I'm not coming back yet. transcript

All right. Well, I am not back yet. I just want to let you guys know something. It is the beginning of September here and some of you were expecting me to start making regular content here in early September and it's actually going to be sometime in the beginning or middle of next month, October. And I just wanted to get that announcement out there, let you guys know that. I also want to encourage you with something and announce something I am doing even though technically I'm still on sabbatical.

I'm going to be speaking at an event in Southern California. You guys are welcome to come. Actually, I'll hold this up in a second to the screen are interested in the SoCal event, The Everyday Apologist. I'll be talking there. I'll tell you more about that in a second. But first, I want to just encourage you. And that is um when Jesus wrote to the Ephesians, the letter to the Ephesians, not not Paul's letter to Ephesus, but rather Jesus' letter to Ephesus, to the church at Ephesus, the angel of the church of Ephesus in the book of Revelation.

He writes to them about so many things that they're doing right and so many things they're doing good, but he has something against them and he says it is that they've left their first love. And it's just on my heart to encourage you guys to do the things that you used to do if you've stopped, that you used to do because of your love and devotion to Jesus. Those times in the word, those times of worship, those times of just putting on worship music and just praising the Lord.

The The things that you would do in your zeal and evangelism, those simple things that may even seem in some ways a little cliché. It is possibly a dullness in your love for the Lord that causes those things to now seem distant from you. So, the solution to having left their first love according to Jesus to those in Ephesus was to go back and do the first works. That's what he called them, the first works. And I take that to mean, you know, that stuff you did naturally when you first were on fire for the Lord, when you first were so aware and freshly alert of the grace of God that has come to you in Jesus Christ.

Go back and do those things. So, I want to encourage you guys with that. Go do those things. Get serious about your devotion before God, your service to God, your willingness to cast things off, to throw things away as if they're trash, as if they're dung, as Paul said, because who cares about that in light of the glory of Christ and the wonder of knowing him. Read Jesus' letter in Revelation to the church in Ephesus.

And as far as what I am doing, I just want to announce really quick, since I'm on sabbatical, if you happen to be in Southern California and you do want to come to this event, I will be speaking cuz I agreed to this before I knew what my sabbatical was going to look like. But it's the Everyday Apologist is the event and I'll be there. J. Warner Wallace is there. You may be familiar with him. Lenny Escher Garrison, John, I think it's Sully air.

I haven't met John. I've heard of him though. Joe Adams, Ali Black, and then Eric Tonus, who's actually one of the pastors at my church where I attend and I'm a member. And you can go to desertapologetics.com or you may be able to actually do the the QR code right here. Let me see if I can get you guys on screen to be able to actually click it. I don't know. We'll see. Or just desertapologetics.com. It's a one-day conference like 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and I if you happen to be around and you want to be encouraged, my talk's going to be on the goodness of Christianity.

A talk I've never given, a subject I've never talked about, but one that's on my heart to to do. I think that it's a powerful tool for opening up people's hearts to the gospel is to talk about the goodness of Christianity and it's even a culture preserving tool, something that's very relevant for the times we are in where Christianity and its impact in the world is largely being attacked. You'll you'll see what I mean.

Um, through like an anti-Western culture kind of like guys. When actually in reality, what it is is the undermining of the Christian foundations of what has been the most prosperous human society has ever ever been and ever experienced. So, I'll be talking about that, the goodness of Christianity, on September 12th over at um Grace EV Free Church in La Mirada. You could just Google it, you'll find it. Just type in the thing I just said, in case you're like, "What is that?" And I will maybe see you guys there.

If not, October. Until then, you just have some shorts I've pre-recorded and pre-uploaded that are still going on my channel, but no content on the main channel other than this little greeting. The Lord's good. I'm doing pretty good. I've been focused on a a a number of things on my sabbatical, which I don't tell you all about, but some is just trying to exercise and be healthy. Something I haven't had the I haven't haven't been focusing on very much before.

Doing it now and really excited about doing that and taking care of the the temple, the tent that God has given me, so that this tent can better serve him. All right. Lord bless you guys. Keep your eyes on Jesus. And if at all you have wandered, if at all you've grown cold, think to yourself honestly, "When I was most on fire for the Lord, when I was most serious about my walk with God, when I was most committed and consistent as a Christian, what were those things that I naturally did?

Let me go back and do those things cuz I think I can reverse engineer a revival in my own life based upon the very words of Jesus to the church in Ephesus."