"Have You Left Your First Love?
Dr. Glenn Riggs

“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 labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:  And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.  Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.  But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”  (Revelation 2:1-7)
 
        Notice what is said to this church.  “I know thy works.”  This was a great church.  As a matter of fact, if this church were around today, we’d be proud to call it a sister church.  “I know thy works, and thy labour,...”  They were an active, hard working church.  We are supposed to be working churches, not just provide a place where it is easy to sit down.  Church is supposed to stir our hearts and give us an opportunity to work for the Lord.
        This was a church that had been through some things.  He said, “I know thy patience.”  The Bible tells us that it is tribulation that brings patience.  It means that they had gone through some things together.  As preachers, we’ve all experienced and gone through some things.  I’ve pastored for many years, and been through a thing or two through those years. 
        I heard about a preacher one time.  A man came to his office and said, “Preacher, I want to ask you a question.  I hope you can give me some answers because nobody else has.  I’ve been to your secretaries and they didn’t have any answer.  I talked to your assistant pastor.  He didn’t have any answer.  I hope you can answer it.”
        The preacher said, “What’s the problem?”
        He said, “I was walking down the hallway and I opened a broom closet.  I saw five, five, mind you, new brooms hanging in that closet.  What I want to know is, who authorized that kind of spending to go buy five new brooms?”
        The preacher said, “I don’t know.  Maybe they had a sale on brooms.  What’s the problem?”
        He said, “You mean to tell me that you are okay with that?  To go and buy five brooms at one time?  You don’t have a problem with that?”
        Preacher said, “No, not really. 
        The guy stormed out.  “I’m finding me another church.”  He left the church over it.
        The pastor was talking to his treasurer.  “I don’t understand why Brother So-and-So got so upset over buying five brooms.”
        He said, “How would you like it if you found out everything you’ve given to the church for a whole year was spent on five brooms?”
        Ephesus was a church that had been through some things, and he commended them.  “I know thy patience.”
        Notice this was a separated church, because He said, “...thou canst not bear them which are evil:”  Praise God for churches that still are against some things, where they still stand up and preach it.  If it was wrong a hundred years ago, it’s still wrong today.  There are a lot of things we used to hear preached in the pulpit that you don’t hear from a lot of pulpits across the land anymore.  I remember when folks had some standards.  I remember when we used to preach about how to dress, when britches used to be the attire that men wore.  I remember when it was the ladies that wore the culottes and skirts.  We used to have some standards and preach against some things and took a stand.  This was a church that was not afraid to fight against wrong. They were a separated church, intolerant of evil.
        They were a stable church.  He said,  “Thou hast not quit.”  They had not fainted.  They had hung in there and stayed with it.  They stood by the stuff.  It was a great church. 
        But look at verse four.  “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.”  That’s a haunting thing to me.  To think that here is a good church, the cream of the crop, folks that were doing what they were supposed to be doing.  They were laboring, going soulwinning, working the bus routes, singing in the choir and teaching the classes.  They weren’t staying home. They were busy doing the work of God, but is it possible to be working and serving, and at the same time not love Jesus the way you ought to?  That’s a haunting thought.  Is it possible that we preachers can get so busy doing the things we are supposed to be doing, but we’re not actually spending time with Jesus?
        I heard about a family that couldn’t have any children.  They had prayed and prayed for God to give them a child, and one day they adopted a little baby girl who was literally the apple of their eye.  Their whole life just centered around her.  The father every day would come home and spend time with his daughter and they lived right across the street from a park.  Every day he’d take that little girl by the hand and they’d walk across the street to walk in the park and play and swing, every day, rain or shine.  This was their ritual. 
        But as the little girl got older, one day the father came home and his wife told him that the daughter wasn’t feeling well and wasn’t going for their walk that day.  The next day was the same.  It went on and on, one day after another.  Finally it’s been three weeks.  The father felt like, “Has it already come to the point that she no longer wants to spend time with me?”  Finally it was his birthday.  She came down the stairs grinning real big with a package wrapped with a big bow on it.  She said, “Daddy, this is for you.  Open it.” 
        When he opened it up, there were some house slippers that she had made with her own hands.  He looked at her and she was beaming.  He said, “Honey, these are the most beautiful slippers daddy has ever had.  Honey, is this why we’ve not been able to go for our walk every day?”
        She grinned and said, “Yes, Daddy, I’ve been working on them every day.”
        He said, “Honey, thank you so much.  I’ll treasure these for the rest of my life, but next time sweetheart, just ask daddy for some money.  Because more than what you can do for me, I want you to just be with me and spend time with me.”   I wonder sometimes if there is not a problem there between us and the Lord.  Do you know one of the easiest places in the world to backslide?  In Bible college.  You will be so busy and be reading your Bible for an assignment instead of to let the Lord speak to your heart.
        He tells us that this is a great church, a hard working church, a sin fighting church.  You’ve stuck by the stuff, not quit, not run.  Jesus said, “I love you for it, but we’re not together anymore. You’ve left your first love.  I miss you.” 
        What is it that can cause us to leave our relationship with Him?  Sometimes it’s just misuse of our time.  You get up in the morning and instead of spending time reading your Bible and praying, we’re immediately so busy that we need to get off to the next place.  
        Sometimes it’s secret sins that get in our life.  What about that little thing that you are playing with that nobody knows about but you -- and Jesus?  The first thing you will notice is you are not going to be spending time with Jesus as long as that sin is in your life.  It’s amazing how the devil takes control of things.  We have developed standards over the years, like fences to keep us safe.  Every time I hear of another preacher that got in trouble, I wonder which separation standard he gave up first.  There was a time that he believed that you don’t counsel with a woman alone.  When did he decide that was no longer necessary?  We set these standards as fences to protect us and keep us safe and keep us where we ought to be. 
        The problem is now we’ve got computers and cell phones and I-pads, and what’s the standard to protect you from that?  I’m amazed at how many people have computers with a filter system that you can over-ride.  I’m saying to you that the devil wants to wreck your life and oftentimes it’s that little thing you are looking at on that computer.  I’ve got a computer, and they are a wonderful tool, but you’d better get some standards to protect yourself with that computer.  Oftentimes it’s secret sins.
        Then sometimes it’s the love of pleasure, just having fun.  I’m a country boy raised on a farm in Arkansas.  I was brought up in the woods hunting.  As a matter of fact, my family would not buy meat.  If we had meat, we had to run it down and kill it.  When we went hunting, it was serious business.  I wasn’t out looking for horns.  I was looking for meat.  Whatever the land gave you is what you took.  If it was a coon, you ate a coon.  I’ve had possum three times. 
        A friend of mine said, “Momma is going to fix possum tonight.  I want you to come over.”
        I said, “I ain’t coming over.”
        He said, “No, no, listen.  Momma knows how to fix it right.”
        I said, “There ain’t no way you can fix possum right.”
        He said, “When you cook it with the sweet potatoes, it does something to the possum.”
        I said, “Yea, and the possum does something to the sweet potatoes.”
        He said, “No, trust me.”  I went over and you know what?  It was as bad as the other two times I had it.
        I enjoy hunting and I enjoy having fun, but if you don’t watch it, your love of pleasure will replace the time that you spend with God. 
        Years ago in a revival I was staying diagonally across from the church.  As I was walking over, I noticed that the sheriff lived right across from the church.  I saw him pull up in his car and get out.  The next night as I was walking over, I saw him pull up again.  I asked the pastor about him.  “What about the fella across the street, the sheriff, is he saved?” 
        He said, “He’s a good man, a good sheriff.  No, he doesn’t go to church anywhere.  As far as I know he’s not saved. 
        I said, “I noticed that he usually gets home about 45 minutes or so before church.  Tomorrow night I’m going to try to catch him.”
        The next day I was waiting for him and I walked over just as he went in the door.  I knocked and his wife, Paulette, came to the door.  I said, “I’m Glenn Riggs, and I’m preaching a revival across the street this week.  I just wanted to visit with you folks a minute.”
        She said, “Well, come on in.”  Her husband’s name was Ray.  I said, “Ray, the church services are about to start and I’m preaching over here.  I don’t know why, I saw you a couple days ago and you are just on my heart.  Ray, are you saved?  If you were to die today, do you know for sure you’d go to Heaven?”
        He said, “Well, no, I really don’t.”  In just a few minutes, one of the easiest people I’ve ever led to Christ in my life was Ray.  Ray bowed his head, trusted Christ as his Saviour.  Paulette got saved. 
        I said, “Ray, I’m fixing to preach in about 10 minutes.  I want you to come.  You’re not ashamed of what you just did?”
        He said, “No, I’m not ashamed of it.”
        I said, “You need to let folks know.  The Bible tells us that if we’ll confess Him before men, He’ll confess us before the Father and the holy angels.  You’re not ashamed of Him?”
        He said, “No, I’m not ashamed of Him.”
        I said, “You need to make that public.  You can hire an airplane and write it in the sky.  You can put loud speakers on top of your car and drive up and down the street, but the way most folks do this is that they come to church and follow Christ in believer’s baptism, and tonight I want you to come.” 
        He said, “Preacher, look at me.”
        I said, “I don’t care.  Just come like you are, Ray.”
        He said, “I’ve got to at least freshen up.”
        I said, “You just come on.  They are going to sing for a few minutes.  If you are late, that’s all right.  Come right on.” 
        Sure enough, I got up to preach.  I looked back and saw him and his wife sitting back there.  We gave the invitation.  Ray and Paulette came forward and made public that they just got saved.  The pastor arranged to baptize them a couple nights later.  The next night his 14-year-old son came forward and got saved.  They had a 12-year-old daughter and she got saved.  The next night, Paulette got her mom to come, and her mother got saved.  On the closing night, Paulette got her hair dresser to come and she got saved.  Boy, did they ever get excited. 
        Not long after I talked to the pastor and asked about them.  He said, “Brother Riggs, they don’t miss.”  They started running a bus route in that church.  Whenever I would preach a meeting anywhere in that area, they would always come and I’d get to visit with them.  They drove down to Hot Springs, where I pastored and came to one of the services one time.  I was just so thrilled, so proud of them.  Every year I’d go back to that church and preach a revival.  Every year they’d be right there to meet me. They had us into their home after the services and fixed a big meal for us. 
        After a few years, one day Ray came home from a hard week of work.  On a Friday afternoon he said to Paulette, “Honey, I just need to get away.  I’m so stressed.  Why don’t we hook the boat up and go up to the lake and take the kids and let’s just get away for a while.”
        She said, “Well, all right.  I’ll throw some things together and we’ll go.”
        So they did.  The kids came home from school.  They had the boat hooked up and they went up to Lake Northfork and spent the weekend.
        The next week on Thursday, Ray said to Paulette, “Wasn’t that fun last week?  Why don’t we go again this week.” 
        She said, “Well, honey, what about church?”
        He said, “We’ll go Wednesday night.  Paulette, I just need to get away right now.” 
        She said, “Ray, if that’s what you want to do, we’ll do it.”
        The kids came home from school and they said, “Now tomorrow, we’re going to go back up to the lake.  Don’t plan nothing.”
        They said, “We want to go to church.”
        They said, “We’ll go to church next week.   The family is going to the lake.”
        The third week in a row Ray came home and said, “Let’s go back to the lake.”  They were having a youth led revival that weekend.  Those kids begged their parents, “Please let us stay with our aunt, because we’re having a youth revival and we want to be a part of it.  Let us stay.”
        They said, “No, no, the whole family is going.”
        So they went.  Ray told me that they backed the boat into the water and pulled it over to the shore.  Ray pulled the car and trailer up to park it.  His 17 year-old son, an excellent swimmer, dove in Northfork Lake, swam about 30 or 40 feet from the shore and went under.  Two men in a bass boat were right there and heard this.  One of them actually got a hold of that boy’s hand.  He said, “It was as though something just had a hold of him,” and that young man drowned, 17 years old. 
        Someone told me what had happened and I called Ray and Paulette.  I said, “Ray, this is Brother Riggs, and I’m so sorry.” 
        He said, “Brother Riggs, you wouldn’t believe what we are doing right now.  We are sitting on the floor in our bedroom with a cassette player listening to your message, When God Burns the Barley Fields.”
        The love of pleasure.  A lot of folks can’t handle having a camper oe a boat.  There is nothing wrong with having a camper, nothing wrong with having a bass boat, playing golf, going hunting and fishing, but if you can’t do that and stay close to Jesus and be faithful to church, then you don’t need a camper, my friend.      
        I was preaching a meeting in Mississippi a number of years ago, and a man came forward in the invitation.  He gave a season’s pass to the stadium to the pastor and said, “Here.”
        The pastor looked at it and said, “What are you doing?  This is a season’s pass.  Why are you giving this to me?”
        He said, “Because I can’t have it.”
        The pastor said, “What do you mean?  There is nothing wrong with going down.”  They had tractor pulls and wrestling.  Everything that went on in that stadium, he bought a pass that enabled him to go to all of it.
        He said, “You don’t understand.  With me, it’s an addiction.  I’ll go every night.  I’ll deny my family of my time.  I’ll skip church.”  He did exactly the right thing.  He should have brought that and laid it on the altar. 
        Jesus commended this church, but He said to them, “You have left your first love.”  I want to give you three things.
        I was talking to a man a number of years ago.  We were in a revival meeting there.  I had been with him on a couple of occasions.  We went to the house to eat and he said, “Brother Riggs, I used to do what you are doing.” 
        I said, “What do you mean?”
        He said, “I used to preach.  I even pastored a church for a short time.”
        I said, “What happened?”
        He shared a story with me.  If he gave me all the facts, he certainly was mistreated.  It should never have happened.  Then he said this to me with tears in his eyes.  “Brother Riggs, how do you get it back?”
        About three months ago, a couple sat in my office.  They were bus workers.  They said, “Brother Riggs, to be honest with you, we’re just going to church and doing our responsibilities because we really don’t know how to get out of it.  It’s not a blessing to us anymore.  We are not enjoying it.”
        I wonder how many people right now are serving, there every service, three to thrive, but the joy is gone? They’re just doing it because it’s the right thing to do.  That’s honorable, but the truth is the fire is not burning.  It’s not stirring in their hearts anymore.  It does not do the same thing that it once did.  How do you get it back?  How do you get that burn back in your heart and soul.  He gives us three things here.
        #1.  Remember  Notice He tells us “Remember.”  He said, “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen,...”  Psalm 105:5 says, “Remember his marvellous works that he hath done;...”  Psalm 63:5-6 says, “My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:  When I remember thee...”  The Bible says you’re a good minister if you put the brethren in remembrance.  Review the victories.  That’s what it’s about.  Go back in your mind.  Go back and remember when you first got saved.  Can you remember that?  Do you remember when you received Christ as your Saviour? 
        My wife and I were high school sweethearts.  We were engaged all through our senior year and planned to get married as soon as we graduated.  September 1, 1967, we got married.  I was not saved.  I had been raised in religion, but they liked to argue and debate all the time.  I had never received Christ as my Saviour, and I knew that I was lost.  We got married and I promised my wife, “I’ll see to it that you get to church, but I’m not going with you.  I don’t believe none of that junk and that whole bunch is going to Hell.” 
        When we moved to St. Louis, Missouri, I’d take her to church.  Then I would drive around, go somewhere else, supposedly going to go to my church, but usually I didn’t.  Then I’d come back and pick her up.  The problem was that her preacher was one of those unpredictable preachers, not the kind you could set your clock by.  He might get through 15 minutes early.  Then it might be 12:30 and I’d pull up outside and sit and wait, sit and wait.  That’s the hardest thing in the world for me to do, just sit and wait.  Finally I got to where, I’d go inside.  At least it would be air conditioned and I’ll sit back on the back row and watch the show.  They had a gymnasium and I like to play basketball.  One Saturday I went over there and said, “A couple buddies and I, we want to know if we can get the keys to the gym and play a little basketball.”
        The preacher said, “Sure, that would be fine.”  He reached in his desk, pulled out his key and handed them over to me and said, “You know, Glenn, one of these days I need to sit you down and straighten you out.” 
        I thought, “Buddy, you don’t know who you are talking to.”  The church I attended had a five o’clock service on Sunday evenings when we were taught how to debate with Baptists.  We were given verses and a line of reasoning.  We knew just how to set you up for it.  I thought, “Buddy, you don’t know who you are fixing to tie up with.”  I was a 19 year-old smart aleck. 
        I said, “Why one of these days?  Why don’t you do it right now?”
        He said, “Okay, Glenn, I’ll bet you’ve got a verse that you’d like to hear me explain.”
        I said, “Yes, sir.  Acts 2:38.”  “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”  I said, “Explain that one to me.”
        He explained it.  He said, “Do you have another one?”
        I said, “First Peter 3:21.”  “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:”  “Now explain that.”
        He explained it.  “Do you got another one?”
        I said, “Mark 16:16.”  “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”  I said, “Now explain that one to me.”
        He explained it.  As a matter of fact, it made me mad.  Every time I had used these verses and did what I had been trained to do, I always knew there were some holes there somewhere.  It didn’t quite match up, but I just figured there were answers for that I just didn’t have.  The problem was he put his finger right on the spot that had always bothered me.  It made me mad.  I remember I got up, tossed the keys back to him, and said, “I know exactly what you are trying to do.  It ain’t going to work on me.”  I walked out. 
        I remember that night.  I had just bought me a new carton of filter tipped Kools.  On the way to church, I’d open them up and smoke me a cigarette or two on the way to church.  That night I was chain smoking them cigarettes and we went to bed.  I didn’t talk to my wife about it.  I went to bed but couldn’t sleep.  I got up, came back out in the living room a while and I’ll never forget this.  It was probably about two in the morning.  I’m sitting there and it dawned on me for the first time that I’m actually considering walking the aisle of that Baptist church that next day and getting saved.  When I admitted to myself that that’s what I’m thinking about,  it was like cold water hit me in the face.  I thought, “Man, you can’t do that.  That will kill your daddy.”  My daddy’s favorite thing was telling jokes on the Baptists and he knew every one that ever was.  I remember that morning and I wish I could remember the text and the sermon.  The preacher got up and preached and all I can remember is this one statement.  He said, “If you can provide the sinner, God can provide the Saviour.”  That resonated in my heart.  When the invitation was given, as a 19-year-old boy, I walked the aisle and gave my heart to Jesus. 
        Do you remember when you got saved?  Go back and review the victories.  Go back and remember.  Remember when you got saved.  Remember when you gave up cigarettes. 
        My preacher talked about how when you smoked that cigarette, it’s like taking a bucket of hog slop and pouring it in the altar of God.  Your body is the temple of the living God.  When you take that cigarette, it’s like pouring that slop on Him.  He said, “I want you to get a picture of Jesus in your mind.  Bow your head and close your eyes.  When you get a picture of Jesus in your mind, raise your hand.”  We knew how this works because if you don’t cooperate, you don’t get out of there.  Everybody in town would beat you down to the chicken house.  He said, “Do you have a picture in your mind of Jesus right now?  Now put a cigarette in His mouth.”  Every eye opened.  He said, “It won’t fit, will it?”  He gave that invitation.  I came down the aisle and took that pack of filter tipped Kools and laid them on the altar.  I asked God to forgive me.  I said, “Lord, don’t ever let me touch another one.  If I ever smoke another one, I pray you’ll kill me.”  Folks, I don’t necessarily recommend that, but I’ve been scared to smoke ever since.  Can you remember?  Go back in your mind and remember.
        Do you remember when you first started tithing?  I was raised in a religion that didn’t believe in tithing.  You just give as you feel led, so I never felt led to give very much.  You stick that dollar in the plate and you watch it all the way down the aisle and you’ll never see it again.  Gone, gone, gone, gone.  That preacher got up and preached on tithing.  He said, “When you tithe you give 10%, not off the net, but off the top.  Don’t subtract the highways you ride on, but tithe off the top and then give an offering above that amount.”  I was working at McDonald Aircraft in St. Louis, Missouri.  I made $78.50 a week.  My tithe would have been $7.85, and then he said, “You are to give an offering above that.”  I remember that Sunday morning, the first time I had ever tithed.  I wrote a check for $10, and put that in the offering plate.  Now it probably bounced, but I put that in that offering plate, and it felt so good to know that I had done what God told me to do.  Do you remember when you had that struggle?
        Do you remember the first time you went soulwinning?  You’ve heard folks tell this.  This happened to me.  I got saved.  A friend of mine got saved.  We worked at McDonald Aircraft at night.  The church went soulwinning at night.  The preacher got up and preached on soulwinning.  I honestly did not know what soulwinning was.  I did understand it meant talking to people and trying to get them to come to church, but nobody had ever showed me any verses.  They didn’t show me the Romans Road.  I told Orville, “We ought to go soulwinning.  How about tomorrow about three o’clock, we’ll go up to the church, and get some names and go soulwinning.”
        He said, “Okay.”  He thought I knew something.  He didn’t know that I was just as ignorant as could be.  We pulled up there.  I said to the preacher.  “We want to go soulwinning.  Do you got some stuff to give us?”  He gave us some tracts and some cards with some names on them.  On the way there, it is dawning on me, “What are we going to say?”  I said, “You do the talking.”
        He said, “No way, man, I don’t know anything.”
        I said, “I don’t know anything, either.”
        He said, “Well, you are bound to know something.  You said we were supposed to go.”
        I said, “I knew we were supposed to go, but I don’t know what we are supposed to say.”  We both realized we were in trouble.  We literally stopped the car in front of that address and prayed and asked God that there not be anybody home.  He gave us three cards.  We did that in front of every home and God answered our prayers.  Before we went the next time we payed attention when the preacher talked about what to say!
        Can you remember?  Can you go back and remember the first time you began to tell somebody about Jesus?  He said, “Remember.”  We need to go back and look at what God has done for us.
        #2.  Repent   The second thing He said was to repent.  Repentance is a whole lot more than just changing your mind, but it’s a change of mind that brings a change of heart, that leads to a change of direction in your life.  If you turn to something, you’ve got to turn from something.  It means to repent.  It means to recognize that there are some things in your life getting you away from Jesus, it means to repent and turn away from it and turn back to Him. 
        #3.  re-enlist  We need to resolve something and re-enlist.  He said, “Do thy first works again.” 
        I had been preaching, pastoring about eight or nine years.  I had always been really excited about this thing and stirred up and motivated about it.  God had blessed.  We had seen some exciting things happen in our churches.  One day it dawned on me that something is not quite right.  I remember sitting in my office that day and realizing that I’m no longer as excited about it as I used to be. As a matter of fact, I began to look at things and I realized that I had not been as motivated as I had been before.  I’d hear the older preachers mention about burning out and losing your vision and all of this.  I remember being scared that day and thinking, “Is it already happening to me?”  I called an older preacher and talked to him.  I told him, “I’m scared.”  I told him what I was experiencing.  I’m no longer even excited about coming to the office and  going out and doing the things that I’m supposed to be doing. 
        He said, “Glenn, let me tell you what to do.  Do you have notes from your earlier sermons?”
        I said, “Well, yes, I think so.”
        He said, “I want you to go back and find your first sermon or two and I want you to take it and preach it.” 
        I remember exactly what I thought.  They are not much better now, but they were certainly in bad shape then.  How is this going to help?  If I go back and preach those old sermons, I’ll not only be in a mess.  Now I’m going to be humiliated and embarrassed, too. 
        He said, “Trust me, Glenn.  Go back and get those very earliest sermons and preach them again.” 
        I found the third sermon I had ever preached.  I took that sermon and sat down with it, not understanding how this could have anything to do with anything.  As I began to look through that message and review I let it start bubbling again.  I remember at Bible College where I was in school, living out there in the little housing that they had.  I had been invited to preach at a church a few miles from the college.  I was putting this message together and going to preach at that church at twenty years old.  As I reviewed those notes, I remember how excited I was.  I could see it.  This has been a vision since I was twenty years old.  I had this vision I was going to go preach this sermon on Sunday and when I give the invitation, folks are going to come from this aisle and this aisle and this aisle and this aisle and out of the balcony right down to the altar.  I could just see them.  In my mind I could see folks just coming, weeping, and giving their heart to Christ when I gave the invitation. 
        When I got there, the church ran about 35.  It had one aisle down the middle.  Those 35 had been saved longer than I was alive, but as I was reviewing that message, it started burning in my heart just like it did that night.  I could not wait to preach that message.  It worked.  Re-enlist.  Do thy first works again.  Get back to it.
        When I first got saved, the preacher said to me, “Glenn, I want you to be an usher because the usher is the handshake of the church.”  Statistics say that most people make up their minds if they are ever coming back during the first five minutes they are there.  They haven’t heard the preacher yet.  They hadn’t heard the choir.  Probably the only person they’ve met may be an usher.  He said, “Glenn, whether a family comes back or not is going to depend on the ushers.”  I remember I couldn’t wait.  I’d get there and go to everybody that came.  I’d walk in that door.  I’d meet a family.  I’d say, “Hey!  My name is Glenn Riggs.  What’s your name?  Good to meet you.  I’m so glad to see you.  How did you hear about our church?”  I decided that if folks came the first time, they were going to come back.  If for no other reason, because I’m going to make them feel so welcome. 
        Do you remember when you were excited?  What’s happened to you?  When did you come to the point that you lost that energy for God?  Remember, repent, and re-enlist. 
        A young man sat by the side of the road.  They heard that Queen Victoria was on her way.  There was a young Maharajah.  He was so excited because he had heard so much about Victoria, and the fact that she was coming to India, and he was going to get to see her and meet her first hand.  He could hardly wait and sure enough, Victoria came in with all of her entourage and dignity.  That young Maharajah was just beside himself.  Never had he seen such dignity in a human being.  He gave to Victoria one of the most perfect, most beautiful, most valuable diamonds that the world has ever produced.  She took that diamond back to England and put it there among the crown jewels.  Everybody talked about it.  They wrote it up in the papers about this priceless diamond given to Victoria by a young Maharajah.  Years later that young man became a mature older man.  He contacted Victoria and told her that he wanted to come and visit her there, and he would like to see the diamond.  When he got there, they sent down to the tower of London where they kept the crown jewels at that time.  They brought back that diamond and handed it to Victoria.  She placed it in the hands of that Maharajah, no longer just a lad, now a mature man. 
        Everybody wondered what’s he up to?  What’s he going to do?  Is he going to ask for it back?  He took that diamond and he held it up and he let the rays of the sun just make their way through it and they watched it as the light just danced.  It was certainly a beautiful, beautiful stone.  You could see the admiration in his eyes.  Then he turned to Queen Victoria and here is what he said.  “When I was just a young lad, I gave you this diamond.  I didn’t understand what I was doing.  I didn’t realize its value.  Now, Queen,” and he dropped to his knee.  He said, “I give it to you again, and this time I know and fully understand what I’m doing.” 
        Isn’t it time we presented our hearts and lives to Jesus again?  Is your first love for Jesus a thing of the past.  God tells us to remember, repent and re-enlist.