Let There Be Love — Part 2: Breaking Up the Fallow Ground

Description: In Part 2 of Let There Be Love, Pastor Eric continues laying the foundation for a biblical understanding of love by returning to the love of God for us. Before believers can rightly love God, love one another, or love a broken world, they must first understand the depth, security, and transforming power of God’s love in Christ.

Preaching from Ephesians 3, Pastor Eric emphasizes that the love of Christ is not merely something to study intellectually, but something to know personally and experientially. He shows how disordered loves, hardened hearts, hidden sin, and spiritual drift can cloud our vision of God’s love and keep us from walking in joyful fellowship with Him. Even churchgoing believers can become “prodigals in the pew,” outwardly present but inwardly distant.

Using Jeremiah 3, 1 John 4, Psalm 27, and the parable of the Prodigal Son, Pastor Eric calls the church to repentance, renewed affection for Christ, and a fresh experience of the Father’s love. This message is both gospel invitation and pastoral exhortation: come back to the Father, break up the fallow ground, and learn again to behold the beauty of the Lord.

Key Scriptures: Ephesians 3:14–21; Jeremiah 3:12–14; Jeremiah 3:24–25; 1 John 4:17–19; Psalm 27:4–5; Luke 15:11–24; John 10:27–30; Colossians 2:13–15

Highlights:

• Why love for God must begin with a right understanding of God’s love for us

• The danger of disordered loves and counterfeit substitutes for God

• How sin and spiritual drift harden the heart, even in churchgoing Christians

• “The prodigal in the pew”: outwardly present, inwardly far from God

• Why shame and guilt should lead us back to Jesus, not away from Him

• The difference between positional cleansing in Christ and daily relational cleansing

• Breaking up the fallow ground through repentance and renewed sensitivity to God

• Beholding the beauty of the Lord as the path to reordered affection

• The Prodigal Son as a picture of the Father’s pursuing, restoring love

• Ring, robe, and sandals: the Father restores identity before performance

Next Steps: Ask the Lord to show you where your loves have become disordered or divided. Is there a sin, affection, ambition, relationship, or habit that has begun to compete with your love for God? Bring it honestly to the cross. Spend time this week in Ephesians 3 and Luke 15, and ask God to help you know the love of Christ more deeply. If your heart has grown hard, pray for the courage to repent and return. If you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, come to Him today and receive the cleansing, forgiveness, and new life only He can give.