First Love

Jesus Knocks

A recent Northwest flight carrying 144 passengers from San Diego to Minneapolis overflew the airport by 150 miles. The pilots remained unresponsive to air traffic controllers and airline officials who were desperately trying to make contact. White House officials were closely monitoring the event, and four fighter jets were preparing to intercept the aircraft.

The plane finally turned around after a stewardess got the pilots' attention by pounding on the cockpit door. What went wrong? The seasoned pilots had apparently become so absorbed with a new software program on their laptops that they had lost track of their destination!

The ...

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Jesus: Mascot or Monarch?

I attended a high school that is football-crazy. It boasted a stadium seating 20,000 and produced nearly twenty-five state championship teams. The team is called the Massillon Tigers. Our mascot requires a taller student to dress up like a tiger—I mean, wearing a real tiger skin! He inherits a name of affection: Obie the Tiger.

Here's how a mascot works. At times in the midst of a game, if we're falling behind, the coach signals time-out. Because the crowd needs to be stirred to cheer more enthusiastically for the team's victory, the uniformed tiger runs ...

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Love Jesus First

There is a simplicity and purity about devotion to Christ that can easily be lost as we become more "sophisticated" in our faith. We know more about Jesus, and we're doing more for Him; but in the process, we often leave Jesus Himself behind. Jesus has a simple but earnest message for us, as He did for the first-century church in Ephesus: "You have forsaken your first love" (Rev. 2:4).

Jesus says in effect, "Your theology is straight. You are busy serving Me. You have lots of activity going on. But you're missing the pulse. You're ...

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ViewPoint Q&A: God's Love In Us

One of the best ways to get to know Jesus better is to ask someone who already knows Jesus well. Dennis Kinlaw certainly fits that category. He has joyfully radiated passionate love for the King for decades, and his lifetime of scholarly work has focused on Jesus as the center of biblical theology. Revive had the chance to sit down with Dr. Kinlaw and ask him about the ingredients of white-hot love for Jesus.
Who is Jesus?

Dr. Kinlaw: There are two watershed events in human history. One was Moses' experience with God at the burning bush, when God told ...

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Do You Love Me?

The teenager was on a tour of European cities when he happened to visit the art gallery at Dusseldorf, where he noticed a portrait that would transform his life. The year was 1719, and having spent some years at Wittenberg University, the young man was still undecided on his life's calling.

Born into an aristocratic family, Count Zinzendorf had the influence of a godly grandmother, who herself had been influenced by the new Pietist movement. She passed on to her grandson a desire for a devotional and experiential walk with God.

After 200 years, Lutheranism had remained orthodox, yet ...

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Real World: In and Out of Love

I've traveled this road before. Sin, repent, change. Sin, repent, change. Love God, love the world. Love God, love the world. Why will this time be any different?

The Scenario

It's been way too long since I've said this, God: I love You. Yeah, I know it doesn't seem like it. Honestly, I've let You get out of sight, and as a result You've been out of mind for quite some time. Now that I'm in need, I'm coming back. But You see right through that, don't You? I want to ...

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Making it Personal: How Close Are You to Jesus?

Download this Making It Personal worksheet to help personalize this topic of encouraging relationships. Download PDF

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