge declaring the breaking of a covenant. And the word that he uses abandons." but something that has happened. And so whenever this drift began, it was not because they misprioritized or they misplaced their love, it is that they left it. Jesus treats the departure as a decision that has come to full fruition, something that has been let go of on purpose and forsaken on purpose. First Corinthians chapter seven, the Apostle Paul. Are y'all still with me? I'm preaching 187% better than y'all responding right now. Okay, fair enough, whatever. First Corinthians chapter seven uses the same verbiage in the context of a marriage, abandoning a marriage, but the idea is a marriage that began on fire. Are you with me? I'm talking this is the person that nobody could keep you away from. This is the person that God provided. They're the one, they're your soulmate. You would do anything to spend the rest of your life with them. Nobody's making you get married to them just like nobody made you get married to who you're married to. But that's different conversation and sermon, right?

I'm talking the ones that you're like, I have hit the jackpot. I'm talking Jerry Maguire. You complete me. It starts like that. But then over time, things get busy and things get stressful. And that love that was white hot cools. And then the vernacular is that one or both have not just cooled, but have chosen to become unfaithful to the covenant while remaining in the marriage. That's the word that Jesus is using. Why we keep up appearances of having a happy marriage on Sunday morning. You are clicking on it and I'm sleeping with it. But on Sunday, that's the word. Okay, so interesting side point here. Efficiency is one of the great strengths of our age. We admire people that can maximize and optimize and streamline and get more done with less. Are you with me saying men, if you are? We like it in business and sports and leadership. It's a virtue. We love the idea of automation. That's why we are so fascinated with AI, even if it is going to kill us with robots who end up hating us, right? So you're saying that I can have it respond to my emails, I'll take the risk, right? But we also see that there are some glaring weaknesses

to efficiency and that probably at the top of that list is relationships. No marriage becomes healthier because it becomes efficient. No friendship gets deeper because we talk less and shorter. Love cannot be optimized. It requires presence, attention and delight. And love that was and love that cools has a special kind of grief for it, doesn't it? This isn't, we used to be good and then we became toxic. This is, we used to be good and somewhere along the way, something insidious and quiet happened. And we kept up appearances and appointments and the chores got done and the bills got paid and the calendar was full and the house was in order, but somewhere along the way, we walked out of loving each other. Everything still works, but something precious is gone. Can I tell you, it is possible for the church to become incredibly efficient at doing work for Jesus. While a long time ago, having stopped loving Jesus. It's incredibly possible and can I maybe say this, it's incredibly easy. Because it looks like it's going well. I mean, we got LED walls and all these speakers. We're redoing the auditorium. The seats are basically full. We got a VIP section and a. (congregation laughing) Small groups are going good. D1 is going good.

D2 is getting ready to launch. We're going to places other churches. Don't go to be very honest with you. [BLANK_AUDIO] We're fairly astute, theologically, and doctrinally. A lot of you serve faithfully. Sometimes we even go through hard time. I mean, we pray for 21 days in a row, twice a year. And can I tell you, all that busyness can be exactly the thing that helps us lose our affection for Jesus. And so Jesus says, and remember, this is Jesus, this is not John, Jesus says, I want you to remember some things. And the word that he uses, I want you to remember, and I want you to keep remembering. And he says, once you remember, I want you to repent. So the difference between repentance and confession, confession is agreeing, repentance is turning. And Jesus says, you're walking along, and as you're walking, you have forgotten, you have abandoned your first love. And Jesus says, the solution, the prescription, is that you would stop forgetting and start remembering. And that as you remember, you would turn back to what you used to love and that you would start doing what you used to do because of what you used to love. Amen if you're with me. Now this is interesting because most Christians think of repentance as stopping doing something bad. Stop lying, repent. Stop stealing, repent. Stop looking at it, clicking on it, sleeping with it. Stop saying it, stop losing your temper, repent. Stop doing what's wrong. But the church at Ephesus is not rebuked for any obvious immorality or false doctrine.

Are you with me? In fact, it is said that they're working hard, maybe working harder than we are, enduring difficulty for sure, enduring more difficulty than we are, defending the truth, maybe more than we are. The problem was not something bad they were doing, it was something good they had left for good things. For me it's not stop doing something bad, repent of that, it's you're doing something really good in the place of something the most good. You see we tend to think if you just stop doing the bad things you'll be good but God says no there are some good things that are getting in the way of the best thing. And I want you to repent of the good things as well as the bad things and you're like we'll shoot, now I got a lot to repent of, yeah. That's why John Calvin says that the Christian life is a perpetual repentance, yeah. Sometimes the greatest danger to the church is not rebelliousness, it's religion. And let me explain religion for you. Religion has all kinds of vestiges and liturgies and procedures and programs. But religion is basically this, it is for you to do what you ought to do because you ought to do it not because you want to do it. You see a lot of Christians have a terrible case of the shoulds. Why do you do that? I don't know, I just feel like I should, why? It just seems like the right thing to do, why? I don't know, it's probably in the Bible, I haven't read it but somebody told me that it was and I'm doing it because it's the right thing to do. And if you really got under the shoulds and said, but yeah, but do you want to? Well, no, not really. Do you want to read your Bible, do you want to pray, do you want to give, do you want to make disciples, do you want to sing? No, no, I do because I should. And the thing that kills the church is the right thing without the desire for the right

thing. Can I tell you, some of you, your Christian life is a collection of the right thing that has never gotten to your heart and your affections. You love being right, you don't love Jesus and it's different. You love feeling like if I do the right thing, I'll get the right outcome and the right outcome is better than the bad outcome. And so, Christianity becomes a collection of facts and algorithms and information that produces the life that you want. But you're using Jesus to get what you want, not loving Jesus. And so Jesus says, I want you to remember what was lost. Do you remember, come on, think with me. Do you remember where you were before Jesus saved you? Do you remember some of y'all were in church and some of y'all were not in church, amen. And do you remember whether it was old information made new or things you had never heard before? Do you remember when it made sense to you? Wait a minute, a holy God loves me. Wait a minute, Jesus is real, wait a minute, I can be forgiven, wait a minute, I can be free, wait a minute, I can have, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Mercy's new every morning, no condemnation, perpetual and eternal forgiveness. You're saying that I can be somebody completely different and that it's actually not me, it's God that doesn't, you're saying that God thinks about the hairs on my head and the desires in my heart. You're saying that God loves me more than it. You're saying that I'm God's favorite, wait a minute, if that's true, if that's true and do you remember when God did save you and the lights came on and do you remember nobody had to tell you to read your Bible? Do you remember you started reading in the book of Ezekiel and you didn't understand any of it and you still loved it? You're like, I have no idea what this is but I can't put it down, this is unbelievable. Do you remember when praying you weren't worried about not saying the right thing?

You just were like, wait a minute, God hears me when I pray and then do you remember the first time that God answered your prayer and you were like, wait a minute, this works? This actually works. Do you remember the first time you were broke and the bucket pass and the pastor said, hey, saying that you have is God's and you were like, absolutely and you emptied your pockets into that. Do you remember the first time after God saved you that you did the thing that you had been doing for years and years and years and now all of a sudden you felt terrible about doing it and you liked it, you were like, I feel awful, this is great. Do you remember everybody that you had ever met, you were completely obnoxious about telling them about Jesus and you probably gave them false doctrine and bad information but you didn't care. Do you remember looking back on your past and realizing that God had you all along to the point that you're like, do you remember these conscious moments? Jesus says, remember. And then I imagine that Jesus would also say, what happened? Do you remember when church was the most important thing? Do you remember the day when you came in and you go, oh, I know this song? Do you remember when the bucket used to pass and you emptied your pockets and now you go, I don't think I can afford it? Do you remember when prayer used to be God hears me and now it's maybe God doesn't hear me and maybe I'm not saying the right thing? Do you remember when it used to be, I'm going to read the whole Bible in a week and now you're very busy. Do you remember when it used to matter that hell was a real place and real people go there and some of them are related to you and you say that you love and it used to be that you were obnoxious and heretical but you didn't care and now you'll sit beside them at Thanksgiving and it'll never cross your mind. Do you remember when you used to be experiencing the power and the grace of God and now do you remember that you don't have anything to remember for a long time like you can't remember the

last time you heard from God? The last time God's Word spoke to you, the last time you didn't do it because it was the right thing to do but because you desperately wanted to do it and Jesus says I want you to remember and I want you to replace, I want you to repent of what displaced it. Now here's the honest truth. What replaced it is normally good things. You're married, you got a job, you got bills, you got kids, you got places to go, you got things to do, you have things you're interested in but somewhere along the way, there used to be a point that Jesus was at the top. And then somewhere along the way, something happened gravitationally that now Jesus is anything, not nothing. It's not that you don't care about him. It's that you care about other things as much as him. And Jesus says, I want you to replace of the, I want you to repent of the things that are competing with me. And I want you to return to the practices that expressed it. Let me help you, okay? Some of you, you are waiting for your feelings to dictate your faith. I'm waiting to feel like it. And here's what I want to tell you. Your faith doesn't follow your feelings. Your faith follows your feet. Let me help you. If you want a better marriage, date your spouse. Don't wait to feel like you have a better marriage. You're gonna be waiting for a long time.

And some of you know exactly what I'm talking about. You have been on a date with your wife for months and months and months. And you wonder why you don't feel connected to her because you aren't, you're married to her. And that's different. Can I tell you some of the things that you used to do, like reading the book of Ezekiel, even though you couldn't realize what it was. Praying, even though you didn't know how to do it. Giving, even though you didn't have the money for it. Evangelizing, not worried about what they're gonna say and what you might say back. Working as unto the Lord. Feeling like I get every day to get up and spend time with God who sees me, knows me, loves me. Are you kidding me? (congregation applauding) The things that you did that taught you that. Here's what Jesus says. Remember how they felt. Turn from what you replace those things with and start doing those things again. And what you will find is that your faith will follow your feet. And once your feet are by your faith, your feelings will come after. But some of you are waiting for a feeling that isn't coming because you don't do the things that people who love Jesus do.

Jesus goes on and he says, if you do not do this, I will come to you and I will remove your lampstand from its place. Jesus warns them of what could happen because it hasn't happened yet. This is mercy. Here's what Jesus says if we're gonna put it in simple terms. That a church can have the name church on their building, can talk about Jesus, can preach about Jesus, can sing to Jesus, can pray to Jesus, can give to Jesus, can train other people about Jesus and Jesus not be there. And Jesus is saying, if you don't return to what you used to love, I will leave. Jesus is saying, you can be doctrinally sound. You can be hard work and you can be enduring hard times. You can be identifying false teachers and teaching. You can be remaining faithful to Jesus' name and you can be a country club, not a church. And can I tell you how easy this is? We're getting a new auditorium so it's more comfortable. And can I tell you? Some of you haven't been here for a couple of weeks 'cause you didn't like the folding chairs. That's how easy it is. I love Jesus, but I don't like folding chairs so I might watch online. That's how easy it is. And I'm here for it, I don't like folding chairs either.

(laughs) But sometimes the deepest repentance is not, Jesus forgive me for what I was doing wrong. Sometimes the deepest repentance is Jesus forgive me for the so many right things I was doing without loving you. And remember this letter is being read in church. Can you imagine? You are coming to the church at Ephesus. You are at the it church. Where do you go to church? Oh, I go to Ephesus. Oh really, I hear great things about Ephesus. Yeah, it's lovely, it's lovely. (congregation laughs) God's really doing some incredible things there, you know? I mean, we're all very humble, we know that it's not us, but might be a little bit of us, but. (congregation laughs) And they sing the songs and the buckets pass. And the preacher stands up. And does this to the angel of the church in Ephesus, right? Oh, this is interesting. Y'all are working hard and doing well. And your doctrine is solid. It really is, isn't it? Yes, thank you. I'm glad that he knows. But I do have one thing against you. Oh, this is interesting. You don't love me anymore.

And he says, "He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And to the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God." Jesus says, "If you church will come back to what you used to love, I will restore to you in a denic setting." Now, what does this mean? This is before the fall. And I want you to watch what Adam and Eve do once they fall. They turn into religious churchgoers. What does that mean? They realize that they were sinful, and they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves instead of falling on the grace and power of God. I'm going to bring my effort to God and hope that it's good enough rather than trusting God's effort on my account. It's in the garden. And Jesus says, "If you will love me first, I will take you back to when you were naked and unashamed. When you knew me for who I am and knew that I knew you for who you are, and there was relationship and transparency and love and affection and desire between us that I was the most important thing. And you can repent and have that, or you can do church, and I will not attend." So here's what I want to ask. This letter is to Christians. Don't forget that. So here's the question.

Why are you here today? For real, why are you here? And I'm asking myself, am I here to collect a paycheck because I'm the pastor? Am I here because I like talking in front of y'all? Am I here because I get to wear incredible suits like the one that I'm wearing? I don't know. Why are you here? Why are you here? Why do you come to this location from all over the city and sit in folding chairs or in the VIP section? Why do you show up here to hear the word of God preach, to sing songs, to give, to do, why, why, why? And if the answer is, because it's the right thing to do, let me free you. Go home. Go home. Find another good thing to do because you're wasting your time, because Jesus is not impressed with the things that you do. He doesn't want your activity. He wants your affection. And the reality of it is, if Jesus gets your affection, he will get your activity. But we have learned in America to give Jesus our activity but not give him our affection. And we have learned to professionalize worship services and sermons to just the right temperature and just the right volume with just the right amount

of Holy Spirit smoke and just the right amount of sing. So it's just so easy to look right. And Jesus says, save it. Save it. If you do not love me, do not come. Do not come and play church. Do not come and play religion. Do not come and play the right thing for the shoulds and the aughts to get the life that you really want. Do not treat me like a heavenly ATM. If you do not love me, would you try to remember when you used to? (gentle music) (gentle music) So I want you to close your eyes, Christians. I want you to spend some time with God and I want you to ask the Holy Spirit to remind you of what it felt like before God saved you. And then to remind you of what it was when God saved you to remind your heart of when you used to love Jesus more than anything. And then can I say this? If nothing is coming to mind, if you don't have a time that you remember loving Jesus more than anything else, it may be because you're not actually a Christian. You're just a very good church attender. If you think back to a time, that you felt something. Let me help you.

You're not a Christian. You're a Bible reader. You're a prayer. You're a church attender, but you're not a Christian because Jesus doesn't save you by your activity. He saves you by his. And so for some of you, I would love for you to be honest and say, I don't have a time that I love Jesus. And maybe today would be the very first time that God would save you and that you would give your heart to him. Let me also say if you're in the room and you know you're not a Christian, you can't return to a love you've never had. You might know about God. You might attend church. You might admire Jesus, but you've never surrendered your heart to him. And can I tell you, Jesus is not looking for you to manufacture religious activity that doesn't save you. Jesus is not asking you to clean up your life so you look like a good Christian. That does not save you. Jesus is inviting you to receive the love that he has for you and has demonstrated to you by going to the cross for you. Can I tell you, nobody loves you like Jesus? How do I know? Until you can find somebody who is willing

to be crucified for you. They're not in the running. Doesn't matter what they tell you, what they tweet you, what they send you, what they buy you. If they're not willing to die for you, they are not in the running of loving you more than Jesus. And a Christian is somebody who says, I can't believe you love me like this. I just wanna love you back. (gentle music) And so if you're in the room and you say, I've never loved Jesus, but I do want to. I'm gonna pray a very simple prayer. I'm gonna ask you to pray with me and giving your life to Jesus. Heavenly Father, I know that you love me. I'm sorry that I don't love you back. I'm sorry that I have not loved you back, but I am ready to. Would you forgive me of my sin? Would you make me new on the inside? Would you teach me how to be like Jesus? And would you receive my love for the rest of my life in Jesus' name? Now, with every eye closed, if you prayed that prayer with me and you gave your life to Jesus, would you raise your hand? Appreciate you, bro. Right here in the middle.

Keep it up, if you would, over here. Somebody from our team's gonna come by and they're gonna put a Bible in your hands inside that Bible is two things. One is a resource that's called you said yes, just a way for us to further introduce you to Jesus. The other is a connection card. Love for you to fill that out, not because I really want your information. I really just wanna follow up with you and congratulate you, celebrate with you, welcome you into the family of God. And so if you'd fill that out, give it the next steps test, bring it to me and get central, bring it down front man. We would love to celebrate God loving you and God loving me and us being able to do that together. Amen, amen. Church, let's celebrate right now. God's saving people in the room today. It's awesome, it's awesome, it's awesome. All right, fam, why don't you stand up, pray your team, come on down, growth track happening in the next service, giving boxes in the back. If you need to get baptized, let's do it in the next service. Lift a hand, let me pray for you. And then we'll go, come on y'all, let me pray for you before you go. Lift a hand, let's pray.

God, I thank you. I thank you, Lord, that you have loved me every second of my life. Before I existed, you loved me. And Lord, I thank you that on October 18th, 1994, you opened my eyes to that love. And I thank you, Lord, that you've always kept your word. You've always kept your word. You've always been kind and powerful and faithful and trustworthy. I thank you, Lord, that even through hard times, you've been with me and I thank you, Lord, for the innumerable blessings that being your son all eternity. And I pray, Lord, for the heart of this church, that if we get nothing else right, this would be a church that's madly in love with Jesus. More than anything else, we love You. We thank You, and we pray in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, amen and amen. I love You, fam. See you next Sunday.