“Love Lost & Found”
August 20, 2017 A.D.
by Pastor Ben Willis

August 22nd, 2017 by mdevita

THE PROPHET EZEKIEL 16:1-15 [NLTse]
Then another message came to me from the Lord: 2 “Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable sins. 3 Give her this message from the Sovereign Lord: You are nothing but a Canaanite! Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4 On the day you were born, no one cared about you. Your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were never washed, rubbed with salt, and wrapped in cloth. 5 No one had the slightest interest in you; no one pitied you or cared for you. On the day you were born, you were unwanted, dumped in a field and left to die.

6 “But I came by and saw you there, helplessly kicking about in your own blood. As you lay there, I said, ‘Live!’ 7 And I helped you to thrive like a plant in the field. You grew up and became a beautiful jewel. Your breasts became full, and your body hair grew, but you were still naked. 8 And when I passed by again, I saw that you were old enough for love. So I wrapped My cloak around you to cover your nakedness and declared My marriage vows. I made a covenant with you, says the Sovereign Lord, and you became Mine.

9 “Then I bathed you and washed off your blood, and I rubbed fragrant oils into your skin. 10 I gave you expensive clothing of fine linen and silk, beautifully embroidered, and sandals made of fine goatskin leather. 11 I gave you lovely jewelry, bracelets, beautiful necklaces, 12 a ring for your nose, earrings for your ears, and a lovely crown for your head. 13 And so you were adorned with gold and silver. Your clothes were made of fine linen and costly fabric and were beautifully embroidered. You ate the finest foods—choice flour, honey, and olive oil—and became more beautiful than ever. You looked like a queen, and so you were! 14 Your fame soon spread throughout the world because of your beauty. I dressed you in My splendor and perfected your beauty, says the Sovereign Lord.
15 “But you thought your fame and beauty were your own…

SERMON – Part 1
You know, you were nothing but a… No one was interested in you. No one pitied you. No one truly cared for you. You were unwanted. Dumped…
But God saw you… Yes, God saw you. He commanded you, “Live. Live!”
And He helped you to thrive. And you grew. And you were a treasure!
And the LORD declared His love for you. And the LORD made Marriage Vows with you and entered into a Covenant with you. And you were His!

And He gave you good times and good feelings; and He gave you what you needed when you needed it; and He promised He would always be with you and that you would always be with Him; and He showed you how to turn the other cheek and how to overcome evil with good and promised you power to accomplish all that He would ever call you to; and He assured you of absolute security – forever, for always – through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.
But you made it all about you.
You lost your “first love”.

This idea of losing our “first love” comes from the Bible’s Book of Revelation. After showing Himself alive to John the apostle in a fireworks display of sound and lights in a vision, the Lord Jesus – conqueror of Death and raised from the dead – dictates to John seven letters to be delivered to seven local churches that were representative of all churches across all Time. And to the church in Ephesus, the Lord Jesus said, “I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not… You have patiently suffered for Me without quitting.

“But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love Me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to Me and do the works you did at first.”

Do you remember when the Lord was first pursuing you with His wonderful, making-everything-new love? Of course, then He moved into your life. And you found out He wanted to take up an incredible amount of your space! He started turning everything upside-down and inside out. He wanted you to share everything with Him. He wanted you to talk to Him. He wanted you to consult Him about all your decisions. He was always there, always watching, demanding everything!
But it was okay because it was so new and so exhilarating to be so wanted, so loved, so treasured and sought after by… by God! It wasn’t ever necessarily comfortable. It didn’t always feel easy, or cozy. His love demanded everything! And it sure didn’t feel so very miraculous when He was busy rearranging your entire life! But, O, to be so loved! …
Over time you got used to it. It happens sometimes with love. Fast-forward a few years and you’ve gotten used to God. He’s always around. And you can hardly remember what it felt like to be without Him, you can hardly remember a time when you didn’t know God’s love. You get used to it. You start to take Him for granted…

And now, sometimes, you struggle holding on to the truth that He loves you because He has hurt you, too, along the way. You’ve heard the words, “God loves you and He has a wonderful plan for your life!” But you’ve looked around, and maybe it seems to you that your life’s not all that wonderful. And you wonder, how can a loving God, an all-powerful God, let this bad stuff happen? And you struggle wondering how to keep on trusting in the love of this God when you’re so disappointed? So disappointed in Him; so disappointed in yourself…

Marriage experts want to make sure we all understand that love grows: It twists and changes to keep up with and make room for the new discoveries that our lives together across the years reveal to us about each other. Our relationship with Abba can’t go back to the rush and zealous thrills of that fullness of time when we were born again – made new as we trusted in Christ Jesus! We know too much – about God, about ourselves – we know too much to go backwards to those ignorant, “holy-high” days. No. But we can go back to that “first love”.

TO THE ROMANS 5:6-11 [NLTse]
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, He will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of His Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

SERMON – Part 2
On the cross the Lord Jesus made us friends. On the cross the Lord Jesus made us children. On the cross the Lord Jesus made us lovers. We don’t need to seek after pleasure. We don’t need to scurry for possessions. We don’t need to scratch for position. We don’t need to strive after power. We don’t need to sue for protection. All of this is ours as we put our faith in Jesus Christ each day.
But do we believe that?
Do you believe that?

Everything we need – all that we were made for – we’ve been given in Jesus Christ.
Meditate on that as you begin the long commute to work and see if the Holy Spirit doesn’t deal with your road rage.
Meditate on that when facing the bullies in school or at work and see if the Holy Spirit doesn’t grant you the grace to overcome.

Meditate on that in your conflicts with your husband or wife or children or parents and see if the Holy Spirit doesn’t bring you to your knees and to repentance.

O how He loves you and me… O how He loves you and me… He gave His life, what more could He give? O how He loves you; O how He loves me; O how He loves you and me…
It’s not about you or me bringing about change in ourselves. It’s about letting ourselves be transformed by the truth and power of His love.
[If you want to cooperate with Him in that way, see How To Fall In Love With God All Over Again

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