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    Remember Your First Love
    Remember Your First Love
    Remember Your First Love
    Ebook85 pages52 minutes

    Remember Your First Love

    By Sydney Douglas Smith

    ()

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    About this ebook

    “Yet, I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.” —Revelation 2:4

    Jesus knows each church community and each person in it. He knows our strengths. He knows our weaknesses. The community of believers at Ephesus received praise from Jesus for persevering in the truth. Yet there was a character flaw that needed their immediate attention. They had lost their first love.
    This is a powerful revelation. Church communities can be faithful defenders of God’s truth, but their love for God can also grow cold. Love is what happens when the amazing grace, mercy, and love of God wash over us, cleansing us, flooding our souls, and making us new. It seems incredible, but God loves us without limit, though we do not deserve any of his love.
    Every church community and every member of it needs to linger and live in the wonder of God’s gracious love. We need ways to remember and celebrate this love in the songs we sing, the prayers we raise, the stories we share, the sacraments we celebrate, and the care we give to others.
    Jesus uses a word in this letter that brings us back to the way he started his public ministry: “repent.” This is a call to turn around, change direction, and get back on course. For church communities to be Spirit-filled, “golden lampstands,” the passion of love needs to be pulsing through our veins.

    Prayer
    “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.” Bring me back to remembering your amazing love for me, O God, and help me to be faithful. Amen.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSydney Douglas Smith
    Release dateDec 3, 2019
    ISBN9780463794678
    Remember Your First Love
    Author

    Sydney Douglas Smith

    I was born into a "working class" family and spent my childhood learning to "be happy with what you have" My father was the hard working head of a very poor but very loving family.I was bullied by my peers and by the education system and I came to believe the many negative things that were told me such as; "You are a stupid boy", "You can never learn", "You will never be anything in your life".In addition I was brought up in an age where Class and religious distinctions and prejudices decided what sort of a person you were destined to become and more or less how you were to live your life. Any signs of ambition were quickly stifled by a lifestyle and social system driven by the upper class.An inherited work ethic and the ability to care deeply for others (especially the under-dog) are among the life gifts that carried me through-out my early years even though I didn't have a relationship with God then. I found God later in life (about 45), and this led me to college where I learned that I wasn't stupid after all, and I could learn new skills, using my gifts and be valuable to God and other people. I became a Counsellor with Lifeline, and attained many qualifications I thought I could never get.Yes I have been knocked down in life, quite a few times. Sometimes because of wrong decisions I have made, sometimes when others have hurt me and sometimes just because of life, but through it all there has been a great God who even in the depths of my hurt, fear and sorrow has just reached down, taken my hand and gently lifted me!My theme song is a re-written version of the tub-thumping song “ I get knocked down, he lifts me up again”It helps also that I have had a good wife who has stuck by me in the hard times and helped me celebrate the good times, thank you Ruby for being there to lift and encourage me and also keeping me grounded when I get above myself.I currently have a small Life Coaching practice where I teach and mentor “Bright Endings” in a one-on-one environment or group workshops where people can and do move past the mistakes and disappointments of the past and even learning to appreciate some of the lessons learned to help create for themselves a “Bright Ending”After a lifetime of many failures and some great success stories I have learned to lean on God in the tough times and thank Him for everything.We are not able to go back and change the beginnings, undo the mistakes or redo the regrets in our story! BUT we can start now and write a brand new ending.I am living in the peace and calm that comes as we are able to find what I call the "sweet spot' in our life that is the purpose for us which I am sure we are pre-destined to be before we were born.

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      Book preview

      Remember Your First Love - Sydney Douglas Smith

      Soul Keeping – John Ortburg

      http://www.books-4him-free.com/bible_studies.html

      https://biblestudies4u.info/

      All scripture is quoted from Bible Gateway New International Version

      Unless otherwise stated

      Prologue

      "Yet, I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first." —Revelation 2:4

      Jesus knows each church community and each person in it. He knows our strengths. He knows our weaknesses. The community of believers at Ephesus received praise from Jesus for persevering in the truth. Yet there was a character flaw that needed their immediate attention. They had lost their first love.

      This is a powerful revelation. Church communities can be faithful defenders of God’s truth, but their love for God can also grow cold. Love is what happens when the amazing grace, mercy, and love of God wash over us, cleansing us, flooding our souls, and making us new. It seems incredible, but God loves us without limit, though we do not deserve any of his love.

      Every church community and every member of it needs to linger and live in the wonder of God’s gracious love. We need ways to remember and celebrate this love in the songs we sing, the prayers we raise, the stories we share, the sacraments we celebrate, and the care we give to others.

      Jesus uses a word in this letter that brings us back to the way he started his public ministry: repent. This is a call to turn around, change direction, and get back on course. For church communities to be Spirit-filled, golden lampstands, the passion of love needs to be pulsing through our veins.

      Prayer

      "You have searched me, Lord, and you know me." Bring me back to remembering your amazing love for me, O God, and help me to be faithful. Amen.

      The Burning Question

      You know what used to be my favourite question

      The one I found most often on my lips

      Is the God we're taught about a spaceman?

      And does he travel round in flying ships

      We read of this and more from days of childhood

      From those who are reputed to be wise

      But now I am awakened to the falsehoods

      Written by the devils authors and his lies

      For I've had the chance to see the Lord in action

      See miracles performed and see him praised

      See people when they get the satisfaction

      Of being born again and being saved

      So I listened to the ones who gave him witness

      The stories that they told of lives that change

      Of how they feel that Jesus is still with us

      And that only through his love can we be saved

      Somehow deep inside my heart I felt conviction

      This was really why my world was going wrong

      Then I knew I had to give my life to Jesus

      I had felt his special love that was so strong

      Courage that I thought I never could have

      Built up in me and helped me take a stand

      To, ask the Lords forgiveness and give him my life

      And ask him to give me a helping hand

      And now I know the truth I want to help you too

      I know that you have doubts and I know why

      You are looking for an answer which will give you proof

      Start looking in your heart and not the sky

      You'll feel it in your heart that what I say is true

      And feel it stronger if you read Gods word

      For he's already there my friend inside of you

      Believe in him and then you will be heard.

      Doug Smith

      Chapter One – Born Again

      I would have to have said that God being an extra-terrestrial makes more sense than a God who lives in heaven and makes spiritual love with a virgin teenager bringing forth a baby who would become the Lord and Saviour of ALL mankind.

      I had read, no, studied! every book, by Erich von Däniken and other authors who wrote about extraterrestrial influences on early human culture, including the best-selling Chariots of the Gods? published in 1968. Von Däniken is one of the main figures responsible for popularizing the paleo-contact and ancient astronauts’ hypotheses. I also had read every prophecy in the quatrains of Nostradamus and watched every episode of Star-Trek as well as Star-Gate.

      Religion, as such, didn’t appeal to me, this might have had something to do with being slapped across the face by

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