Pastor Phil Howard Sermon

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Well, we have a real treat in store for you. Pastor Phil Howard is going to be here preaching in just a few moments

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I just wanted to say thank you to Phil and for Carolyn to come and minister here with us We had a marriage conference yesterday if you weren't here yesterday

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Okay, I better be nice because I'm in front of Phil You want to get those cassettes and those tapes and those VHS and those betas and everything else listen to those digital recordings

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I think you'll be encouraged even if you're single or you've lost your spouse. It's really good to remember

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Marriage reflecting the Lord Jesus and his church. And so you don't want to miss that from yesterday

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Sometimes people say well don't pastors need a pastor that is someone to encourage them and pray for them and lift them up or Sometimes to get after them a little bit and I've said for a few years now that Pastor Phil is my pastor

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And so Phil I'm very thankful for you and for your ministry One day,

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I hope I can be more like you and grow up to be like you because there's so many things that the

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Lord has done in your life that I Really? I really admire I'm often thinking of 2nd

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Timothy chapter 2 Paul said to Timothy Remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead the offspring of David as he preached in my gospel

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And one of the things I like about Phil is he wants to talk about the Lord Jesus and you can tell he's affected by Him and so I said to Phil on the phone

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We were arranging this a couple months ago Phil, you know a couple marriage conferences Q &A this that and the other Sunday school

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And then for the sermon, I'd love to have you preach and you know, make sure you talk about Jesus This is a Jesus preaching church and Phil got after me.

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He's like I was preaching Jesus when you were still in diapers You don't need to be reminding me about preaching

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Jesus, but I'll stand behind the scripture and say to you dear friend 2nd

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Timothy to remember Jesus Christ. I lost my voice after preaching for many years and Screaming at my wife

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And so I I have to have a mic,

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I'm sorry Well, it has been a delight

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To be with you. I've never preached in New England before I've heard all kinds of stories about you

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I Just finished the Adams Chronicles and I didn't know if you'd be like John Adams.

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I just read about the Wright brothers by John David McCullough But none of them will compare to this.

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I love your pastor And pastors need to be encouraged and so do you

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Hebrews 313 said we ought to encourage one another each day

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Lest sin deceive us and our heart become hardened.

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So It is a joy to encourage people that get encouraged.

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I've never met an over encouraged Christian Are you one?

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If you are pass it on pass it on Let's read

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Revelation 2. I'm so glad you read Revelation 1. That's great I'm going to speak on the romance that became a rut

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That happens in marriage and it happens in church life and we pick up in Revelation 2 to the angel of the church in Ephesus, right

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This is the church of Acts 19 Acts 20

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It's one of the most moving chapters in the Bible and they go down to the beach and weep as they say goodbye to Paul For they will never see him again moving moving narrative in Acts this is the church of Ephesians 1 you were chosen in Christ and That he prays for them chapter 2 if you were quickened when you were dead in your sins chapter 3

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Jew and Gentile have been put together in one people

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Chapter 4 how to behave the seven unities of the faith chapter 5

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Flee immoral behavior and be happily married chapter 6

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Beware of satanic attack. This is the one of the most marvelous

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Epistles and now Christ in 90 AD says I want to talk to my churches and I'm starting with Ephesus listen to what he says to the angel of the church of Ephesus, right

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The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands says this

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I know your deeds and Your toil and Perseverance and that you cannot endure evil men and you put to the test

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Those who call themselves Apostles and they are not and you found them to be false and you have perseverance and have endured for my namesake and Have not grown weary But I have this against you

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That you have left or fallen your first love

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Remember therefore from where you have fallen and repent and do the deed you did at first or Else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place

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Unless you repent Yet this you do have

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That you hate the need deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate

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He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches

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To him who overcomes I will grant to eat of the tree of life

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Which is in the paradise of God It's An amazing amazing

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Commendation I wish to be commended like this church.

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I Mean what they had going for them. He starts it. I know your works

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It's amazing It's like the one bosses. How will we replace the man that just left?

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He said no worry about it There's nothing to replace No works

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Some people the fool is all talk according to Proverbs. He he's too lazy in the morning

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It says he rolls on his bed like a door on hinges. He keeps saying there's a lion in the street

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He does nothing but not this church This church is a working church as I imagine this churches

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Let's see what he says, I know your deeds your toil and perseverance,

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I mean energetic Consumed with the work set up the chairs make the coffee teach the children on and on You just you need to be in good health to belong to some churches

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Because you're going to be working all the time So he says I commend you you're doing great on that score

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And he goes on I I see a perseverance. I love this That they remain under pressure is the idea that that they're not easy to give up They stay with it.

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They stay with it Everything doesn't happen just overnight

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So he said I commend you You cannot endure evil men.

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I Think of this church and his pastoral staff and the elders. I mean you're astute

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Theologically and you're aware and they've taught you people Be on the lookout for error and men with bad motives bad

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Doctrine bad practice. They're on it. They're not asleep. They're not dumb at all it goes on and he said you put to test those who say they are apostles and they are not and I found them to be false and you have persevered endured for my name and I'm not grown weary.

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What a commendable Commendable word from the Lord Jesus. Thank of it

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I've left you. I've been gone maybe 60 years and there's a church at Ephesus a wicked city founded in Acts 19 and This is what

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I know. That's good about you It's wonderful. I mean you're in in a good style

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I Can he say that about you in this church? Are you engaged in the work of this church?

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Are you involved? Are you just passively watching the parade?

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You know Christianity is not a spectator sport we usually watch a bunch of guys playing football and We're critical every time they drop the ball every time they don't score and you're sitting here at least 50 pounds overweight having another bud light and you're mad because you can't find the controls and And critical of those who are playing the game, but you've never got involved in the game

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How involved are you in this church? Have you ever got to know

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Christ enough that you'd work for him and you'd let him work through you

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So he's commending them as we all want to be commended But then he moved to a heartbreaking thing

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He says but I have this against you You don't love me like you did at the first And there must be a

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Thousand love songs on that very thing. I Mean, sorry seems to be the hardest word

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Are you don't love me like you used to? And there's a

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Whitney singing I will always love you as the guy is walking out on her and is breaking the heart of the relationship

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But I will always love you I'll still in my heart even if we part even if we break up even if I never see you again

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I will always love you and then we need baby to write a song the thrills gone.

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I'm still married, but the thrills gone We Still live together

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We still do dishes together I still cut the lawn, but everything that brought us together's

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Evaporated we don't talk to each other. I want I read one article where the couple they communicated to each other by their

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Computer they didn't even talk. They just sent a message It totally silent

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I've had so many women said my husband never talks He reads the newspaper

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He watches the game and we have nothing to talk about. Oh that can't be.

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Oh, it's all over the place We're one of the loneliest cultures America has ever seen

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Because we had so much entertainment around us Technology around us. I mean,

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I have a bunch of grandchildren and it's something if there's seven grandchildren There'll be seven cell phones

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And said hey, you're with your grandfather. I'm the one that sends you a birthday gift of money

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Not your cell phone talk to me me me me me me and Technology has taken over talking around the table and in marriage and it happens in church life of the great things that started you out

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You may have left behind you and he's he's saying I'm gonna talk to you about this matter a first love

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Why have you left it and that word first is sometimes translated best the best love you left

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Behind you listen to what he tells them to get over the problem Remember from where you have fallen

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Remember from where you have fallen How was it when you first got saved

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I just read again religious affections by a man that used to hang out in these woods named

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Jonathan Edwards and And he said if you've never had religious affections that he defines where joy flooded your heart where a hope came into your heart where Compassion for people came into your heart when all of this came into you without the affections

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You've never been born again, and the awakening was not all Emotionalism was not all fluff

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It was not all being caught up with with field and there was fanaticism and there were

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Emotions and the deus had plenty of criticism of the great awakening

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But God raises up a genius a genius no greater mind in America.

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He said let me tell you what I saw Those who were truly affected by the grace of God The affections the emotions the heart was gripped

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They were moved they were illumined of truth They were not like those men that write a thesis on honey who had never tasted honey

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They could tell you all about something Theoretically, but never had experienced it.

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They really did experience a change of heart How do you know that Jonathan those that begin to love

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God? begin to love people begin to have gratitude Compassion and you go through the affections

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He names about 20 of them that I saw in those genuinely touched in the revival.

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I Don't know about your background But so many people are nominal they're the

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Christian in name only They grew up in a denomination. They were sprinkled as a baby and they say

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I've got my religious Tag on I've got it made. Have you ever been born again?

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Can you ever say I know? when the love of God was just abroad in my heart and I was delivered from what

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I used to hate. I began to love I was saved on a Tuesday night 1958 and I was in a church with old ladies who had all their hair in buns

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And and they had dresses that look like the Quakers and made

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And and I hated to go to that church because it was an old people's church

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But I went because my dad was bigger than me and so I Went but this

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Tuesday night. I couldn't wait. I wanted to be there because I was under severe conviction of sin

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It was amazing to me and when I think remember remember

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Tuesday night prayer meeting no more than 50 people and most of them old

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Old -fashioned I'm Buying Elvis records.

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I'm listening to blue suede shoes heartbreak hotel and hound dogs And I'm going to church with folks that look like they got off of the

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Mayflower What in the world am I doing here

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But that night as I knelt to receive

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Christ and I wept and wept because I thought

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I was going to hell that night If God didn't hear me that night. I knew

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I was lost And finally my father knelt by me and gave me a handkerchief and Said I'll be here until you're through and he said once he's through breaking your heart.

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You'll be in the family And I got up as a 14 year old boy in a leather jacket and Dixie peach in my hair

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And look like someone out of dirty dancing By the time

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I got up I Hugged every one of those old ladies with their hair up there 70 80 nearly been missionary just Didn't know what lipstick looked like didn't know what a modern hairdo they were just the old folks ready to be put in the home and I immediately fell in love with them and As a teenage boy,

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I hugged every one of them. Some of them had been Sunday school teachers Nobody taught me that nobody told me

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I had to do that. That wasn't required for me to be saved. What happened? I Was born again

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I never could fight anymore because I had no hate. I Had nothing to prove.

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I No longer could use racial language. I Returned ball gloves that I'd stolen in grammar school.

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I started returning things I'd stolen three years before The change that I had stolen to fight in a fight and said

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I'm returning it for five years Even when I'm in Bible college, I'm returning things that stole from markets

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Nobody told me I had to do that. I Remember, I remember what he did

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Broke up with the girl that I was ready to be immoral with it's only 14 But in California they get started young broke up Couldn't date.

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I wanted to be pure. I'm going to be right Started a prayer covenant with God when

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I was 15 I prayed three hours a day going through high school ninth to twelfth because I wanted to be

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Clean I wanted to be right. I remember I prayed more going through high school than I prayed as a pastor

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Stayed in church all the time learned to play guitar so we could sing by the way.

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I loved the music I loved it and all hail the power of the way you sing it. That's our alma mater song from Dallas You ought to hear a chapel full of about 500 men sing that song.

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I Just wanted to weep when I heard it brought back memories Remember remember

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Do you love him like you did at the first? Or has it become a old hat?

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Is everything just a definition? I read so many books I've been books all my life reading preparing sermons

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Reading preparing sermons pray five minutes study ten hours Study and you've studied yourself till you dry out you get so dry and what's lacking so much preaching

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It's so dry because the guy hasn't waited long enough for God to ignite him.

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It comes from above Because we pretty soon we know how to have church we know how to the machinery works

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We know how this works that work, but something missing and what's missing is the presence of God Doing a work that a book won't do

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Book won't change To revive you to stir you

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Remember from where you've fallen I ask you do you pray like you used to or maybe you never started

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What do you not do today that you did when you first probably singing a lot when you first got saved

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He puts a song in your heart. He doesn't mean you put the tune in your heart.

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You still can't sing maybe Musically But but that's not the test

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We've got to wait to get to heaven and have a glorified body. Some of you will be able to carry a tune

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In my family, it was scary to sing because they are good and oh man,

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Philip, when you gonna learn? Yeah, I'm just singing to the Lord. He's the only one that wants to hear it

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Remember Remember from where you came from. I was preaching

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At Dallas Seminary a Christian life conference for I preached every day for a week the chapels were 20 minutes long and So you had to get up Kenneth Gangle was the

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Dean and he was strict Hush up the bell goes off. We've got to get to class

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The head of the homiletics department had me for dinner on Thursday And he said

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Phil when are you gonna call us to do something? When are you gonna ask us to respond?

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I said there's no time to respond. I Said I've got 20 minutes or I'm gonna get chewed out

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He said I'm telling you as the head of the homiletics to Call the students to do something the

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Spirit of God is working among the student body So I listened to him that next day

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I read this passage and I asked him a question.

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I Say in chapel that day. There's 500 primarily in those days men

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When I went there it was mainly all men not very many women I Asked them on that day

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Have you lost your first love I Said you're so busy learning

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Hebrew and Greek That you don't even go to church anymore.

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He's always getting ready for another exam. I Signed up I want to go to seminary.

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I want to go you've come here guys were getting divorced while they were in seminary

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Guys could going to church They quit praying But man, they could parse verbs.

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I Asked them how many of you guys Don't go to church anymore disaster in the chapel hands going up all over I said how many of you are up on BDB?

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Hebrew lexicon But you don't love the Shepherd You you now know what it says in Hebrew, but you don't love him like you did in the beginning

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You're just becoming an egghead you like academics, but you don't love the Savior You're just going to get a doctorate.

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You're going to get a degree, but you're losing your temperature while you're doing it Because you're not being changed you're backsliding while you're studying theology

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I Said bow your heads and they believe me. They don't do this. This is a

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Presbyterian kind of school when I went to it. I Said bow your heads how many of you feel like You slid back that you don't love the

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Savior anymore. I was amazed to see about 300 hands go up. I Thought they they misunderstand.

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I I didn't say it right. Maybe it was a trick question I don't want to trick him into a response.

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I said how many maybe you don't understand. I want you to stand If you've lost your first love, but you're in seminary 300 men stood and many of them with tears on their cheeks and Bill Brian and I I said

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Bill Brian was the chaplain I said we will stand right up here in the front and We will pray with every man that wants someone to pray with him

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The bell went off and we went another hour to two hours Just praying with broken men.

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I fell out of love with the one I'm studying about. I fell out of love with Christ While preparing to be a pastor and I think there's so many people in church

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That they don't love him like they used to He The world gets our attention and he says you can't love the

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Father and the world at the same time Evil keeps waxing.

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It looks so good. It's advertising For our hearts all the time you need to buy this you need to lust after that You need this and we're so full of stuff stuff.

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You talk to people about their prayer life Tell me about your prayer life. Don't even ask a pastor's group.

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How's your prayer life? No, not just study life I don't want to say how big your library is, which

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I am impressed Do you have a prayer life we've hired guys on our staff

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Just got their master's in theology and I told one young man got it

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Down in Southern, California Came back. I said you won't be worth spit until you learn how to pray.

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I Said I'm not impressed I went to school with the guys had sheepskins all over the place and they were as dry as last year's bird nest

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Then because because they're not in love with the God they're preaching about they don't love him

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They're hoping to make a paycheck off of call it vocational ministry all baloney

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It'd be good if you could love the Christ you preach about. Oh That we would be in love with Christ to you who love him his commandments are not burdensome

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His yoke is easy He's a wonderful Savior He here he's everything there's no disappointments in Jesus Preachers can fall preachers can fail churches can explode

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I Went to a seminary that they got into a fight with one another in the seminary exploded

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But there's no disappointments in Jesus And at that school

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As I left the school After those men had repented the president said had me sit down.

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He was stern with me I was getting ready to fly back to California. He made me sit down in his office.

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He said Phil We're not used to what happened today sit down Now that oh, no,

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I'm gonna get chewed out He said this is exactly what we needed

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For we've dried up We've lost the first love You broke all the rules, but God broke our heart and remade us

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What about you he goes on to tell them I want you to go back remember

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From where you've fallen. I want you to repent

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Change your mind the direction of your life and Then I want you to do the deeds you did at the first Many times as a pastor my heart was drawing cold even when

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I was in school. I We used to walk the streets of San Pablo Avenue and where I live

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What San Pablo Avenue ran all the way into Berkeley, Oakland and all

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Places not known for God. I'd walk those streets and pray give me a burden for the people of this place

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Give me a burden none of the theology books were giving me a burden for people

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None of the books was able to take me and make me put up with the hippie

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That was strung out on drugs and strung out in immorality only God can make me love people

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Read me a book all day. You can't change my heart It's only the

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God of Calvary that will make you love people enough to serve. I Said warm my heart.

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I'm drying out. I'm drying out listen to lectures every day every day

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He said do what you did at the first. I said my lord. I prayed a lot. He said pray a lot again

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Well at the first I used to go to church a lot go to church more be with the

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Saints Get with people who sing God's praises get with the people that exhort you you can't afford to run with very draining people

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You've got to be with people who keep pointing you to the celestial city Don't get bogged down with negative people

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Get with people that will stimulate you for God get back

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Get back do the deeds you did at first For I'm coming and if you don't repent if you don't go back

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I'm going to remove you and That is astounding The devil gets blamed for every church that's shut down and Christ is shutting as many as the devil

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This church is worthless to God if it refuses to fall in love with God The thing you want to contend for is not just being right because you can be dead right

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You Say I loved all Christians until I started running with Christians all the time

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And I started going to schools that were separatists They were very strict

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Fundamental, but they taught me to be suspicious when I would meet you I had about ten questions to ask you and if you answered them, right?

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Well, maybe I could love you Before that I could embrace you because I was just a

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Christian and It wasn't my business to straighten you out. I Thought God did the straightening out

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Now I'm going to tell you the truth But only God changes our hearts.

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Is that not right? Because where I come from most people are fairly hard -headed, but I know you folks aren't that way

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You Prove it prove it show me said

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May the Lord Jesus If he was to take out his report card on this precious church

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How would he be grading us? I'm scared to death of his appraisal because I know

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I As the pastor sure did not did not I'd had to repent more than I would my life has been a life of repentance and Confession I'm Desperately dependent all the time and I'm thinking when do

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I graduate from this? There's no graduation Until you see him face to face

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If you don't like the life of dependence and you're the Independent self -made man.

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May you rot in your success For unless you abide in me you can do nothing

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That is of any worth. I Thought as we went to the antique show the things people paid for made

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Painted and kept up wind up for sale and It's all perishing.

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What are you spending your life? Hey, you know, do you have time to pray? Do you have time to just worship the

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Lord? To tell him you love him. Do you do that around here? Do you just say

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Lord? I love you Interesting that's all he wanted to know Peter didn't chew him out for denying it

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He didn't even bring it up in John 21, hey, by the way, you denied me three times

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You liar You said in John 13 there will everybody leave you you can count on me

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That's what he said Now they all abandoned him, but they didn't all make that boast

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But when he meets him at the sea he never once brought up his failure

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He brought up one question I Wonder Peter do you love me?

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Because I've got some plans to use you on the day of Pentecost and all I want to know is do you love me?

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Not do you know how? Not are you the best? Not it. Did you graduate?

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No, I wouldn't ask Peter Do you love me the biggest question in front of all of you today

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Above all other questions. I don't want to know if you're this kind of a

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View you're on this view that view You see when I knew far less at times.

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I believe I loved him far more When I grew up, I didn't know

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I Didn't know a tenth of The theology and truth that I hold to today and I was wrong about so many views

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But you you you won't say this. You don't you don't know me. Don't you act like you do?

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But I loved him I loved him he changed my the whole course of my life

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Changed Took me from a thief took me from a lot of stuff just as a kid

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And on my worst day my worst views I said Jesus You read

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Isaiah 53 to me twice I'll need my handkerchief out. I can't

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I Used to tell my daughters your dad's not a great Christian but Calvary conquered my heart

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I Am a conquered man, I'm not a great man

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Have no ambitions of being great, but Calvary Calvary love conquered my heart

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Oh Ephesus Ephesus Do what you did at the beginning

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Or I will remove you. I know you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans Which I also hate and they're hard to get a handle on Some make them they corrupted other churches into immorality and Idolatry, so they're a terrible body of men

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Corrupting the churches of Asia Minor and he says you hate what they're doing. I do too

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Hear what the Spirit says to the churches To him who overcomes

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I will grant to eat of the tree of life Which is in the paradise of God Oh Beloved Saints as I thought of the marriage conference

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I just thought of You couples if you think of your marriage

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Did it used to be better than it is now Did you used to have time for each other?

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Did you talk to each other? You've raised children You survived economic hard times

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There's nothing you can do that will make up for not being there for her or for him

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You know, I'm just saying that the group I was so blessed for years because Carolyn her love language was time

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Time to get she didn't care if we were driving across the desert if we were just together

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Because I was consumed with people I'm a people person and with people is always running with young men wanting to train for ministry

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Always consumed. I left her facing the wall many times at conventions and different I I was terrible because I knew preachers and I'm talking and she's over here

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Terrible mistakes But as we kept living together

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Her love language has now become money And we're in need of counsel if anyone would be willing to either make us alone or counsel

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I don't need your time anymore, but I would like a ring that would be beautiful What does it take to cultivate your marriage talk

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Remember the good times not all the spats We look back now we talk about oh, we had a spat there and this is amazing

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We remember we had the spat but we forgot what we spat about That's bad

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English, but that's mine What were we having the debate about we don't know

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What have you done since put off put on? And I just think in light of our marriages and in light of our churches the most important thing we could do for our wife or husband is

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Do you love them? And are you willing to humble yourself to convey that message?

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Don't stubbornly set on it, you know, if you love me and you don't tell me

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It does me no good Do you ever see people like in the church? Well, I love those people.

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I love the Saints. Do you ever tell them? Oh, no, that's private But that's like winking at your girlfriend in the dark

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Do a bit of good We just speak up and weak in the daylight

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So we could see it if you love the Saints tell the Saints if you love your husband love your wife tell them

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I Know some of you just got locked jaw, but that's too bad God heals

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Tell them tell them Convey love we sure do we don't have locked jaw when it comes to criticism

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Well, we'll tell everything we don't like what about what we love and The main theme of your life ought not to be the

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Patriots. It ought to be Christ and Don't tell me about Trump or Biden.

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We're desperate on both cases It's Christ it's

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Christ I pray God will let you drink deeply of the affections of first love and Just start there if you fall out of love and you're just in the rut

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You're going through the routine you read your Bible, but you never get illumined You never have any emotion because you're just too brilliant to be that that puny and desperate

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Well, you're more spiritual in Jeremiah who wept as he warned

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Israel turn back to God You know I'll end with just the movie story when

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I first read Ezekiel 16 When he tells Israel when I found you

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You were like a baby that was dying in the afterbirth.

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You were drowning in the blood of your mother. I Walked upon you in the wilderness.

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I saw you and I pulled you out of the afterbirth and I worse you

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I cleaned you up. I took you as my own

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I Clothed you I put ointment on you as You started growing up and you came into puberty and you came into the time of love

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He became a beautiful young lady. I Dressed you fine.

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I Took care of you and when you came to the age to give me reciprocal love and To love me back you decided to sleep with all the gods of the nations and You took my gold you took my perfume.

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You took my garments and You poured it out on foreign lovers. I was not good enough to love

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It's a heart -rending Description of their love for idols as I've read

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Chronicles even when they would defeat another army They would take their gods back with them having defeated the

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Edomites then they would adopt their gods I hope the idols of your heart could be crushed

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So that you could get to the one who rescued you There's only one that rescued you our father

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We're living in a cold age We crave revival we crave awakening

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We crave to not backslide with truth in our mouth

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With Church life all around us and yet grow cold

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I'm exciting and become bored With the things that ought to ignite our heart.

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Oh Lord heal me of my backsliding's heal me of the lost affections.

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Oh, I crave So many of those experiences that I remember prayer meetings

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Meetings Where we sang till our lungs nearly caved in we couldn't sing your praises loud enough or long enough

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How simple how uncomplicated and how glorious it was

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Oh bless Bethlehem Church Guard its leadership

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And this people from becoming cold And untouched by the great truths that they daily traffic in and handle they're hearing such truths that I Had to wait for years and go to college before I ever ever ever heard them

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I Didn't know how rich I was. I thank you

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Lord Jesus. You've never quit loving us We just want to reciprocate

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We want to love him who first loved us. Oh, let us be a bride that loves you back

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Loves you back. Oh Lord Jesus, I love you.

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I Hope to obey you and I hope to bring you pleasure

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For you are worthy of our devotion Help us to get back to our first love in Jesus name and the church said