 Amen. Keep a bookmark in Revelation chapter 2 and turn to Ephesians chapter 5. Turn to Ephesians chapter 5 for just a minute. So this evening, we're starting a new sermon series talking about Revelation chapter 2 and Revelation chapter 3. And Jesus, if you have a red letter Bible, these words will all be read. This is Jesus giving advice to seven different churches. And the church in Ephesus is the one that we are going to start with this evening. But why should we study through this? What relevance does it have to us? Look at Ephesians chapter 5 and look down at verse number 22 where the Bible says this. This is used many times in weddings and marriage counseling and marriage advice and just the roles of husbands and wives. Ephesians chapter 5 is a very important chapter in the Bible for marital relations. But look at verse 22. It says, Wives, submit yourselves under your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body. So all that to say this, Jesus Christ here in Revelation chapter 2 and Revelation chapter 3 is giving advice to the churches and Jesus is the head of the church. So this is something that we should pay attention to. So basically what we have in Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3 is the boss giving instruction is what we have. So we need to pay attention to the details of what he is talking about to these churches. So we are going to look at the church in Ephesus which is basically Revelation chapter 2 verses 1 through 7 this evening and see what we can glean from Jesus' advice to this first church that he is talking about. Look at verse, starting in verse number 1, unto the angel of the church of Ephesus, right? These things sayeth he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. He is talking, he is saying here to the angel, he is saying to the messenger that is going to bring this message to the church. He is telling John that he wants this message delivered to these churches. Look at verse number 2 talking about Ephesus. He says, I know thy works and thy labor, and thy patience, and thou canst not bear them which are evil, and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and has found them liars, and has borne and has patience, and for mine's sake, my name's sake, has labored and has not fainted. So he says a lot of good things here about the church of Ephesus but then in verse number 4 he goes into some things that he has problems. He says, nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hath left thy first love. Remember therefore, from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy candlestick out of its place except thou repent. But this thou hast that thou hateest the deeds of the Nicolaotans, which I also hate. He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit sayeth unto the churches, to him that overcometh why give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. So Jesus starts out and he gives this whole, that's all the advice that he gives to the church at Ephesus, but he starts out with some good things and he says a couple of things twice. In verse number 3, in verse number 4, in verse number 2, in verse number 3, he starts out with some good things about the church at Ephesus and he says he commends them on their labor twice on how hard they work. So look, these people, these people are hardworking, you know, they have some staying power, they didn't quit. It says in verse 3, it says that they've labored and they have not fainted. So they've worked and worked and worked and they've not fainted. Another thing that Jesus commends the church of Ephesus about in verse number 2, it says they would not stand for people in their church that were teaching false doctrine. So this is something that Jesus commends them about and what we can take from this is this is something good that we should not allow in the churches. He says that would try them. You know, you've tried them again, how do they try them? They tried them against the Word of God, against what they were saying and found that they were not apostles. Instead, they were liars. And then down in verse, I'm sorry, in verse number 6, it says also again in this same attack, it says, but thou hast thou hast hated the deeds of the Nicolaotans, which I also hate. So the Nicolaotans, the Bible, the New Testament doesn't really tell us what this doctrine is. You can go out and you can read all kinds of commentary on it, but it's irrelevant. All we need to know is that God hates whatever they were teaching. So the Nicolaotans were teaching something that God hates and the nice thing about the Ephesians that Jesus commends them on is that they hated the same things that Jesus hated. They hated the same doctrine that Jesus hated. And that's a good example for us is that we need to hate the things that the Lord hates. That's what the Bible would call a perfect hatred right there. So look, I mean, the funny thing is about, you know, this isn't a sermon about what we should hate and what we should love. But the funny thing is, is all those people today that are telling you you should hate nothing, those are the most wicked people that you could ever find. Because people that are out there saying you should hate nothing, they don't want you to hate them because they're teaching evil, wicked things. So the only thing we need to know about the Nicolaotans is that they were teaching doctrine that the Lord hated and the church in Ephesus, they hated that as well. So Jesus commends them for that. So he commends them for their labor and their patience. And I'm going to talk about their patience a little bit later. But then he commends them for not tolerating false doctrine. There's a lot of good things here that the church at Ephesus has on their side. So the question is, you know, I mean, we can't have this, anything goes church. That's what we're learning here from the church at Ephesus. So the question is, then Jesus comes into verse number four, and he says, I have something. He's like, all that being said, he's like, there's some problems here. He's like, you know, he's kind of, he's kind of, you know, these management styles where if you have to deliver bad news to somebody, you're supposed to sandwich it in, you know, you're supposed to like, give them some good news. And then it's like, hey, Bob, you're great, Bob. But the thing is, you're fired, Bob. And the thing is, Bob, your family's really nice. You make it a sandwich like that, right? So I mean, I'm being extreme. But the point is, is Jesus is giving some good news. But then he says, nevertheless, there's some problems. And look at verse number four. So there is some bad things here. Verse number four, nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou have left thy first love. Remember therefore, from whence thou art fallen and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent. So it's kind of a serious problem that they have here. I mean, Jesus kind of makes it, you know, he kind of lightens the blow a little bit. But when we see that the consequences, if they don't get this right, is Jesus is literally going to take the candlestick away from their church. He's literally going to remove his hand from their church. They're not going to be a legitimate church anymore. He's saying, you know, you get this right, or you're on your own, and you're just running one of these other worldly churches that just call themselves a church, but aren't a church. Okay, so the problem is listed in verse number four, where it says that thou have left thy first love. So the problem here is, is that they lost the love for the first works. In short, these people, they were out there, and they were still laboring, and they were still doing a lot of the things that they were supposed to be doing. They were going through the motions, so to speak. But they lost their zeal, is what happened to this church. Look at Ephesians chapter two, in verse number one. Look at Ephesians chapter two, in verse number one. Look at, and I'm going to read for you verse number five, one more time, where Jesus says, and he says, remember therefore, from whence thou art fallen. He says, remember where you used to be. Remember where you came from. Remember how you used to operate. And he says, go back to that, repent, turn back to the way that you used to be, is what Jesus is saying. Well, how did they used to be? Look at Ephesians chapter two, in verse number one. Paul here is saying, you know, basically, you know, where they used to be. He kind of answers this for us in his letter to the Ephesians, and it says, and you, he hath quickened, he's talking to the church at Ephesus, who were dead and trespassed in sins, where in time passed. So these people in time passed, you walked according to the course of this world. So these people in the past, they're not there now. It's like now they're walking according to the spirit, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. He's saying, look, you used to be these worldly people. He says, among whom also, we all had our conversations again, in times pass, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And we're by nature the children of wrath, even others. But God, who in his rich mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ by grace he are saved. So he's saying, he's like, look, he's talking about, you know, where these people came from. And he's like, then you got saved, and you were quickened, you know, by, by Christ. And he's, he's saying, look, he's like, we need to go back. This is what Jesus is saying. They need to go back to that love when they were first born again. When they were first, you know, when they were first brought and quickened by Christ is what Jesus is talking about in Revelation chapter two. But somehow these people in Ephesus, they're laboring. And somehow they just lost this love. They lost this zeal. And they were just going through the motions. So this evening, I want to look at how this can happen. How can this happen? Because look, this is in the Bible. This is in the Bible, because this is not just relevant for the church at Ephesus. This is relevant for all of us. That's the beauty of the Bible. The Bible is the only book ever written that applies to everyone. And this one, specifically, talking about a church that Jesus Christ is ahead of, is specifically applicable to us. So look, how can we lose our zeal as the church at Ephesus had lost their zeal and what can we do about it? So the first thing is, you know, here's the process. Here's what happens. You know, you get saved. Right? Somebody tells you the truth. Maybe you were seeking the truth. You obviously had a desire within you to want to know the truth. Your conscience is looking for the truth. Somebody preaches the gospel to you, you get saved. At that point, you know, hopefully, I mean, everyone here for sure. But hopefully, you at that point, get into a good church. At some point, it wants to live a profitable, fruitful life where you can learn the Bible, start living the Bible. And then guess what? You get into these first works. And I'll talk about that in detail in a little bit. But then what happens is what happens to the church at Ephesus. Look, get into the first works. You start laboring. You have some patience. You're laboring for the Lord. But then zeal is lost. Just like the church at Ephesus, zeal gets lost. So how do we lose zeal in our lives? Why? Why does it happen? I mean, I'm going to, the first thing I'm going to show you, I'm just going to give you some thoughts on why we lose zeal, not just for the Lord in our lives, but for pretty much everything in our lives, we lose zeal. And some people are worse than others. But I'm going to give you some points tonight that hopefully, you can recognize that when this is happening, and you can stop it before it gets too serious, because it can cost you a lot in your life. If you lose zeal, you don't recognize it. You begin living your life, you know, you're beginning living a life without zeal, not just for the Lord, but just for things in your life, things, people in your life. So the first thing that we do in our lives as people, as human beings, is we take things for granted in our lives. We just, you know, we just get used to things as people, as human beings, we get used to things. And look, why is this? Why do we just get used to things? We lose what I like to look, we lose our reference point. We find something that we always wanted, and we get that thing. And then we get used to that thing. And we take that thing for granted. And then all of a sudden we lose our zeal for whatever that thing is. We lose our reference point to try to understand this, and how we can fix this and stop this from happening. Let's look at a few things in the life of Paul. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Look, Paul was somebody who was very, very good at not allowing this to happen in his life. He is he is probably the best example of someone in the Bible that protected his zeal in the Bible. So let's look at what we can learn from Paul. So look, this is why, by the way, this is why, you know, struggle is good in your life. This is why hard times are good in your life because as you go through your life and you lose, those are reference points. When you have financial struggles in your life, those are reference points. When you have struggles, maybe in your marriage, those are reference points for you. All these hard times that you go through. If you have physical problems in your life, or you have a family member that has physical problems in your life, those are reference points for you. Reference points that you can always look back to and that can stop you from taking things from granted in your life. That can stop you from losing zeal for things in your life. Let's look at Paul. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Let's try to understand what I'm talking about tonight from the life of Paul. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and look at verse number 7. Look what the Bible says here. It says, And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. So Paul here is saying, he's like, and Kate, you know, he's like, look, first of all, he's saying, I don't want to glory in these things. He's like, because look, would it be hard to be exalted? Would it be hard to glory in the fact that Jesus Christ came and taught you something personally? If Jesus Christ showed up to somebody in this church and taught you something personally and spent years with you, just preparing you for a special mission in your life, don't you think that that could go to your head? And Paul here is saying, he's like, unless that would happen to me, that I would start to be exalt myself more than I should. He's like, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh. We don't know what it was. It was some kind of physical issue that Paul had. And for this thing, look, it was something that was so, you know, distressing to him that he asked the Lord three times to fix it. He said, for this thing, I'd be sought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me. He's like, Lord, just take this away from me. Take this, you know, this pain or whatever I'm having away from me. Look at verse number nine. And he said unto me, and this is Jesus responding, he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee. For my strength is made perfect in weakness. You know, Jesus here is saying, that's kind of a nice little statement. He's saying, no, the answer was no. I mean, when you pray, if you pray and it's just not happening, it's not, look, the answer just may have been no in your life. You know, I mean, God says no. And he says no for our own benefit when we don't even think that we should be, you know, we're probably not even asking the right things most times. But Jesus says my strength, like Jesus says my strength. The Lord says my strength. The Lord's strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore, why rather glory in my infirmity. So this is nice, right? I mean, God has proven right in like two verses here. So Paul's saying, I don't want to be exalted. I don't want to glory in my knowledge, in my revelation from the Lord. He's like, instead, I will glory in my pain and suffering. Like you're like, wow, that sounds weird. But look, that's what he says that the power of Christ may rest upon me. If he says, if that's what it takes to stay in the grace and stay in this position that God has put me in that, you know, I'll just glory in my infirmities. That's where Paul will, you know, boast, so to speak. That will be his boasting and just in his infirmities. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Am I become a fool and glorying? You have compelled me for I ought to have been commended of you for in nothing. Am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing? So yes, God is keeping him humble here. But God is, you know, Paul had a lot of pain and suffering in his life. Talk about a guy who never had a chance to be comfortable. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. He never had a chance to just be comfortable and enjoy things. He never had a chance to take things for granted in his life. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. And look at verse 23. This is Paul glorying again in these infirmities. Look at verse 23. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more in labor is more abundant in stripes above measure in present in prisons more frequent in deaths off of the Jews five times received I 40 stripes save one thrice I was beaten with rods once I was stoned thrice I suffered shipwreck a night and day have I been in the deep in journeyings often in perils of water in perils of robbers in perils of my own countrymen in perils by the heathen in perils by the city in perils in the wilderness in perils in the sea in perils among false brethren in weariness and painfulness in watchings often in hunger and thirst in fastings in cold in nakedness look it sounds kind of like he's he's you know he's glorying in this a little bit but this is what he gloried in besides those things that are without that which cup upon me daily the care of all the churches he's like plus you know I'm just worried about everybody who is weak and am I not weak who is offended and I burn not if I must needs glory I will glory of the things which concern mind infirmities he's like if I'm going to get lifted up if I'm going to be exalted I will be exalted in these things that the Lord is using to keep me low which what he's saying and Paul I mean that's that's pretty good he's basically saying the only thing that the Lord wants me boasting or glorying in is my suffering Paul had the ultimate reference point in his life he had the ultimate reference points turn to Ephesians chapter one and you know what that produced you know what that produced with Paul so he had these great reference points he had all these hard times and all this suffering in his life and you know what that produced you will find I don't think you will find anybody in the Bible who was more thankful than Paul and if you remember maybe you read past this real quickly in every single epistle that Paul writes but nearly every epistle that he writes to churches Paul says things like this wherefore I also look at verse 15 of Ephesians one wherefore I also after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints sees not to give thanks for you in Romans one eight he just gives thanks for the Roman church in first Corinthians first Corinthians chapter one in verse number four he gives thanks to them at Corinth in Colossians one he gives thanks to them in verse 13 I mean your verse number three he starts out every letter saying saying look I'm so thankful for you even before he starts yelling at them and just rebuking them and exhorting them he says but look he's like I'm so thankful for you Paul was very thankful and that is the opposite of being ungrateful that is the opposite of taking things for granted so what God did by keeping Paul in all those infirmities in all that suffering was he kept him thankful in his life and let me just point this out because it seems like something that is that is that is minor to us but it is not look there is a reason in Romans 121 there is a reason in one of the most serious books of the Bible in Romans chapter one that it says neither were they thankful was one of the first steps that those people that ended up being rejected by the Lord took they were they knew God but they were not thankful for God so look being thankful is something that is extremely important in your life you know that unthankfulness in general in your life not just unthankfulness to the Lord but in unthankfulness in your life is an extremely dangerous place to be and it's look it's equation it's an equation that has to do I wish I could graph it for you but it's an equation that has to do with how long you're unthankful because if you live a life look there's a T in there if you take unthankfulness times time it gets more serious the longer you are unthankful because guess what guess what if you go through life and you are unthankful in your life for long periods of time you will start making decisions on that unthankfulness and those decisions will be disastrous imagine making relationship decisions based on the fact that you're unthankful it'll cause major problems in your life I've seen major issues in people's life because of this turn to first Thessalonians chapter five with people with relationships first Thessalonians chapter five look at verse number 18 first Thessalonians chapter five and verse number 18 first Thessalonians five 18 says in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you look that doesn't just say for the Bible that says in everything that got look everything you have is a gift from God everything you have from your your spouse to your life to all the good things that that are in your life all those things are gifts from God and the Bible says you should be thankful in everything everything and if you start living this life where you're not thankful for things and you look and you start making decisions in that state of mind look not appreciating what you have I mean there's people out there that live their lives and they only become thankful for things after they've lost the things that they took for granted that's a disastrous life right there that's the type of person do not want to operate as every single marriage problem here's a statement for you every single marriage problem starts with unthankfulness think about that it starts for because guess what you know what I come home from work every single day look I'm not immune to this I come home from work every single day and guess what she's there I come home at noon she's there I come home all the time I wake up she's there she's not going anywhere she's not going anywhere guess what you used to that he's not going anywhere you start thinking that way and guess what you just get used to it you get used to each other and you just guess what guess what folks every single husband and every single wife in this room he will not always be there she will not always be there you said what my wife's going to leave me my husband's going to leave no you will you will wake up one day and your wife will not be there guaranteed or the other way around you will wake up one day a hundred percent folks and your husband will not be there you need to have that reference point remember you know remember that reference point when you first got married and you were so thankful to be married and then you're married for 10 years 20 years 25 years I'm not there yet but look you need to appreciate people in your life you need to appreciate your spouse every single marriage problem starts from one or the other or both taking each other for granted not being thankful for one another think of Solomon turned into Ecclesiastes chapter 7 look the Bible says I mean the Bible says in Revelation 2 it's like they lost their love that's what happened they lost their love it says nevertheless I have someone against you you left your first love they left their love they stopped loving that they started taking that for granted they lost that zeal that can happen in your marriage you can lose the zeal for the people in your life you can lose the zeal for your children you can lose the zeal for your friends you can lose the zeal for your brothers and sisters in Christ every single relationship you have with the human being you can lose the zeal for that and you do it by taking it for granted you do it by getting used to it things that are always there you get used to you got to stop doing that you got to have reference points in your life look at Solomon think about Solomon's wife and then all his wives you can be so unthankful for your wife your spouse and live that life of unthankfulness and then make decisions in your life imagine making decisions out of unthankfulness look this ruins marriages there is there's been husbands that have decided to leave their wives and wives that have decided to leave their husbands out of unthankfulness you say oh it was something else it started with unthankfulness it started because they they took each other for granted and they got used to each other and they lost that zeal for one another look at Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 28 which yet my soul seeketh but I find not one man among a thousand have I found but a woman among all those have I not found look he lost his zeal for his first wife by taking her for granted living in that unthankfulness with his first wife and then going and having all these other wives and concubines that's what Solomon had I mean look do not take the relationships in your life for granted you should not have to get to the point where you lose things in your life before you are thankful for them that is look that is a serious character flaw that is a serious character flaw that will define your entire life it will define your marriage it will define how you raise your children it will define you know it will define how your children think of you if you are the type of person that needs to lose things before you then become thankful for those things look it can even go further than that you could be so unthankful for things and then lose those things and then be bitter that you lost those things it would be better to be the type of person that lost those things and then was again thankful for those things but look you just don't ever want to be thankful and lose the things in the first place you don't want to lose your zeal for the Lord you don't want to lose your marriage you don't want to do any of these things you don't want to lose anything in your life because of unthankfulness It's a terrible thing to do. Family, church, the Lord. Look, appreciate this church. Never get used to it. I know that's a hard thing. You come here three times a week. How do you not get used to this? But you're gonna get used to it. You're gonna get used to it. You're gonna take it for granted. I mean, think about soul winning. I mean, soul winning is fun, but sometimes it feels like labor. I mean, you labor in soul winning. But look, that's what happened to the church at Ephesus. They lost their zeal for it. They were still laboring, but they lost their zeal for it. Turn to Matthew 22. And Jesus said to get their zeal back. He's like, do the first work. So what is that? He says, do the first works. So look, the first point is this. You lose your zeal by taking things for granted and becoming unthankful in your life. That's how you'll lose zeal for anything that you should have zeal for. I hope that you have zeal for your marriage. I hope that you remind yourself constantly that you should have zeal for your marriage. Guess what? You should all do this mental exercise every now and then. What if she wasn't there tomorrow? And then maybe that'll give you a little bit more zeal for your wife. Wives, you should think about what if he's gone tomorrow? Would I feel differently about him today? Guess what? You're not guaranteed a husband for another day. You're not guaranteed anything. We think that we're guaranteed these things, folks. You're not guaranteed a wife for another day. I'm so thankful that I have a wife, but I guarantee, I'm telling you, I don't appreciate it like I should. I mean, I should show my wife my zeal for her more than I do. And every single spouse, every single husband and wife in this room should say the same thing. Because guess what? Just imagine, here's your reference point. Imagine they're not there tomorrow. There's your reference point for your marriage. But Jesus says to the church, so don't be unthankful. Remember those reference points. Paul had the perfect reference points, a life of nothing but suffering and hardship. Look at Matthew 22. Look at verse 36. Master, which is the greatest great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord, thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as yourself. Jesus basically, he lays out right there. He's like love the Lord your God. That's the first great commandment. And the second one, he's like love your neighbor as yourself. He's like every single thing is underneath those two umbrellas. Every commandment in the Bible is underneath those two umbrellas. Love the Lord and serve your neighbor. It is basically what it's about. Anything getting in, I mean, and from there, you know, I mean, how do you do that? Well, I don't know. You love the Lord by loving his word, by loving Jesus Christ, he is the word and you know, preach the gospel. Go ye therefore and preach the, go ye therefore into all the, you know, and preach the gospel to every creature. That is how you love the Lord and serve your neighbor. That's why we call these things the first works. I mean, if you love me, obey my commandments. So those, that is the remedy. That is that that's the medicine that Jesus gave this church to get their zeal back. Look, you need to remember those reference points. If you say, oh, I'm losing, I'm losing my zeal for spiritual things. I'm losing my zeal. I'm laboring. I'm going out, but I'm losing my zeal. So many doesn't seem like it was. Remember, get a reference point. I remember, I remember the first time, the first time that I heard somebody effectively get someone saved. Effectively preach the gospel to somebody. It was in 2016 and I was standing next to, we had come here to visit and I got sent out the very first time I got sent out by Verity Baptist Church to go soul winning. I was partnered with Pastor Logan Robinson. From, I think, you know, he was from Australia. Now he's in the Philippines. I haven't heard where he's at now, but in the Philippines last time I knew, but I saw him at like the second door that we knocked, I saw him lead someone to the Lord. And I'll never forget that. And I remember thinking at that point, I remember thinking at that point in my life, I'd be like, man, I would love to be able to get one person saved. In my life, I remember thinking that. And I mean, I went out and then I was a silent partner, I was a silent partner for a long time because I didn't want to mess it up. So I was a silent partner for a couple of months, maybe longer. And then when I went out, I would go out with brother Oliver, brother Stucking, just be like, you guys tell me when I'm messing anything up, I want to be good at this, right? And I'm sure I wasn't good at it at first, but the point is my reference point was I wanted to go out and I wanted to do what he did. I wanted to get just one person saved in my life. Look, that's the kind of zeal that I always want to remember. We can go out and weaken labor. Look, I mean, soul winning should be fun. I mean, soul winning is fun. You get to go out and meet all kinds of people, Scooby-Doo or whoever. I mean, you get to meet all kinds of people out there and they're different people. And look, there's people, but we also met, when we met Scooby-Doo, we met somebody that actually needed some help, that actually was having problems in their life, talking about maybe they didn't want to live anymore and all these types of things. Look, this is a big deal that we're out there and we're making differences in people's lives. And somebody told brother Matt today, this was like the greatest day of my life. She told him. She's like, I can't remember the exact words, but if something along the lines is the greatest day of my life or this is like the best thing that's ever happened to me and we're like, exactly, but guess what? We're part of that. I mean, don't ever forget that. Don't ever forget the importance of what we're doing. I mean, sometimes I get it. Sometimes you just got to labor, you just got to push things, push through things. You know, look, there's nothing wrong with faking it until you make it. All right, there's nothing wrong with you know what, I just don't feel good today and I don't really feel like being here today and just faking it until you make it. But look, if you're just constantly have no zeal anymore, there's something wrong there. There's something wrong that needs to be fixed there. So I mean, this is another problem. So just remember these reference points. Remember, find that time in your life when you had that zeal and always remember that and don't lose that. Be thankful for the fact that you can be part of people's lives. Be thankful for the fact that you all have been, have been, look, this is your destiny. You have been predestined. You have been predestined to go out and share the most important message that anyone has ever had ever for anyone. I mean, that's pretty important. Don't ever take that for granted. Remember a reference point in your life to keep that zeal. You know, hopefully, you know, this is another thing with young people as far as Paul and the suffering that Paul went through. This is another problem that young people, and no offense to the young people in the room, but young people are generally gonna take things for granted easier than older people. Because why? Because they don't have a lot of hard times. They don't have a lot of those reference points in their lives. That's why, you know, it's important that they find their own reference points. You know, and look, young people, when you do go through hard times in your life, when you do have some suffering in your life, whether that be, you know, physical or financial or whatever, look, use those. Those are valuable times. Those are valuable reference points for you. Generally, Proverbs chapter one. Proverbs chapter one. I mean, look, I mean, you know, we've had some hard times, and I've had some, I've got some reference points in my life. I mean, I'm sure, you know, there's many, many people in the world that had way more reference points than me. But look, I don't want to be the kind of person either that God has to, like, give hard times to to give me more reference points. I want to take the reference points that God has given me, and I want to learn from those and use those going forward. Look at Proverbs chapter one. Let me turn there myself. Look at Proverbs chapter one. Look at verse number five. The Bible says, a wise man will hear and will increase learning. And a man of understanding shall attain unto wise councils. You know, this says a few things here, but basically, this means that, you know, a wise person can learn things. I mean, it's not rocket science, but it's basically saying a wise person can learn things. Guess what? A fool has to learn things again, and again, and again. And I don't want to be that person. I want to take the reference points that I have. I'd actually like to learn, but the best kind of way to learn is to learn from other people's reference points, to take hard times that other people have gone through. But the sad thing is, is really we need to fight our own battles a lot of times to understand these things, but really the smart, the wisest person will learn from other people's mistakes. And especially, at least, they will learn from making one mistake. It's the fool that has to learn things again, and again, and again in their life. So look, I want to prove to God that those hard times, that those reference points that I have, that those are enough. And I can use those to keep me zealous in my life. Turn to 2 Kings, chapter 10. Turn to 2 Kings, chapter 10. I just have a couple more thoughts on how you can keep your zeal and the importance of keeping your zeal this evening. Turn to 2 Kings, chapter 10, look at verse number 16. This is Jehu. This is Jehu. And he is out on a mission to clean house that God has given him, and he runs across Jonah Dab, and he says to Jonah Dab, and he says he pulls him up in his chariot and he gave him his hand and he took him up into the chariot, and he's still on this mission. And he said, come with me and see my zeal for the Lord. So they made him ride in his chariot. So he rode in the chariot and he's like, come witness how zealous I am for God. Come witness the works that I'm doing. The point, the only point I want to make out of this is your zeal affects other people. Your zeal in this church, you think about your role in this church, every single person in the, and I am sure that most of you underestimate this. I'm sorry, I'm just gonna throw that one out there. You underestimate how much your zeal affects others. Because guess what? One person comes in and they're, guess what, good or bad by the way, good or bad. One person comes in and they're super excited and they're just like, whew. I mean, I made one comment to Matt one time, just I don't know what, even what I said. And he's just like, all of a sudden I'm just pumped up right now. But that is the effect. It's not just cause I'm the pastor. The effect that one person who is zealous for the Lord can have on every, I mean, if one person comes in, if one person's having a bad day, another person comes in and just like super excited. My wife made some comments. She's like, I hope I get a really good map today. I really want to go soul winning. It's like that excited me. That excited me to go soul winning. Cause look, not every day you're gonna feel like that, but your zeal affects others. And that is what Jehu was pointing out here. Turn back to Revelation chapter two. Turn back to Revelation chapter two. There's one more thing I want to point out about this. Look at Revelation chapter two and look back at verse number two. So your zeal, look, your zeal, you have a lot more effect on people than you think. And guess what? Especially in a smaller group like this. You know, the zeal of one person goes a long way in a small church like ours. Look at verse number two of Revelation chapter two. The Bible says, I know thy works and thy labor. Actually you turn to Romans five and I'm gonna read for you verse two and verse three again. I know thy works and thy labor. Turn to Romans five. I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience. Twice he uses this word patience. Again in verse number three and has born and has patience. And from my name's sake has labored. So twice he uses these two words, labor, we talked about that, and patience. Why is that? Go to Romans chapter five. Go to Romans chapter five. Romans chapter five and look at verse number three. Romans chapter five and verse number three. So these people, they had a lot of patience. You know what that tells me? It tells me they had some trouble. It tells me they had some trouble in their church. And you can see the trouble as they're just kicking out all these false prophets. They got these Nicolaitans in there causing trouble. I mean, they're probably getting persecuted from other people. And look, these people had trouble. Because how do I know that? Because that's where they got the patience. Look at verse number three of Romans chapter five. The Bible says, and not only so, but we glory in tribulations also. This is Paul, right? You should glory in tribulations. Knowing that tribulation worketh because out of tribulation comes patience. So tribulations, hard times, suffering produces patience in you. Did you know that? And patience. So this is just a great, beautiful pattern of what happens and how things progress from suffering, from hard times, from those reference points. It says from those hard times comes patience. And that's what the people in the church of Ephesus had. But then you get experience. And experience, because guess what? You know where experience comes from? What are the two things that they said in Revelation chapter two? This correlates perfectly with Romans. They had labor and they had patience. Guess what experience is? Is continuing to labor, even through tribulation. So these people, they were gaining patience and then they were gaining experience as they continued to labor. So what did Jesus tell them to do? He's like, get back to the first works. He's like, get back to the right works. He's like, get back to the correct works. Get the zeal back for those works and then you'll end up with what in verse number four? What's the last word? Hope is what you will end up with. So here's what you do. You go through hard times and suffering and you just keep pushing through it. You're gonna gain patience there. You keep working through it. You keep your eyes focused on the first works. You keep your eyes focused on the spiritual things and you continue to labor in those first works, in those spiritual things. Look, fake it, tell you make it if you have to. And then guess what will pop out of that? Hope will come out of that. You know what? Hope equals zeal and you will get your zeal back. That is what Jesus is saying. He's saying, look, he's like, you guys are hard workers. You guys are hard workers. He's like, you already have patience. But you've gone, because you've gone through so much garbage, you already have the patience. He's like, just get back to the first works that you're supposed to be doing and you will get that zeal back. Is what Jesus is saying and it matches perfectly what Romans five says. What, and look, that's suffering and let's remember the suffering so we don't have to go through the suffering to keep working, to keep getting our hope and our zeal back. Fake it till you make it. There's nothing wrong with that. But look, if you're just faking it all the time, there is something wrong there. So tribulation works patience, patience, experience, and experience, hope or zeal. So if you're losing your zeal, don't take things for granted in your life. You know, remember, make reference points in your life. Appreciate the things in your life and you know, imagine the things, it's basically just imagine the things in your life that you say, that you appreciate the most and just imagine that they're not there anymore. That'll be a good reference point for you because there's no guarantee folks that these things are always gonna be there and they just keep working. Keep doing those first works and that hope will return to you. And look, the zeal that is the end game here is so important that we never lose individually and especially as a church. We need to be a zealous church. There's super exciting things to be happening here. I mean, look, this church and churches like ours, we are, we are the explosion of Christianity in this country. You know, everyone's like, we need revival. Look, we are the revival. Our zeal is the revival and that is what we always need to have as a church and this is what Jesus is getting at. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.