What to do When Desire Drifts

Okay, so, my love language is their thing, okay? My love language is gifts. I love to receive them, I love to give them. It's how I show love. My wife's love language, on the other hand, is acts of service, which is a bummer. You know, that's unfortunate, mismatch there. But in preparation for this message today in this series, I thought, you know, the illustration would be just showing just crazy acts of love. So I text her and I just say, hey, what's the craziest thing that I've done for you? Like, what's the craziest thing that I've done to show you that I love you? And I don't know what she's gonna say back, but I kinda know what her options are. I'm kinda thinking, I'm auditing in my mind, oh, she could go here, she could go here. She could say the time that I wrote her a song and I went to the recording studio and paid to have it recorded and then hired somebody to perform the song for her. She could go there. She could go the random times where we're just going on a normal date and I hire a limousine because I'm the helpless romantic of the, this is the stuff that I love to do to show her that I love her. Or she could go the time that she wanted a Suburban

and we got in an argument because I was like, we can't afford a Suburban. And as I go to see, okay, what can we afford? I find this smoking deal on a Cadillac Escalade. Salvaged title, rebuilt title, I told you, that's how I roll. But it was good condition. And so I buy it and I park it on the side of the road with the for sale sign on it and a fake phone number. And I intentionally drive by to which she says, hey, we should call on that. To which I say, I mean, are you serious? We would never, there's no way. Okay, I'll do it. Just, okay, I pretend to call, pretend to talk to them. I go, oh, okay, okay. So all the information is in the console. It's unlocked. Okay, hey babe, he said it's unlocked. Info's in the console. So she goes in the console, it's a letter that says, it's yours. Okay, yeah, yeah, you know. So I don't know where she's gonna go. So I text her, I say, hey babe, what's the craziest thing that I've done for you? To which she responds, hmm, I think it's still coming. You're going to spend all day with me locked in cleaning and organizing something. The garage, your closet, all your many drawers,

tubs with stuff in them. Oh, that would be the craziest. And praying it comes to be one day. Exclamation point, exclamation point. To which I said, escalate it is. I mean, that's like the most discouraging text in the whole world. I got that, I was so defeated. I'm like, wait, are you, I mean, that's not even like a euphemism or double entendre. I mean, she means literally clean out the closet. Like, that's what she wants to do is clean the house. And I'm just like, are you serious? Are you, and after 21 years of marriage, I should know by now this is what makes her feel loved. Because I can do all kinds of things to show Monica that I love her and miss her heart. And likewise, we can do all kinds of things to show God that we love him and miss the heart of God. And in fact, what God desires from us is for us to desire him. What God desires from us is for us to desire him. So what happens when we're doing all the things but our desire for him is drifting? This is the silent killer. This is the thing that sneaks up on you one day and you look up and you realize God is far from you or he feels far from you and you go, but wait a minute, I've been and I did and I, because every husband and wife has had that conversation.

You know, somebody says, I don't feel loved and they go, wait, what? You don't feel loved because I did this and I did this and I did this and I did this. And it's one thing when you have the conversation in your marriage, it's altogether different when you have the conversation with God. But wait, God, I had a quiet time and I prayed and I read the Bible and I memorized Philippians 4.13 and I went to church and I got in a life group and I tithed and I drifted. And I drifted. And so we're talking about what to do when desire drifts today. We're in the series, How to Love God. We're wrapping up the series. This is the end of the series. For the Love of God is the name of the series, which is really how to love God. Today we're talking about what to do when the love or the desire for God drifts. And as we just do a quick recap, week one we said love commanded, the greatest commandment, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. So we gotta be really good at that. And week two we said love competed for. Do not love the world or things of the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.

So there's a competition for our love. And then week three, love resourced. That love, our ability to love others, comes from God. He gives us the ability to love others. And then we said love authenticated. How do we know if our love for Him is authentic, if it's real? And then last week we talked about love expressed, that we love because God first loved us. What does it look like that we live in this love, that we remain in His love, we stay near Him? And so today, what do we do when desire drifts? Here's the reality, okay? You guys came in here, we sang hellos, another one, and people are jumping around, and we are celebrating what God did through the students here this week. And we gather corporately to remember who He is, but here's the reality. This year, 2026, 10,000 churches will close their doors in America. 10,000 groups of people who gathered in His name, formed a 501c3, named a pastor, somebody led worship, whether it was with an organ or a guitar, or singing a cappella, whatever it was, that church doesn't exist anymore, why? Because love grew cold. Because love grew cold. And so this is not about rebellion, it's about routine that grows stale.

Doing things for God instead of loving God, but looking to all the things that we did for God while our heart drifted from Him. Our love has grown cold. Churches close when love grows cold. Now, what's interesting is this message is for the corporate people, the gathering, the group of us, but it starts at an individual level. We have to personalize and say, okay, what about me? How am I doing? How is my relationship with God? Am I checking the box? Am I going through the motions? Drift is not rebellion, it's routine, and it is the church killer. And so today, 147 years into this movement, most students who have ever gathered, in the history, 147 years of Harris Creek, most people who've ever gathered, right now, stage two, completely full, not an empty chair. Commons, if you walk out here, if you go to the bathroom in the service, because you can't hold it till the end, which is grace, you go out there, you're gonna see the commons. It's packed. There's people watching on a screen in there. Thank you guys for doing that, right? Largest disexpression of the church has ever been. Most financially stable due to your generosity and belief what God wants to do through this place.

We are provided for today as we move towards building a building. God did that every week, stories of prodigals returning home, marriages being restored every single week. Somebody came into this place lost as an Easter egg, saying, man, somebody invited me, I was their server, I was their barber, I was doing their hair, I was in the grocery store, and so I came into this place, and they walked back to their car, a different human being, every single week. That's what God is doing here. And how do we make sure that our best days are in front of us and not behind us? Our family's been here seven years, and marriage is like a seven-year itch. You know, it's like, you can't, like, I can't, I gotta be careful not to step out here, and like, how do I impress them today? No, God, how do I remain dependent on you today to do what you want to do, to remain your vessel, so that you, through the conduits that you've brought forth, would change the hearts of your people? That's been my prayer today, that God would warm hearts, that the chisel would come out today, and soften hard hearts, that we would realize in the next few minutes that our heart has drifted from Him, and that we would do what the Scripture calls us to do,

which is to repent. And so as I move through, I'm gonna be in Revelations 2 if you wanna turn there, turn to the back of your Bible, two chapters in Revelations, the last book of the Scriptures, chapter 2, and we're gonna see how discipline without desire leads to drift, how lost love is restored through repentance, and the calling. to us to return to rhythms that stir affections. So much of this series for the love of God has revolved around the Apostle John, the one Jesus loved, he got it, he understood that he was loved by God. And so we read from his letters, we said that he also wrote the gospel, but he wrote this revelation from the island of Patmos. They captured him, they said stop claiming that Jesus is the Messiah, he said I won't, so they boiled him alive, thinking it would kill him, it didn't, he lived through it, having been boiled alive, and so they alienated him or exiled him to an island called Patmos. Our family was recently there. Here's a view from where John was kept in prison, not too bad, beautiful view. But here's the cave that he lived in, like he would reside in this cave and talk to God in this cave. And this is actually the rock where it was said

that he heard the voice of God, those cracks in that rock have said to have happened there. And so we were there, John received this vision from Jesus himself, that's why in Revelation the letters are read, that Jesus spoke these words to him, and he's gonna talk to seven churches. He says the seven stars in his hand, that's the seven messengers to the churches, Revelation 1 tells us this, to the seven lampstands. The lampstands themselves are the churches, the seven churches, he writes seven letters. The first one is to Ephesus. So Ephesus, like Ephesians was a letter to the church of Ephesus. Now let me tell you about Ephesus, because it's the strongest, most powerful church in the first century. But it was born into satanic rituals. There's a temple there, the center of Ephesus, the Temple of Artemis, or the Temple of Diana, same God, Roman, Greek, they called her different names. Temple of Artemis, Temple of Diana, and it's this huge structure that people would come from all over to worship. But when you would go to worship there, you would cover the kid's eyes, because they would worship through temple prostitutes. Crazy debauchery is happening, which has manifested in this great, like demonic manifestations through these satanic rituals.

So this place is dark, like don't think Las Vegas, like darker than any place you've ever been, that's Ephesus. Paul goes there, and he starts saying, hey, Jesus Christ was the son of God who was killed on a cross, and he raised from the dead. And there's no other way to get to heaven except through him. And you know what people did? They believed. And darkness begins to push back at Midway, and at Lorena, and at McGregor, and in Waco schools. Darkness is pushing back in Hewitt. And the light of the gospel begins to spread like wildfire. And people say, oh man, we need to change careers. We need to get rid of this wicked stuff in our home. And they set it on fire. And the gospel just explodes. So imagine the sober words of Jesus only 40 years later here in Revelation 2. To the angel of the church in Ephesus write, these are the words of him who holds the seven stars, it's the messengers, in his right hand, and walks among the seven golden lampstands, the churches. I know your deeds, your hard work, and your perseverance. I know, I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have preserved and have endured hardships for my name and have not grown weary. You're crushing it, Harris Creek.

You guys are getting in life groups, you're sharing the gospel, you're serving in food pantries. You're showing up every Sunday, you're worshiping with your hands raised. You guys are crushing it. In the Greek, I know your deeds, your hard work, your toil. These are the three words, erga, which is like deeds attached from desire. So it's the what, not the why. Let's see, kapos, which is hard work to the point of sweat. It's like you're laboring, you're diligent, you're grinding. Hupomone, which is perseverance or endurance, pressure under the calling of what God has asked you to do. You're doing it. I see your deeds, I see your toil and your labor, and I see your perseverance. You've called out false teachers and you've endured hardships in my name. Way to go. Yet, whoops, verse four. Yet, yet I hold this against you. You have forsaken me, for the sake and the love you had at first. yet I hold this against you. You have forsaken me, Consider how far you have fallen, exclamation point. yet I hold this against you. What does he want us to do? What does he want us to do?

Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. Your church will be gone. It will be on zillow.com. For sale, chains on the doors. You have this in favor. You hate the practice of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. You hate outright debauchery. You're so good at judging other people's sins. Oh, they shouldn't do that. They shouldn't watch that. They shouldn't listen to that. They shouldn't dress in that way. They shouldn't go there and they shouldn't hang out with them. You're so good at seeing other people's stuff. It often happens with legalism, pharisaical living, drifting. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. He says good deeds, hard work, perseverance, and tolerance. These guys are grinders, man. They're grinders. They are nose down, what do I gotta do?

Give me the boxes to check people. They kept the work but lost the want. Guys, they didn't stop doing good. They stopped loving God. They didn't stop doing good. They stopped loving God. So number one, my first point, discipline without desire leads to drift. Discipline without desire leads to drift. Discipline is good. Diligence is good. Saying, okay, what are the things that I need to change about my life? What do I need to pull out and what do I need to put in? That's good. But discipline without desire is dangerous. You have to maintain the desire, the heart for God because that's what he's after. So you can do the things. You can do the deeds. You can manage the checklist and your heart can drift at the same time. Don't let that happen. Don't let that happen. Whoa, whoa, that, don't do that. This is the same church that burned idols and abandoned successful businesses to pursue righteousness and now they're stuck in heartless routines. And it's not about a sin they committed. It's about a love they abandoned.

It's not that they're like, he's not like in shame on you because you watched this and you went there and you snorted that and you drank that. No, you just stopped loving me. And if you stay where you're at, your church is done. When we got married, we were in a newly married life group. And me at the time, I'm this eccentric artist turned salesman, not in ministry yet. And we get put in this life group with three software engineers from Texas A&M, okay? Yes, we're glad you're here. Thank you. Gotta reach somebody. And so they're, I'm kidding. And so they, so I'm in this and I mean, they are brilliant guys. Like these three guys are brilliant and they love God and they know his word. So it was like exactly what I needed because I'm kind of everything wrong with Dallas in a person. And I'm meeting with these guys and one of them comes to life group and just says, yeah, my wife doesn't feel loved by me. Doesn't feel cherished. First year of marriage. He says, she just doesn't feel loved. She doesn't feel cherished. To which these guys, total boneheads, like newly married. We're like, what?

She doesn't feel, that's crazy. You know, we're like just giving him ammo to just start a fight in the marriage. Like that, I can't believe that. She's wrong, you know? And so I just started asking questions like, hey, do you buy her flowers? Do you write her notes? Do you take her on dates? Like, do you know what she loves? And he says, yeah, I'm just not very good at that. And we start thinking through the things he should do. And he has this like light bulb moment. He's like, I know what I'll do. I'll write a program. I'll come up with some software that will arbitrarily tell me these things to do. And then I'll do them whenever it tells me to. And we'll just kind of put the list in and we're dudes there, right? And we're like, bro, that's the smartest thing anyone's ever said. Like, we're gonna sell it to Apple. Like, we're gonna be billionaires, it's amazing. Like, we should let Elon know what you're working on because this is incredible. He's gonna want in on this. And then a couple months later, I was talking to a wife, a woman, and I was like, you're not gonna believe the brilliance of my friend, what he came up with.

And I tell her, I'm like, yeah, software, that just tells him what to do to care for his wife. She's like, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. And I mean, the gap between brilliance and stupid, right? It's like, wait, hold on, where do we get wrong? What do we miss? She goes, because he's gonna be able to do the things but not have the heart. Like, he's gonna be able to, like his wife is going to feel like he's pursuing her but he's not. He's not pursuing her. But he's doing stuff that looks like he's pursuing her but his heart could be drifting because his heart's not in it. Now, are you supposed to desire God? Are you supposed to desire pursuing him? Are you supposed to desire to pray to him? Are you supposed to desire to get in his word? Are you supposed to desire to share the gospel with other people? Are you supposed to desire to do these things? Of course! Like, am I supposed to desire pursuing Monica? Am I supposed to desire to love her? Yes! In fact, this was really convicting because sometimes I'll stay up here. For years I've said, I don't like reading the Bible. I don't like reading anything.

I don't desire to do it. And the Holy Spirit's like, yeah, stop saying that. Because maybe it's not reading but you do need to desire to feast on my word. To know what it says and to live it out. We should, we must maintain the desire. Like, it's not just doing the things. Like, sometimes we say, do the things until desire comes. But man, if it doesn't come, you better stop everything and say, why? Why don't I love God? Like, how did my heart for him grow cold? Is your faith fueled by love or sustained by habit? Let me go back. He says, you have forsaken the love you had at first. That's the problem. Consider how far you've fallen. Like, right about now you're like, oh man, yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been doing those things but I don't love God. That's a big deal. Repent and do the things you did at first. And then there's these words, if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. Whoa. Jesus doesn't say try harder, do more, add passion. He says, repent. And it's not repent for something they did. It's repent for something they lost. And you gotta remember, he's writing this to this church in Ephesus.

The whole explosion of the movement of the Holy Spirit in Ephesus actually started with repentance. And we have it well documented. You can read Acts 19 and Acts 20 because you see the church in Ephesus being birthed forth. And in fact, I'll read to you from Acts 19. It says, many of those who believed, many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to 50,000 drachmas. In this way, the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. In this way, in what way? The word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. In what way? Through repentance. Through them turning from their sin and turning back to Christ. That's repentance. You say, I'm going this way. I'm not gonna go that way anymore. I'm gonna go this way. And the word spread widely and grew in power. And then there's this weird detail. It says 50,000 drachmas. Who cares?

What's a drachma? Why do they tell us that? Glad you asked. A drachma is a day's wage. So let's say a day's wage is $140. $22 an hour, 140 bucks, we'll go with that number. 50,000 drachmas is $7 million. They found possessions worth $7 million at least and said, we gotta destroy this and turn toward God. I mean, they're getting rid of lake houses and cars and homes, right? I mean, that's like the modern day equivalent. But for them, it was these scrolls that they would use to make money. They turned, they changed their business, their whole trajectory. And they said, we're going to, we don't want anything in our lives that distracts us from God. Number two, lost love is restored through repentance. Lost love, because you're like, yeah, I did lose that. I have, my heart has, what do I do? What do I do? The scripture's so kind to us. Just to call us to this one, just repent, man. Acknowledge. acknowledge it, confess it, and turn from it. Turn back to God. Week three we talked about how it's God

who gives us the ability to love, and we touched on it last week. We can't love others. It's staying near the fire, like staying warm, being with the Father in His presence, that He gives us the ability to love. I think we get saved through dependence. Christ is our Savior. We surrender, and then we think we get sanctified by our own strength. No, no, no, no. You have to stay in this place of dependence. Self-reliance is the enemy of your spiritual growth, and it is crafty, because it will trick you into thinking that you're spiritually mature while you're actually growing spiritually immature by doing all the things spiritually mature people do. What? How do you maintain that desire? It starts with repentance. We drift towards self-reliance, not dependence. How do we stay in a place of dependence? When our family moved to Waco, the first thing of Waco that we experienced was January, and there's this New Year's firework show. Anybody seen this down Harris Creek Road? It's an amazing, anybody been there? I'm just curious. Every New Year they do this firework show, and it is like blow your mind.

I'm like, it's somebody's house. It looks like a municipality pulled together funds. I'm like, this is incredible. When it starts, and you don't know when it's gonna end. I mean, 20 minutes in, you're like, this is unbelievable. It's to music. Everybody's invited. I'm like, I love Waco. And so that was what we experienced, and so Dr. Ackley, Freeland Ackley, he does this, and I met with him this week, and I was like, bro, that was the first thing of Waco we experienced. I never wanna miss it. He goes, yeah, I think I'm done with that. I was like, heartbroken. I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you mean? You're done. He goes, bro, it's just so much work, man. I'm out there, like I've gotta take off work. I'm out there for four days by myself wiring up fireworks, you know, and doing it. And he was like, yeah, this year's the last one. I was like, you can't be the last one. Like, I'll get out there and help you. Like, whatever we gotta do. Like, no, no, no, no. No, it can't be over. We'll raise money. Like, whatever we gotta do.

And he was like, no, no. It's just too much work. So to which I say, well, why did you, in the first year, like, why did you do it? Like, did you ever enjoy it? And he kind of lit up. Like, his eyes lit up. And he goes, oh, man, it was so amazing. We adopted our daughter, and like, our kids loved this. And we were, and you know, Brooke has the gift of hospitality and just kind of opening our home and like serving the community. And so I would get out there. I would just love to see the way that people would react. And I was curious. I didn't know how it works. I was like learning how the fireworks worked and then how to incorporate, you know, the electronics aspect of it, the music and whatnot. And he just lit up. And I was like, so you loved it once upon a time. And he was like, I guess so, but it's grind now. Now, how do we make sure? That's one thing that happens with a hobby, fairly inconsequential, right? But what about when that happens with church? What about when that happens with life group? What about when that happens with you going through the motions of your quiet time?

Yeah, that's grind. Did you ever love it? Oh, I remember when I was like learning for the first time and I was there, it was in this moment. Oh, and I was up to this, they did this also called tear streaming down my face and the song, and it just felt like the Holy Spirit was moving. I was at wake a weekender and you wouldn't. But what happened? Oh, it's a beating now. Life group, total whip. Getting to church, parking. Whoa, I mean, it's, man, the hallways are all congested. Oh, I can't breathe. Did you ever love it? Oh, man, yeah. Early on, it was amazing. And then in our marriage, and then our kids started to, and it was so great because I met some. What happened? It's a grind now. That's a beat down. Careful. Careful, go slow in those turns. Say, Lord, search me, oh God, you know me when I sit and when I stand. Because what we do here is we go, oh, I just need to try another place.

Maybe a different building or a different pastor or a different worship leader or a different model. Maybe it's Sunday school. You know, maybe it was just like if we did something, like maybe that's the problem. There's problems right here. You gotta deal with that. This is a problem with Ephesus. The problem is Harris Creek. Problem with the church in America. It's for us. You don't drift back to love, you turn back. You ask, how did I lose it? And I think for a lot of us, our relationship with God feels tedious right now. And so I want you to begin to think what you need to repent for. Begin to go there in your mind, he says, and do the things you did at first. He's saying, my third point, which is return to rhythms that stir affections. Return to rhythms that stir affections. He's saying, go back to what love produced at first. And we can see, because it's documented in Acts, Acts 19, they confess, there was confession. Verse 19, there was costly surrender. There was hunger for the word, which is different than reading the word. Like you could say, read the word. It doesn't say, it says hunger for the word.

Think about it like eating. You can eat every day. You can eat and not be hungry. But he's saying, no, I want you to be hungry. I want you to desire to feast on the word of God. I want there to be something in you, not say, oh, my alarm clock hits 6.30, now I need to get in the word. But my alarm clock hits 6.30 and I can't wait to, I'm so excited to, I'm longing for, I desire to get in the word. That's different. You gotta stir that. You gotta stir those affections, bold witness, joyful generosity. He's not asking for new activities. He's asking for old affections. So what makes you love God more? What makes you love God more? You've gotta know. What makes you love God more? You gotta have a death grip on that. It's the things that you do to his glory. It's the things that you enjoy. They bring you joy. It's the things that you do to his glory. It's the things that you enjoy. They bring you joy. And you can do them while reflecting on him. So understanding that every good and perfect gift

comes from him, that he's given you the ability to enjoy this. Like for me, a good cup of coffee. A good cup of coffee, like not Folgers. A good, like it started as beans, like single origin. I grind it myself. I'm using my S-Press or my AeroPress. And I get that cup of coffee and I sit in my chair. I've got a chair and it's like, it's not just my chair, but it might as well be. I sit in that chair, the sun coming up, shines through, I get the vitamin D. I've got my prayer cards and I go slow. Lord, would you bring unity amongst the elders here? Would you help us to hear from you and do everything you ask us to? Slow, God, I pray for the staff. Would you help them to love you and to enjoy being a part of what you're doing? And help us to walk in righteousness and mercifully expose our sin. Help us to have a heart of repentance and confession. I pray for the body. Would you deal with the spirit of religion that sits on our land? Would you help us not to go through the movements, but to love you? And I just go slow through the prayer cards that stirs my affections. Walking in nature where all you can hear

is the sound of things that are natural, like bugs and wind and leaves. And then sunsets, I love sunsets. I try to never miss a sunset. Our most beautiful paintings are knockoffs of his originals. I love sunsets. They stir my affections. I can sit there and say, God, you did that. You didn't have to make the sky purple right now, but you tuned that in such a way that it would go into my retina, which would receive it as this burst of, you did that, Lord. And warm baths. I love a warm bath, because it's like you're confined to this place and there's no technology there. It just forces you to sit. And I just think about God and his goodness. But if you come to me and you're like, JP, I wanna love God more. What do I need to do? I'm like, draw the bath, man. And you're like, no, I'm more of a shower person. I'm like, bath. And I'm like, and you wanna get, go to Onyx, it's a great place. Go to Onyx and get this roast. And you're like, I don't even like coffee.

And I'm like, you will now. Like, it would be crazy. You gotta know the answer for you. What do you do to the enjoyment of God? Do a lot of that. What distracts you from the goodness of God? Stop doing that. Stop listening to that. Stop watching that. Stop hanging out with that. Stop eating that. Stop drinking that. The things that make you less holy, get rid of those things and press into the things that make you more holy. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand. 10,000 churches closed down. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Let me show you a picture of Ephesus. It's ruins. You know which one of those buildings is the church? None of them. You know how many believers there are in Ephesus today, Republic of Turkey, that area? Completely zero. Not measurable. If they're there, they're hidden. It's Islamic ram, it's Muslim. No believers. What happened?

Their hearts grew cold. Not on our watch. He says, I will give them the right, to the one who's victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. This started with the tree in the Garden of Eden, and that was the tree that brought death and judgment. There's a tree in the middle, it's the one Jesus died on, we call it the cross. He paid for your sins, he raised from the dead. That's our hope. He's renewing our mind around this idea that we needed saving, and God gave us a savior in Jesus. We are now his children, we belong to him. One day we will eat from a tree that gives us eternal life. We will be in the presence of God. That tree brings us home. We will be with him forever. In summary, when discipline loses desire, drift begins. But love is restored through repentance and returning to rhythms that stir affection. The most famous, well-known parable in the scriptures. It's a story Jesus told in Luke 15 about a dad who had two sons. One son was the rebellious son, and he came to his dad and he said, I wish you were dead. I just want my inheritance now, can we get this show on the road? And his dad, in a gracious act of generosity says, sure, here's your inheritance, to which he takes it and he goes to Vegas, and he spends it on prostitutes and drugs and gambling. And he bets the last dollar that his dad gave him, and he ends up homeless, begging on the side of the road so he can eat. He says he's eating with the pigs. When he wakes up, comes to his senses and says, I know what I'll do, I'll just go back and work for my dad. That's what we always do in our negotiations with God.

Can I just work for you? Can I just be your employee? To which he says, absolutely not, because you're my daughter, because you're my son. So the dad sees him from a long way off, lifts up his robe, runs to him, falls into his neck and kisses him, puts his arms around him, wrings on his finger, kills the fattened calf, throws a party, because my son was gone, but now he's home. But there's this other brother, the older brother, he's been there the whole time, never missed a life group, never missed a Sunday service, he prays for at least 30 minutes every morning, and he reads the Bible for at least 30 minutes every morning. He's done everything he was supposed to do, all while his heart was silently growing cold. So he turns and he looks at the younger brother, and he's full of envy and jealousy. How could you love him when I've been here the whole time? He's like, yeah, but you never loved me, but you didn't love me, but you didn't really desire me. You were still after my stuff, just like he was, he just came to his senses. Before I ever served the church, I attended a church, and I remember a morning where Monica and I got in an argument on the way, we were running late, that's why we got in an argument. You know, I'm sitting on the couch while she's doing all the things, and I'm like, would you hurry up? And she's like, would you help? And therein lies the argument, get in the car, there's no parking spots, so we've got to park like blocks away, and we're walking, and she's doing what she does, which is kind to everybody, talking to people, hey, how are you today, greeting them, ministering to them, and I'm like, would you hurry up, we've got to go. We get in there, and of course, there's no room in kids' ministry, our girls were young at the time, little, we were checking them in, and they're like, no room at the end, this classroom's closed. One's full, I'm like, of course it is. So I go to get coffee, and you guys drank all the coffee. There's no more coffee.

Just like, of course, okay. I haven't had my coffee, so I'm like, all right, God, I need you to speak to me. So I go inside the auditorium, and there's no seats, except for these two that are spread out way up there, sit up in the balcony, you know, way far away, and I'm like, okay, but you gotta speak to me through my guy, you know, this is my guy. He knows, he's always preaching right to me. Give me the word from my guy, guest speaker. What? Do you hate me? I hate this church, you know? Like, what in the world? Guest speaker, and he says, I'm gonna teach on the prodigal son, to which I'm like, how predictable. Oh, the one that I've heard a million times. And I know the story, I'm the prodigal. Okay, let's go, okay, pastor man, tell us about the prodigal. I'm the prodigal, and he starts preaching. And the Holy Spirit filleted me, and said, no, you're the older brother. And I'm sitting there, when did this happen? When did I become the older brother? I don't understand, when did this happen? How did this happen? No, I'm the prodigal, I love you. No, you stopped that a while back. When?

When? So we gotta do what he asks us to do. And we gotta repent. For hating our brothers and sisters, who dress different than us, and do different than us. Younger believers who act like young believers, and non-believers who act like non-believers. We gotta stop hating those who voted different than us, and thinking how could you be a Christian if, and just like filling our heart with that vitriol to them. And we gotta hate, we gotta stop being the social media police, and just can't wait to misunderstand someone, or to be misunderstood. And just filling our hearts and our minds, and just thinking, and then saying to God, it's worth it. Like I'll get rid of the scrolls, I'll stop hanging out with them. I'll stop listening to that. I'll stop doing that thing. I'll stop watching that show. That's easy, God. Happy to. So we'll just repent. We'll just do that right now. Why don't you just talk to God? You're gonna have to work, okay? You're gonna have to work to talk to him. You have to really push out the other stuff, but let's just bow our heads right now, and talk to God.

Fight to sit with the Father right now. If you don't know what to say, would you start with this right here? I'm so sorry for. I'm so sorry for. If your mind is wondering, come back. I'm so sorry for. If you're arguing with me in your head, stop it. If you're thinking about your neighbor, stop it. If you're thinking about what you're doing for the Super Bowl, stop it. I'm so sorry for.