The Slow Fade | Kidz Quest Pastor Nolan Carpenter
by Nolan Carpenter
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Revelation 2:1-5, 1 Kings 11:4, Jude 1:3, Jude 1:4, Genesis 13:10, 2 Chronicles 5:14, 2 Chronicles 6:1-2, 1 Kings 11:9, 1 Kings 11:1, 2 Chronicles 8:11, Ecclesiastes 12:13, 1 Kings 2:3

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/nolan-carpenter--the-slow-fade
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
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be so kind to stand with me. We'll go to the the reading of the word of the Lord. Again, I urge you to come to starting tomorrow night with our our our kids quest count. It's going to be wonderful time of the Lord. Revelation 2 and 1. Revelation 2 and 1. Then we'll go to first Kings 11 11 uh 11 verse number four. Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus, write these things, saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou can be not bear them which are evil, and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, hast found them liars, and hast borne, and hast patience. If for my name's sake hast labored and hast fainted not nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou has left thy first love. Try your best to remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and remove the light, remove the candlestick out of this place, except thou repent. First Kings 11 verse number four. First Kings 11 and4 says, "For it come to pass when Solomon was old that his wives turned away his heart after other gods and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his father as his heart the the as was the heart of David his father." With the help of the Lord tonight, I I feel so burdened for someone here. Maybe it's the church as a whole or as an individual. Maybe it's the man holding the mic tonight. But I want to preach about the slow fade. The slow fade. Something happens in the scripture with people. You see them doing well. You see them doing wonderful things. But over time, slowly but surely, a demise happens. Be so kind to put your Bibles down with me. But lift your hands. and most importantly, lift your hearts. Let's ask God to touch us tonight. Lord, we thank you. I thank you for such a wonderful group of people who love the word of God and love preaching. I ask that you would help us for just a few minutes. God, I pray that your spirit would be felt at least one time as we begin to preach your word. God, we give you all the praise, all the glory, and all the honor in Jesus' name. Can someone say in Jesus' name? Now, let's clap our hands all across this room tonight. Thank you, Jesus. You may be seated. Moving trying to move very quickly through this tonight. It's safe to say whether it's someone in the scripture who has turned their back towards God or in modern times a person who backslides, whatever you want to call it, their big decision first started with a process. I've heard some say that I've I just come to my I I I woke up or I I just came to myself and realized and made the decision that I was never coming back. Or I've heard people say, "I I was just tired of living this life, this life for God." But truly, no one in their right mind just makes the big decision to turn away from God. This big decision first started with a digression, a digression away from God. And this digression I want to preach about for just a few minutes is called the slow fade. Before I get too far into this, I'm not preaching to anyone outside of the house of the Lord tonight, but I've come with a burden on my lips and a burden in my heart to try my absolute best to reach somebody who's in this house. The slow fade is a dangerous process. It could come in a season. It comes in many different forms. It comes wearing many different different styles of clothing. But it's a it could be a season that a season starts a slow fade with your walk with God. Or maybe this slow fade can start and begin by a voice coming into your life. Jude writes about this slow fade when he addresses not one group of people but he addresses every god-fearing person as a whole. In Jude 1 and3 says, "Beloved, this is every this is for everybody. When I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. And then Jude 1:4 goes to for there are certain men crept in unawares voices that crept in but it was unaware. It was a slow fade. I've come to preach to someone tonight. And maybe it's the man holding the microphone. We've got to watch out for the slow fade with our relationship with God. And what I'm talking about, I'm thankful for the heart hot start in living for the word of a word, the the the hot start living for God. I'm thankful for the passion of a new convert. But we better make sure we never lose that passion as an old convert because there's a slow fade that could creep in. The slow fade may be a a season, brother Jacob. Or it might be a a a thing of a newfound blessing, a bigger salary. And as pastor says, I'm all for that. God knows I need it and I want it. But the moment that that blessing turns your heart away from God, This is the moment the slow fade begins. >> The moment that your destruction begins. And I'm not preaching about blessings, but we better make sure to have blessings and the proper priorities. Give and take away. It doesn't matter. My relationship with God is the greatest blessing that we could have. Our relationship with our father is the greatest. He gives and he takes away. Whether I'm in the valley or I'm in the mountain, I'm going to worship God. I'm going to serve God. But the slow fade >> begins when maybe new found blessings enter into your life. The Bible gives us the family of Lot to look to look at. God gives us a synopsis or the sparknote version of the slow fade if you will. In just one verse of scripture, we have the slow fade just really wrapped up into one verse. Genesis 13:10. And Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan that it was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. It was easy to look at with his eyes. But when his eyes got off Abram, which represents the word of God, and it got on what he could see with his eyes, there the slow fade began. It looked beautiful to the eyes. It just made sense in that moment. But Lot, you took the first step, first step in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah. And that was the moment that the slow fade would begin. That was the moment. If you could go back and change anything after the Holy Ghost in this place tonight, Lord, if you could go home, if you could go back and change anything when you've got your pillar of salt life in your hand and you can't look back because you'll be in the same state as your pillar of salt wife and your family's fallen apart. Every blessing has came and every blessing has went. Lot, if you could go back to one moment, would you separate from the word of God? I don't believe so. And I've come to sound the alarm in somebody. It may look good to your eyes, but that decision is going to start the slow fade process, which will always end in destruction. >> The slow fade begins when he separates. The slow fade continues when his tent gets closer and closer to Sodom and Gomorrah. And eventually his slow fade led to him living right in the middle of that godless city. Of course, it's a well-known sermon. It's a good sermon when Lot would choose to pitch his tents in the direction, >> not in Sodom, but just started by facing his house towards Sodom and Gomorrah. I've come to tell somebody tonight, we've got to be careful which way our house is facing. I know we're not in Holly, but it would. But if we let Hollywood in the direction of our home, it's not too long away that the slowed fade will begin. You'll be wondering why your kids talking like this. And where in the world did you hear those words? Why our house is faced >> in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah? Would you go back, >> Lord? Would you go back when everything falls apart in your life? When your daughters don't have time to go through it tonight? When your daughters When your daughters make decisions you're not pleased with? When your wife you you you got half of your family out of Sodom and Gomorrah, but you lose you lose the woman you love the most in Sodom and Gomorrah. Would you go back >> to when it all happened and you separated from Abram? Well, what's the reason I separated from Abram? Well, because when you live this life for the Lord, blessings begin to come. >> And you know the story. His herdsman had conflict. His herdsman had conflict with Abram's herdsman. Abram said, "All right, if we we if we can't settle the conflict, you just go that way and I'll go this way." Lot, were the blessings worth it? Were the blessings of God worth it? I'm thankful for it tonight. I'm thankful for the blessings of God that come, but it does not stand in the way of me being connected to the church of the living God. It does not stand in the way of me being connected to the blessings of God. Because if we only live for God for the blessings, but when the blessings go, what's where's your relationship with God? >> When the blessings come and they go, where are you at being connected? The slow fade began when the blessings seemed too much. I wonder if Lot, you would change anything. Would you sacrifice some of your riches? And Lot, if I can ask you a question. When you're fleeing for your life with now just your two daughters out of Sodom and G Sodom and Gomorrah, where are those blessings at now? Where's where's the reason you separated from Abram? Of course, they're either burnt up or spent. But there's the summary of a slow fade. It started with something in Lot's eyes that it seemed right to go towards the well-watered plains of Jordan. Then he gives us, the Bible gives us some more. It says the before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord like the land of Egypt. Every destruction begins with a process. It's not in a big decision. You can't tell me Lot said, "Hey, I sign up for Sodom and Gomorrah. I I I'll enroll my kids in Sodom and Gomorrah Academy. Hey, pick me over here." No, it started with just looking that direction and thinking there might be something there might be something good in that direction. It's every destruction begins with a process. seem good to your eyes, Eve. He says, now he says, even the garden of the Lord, he's talking about the garden of Eden, it seemed good to your eyes, Eve. Eve saw that the tree was good for food, the slow fade would begin. The moment that it was pleasing to her eyes, the slow fade, the moment that her destruction would begin. And I I've got to be honest with you tonight. No one is exempt from the possibility of the slow fade beginning. As pastor said this morning, and I feel the Holy Ghost has ordained this day. I had this in my notes to say tonight, but you might be a Sunday school teacher or you might be a preacher, but that doesn't make you exempt from the slow fade beginning in your life. It might be a seed of doubt that comes into your mind against the man of God or the word of God. It might be a voice or a a friend that begins to pull you. I know that might seem like an innocent voice and they don't mean anything by it. But don't let that start the slow fade that'll pull your family out of church. Don't let that be the slow fade that pulls your faith away from God. Nobody, nobody is exempt from the slow faith. >> This might be for an individual, but it's also for a church as a whole. Revelation 2 and two, and I'll save the majority of the reading. But the Bible says, "I know thy works, thy labor, thy patience. I I I know when people crept in, said they were an apostle, how how you didn't accept them and you found them liars. I I know you give mercy. I know you have patience. I know you labored for my name's sake. I know you were in the choir. I I know you were on the greeting team. But just because you're on the greeting team, just because you're an altar worker doesn't mean you're exempt from a slow fade to begin in your life, I've come to ask you, do you worship the same way when you found your first love? Do you praise the same way when God hit you in the heart and convicted you with the word of God? Are you faithful? Are you faithful like you were when you were new a new convert? Do you pray with some conviction like you used to when you were a new convert? >> God help us tonight. >> Nevertheless, >> I have somewhat against thee because thou has left thy first love. I've said it over and over again. And I've always I'll quote this scripture very quickly and I I've talked about how we've lost our first love. But there is a difference. Notice they left their first love. They did not lose their first love. Their first love was not lost. Their first love was left. Losing your first love is accidental. Losing means you don't know where to find it. Losing means you don't have the ability to get it back. But when you leave it, it's a different story. Leaving it means it was deliberate act. >> Leaving means you turned away from it. Leaving it means you know exactly where it was. You know exactly the place in the altar that you you prayed through and you received the Holy Ghost. You you know the moment you know where it's the altar spot is where you felt God give you the Holy Ghost again, gave you mercy again. But somehow in the slow fade, you don't come to the altar when the man of God asks you to come. I've come to sound the alarm in someone's life. Don't let the the slow fade rob you of a good life living for the Lord. I know it's a first love, but it gets sweeter and sweeter as the days go on. It's a slow fade. >> Losing means it was deliberate. Losing, excuse me, excuse me. Leaving means it was deliberate. Leaving means you turned away from it. And Jesus said the church at Ephesus, you are good. When when evil men came, they begin to say they're an apostle. Begin to teach a false doctrine. You found them liars. Ephesus, you are doctrinally pure. And because you are doctrinally pure doesn't mean you can't leave your first love. >> You might could quote every one God's scripture there is, but you can still leave your first love. >> You can open up the service with praise and worship, but you can still leave your first love. I've come to ask us tonight, do you worship the same way that you used to worship when you knew you needed God's mercy in your life when your family was falling apart? Because if you don't, shake yourself tonight and get back to your first love. It's where you left it in the altar. It's where you left it in your house where you pray. It's where you left it in the prayer room. I'm calling somebody tonight to get back to your first your first love. I feel today God is trying to speak to someone. God's trying to speak to someone who's busy just working in the stuff and you're missing what God is trying to do. Because in the middle of laboring, in the middle of church work in Ephesus, they were too busy laboring. And in their laboring, they left their first love. >> You can't leave your first love even if you're in the choir. You can leave your first love even though if you handle the word of God with our children and kids groups. The slow fade is for the church. Why? A church doesn't just decide, hey, let's have a church vote. Who wants to leave our first love? All right, the Yays have it. We're going to leave our first love. That's not how it happens. A church that goes from on fire to a dead, powerless church starts with a slow fade. It starts with just taking a service off here and a service off there. And I'm not talking about churches that don't have Sunday night church. God, hear me tonight. I'm preaching to our church tonight. I'm talking about when we don't visit the prayer room like we should. That's a that's a slow fade. When we think we're too polished to get a little bit undignified. when the I know the the new converts, they run around. But somewhere along the way, we got to get back to the Mcinley Street style of worship when we knew we didn't have it all together. And the only way we can have it all together is to get a hold of the power of God. God, I want to have my first love. I want I want to seek you so bad, Lord. I want to seek you so much. As a six-year-old kid, I'd come to the altar just to feel the be filled with the Holy Ghost the first time. But I hope to God as somebody 29 years old that I still seek him the same way. >> Oh God. Hey, let's have a church vote. No one in the church just decides suddenly, hey, let's tone down our worship. All in favor say I. No, it's not how it happens. No one in the church, hey, let's have a church vote. Who who's in favor of of let's just shut down the prayer room. No, that's not going to happen. But somehow, slowly but surely, our prayer room goes from being crowded, not in this church, but I'm saying it could happen, we're not careful, to less packed, less packed, and then sooner or later, there won't be any prayer room at all. Why open something up if nobody's coming? And slowly but surely, no one in the church decides suddenly, hey, let's turn away from holy living. No, it's a it's a slow fade. It's a slow fade. It's a it's a little here, it's a little there. It's compromise here. It's compromise there. It's a it's a summer here and a a winter there. And then suddenly sooner or later, you're going to find yourself, God, we've got a big building, but we've left our first love. God, I loved you when I I loved you when my dad wasn't necessarily popular in this community. But God, I got to make sure that now that my dad is popular in this community, I don't leave my first love. I got to love God when our church doesn't have the latest and the greatest. But now that we have the latest and the greatest, I got to make sure that I treat him with the same respect and the same dignity because God wants your attention. He'll rip everything away from you to make you go back to the beginning. Make you go back to your first love. He'll bring marriage troubles. Why? To get you back to your first your first love. But it starts with a slow fade. Ephesus means E. Ephesis means desirable. >> Desirable. >> But it also means to let go and relax. two-fold meeting in Ephesus. All it means desirable, but it also means to let go and relax. They had worked so hard. They had labored so hard for Ephesus to be desirable, but at the same time, they got a little bit of relaxed in their first love. They let go of their first love. I've come to tell us, I think we've got a church that is desirable. I think we've got a church that people want to emulate and that's that's a compliment, but it's also a responsibility because we're not going to let go just because we feel like we've made it. I've come to tell us that God's got more for us. God's got bigger and better. Not not the building size, not a capacity, but I'm talking about more souls. We have not arrived yet. Our first love is still is still burning and and it's still thriving that we're going to bring people desirable >> but also >> let go and relax. The church at Ephesus has born has patience. It's in the names sake it has labored and hast not fainted. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee because thou has left thy first love. In the midst of working and in the midst of serving, they've lost the sense of purpose. It's a slow fade. What we do is important. What we do is important, but why we do it is just as important. Why do you labor Why do you labor in Kids Quest? Why do you labor for the name's sake? Why we labor in Kids Quest? And we labor in with snotty noses. We labor with kids wanting to take 19 bathroom breaks and they just want to see how big the puddle of water they can get upstairs and how big the puddle can they get the puddle big enough to splash in it. I hate to tell my mother that in front of everybody but that's what they like to do. We labor in that. We labor with kids screaming out and we labor. We labor with laboring kids running around. And I hate I hate to tell this story here too, but was laboring few Sunday mornings ago and dad I had I had the kids like this. Okay. I I preached a pretty good sermon. Okay. I thought, man, I don't know if Brother Landrew was up there. We were preaching and I had them. I said, ' Let's all bow our heads. I got kids crying. I was laboring. I was trying my best to pull on them. We're going to come to the altar. I was laboring. I was pulling. I I said, 'Let's close our eyes. I want you to just imagine God that loves you. I mean, I had kids crying. It was I was about to open this. I was going 50 kids were going to get the Holy Ghost. I believe it. All right. I was laboring. Next thing I know, a young boy on the second row over here chose that moment to pass gas as loud as he could and the laboring was over. The church was over. I I couldn't All right, let's all come to the front, clap our hands to we're going home. Why? Why do you keep laboring in that in that field? Why? Well, this is my This is my why. Last Sunday morning, Brother Sammy and Sister Donita Stevens, her granddaughter, was praying in the altar a and seeking the gift of the Holy Ghost. Why? Why do you keep laboring? Well, this is my This is my why. To see [name redacted] lift up her hands and receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. That's my why. I know the what. The what's all about you, but the why is all about him. We can never lose sight of the why. The why. If you don't have the why, you'll lose your first love. If you just have the what, it's all about you. But if you have the why, it's all about him. That's our why. Souls is our why. Why? >> Why? >> Why? It's all about the why. It is possible tonight to be the wisest man to ever live besides Jesus Christ. besides Jesus Christ and still be in the slow fade. Solomon would be the wisest man to walk this earth besides God manifested in the flesh. Solomon be would be the one that would build the house of God. No money was spared when it came to his efforts. They brought the ark into the beautiful house of the Lord that they were going to give to him. They brought the ark in. And what a time they had when the ark comes rushing in. The Levites are are singing. They're they're praising and everybody's doing their service in God's new house. And and the Bible says in 2 Chronicles 5:14, so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud. In the midst of their service, something began to happen that the glory of the Lord had filled the house. It was so thick and so powerful that they couldn't even see one another. It was just all the why was there some some reason that in the midst of their service, the midst of their sacrifice, the midst of their service unto God, the why showed up. It was so thick the glory of God was so thick, they couldn't even see one another. And their service stopped. Why? Because the why was there. Solomon prayed this prayer. He he he prays this lengthy this opening prayer in the house of the Lord. He he prays this is one of the verses he prays 2 Chronicles 6:1. Then Solomon said, "The Lord has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness, but I have built a habitation for thee and a place for thy dwelling for ever. You may build God a house, but that doesn't mean you're exempt from the slow fade." Solomon did not wake up one random morning and decide to turn his heart away from God. He didn't decide to go through the process of falling away from God. But just because you sacrificed for this building doesn't mean you're exempt from the slow fade beginning in your life. Rather, the spiritual condition happened little by little, compromise by compromise. He fell into sin with the direction of his heart far before God tore his kingdom apart. Our hearts are turned in the wrong direction. The slow fade process will begin. First Kings 11:9. And the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel which happened unto him twice. God spoke to him directly twice and had commanded him concerning this thing that he should not go after other gods, but he kept not that which the Lord commanded. You could read Solomon's life. He's so wise he can he could tell you how to keep the slow faith. Solomon so wise he could stand up and begin to write scriptures about a woman. And sometime somehow the story he writes about a lady begins to affect our spiritual walk when he says take up the the foxes the little foxes that spoil the the vine. Solomon is so wise that he can tell you how to keep out the slow faith, but he cannot live it himself >> because somehow someway something begin to something be to walk into his life and it was a fox called compromise. It was a it was a compromise here and and the word of God really doesn't mean that there it was just a service here and a service there. It was a a misday of prayer here and a misday of prayer there. somewhere. >> He finds himself looking at a kingdom that's being destroyed. God, I built you a house. Yeah, you built me a house, but you did not obey my word. You built me a house. You sacrificed and gave, but you didn't follow the word of God that was supposed to go forth in that house. It was a little here and a little there. No big deal in Solomon's mind. Some people that were left over in that land, the Bible tells us, were the Amorites, the Hittites, the Parizzites, the Havite, and the Jebusites. And Solomon, rather, rather than choosing to obey God's word and expel them from that land, he chose to put them to work. Just seemed good. It seems good the decision you make when you're in the slow fade. He could not see his own spiritual darkness when it took him seven years to complete God's house and 13 years to complete his own house. Somewhere along the way, we have to have our priorities in order to stop the slow fade. I know your house may be thriving, but how's your relationship with God in his house? Because if your house is healthy and his house is unhealthy, it won't be long that the slow fade will start and the fade will finish and your kingdom will be ripped apart. Slow >> the slow fade >> tells us seven years for his house, 13 Seven years for God's house, and 13 years for his own house. Solomon couldn't see the the slow fade when he opened his mouth at the dedication of his of the house of God. And he began to say this about God. He began to thank God for all that he's done. And he says, "Since the day that I brought forth my my people Israel out of Egypt." This is God, this is Solomon speaking on God's behalf. And he's thanking God for what he did. And he but he mentions how God brought his people out of Israel uh of Egypt with all the while the slow fade keeps getting darker and darker and darker and then compromise upon compromise and then he makes a decision. He makes a decision in first kings 11 and 1. But the king Solomon loved many strange women together with the daughter of Pharaoh. What he what he thanked God for when he dedicated his house, he let walk right into the chambers of his heart. I'm thankful for convictions, but you better keep those convictions. And you don't let something else wearing a different dress. And I know we're not in Egypt, but make sure Egypt's not in us. Oh, the slow fade will rob you of joy. I know it feels good in the moment, but the slow fade will rob you of blessings in your family, but all the while it keeps getting darker and darker, darker and darker, and it goes on and he begins to serve. The Bible says that those wives turned his heart. I've come to ask you, what's in your heart tonight? I know you're not in Egypt, but Egypt was in Solomon when he let that woman come and connive him and trick him and get him to turn his heart to other gods. He begins to build altars for other gods. How do you go from building God a house to now you're building every false god a place to be worshiped? >> It's a slow fade. >> It gets darker and darker. He had enough spiritual sense. Solomon had convinced himself. He had enough spiritual sense. 2 Chronicles 8:11, Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David into the house that he had built for her. For he said, "My wife shall not dwell in." She he knew enough that to know that she was a heathen. My wife shall not dwell in the house of David, the king of Israel, because this place is holy, wherein to the ark of the Lord hath come. Please in the spiritual slow fade don't convince yourself that you're okay when you have a little bit of convictions because Solomon the wisest man to ever live besides Jesus Christ had convinced himself. It got darker and darker and darker from it being dark of the glory of God that filled the temple now to it being dark because of his sin and turning away in his heart. Got one question I'd love to ask God. I'd love to ask Solomon. I hope he's up there. How is life ended? I'm not sure it you can you can be wise and still be lost. >> Or you can be like that scripture, wise in your own eyes, thinking that you're smarter than everybody else, but you could still be lost because it's a slow fade when you begin to lean on your own understanding. But I there's a slow fade. There's a slow faith gets darker, >> darker. I've come to ask God. I've come to ask Solomon. I' I've come to ask him one question. My question is this. Where is Solomon's man of God? Where's he at? You have him anoint Nathan the prophet ma anointing him to be king. And then you have prophet Ahijah. He's an Elijah wannabe. Ahijah announces the judgment the judgment of Solomon's decision. Not one time. Look it up. And please if you find it, tell me. But tell me afterwards because this is my message. All right? answer. Don't tell me right now. But not one time do I find a recorded conversation between the prophet and Solomon. There's not one time that the prophet, and I'm not saying that's the prophet's fault. I don't think it is. The prophet Nathan didn't have any problem coming to David and sticking his finger in his face and saying, "You're the man, David." But somewhere Solomon was so wise that he thought he could do it on his own. He thought he can make his own decisions. Where is Where is the prophet? You better thank God for somebody that'll shine the light in your life. You better thank God for somebody that wants to let it get spiritually dim. Solomon could have been different if you didn't think that you had it all together in your riches and you think you had it all together in your splendor that somebody couldn't tell you. Solomon, >> you're lost. The slow fade. Was he so wise that nobody could even tell him anything? Was he so wise that he was spiritually dumb and spiritually lost? And somewhere along the way in your darkness, it's time to shed the light on somebody. It's time to shed the light. You're not worshiping like you used to. You used to worship right here in the altar, but now you're in the lobby when the song's going on. You used to dance up here when you were a new convert. I've come to shine the light on somebody. You've lost your You've left your first love. Come on. You were filled with the Holy Ghost right here. Your marriage was put together right here. But somewhere in our riches and somewhere in our blessing, the slow fade began. And the so the slow fade of shining the light on somebody's lack of faithfulness to God's house. I'm shining a light on somebody's lack of worship. Where is the prophet? Where's the man of God that could save Solomon's life? Where's the prophet that could say, "You know what you're doing's not right, but somewhere the slow fade." The slow fade. I've come to shed the light on somebody's lack of prayer in the home. >> Come on. I want to help somebody before it's too late. Come on. I know it's dark. I know it's them. I know it's dark in your family, but I want to shine the light. I want to shine the light. You used to be the one that would come to the altar before the preacher was done. I've come to shine the light. Where's your conviction? Where's your conviction? You used to have no problem lifting your voice and worshiping God, but the slow faith began. I want to shine your light on your pride tonight. I want to shine the light on your marriage issues tonight. It all started in a slow fade. Come on, church. Do we just have it to all together that we don't realize there's some darkness in our lives? Come on. He's shining a light. He's shining a light. You've left your first love, Ephesus. You've left your first love. I know you got it all together, Ephesus. But I'm not going to relax with my relationship with you. That's it. That's it. Come on. You don't remember what it's like to have the lights on. Come on. You used to worship. You You used to be the first one in the altar. You used to have the one. You used to do anything to get your your children to the house of God. Oh, God. God, wake me up, Jesus. Wake me up in the slow fade before it's too late. Wake me up, oh God, before I'm lost. Oh, come on. There's a somber move of the Holy Ghost here tonight. Come on. The lights have crept in your life. The life that the lights in your prayer life have went out. Come on. Could you shine the light in your prayer life? Come on. The the lights in your praise and worship to God have went out. Come on. could just shine the light again. The lights have went out with your faithfulness to the house of God. I know you labored in my name, but you've left your first love. I know you've sacrificed to build me a house, but you've left your first love. Ephesus, the only way you get out of your situation, Ephesus, the only way you get out of your spiritual darkness is to repent. That's the only way that you shine the light. Come on. Do you remember what it felt like when you lifted your voice? Uh, do you remember what it felt like when you used to praise God with nobody watching and you didn't care what anybody else thought? Do you remember what it's like the first time you felt the mercy of God? Come on. I've come to shine the light tonight. I've come to shine the light in somebody's darkness. Come on. You thought the darkness was God forgetting about you. No, the darkness is God trying to say the light's not on. Come on. That's it. Would you lift your voice just a moment? Come on. There's not a slow faith going to happen in my family. Come on. As the years go on, we're not becoming less convicted. I'm going to keep the convictions coming. God, if it was a good law for David, it's a good law for Solomon. If it's a good law for my mother and father, it's a good law for me and Flannry. If it's a good law for me and Flannry, it's a good law for our babies. church. He sent me with such a burden for someone tonight to turn the lights back on. Come on. All you got to do, you don't have to prove it to God. You just got to repent. Come on. You just got to cut start coming again. The midweek Bible study. You got to just wake up a few minutes early before you go to work and and get on your knees and begin to pray. until you turn the lights back on. Come on. The lights will come back on in your family when you begin to pray. And the lights will come back on in your marriage when you begin to worship. And the lights will come back on with your finances when you begin to honor and obey him. Come on. Come on. You forgot what it felt like when the lights were on. You didn't realize how dark it got in here where the lights just crept dim and dim and dim. Come on. The lights are coming back on to your faithfulness. The lights are coming back on to your relationship with God. The lights are coming back on to your finances. The lights are coming back on. Church, you're such good people. I don't want to be mean and angry of anyone, but I've come to tell somebody, there's a slow fade happening in your life. You can't see it, Solomon. The only person that could see it is God. Ephesus, you cannot see your wrongdoing in the midst of your work, in the midst of your labor. You cannot see your wrongdoing on the outside, but I've come to shine the light on the inside of your heart. Just because you're busy in the house doesn't mean you're saved. Just because you serve almost every service doesn't mean that the lights are on. Come on. That's it. Just a few moments, few moments more. If our musicians would come, our singers would come tonight. I'm going back to the heart of worship. God, I'm going back to the most important thing. It's all about you, God. It's not about my blessings, God. It's not about my status, God. It's not It's not about anything else other than you, Jesus. God, I'm thankful for where you brought this church, but it's all about you, God. I'm going back to my first love, Lord. Come on. Maybe you need to grab the hand of your spouse and let's commit our families. Commit our families back. Come on. There's a sweet move of the Holy Ghost tonight. Come on. All it is is getting back to your first love. Come on. It's where you left it. It didn't run anywhere. It's where you left it in the altar. Come on. It's where you left it in the choir loft. It's where you left it in the greeting team. It's It's not It didn't run away from you or it's not going to put you on probation. It's right where you left it. And now that I open my eyes to the light, God, I realize how dark it got in my life. God, I realized how far I was from you. Oh God, if Solomon had a prophet that could tell him how dark it was, I wonder how his life would end. >> Jesus, I'm sorry, Lord, for God. It's all about you. >> Just repent. >> It's all about you. >> I repent. Come on. Come on. If your kids are around you tonight, come on. As families, could we commit ourselves back to him? Come on. As families tonight, could you commit yourself? Maybe it's a father saying, "Kids, I'm sorry for becoming lack in my worship. I'm sorry for honey, you haven't heard my wife in prayer. Oh yeah, your father's sorry for not lifting his voice at home. >> I'm sorry that I've talked more about finances that I have my relationship with God. >> And it's all about you. >> It's all about you, Jesus. I'm sorry, Lord, for the >> family that you got your arms around. That's your why. >> That that that you got your arms around. That's your why. >> Father, don't lose your convictions. That's your why. >> Oh, Solomon didn't have a perfect father, but he had a father that would listen to a man trying to preach to him. You don't got to be perfect, but you got to be correctable by the word of the Lord. >> Oh, sir, the light's not on my life. It's >> all about you. It's all about you, Jesus. With the music. >> Oh, how long's it been? that you prayed so fervently that you couldn't have any words come out of your mouth. How long's it been that you shot God so passionately that you can't get any words out of your mouth? Come on, shine the light. Shine the light on your prayer life. Shine the light on your worship. Shine the light on your faithfulness to the house of God. I'll bring you more than a song. For a song, it's not what you have required. You search much deeper within through the way things appear. You're looking to worship and it's all about you. It's all about you, Jesus. I'm sorry. It's all about your priorities being does not have to continue in my life. >> >> This faith doesn't have to continue in my faith. >> It's all about you, Jesus. >> Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for shining the light in my life. God, I've gotten used to the darkness for so long, I forgot how good the light felt. I forgot how good it felt to be able to see spiritually. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Couple last verses of scripture. We'll pray. We'll be dismissed. This This is believed to be the Ecclesiastes 12 and 13. This is believed to be the last scripture that Solomon Solomon ever wrote 13 and 14. This is believed by tradition and commentators. This is the last words he wrote. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Here's how simple it is. Just fear him. That's all you got to do. It's really simple. Fear God and obey him. This is not a tough matter. This is not a hard thing. Solomon looks back. He says, "This is the whole matter. Fear God. Keep his commandments. This is the whole duty of man." Crazy thing is to me that's the charge his daddy gave him in first kings 2 and3. Keep the charge of the Lord thy God to walk in his ways. Solomon, all you got to do in the blessings is keep his statutes. All you got to do is keep his commandments, daddy. It's all you got to do. All you got to do. This is not hard. All you got to do is obey the word of God. You've done it before. Why can't you do it again now? You used to be a man of convictions. Why? What changed? You could do it again. Come on. Could you lift your voice one more time? It's just keep his commandments. Honor God and keep his commandments. What am I going to do when the blessings come? I'm going to honor God and keep his commandments. What am I going to do when my family's on the mountain tops? I'm going to honor it and keep his commandments. What am I going to do when life falls apart? Oh, what am I going to do when my reputation goes down the drain? I'm going to keep his commandments. That's what God is here. That's what's going to take us there. David, you told your boy, "I made some mistakes, but you just got to honor him and keep his commandments." Oh, that's the whole conclusion of the matter. Come on, one last time. Could you lift your heads and let's commit to God and go back to that first love. Come on, just walk in his ways. keep his commandments and his judgments. Come on. That's all it is. That's the whole matter of every man, every woman is to keep the commandments to honor him and fear him. Come on, one last time. Father, could you lift your voice all across this room?