The Neverland Within: Rekindling the Adventure of Faith

Today, we're going from 2002 from Ice Age rewinding all the way back to 1991, so fresh outta the eighties with a movie called Hook. Who has seen, hook or remembers watching it 20 odd. No. 35 years ago. I rem so I I was 11 when this movie came out. It's funny 'cause when I was watching it again, and it's been decades since I've seen it, I was watching it and lines were coming out of my mouth at the same time as the characters.

So I must have watched it enough to have downloaded the entire script into my brain, which is what we did back then. 'cause we only had VHS. If you had like five movies in your VHS cabinet and you watched them over and over, yeah, so that's what we did. Or we went to Blockbuster and you rented it for three days and watched it 12 times because you knew that it would cost you 6 95 to borrow it again.

So yeah, I did watch this movie a lot. Now this is a. PG rated movie last week. We watched Ice Age afterwards on the big screen so everyone could watch it. Um, if you wanted to stay, we're not gonna do that this week because it's pg. We don't want parents to have to feel like they've gotta figure out whether it's okay for their kids or not.

So you can just look it up online on Common Sense Media or IMDV and see if it's suitable. And if you feel Parentally guided that it's okay, then it's on Netflix and you can just watch it with your family. So Hook the movie assumes that you know a little bit about the story of Peter Pan. Um, for those too young to know what Peter Pan is, he was a guy who was, uh, the leader of the Lost Boys in a place called Neverland, where they never grow up.

They never grow old. He, his arch nemesis was a guy, a pirate named Captain Hook. Ruth said to me, oh, is that why you're wearing hoop earrings? It's like, no. But when God brings things together, he leaves nothing out. Um, so his nemesis is hook and he meets Wendy and hers. Siblings and invites them to Neverland.

He wants Wendy to stay, to be his eternal teen mom to do all of his domestic duties. She politely declines and goes back home. And that's basically the story of Peter Pan. So this movie Hook is about a middle-aged guy, um, named Peter Banning. He is married to, uh, Moira. He's got two kids, Jack and. Maggie and he's uh, an attorney.

He is on the chairman of the board. He's the chairman of the board for a big company that buys out smaller companies. And we're gonna watch a clip now that is gonna introduce Peter Banning and his family to us.

Boy. Why are you crying? I was crying 'cause I couldn't get my shadow to stick. Besides I wasn't crying. I shall sow it on for you. My little man. It may hurt a little. I shall sow it on for you. My little man. It may hurt a little. What is your name? Wendy Moira. Angela Darling. What's yours? Peter Pan. Watch your daughter.

She's wonderful. She's stealing the show. I think it's perfectly sweet of you. Louder, I think it's perfectly sweet of you. I shall give you a kiss if you like. Don't you know what a kiss is? I shall once you give one to me,

now I shall give you a kiss.

I don't ever wanna become a man. Yuck. I always wanna be a little boy to have fun.

We wanna be.

Yeah, I'm at my daughter's plate.

It's impossible. I'm gonna blame the London tomorrow night with my family. A children's hospital. A children's hospital is dedicating an entire wing to Granny. Wendy, Brad, Peter, you're missing

it.

Alright, when a meeting tomorrow am

Dad, my game you promised.

Listen, it's my son's big game. Last game of the season.

Santa Series. I gotta be there. I promised so. We'll make it a short meeting. I'll be there. My word is my bond.

Okay.

What's going? I hear you

now.

Where

is your father? He's missing it. Here.

Jerry. Jack. I said that. Excuse me. Why don't you take the video camera. Go to the game ahead of me. Film what I miss. Can I say something? Mr.

Vanning, this is the speech for your grandmother's tribute

on cards. Oh, yes, sir. Number, those who wrote it.

And then

Miller,

I love annual your report. Read it back to me,

Lord Whitehall. Mm-hmm. Honored guests for the past 70 years. The granny, Wendy, we honor tonight has given hope and care and life to hundreds of homeless children and orphans.

Great, very crispy.

Mommy. Where is daddy?

My briefcase fanning

well.

Gotta

fly.

Don't worry.

More

people

crashing cars than on planes. Still lots have been flying,

crossing the street. Jen, don't look down.

Yeah, it's your time to go. It's your time to go.

And remember, don't, don't.

What if it's a pilot's time to go? Oh no.

Alright. Keep us alive Danny. Keep us alive. Okay. Come on.

Hi, Mr. Danny. I'm from the office. Your son. Thank you.

Peter has these two different worlds that he's juggling and we could say that he's, these worlds are clashing, but it's more like his. Work is just a total hostile takeover of every other part of his life. Um, and what I think this movie does really well is that they didn't make it that he's got this terrible boss and that he's a slave to his job and he is gotta do all these things because he's being forced to.

You can see he really loves his job. He loves the people that he works with. They look like a lot of fun. He has a lot of success in this. He's very high up in his business, but by prioritizing that, he's definitely letting go of the other things in his life, his life that should be really important. And as the movie goes on, we see that it's not only that he doesn't prioritize his family at all, it's that he doesn't even know how to be with his family.

He doesn't know how to relate to them. He has no imagination with them. They just wanna play, and he's getting angry because he just wants to work instead. So one night Peter and Moira come home and their kids have been kidnapped and there's a note there saying, uh, Peter, if you want your kids come to Neverland and get them.

And it's signed Captain James Hook, and Peter has no idea where this place is or who this person is or what is going on. And then this fairy shows up named Tinkerbell and starts saying, come on Peter, you gotta fly to Neverland. You gotta go get your kids. And he's saying, I don't know what you're talking about.

Because Peter has forgotten everything about his life from before he was 13. He does not remember being Peter Pan in Neverland. He chose to stay with Wendy, um, and he was adopted into a family and he's forgotten everything. So he's saying, you've got the wrong guy. So Tinkerbell grabs him, takes him over to, um, Neverland and drops him on Hook's boat.

And we're gonna watch this next clip and we're gonna see what happens next.

My mom.

Hello children. Comfy, cozy.

My kids kids. Dad. Dad.

No. It's all, everything's going down.

Mr. Hook. I want those kids out than that in less than one minute. Or you better get an attorney and hope to God he's better than me. Who are you? I'm Peter, painting attorney at law. Those are my children and I want them back. Please. Those are your children.

These are your children. Yes, they are. And your Peter.

You are Peter. Yes. You are. Peter. Yes. No. Yes you are. Peter, yes. There an echo in here. Yes, I, I'm great. And worthy opponent. Yes.

We have an obligation to clarify. There's pen problem, Mr. Saucer, which must be remedied expediently. I agree. I want my children. For me, the stake can be no higher and for me, so they can have so no law.

And I want my war.

Guys

come outta the water. Dad,

daddy's handling this. It's okay. Come on, Peter. Pick up your weapon.

Alright. All right.

How much.

Hoist. Raise the kitties hoist.

I'll make you a deal. Mr. Chairman of the board. Fly up there and touch the outstretched fingers of your frightened children and I'll set them free. I

can't fly. I

mean, come on. Explode outta there. Stop the ade. Free your children. Dad, daddy. Daddy. I beg your pardon. Real problem. You must be joking. Peter Pan has a real problem with height.

It's okay.

Hang on, son. I'm coming sweetheart. Somebody gimme a hand. I already have.

Come on. Hey, miss Daddy. Say Peter Good.

Oh, when you gave him this, Peter fly stop pretending

the you're fly.

All you have to do is touch our fingers and we'll be able to go home,

touch them, Peter, and it's all been just a bad dream. Just reach out and touch them that you right

and Floyd.

Right.

Come on, daddy. Mommy could do it.

Me. I don't understand. Why doesn't he fly? Not Peter Pan.

He's Peter Pan. All right, captain. He's just been away from Neverland so long. His mind's been sanctified. He's forgotten everything.

Please don't give up.

Dad, I wanna go home.

So his faces are super sad, but when that little girl says Mommy could do it, I'm glad you all laughed. 'cause I thought as a, as an adult, that hit a little different. That was really funny. So here Peter is devastated. He cannot do what these children are asking him to do, which is to just reach out and touch their hand because Peter has forgotten everything.

He cannot remember that he used to fly. He has completely forgotten the magic of Neverland. And,

hang on, I forgot what I was gonna say. Oh, that's right. He's forgotten everything. And what that means is that he can no longer operate the way that he used to. He used to be the pan that could fly. He could used to be the pan that could sword fight and do all these amazing things with the lost boys.

He's forgotten all of that. And that means he cannot save his kids. And the problem is that when we become people who, like Peter, get so distracted by something. That it actually takes up so much of our life. We become ineffective in other areas of our lives, and Peter at this moment is absolutely powerless to save his children the way that he should have been able to.

And the problem with that is that he had a lot of people relying on him. He had those kids up there. They were relying on him to save them. And he had his wife, Moira, who was relying on him to save the children. And he even had Hook who was relying on Peter to be Peter Pan so that he can have his war and have purpose again.

And Peter has failed all of them 'cause he focused on the wrong thing for. So long that he came became completely ineffective. So Peter is totally defeated. He ends up going and finding the lost boys. They're also going, is this PGY middle-aged guy? Really? Peter Pan? They don't even know, but they decide that they're gonna try to help him become Peter Pan.

Um, and so they put him through this like rigorous exercise and training regime. They're trying to force him to remember how to fly. So the next clip we're gonna look at. Is one where he has just sat down at the end of one of these really hard training days, he's sitting with the lost boys and their interim leader, RUO, who is the guy with the red and black hair, and they're bringing out all of these amazing big steaming dishes of food and they're about to eat and let's watch what happens.

Everybody say Grace.

Bless this. Oh Lord,

grace,

all my and many apples and bananas.

Eat.

What's the deal? What's the real food?

If you can't imagine yourself being Peter Pan, you won't be Peter Pan. So eat up.

Eat what? There's nothing here. Gandhi ate more than this.

Don't you remember? This used to be your favorite game.

Look at the games. I want some real food I want to take. I want eggs. I want a cup of coffee.

You

can't eat your heart out. You crinkled. Wrinkled fats bag.

You are a very ill mannered young man. Do you know that you are

plugging worm? Show me your fastball Dust brain. You punchy sag bottom pew pott.

You are a very poor role model for these kids. You know that.

I bet you don't even have a fourth grade reading level.

Come on, you can do better than that. Lying, crying, spy crying. Also big

you Lew crude, rude bag of pre chew food, dude.

Make right

ma'am. Stupid man Ruel. If I'm a Maca burger, why don't you just eat me you two-Tone zebra headed slime coated temple farming, para museum brain munching on your own. Mucus suffering from Peter Pan Envy. What's the paramecium brain? I'll tell you what a paramecium is. That's the paramecium. It's a one cell critter with no brain that can't fly.

Don't mess with me, man. I'm a lawyer

Betty.

You are doing it.

Doing

what? Using your imagination, Peter.

You are playing with us, Peter. You're doing it.

How is it?

Hey, pockets catch. Oh, don't ask.

So up until this point, when he sits down at that dinner table, Peter is completely blind to all of the magic of Neverland. He can't even see the food in front of him. He's just so sort of hardened to all of it. He's even trying to solve problems with money and lawyer power. But as he has this interaction with Rufio at the table, something in him almost like starts to change.

It starts to soften. And he starts to say all these insults that were clearly something that they used to do all the time, and he starts to awaken to his old self. And then this amazing things happen where he, his eyes open and he sees all the things that he previously couldn't see. All the food is there, and not only can he see it, he can taste it and he can eat it.

He can touch it, he can smell it. His eyes have been open for the first time, and he's full of this magic and wonder and awe at what's in front of him and what he previously couldn't see. And even a step further than that, he now starts to feel joy. This transformation is happening where he's letting go and he's feeling joy and he's feeling freedom, and he starts a food fight.

And then he gets up on the table and he's playing with these kids. And then another step further. Rufio throws the coconut at him, and something in him reacts instinctively and he suddenly awakens a power. He didn't even know he had an authority in his swordsmanship to protect himself. So Peter has been really transformed in this moment.

This is the beginning. A couple months ago I opened Facebook and um, you know, Facebook shows you random stuff from random people that you don't know. So I had this first post come up, uh, on my, on Facebook, and it was so short that I read it in like two seconds and I thought, Ooh, I've gotta read that later.

So I sent it to myself, then completely forgot about it and didn't remember it until I was watching this movie, and it just came back to me. And I'm gonna read this to you. This is a guy named Ty, D-T-Y-D-I, and I looked him up later and he's an Australian musician and this is his post that he wrote. I was once a militant atheist parroting phrases from Dawkins Harris Hitchens on podcasts and interviews.

While I still respect aspects of their thinking, Jesus Christ has radically changed my life. He is real and I'm deeply sorry for anyone I led away from him. That's a bombshell post and that's why I wanted to read more. 'cause I love reading people's stories. That's a pretty awesome one. If you come out and say, I was a militant atheist and Jesus Christ changed me, I wanna know your story.

So what I wanna read to you, uh, there's a couple of hundred comments and for the most part, like most of them were amazing. They were people saying, glory to God, welcome brother. God loves you. Which I think is awesome. 'cause I think we're seeing a real shift where people are being more, uh, open and outspoken about their faith online.

And we need that right now. But then of course, there's always the people who are like. About it. So I wanna read you a couple of comments from people in his responses. So one person said, uh, when you can show me that Jesus is there doing the work, then maybe I'll believe he exists today. Until then, the only space that Jesus exists in is in the space between your ears and Todd, I wrote this in response.

He said, I don't expect you to take my word for it. I wouldn't have back then, either. Now, when he said he was a militant atheist, he also shares in another comment that his. Like a thing that he did for fun was to go online and troll, uh, Christian posts, anything about faith. He would go in there and he would try to just decimate them with all of his logic and rationality and stuff like that.

That was what he did for fun. His religion of atheism is what he was out promoting. So he says, I wouldn't have listened to you either. And this is what we see from Peter as well. People kept saying to him, you are Peter Pan. Just go fly crow, whatever. All this stuff. Peter's going, I, I can't do anything just 'cause you're telling me.

So then he says this. All I can say is he's not staying in the space between my ears. He's changed everything about how I live, what I value, and how I treat people. And if he can break through to someone as hostile as I was, he can reach anyone. This guy has gone from being an atheist to being completely transformed by Jesus through an encounter that he had.

The changes happening on the inside. It wasn't intellectual for him. He was transformed. Another comment. Someone was saying to him, um, oh, so when you, you know, finally, uh, I don't know, like reveal the truth that this was all a big scam and what are you gonna do then? And he says, then I'll have to admit, I faked the most real life wrecking encounter I've ever had.

I'll have to explain why my pride shattered. Uh, and I love that because he obviously had a lot of pride in being an atheist. But if you have come to know Jesus for yourself, you know that one of the things that happened when you realize what he did on the cross for you is we feel an enormous amount of humility.

But it's the most beautiful kind of humility because the whole time that that's happening, the shattering of our pride, the very person who gave his life has his arms around you going, it's okay. I did it because I love you. And then he says, uh, why I suddenly care about forgiving people who hurt me?

Because he's obviously, the Holy Spirit is saying to him, don't carry the burdens. No one's perfect. You can't carry unforgiveness. Then he says, why I'm sorry for leading others astray. 'cause he now knows that he may have stopped people from reaching their own salvation. And why? Jesus feels more real to me now than anything I ever mocked.

But here's the thing, he's not letting go. What happened to me wasn't temporary hype. It's deeper every day. And another time someone says, oh cool, so you're brain dead now. And he said, actually, I wouldn't call it brain dead. I would call it being awake for the first time, because prior to that he was blind to everything that was really going on in that spiritual side of our life.

He was completely unaware of it. He was so anti, you could tell him all the things and he wouldn't believe it. And then he had that transformation moment and Jesus has completely changed him. And he's now in that awesome period of time where he's being. So changed by what he's learning. That awesome time where it just feels like your spirit is just on Cloud nine, and there is so much wonder and so much magic, and there is so much awe, and you get this incredible joy, like what Tom was talking about this morning.

It's not happiness. It's this deep joy that you cannot know until you know God, and he's living all of this out. The problem is for us is that a lot of us have felt that, um, if you came into a place like a church or met someone and you were in unbelief and then you moved into belief and you were transformed, then you know what that feeling is like.

Or maybe you've been to church your whole life, but there might've been a point where you, your parents', faith became your faith, like when Jesus became real to you personally, and you have been in that time where you were just. So in love with Jesus, you were, as Pastor Kev said earlier, operating in these awesome gifts of the spirit.

You might've been having words of knowledge and uh, words of wisdom, and you might've been having spiritual dreams, and you had just such a beautiful connection with the Holy Spirit throughout the day, and you were so eager to learn more about Jesus. You were probably like consuming the word because you wanted to know so much.

You were being so transformed. And then what can happen is that we can move from that. To it becoming familiar. It becomes normal for us to live like that, and then we can move into complacency and that's when we start getting distracted and when we become distracted, as Pastor Kev said earlier about all the stuff that we have around us in our very cushy lives, and we start prioritizing things over that awesome wonder and awe of God and his son Jesus, that's when we start becoming ineffective.

That's when we stop being able to do the things that we need to do for people around us. And what I, um, a few weeks ago, I suddenly remembered this and I thought, Ooh, I'll share this today. I remembered that when I was 20. It must have been about then I was, had been a Christian for about a year. I remember I woke up one morning and this is like, I was so in the honeymoon phase, like I was just.

I was so connected to God, I was learning so much. I felt like I was speaking to, to, to God through the Holy Spirit all day. And one morning I woke up and I just really felt that I needed to fast and I didn't know what for. I'd never done it before. I didn't know anything about it. I didn't tell anyone and I was a little bit disappointed 'cause I had to go on a.

Flight in four days time to la, which is a 13 hour flight. And I remember thinking, oh God, seriously, you're gonna make me go on a 13 hour flight and just drink water? Like the only thing that's good on a long haul flight is that someone brings you food at some point. But I was like, I just did, did it anyway.

And so I fasted and I, at the time, I was working at a job where my boss. Hated Christianity. He was always trying to tell me that I was an idiot. So I said nothing. And the whole day at work, I remember despite everything that he was saying to me, I just, in my spirit was saying, God, whatever this is for whoever this is for, whatever this is to break or whatever this is to solidify.

I'm just, I'm praying into that as I'm fasting and that happened for three days and I woke up on the fourth day and I was completely free of that feeling to fast. So whatever had to happen had happened. And back then I had spiritual dreams and I would sit in the back of churches as we went around in the ministry that I was in with my husband, and I would sit in the back of churches and I would pray for the backs of people's heads.

And I would earnestly and fervently ask God to give me words for people. And then I have to look at myself now and go, well, how long has it been since I've felt such conviction and fire in my spirit for people, for fasting, for gifts of the spirit? And it's been a really long time. Like I'm talking, uh, at least a decade.

And the problem is that when we get to that point, that's when we become ineffective.

So I'm gonna say something now. Um. Yeah, and I'm gonna use the word you if this is not you, if you feel that you are right now, just, you know, you, you absolutely love Jesus. You are so in there. Your spirit is connected. You come in, uh, on a Sunday and you don't just stand there and sing the songs, but you are moved by worship.

You are so fully praising. If you feel like you are absolutely in there, then this is not for you, and that's really awesome. But if you feel like you are not there. Hang on. I wonder if I should read the scripture to you first. Um, yep. I'm gonna read this to you first before I say that. I'm gonna read you something out of a book that I don't normally.

Uh, read into a lot. It's the revelation to John. Um, the last book in the New Testament. Now, this was, uh, written down by John, who was one of Jesus' disciples. He was also one of Jesus' best friends. He was exiled to the island of Patmos, which is in the A GNC, just off Turkey. You can still go and visit there today.

And while he was there. He had this like crazy vision where Jesus told him to write all of this stuff down and send it out to the seven major cities in minor Asia, which was called at the time. It's now Turkey. And he said, send it out to all these churches I need. I need to give them these messages. They need to go to everyone.

So John wrote this down. These are the words of Jesus to the church in the city of Ephesus, in Turkey, he says. I know your works, your toil and your endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evil doers. You've tested those who claim to be apostles but are not and have found them to be false. I also know that you are enduring and bearing up for the sake of my name and that you have not grown weary.

So he is saying, good job. You're doing the work. This was the first century church. They were still being persecuted by the Roman Empire. That's why he was exiled and he's, Jesus is saying, well done. You're doing good things. Tick, tick, tick. Then he says this. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

Remember then, from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did. At first, he's saying you're doing all the right things, but you have forgotten to love me the way that you did when you first your eyes were opened to who I am and the majesty and the glory, and the wonder of walking beside the son of God towards the creator of the universe and eternity.

You have forgotten that. And then he says. Remember from where you have fallen. Remember how it felt when you were in that place with me. A place of such peace and joy. Repent. Repent doesn't mean saying, oh, so's God got it wrong. It means doing something's a verb. It means change your heart, change your mind.

Do the works you did at first do those things. Reading the word, being like so present with him. Sitting with him, allowing him to speak to you. Just what Tom was saying. We only get to know God when we spend time with God and allow him to speak to us, allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us. And then he says, if not, if you don't repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.

He's saying you are not going to be effective. You will not be a light in the dark. If you have forgotten the first love that you had for me in the works that you're doing, and that's the problem, that if we don't remember that love in the things that we're doing, we become ineffective. So if you feel like that might be you, and I would say that, that's me.

Then I'm going to say some phrases now and just listen to it. If it's for you. Who needs you to be effective right now? Who needs you to stand up and be a spiritual leader for them? Who needs you to pray for them or intercede or fast for them? Who needs you to have guidance from the Holy Spirit to get them on the right path or say the right thing or do something for them that is going to absolutely change the trajectory of their life and maybe bring them to know Jesus or stop them from going on a terrible path.

Who needs you to be effective, but maybe you can't be effective because you have lost the first love? Because we've gotten complacent and we have been distracted.

Um, and it's not just the people who suffer because we are being ineffective. It's also us. We can disqualify ourselves if we're doing the work and we've forgotten that deep love. I'm gonna super quickly read this. I'm. I'm actually gonna paraphrase a bunch of it. This is in second Peter, the second letter of Peter, and he's talking, he's sending this letter off, but he, he says, you know, uh, God sent um, Jesus to us so that we can have grace.

He says, because of that, we can escape from the corruption that is in the world, which means we don't get distracted and we don't listen to the wrong voices. And he says, and you can become participants of the divine nature. So part of that Jesus' Neverland of wonder and magic and awe, we get to be part of that divine nature for this very reason.

You must make every effort to support your faith with excellence and knowledge and self-control and endurance and godliness, mutual affection and love for if these things are yours and are increasing among. They keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For anyone who lacks these things is blind suffering from eye disease, forgetful of the cleansing of past sins, forgetting the cross. Therefore, brothers and sisters be all the more eager to confirm your call in election for if you do this, you will never stumble. For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.

We don't wanna lose our effectiveness. We don't wanna stop being a light in the darkness because we've gotten distracted. We have to come back to the first love. I think our church does our work really, really well. But what if we all came back to our first love? Can you imagine what our Sunday gatherings would look like?

Can you imagine the impact on people? If we all came back to that first love? If we all operated in spiritual gifts, if we came here in a morning and that music started playing and we were just. So filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, can you imagine the impact that that would have? So I'm gonna ask the team to come back up.

I've got one very short and unsatisfying one minute clip for you. Um, because after this, it's literally 30 minutes of sword fighting, which wasn't helpful to you. So I've got one more clip and I wanna preface this last final clip. By saying, and this kind of makes my point from before, while Peter Pan has been off trying to remember how to be Peter Pan and get back that knowledge and love and whatever.

In the meantime, hook has been manipulating his son into believing that Peter is not really his father and that hook is in fact his real dad who loves him. He's been pulled away while Peter is being ineffective. So let's watch this last clip.

Do you know Jack? It's a very special time when a Pirate Mac receives his first earring. Such a very, very beautiful feeling. It's like the first time you run someone through with your blade.

Now, Jack. I'm going to ask you to bend your head ever so slightly,

little more. That's it. And brace yourself, lad, because this is really going to hurt.

What is that?

Who is that cap?

It's Peter Pat.

Back. He's back in the joy. He's back in the wonder. He's rediscovered all of these gifts. He's flying. He's not scared of heights anymore. He can sword fight. He saves his kids, he defeats hook. He goes back home and he's completely changed. He chucks out his 1991 mobile phone and he starts loving his family the way that he should, and he stood up for them and he became who he was supposed to be.

So we're going to sing a song now and. Um, I think that really, if I was just summing the whole thing up into one little takeaway, it's that if you feel like you have been distracted and you have become so familiar with your love for Jesus, that it's become too routine and you need to fire up that passion again.

The only one who can do that is you. You have to return to the things that you did at first that helped you to feel closer to him, that helped you to be in communication with that Holy Spirit all the time. That opened up that whole world of giftings. And that means going back to the word, it means spending time in prayer, but not just prayer.

Sitting and letting God speak to you. Just be with him. It should be our priority. Seek first the kingdom of God and all other things will be added to that, including the work that we do. We have to seek God first. So this song says yes again, a lot Yes to everything that God has for us. Yes. To being more in relationship with Jesus.

Yes. To Him first. Another thing, second. Yes. For our family. So we're gonna sing this song. I'm actually gonna invite you to. Uh, stand up in a minute. Dunno. Um, because I really think this is something we should sing together. Uh, and it's maybe a moment that you might even wanna just go, you know what? I need to do this.

This has to be something I work on. This has to be something that I put in as a value that I have to have in my life. We only get one life and there is eternity at the end of it. And are we gonna squander it? Are we gonna really step into that magic and awesomeness and power and wonder that God has given us to have here on earth to be effective people for his mission that we are on together?

So this song is one opportunity to do that, but then we have to go away and do the work as well. I've been doing this the last six, seven months, and it has definitely changed me. I'm a slow learner, but I'm getting there. Things have changed since I started doing this sort of thing. So I'm gonna pray and then I want you to stand up and we'll sing together.

Jesus. We're so thankful for the cross. We're so thankful for everything that you've given us and for those of us who know you, we are so unbelievably grateful and thankful that you brought us into your family, that you've revealed to us who you are, that you have shown us all of your majesty, all of your glory, that we have, your forgiveness, that everything that we do, we come back to the cross, and that forgiveness is there, that you have your arms around us, that this gift.

This gift of life that you've given us here, where it is so joyful, so full of peace that you just, it cannot be understood unless you're in it. We're so thankful for that. We don't want to take that for granted. We want to be people who love you so outrageously that anyone who comes into our presence knows it, that you are imbued in everything that we do in our lives.

That you are first and foremost, the thing that we think about in the morning and before we go to bed at night. That you lift us to another level in our effectiveness in what we are doing here for you on the mission of becoming more like you and telling people who you are so that they can have this same feeling that we have.

So, Lord, I pray if anyone needs to hear this, that you would speak to them now and that you would lead us in how to return to our first love, the works that we have to do. Thank you, Jesus. In your name. Amen.