The Biblical Principle of First #5: Love Renewed Every Morning

The biblical principle of first says that what we give God first, and best, redeems everything that follows. In this closing message of the series, Dr. William P. Hohman applies that principle to the most personal gift we have: our time with God each morning. He teaches that the love of God is not a conclusion we reason our way into but an experience the Holy Spirit pours into our hearts, and that this love has to be renewed daily if faith is going to work.

He calls it a transitional message: part five of the biblical principle of first and part one of a new teaching on the expressions of God’s love. It continues directly from Biblical Principle of First #4: Redeeming Time & First Love. Below you will find the video, a structured summary, the Scriptures he uses (linked to the New King James Version), a timestamped outline and practical steps.

Sermon at a Glance

This message was posted on July 6, 2022, and runs about 77 minutes, ending with an invitation to receive Christ. Dr. Hohman explains that his teaching does not jump from one idea to the next. Like Rahab’s scarlet thread running through the whole Bible, one theme grows into the next: the kingdom economy led into the biblical principle of first, and that now leads into the expressions of God’s love.

His central claim is simple. Formulas and principles from Scripture are good, but without first love they do nothing for us. The fix is not more religious activity but a daily, morning encounter in which the Holy Spirit pours out the love of God again.

The Biblical Principle of First Redeems the Rest

Dr. Hohman recaps the series. The first and the best is always the redemptive portion. Because we live in a fallen, corrupted world, what we give God first brings an incorruptible element into everything else. God Himself modeled this: He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son first (John 3:16), and everyone else finds redemption through that first gift.

He is careful to add that this does not mean everyone is automatically saved because Jesus died for the world. He calls that wicked theology. Each person has to receive Christ and accept Him, which is where this message ends.

He then returns to the church at Ephesus. The Lord commended their works, but held one thing against them: they had left their first love (Revelation 2:4). Our love for Him comes as a result of Him first loving us (1 John 4:19). Going to church just to go to church, he says, lacks the first love element God recognizes.

Ephesians 5:15–16 tells us to walk circumspectly, redeeming the time. He explains the word as walking precisely, with eyes all the way around your head, and links it to Ezekiel’s wheel within a wheel full of eyes (Ezekiel 1:15–18), a picture of the eternal God touching time everywhere at once.

Which part of our time do we give Him first? The morning. David said he would rise early and look to God, and Jesus rose a long while before daylight to pray alone (Mark 1:35). That time, Dr. Hohman says, let the Father empower, refill and restore Him.

He then reads Isaiah 55:1–3: come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wine, he teaches, stands for the Spirit, which is why the crowd at Pentecost thought the disciples were drunk at nine in the morning (Acts 2:15), and milk stands for wisdom.

He illustrates it with the Green Stamps of his childhood. Stores handed out stamps with purchases, and the shop where you traded them was called the Redemption Center. You could walk in with a billion dollars and not buy a thing; he once tried to buy an open-face reel with cash and was turned away. God’s kingdom works the same way. The currency is time with Him, not money.

So when work, children or tension at home leave us drained, we often reach for a vacation or a purchase. Isaiah asks why we spend money on what does not satisfy. Dr. Hohman says vacations are good. He and his wife went 13 years without one and later made them a yearly practice. But a spiritual need cannot be met with a natural fix. Give God your day first and you will have energy and wisdom for it.

New Every Morning: Renewing the Love of God Daily

Returning to first love is not only something that happens when God has to correct us. It is meant to be daily. Dr. Hohman reads 1 John 4:16: we know and rely on the love God has for us; God is love, and whoever lives in love lives in God. Many people once knew that love, he says, but no longer rely on it, and their faith is not working the way it should.

He gives the church an assignment: read 1 John chapter 4 every day this week, once in the morning and once before sleep. By the end of the week, he says, you will see a difference and begin a season of growth in intimacy with God.

Next comes Lamentations 3:22–23: the Lord’s mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning, and great is His faithfulness. He teaches that the Hebrew word for new here, which he pronounces kadash, carries the sense of fresh, rebuilt, repaired and renewed. Every morning in God’s presence we are rebuilt and repaired inside. If we skip it, we are distracted by problems and even by good things, and we stop relying on His love.

Then he states a line that frames the rest of the series: “Love always finds a language to express itself.” He tells of ministering at an Assemblies of God Bible college high in the Swiss Alps. On the foggy drive up, he asked the Lord out loud to lift the clouds so he could see the mountains, and to give him some Swiss chocolate. The students told him the fog lasts for weeks that time of year.

As he left, the director, Peter, handed him a big bag of chocolate, saying the Lord had told him a week earlier to buy it as a gift. When they got in the car the fog lifted, and the Alps appeared. On the train to France, nobody would respond to the gospel in English, so he unwrapped the chocolate, shared it with everyone, and then shared the Lord. Almost everyone in the car turned out to speak English.

The point is why we need the morning. You will meet people today who need the language of love, and you can only give what God has renewed in you first.

Made by Hand for Relationship

To show why love has to be experienced, Dr. Hohman goes back to Genesis. Through Genesis 1:1–5 and the rest of the chapter, God speaks and creation appears: light, the firmament, dry land, plants, lights in the sky, fish, birds and animals. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God (Hebrews 11:3).

Man is different. Everything else was spoken with let it be, but for man God said, “Let Us make man in Our image” (Genesis 1:26–27). In Genesis 2:7, the Lord forms the man from the dust and personally breathes into his nostrils the breath of life. God did not create because He was lonely, since He does not change (Malachi 3:6). He created because He is love, and love needs an object to express itself to.

Dr. Hohman describes Eve’s creation from Adam’s rib (Genesis 2:21–24) the same way. The first thing Adam saw when he woke was God’s face, and the first thing Eve saw was God’s face, before Adam called her bone of his bones. That is why we are made for a personal, intimate relationship with God, and why marriage between a man and a woman mirrors it.

He links this directly to Lamentations: God wants to be “in your face every morning,” before anything else can distract us from relying on His love. Every one of us, he admits, has gone a day without giving Him our time and then made poor decisions.

Adam and Eve lost that intimacy when their attention went to the serpent. In Genesis 3:8–10 they hear the Lord walking in the cool of the day, which he reads as the morning, and they hide because they are afraid. People still hide, he says, in jobs, work, books and hobbies. Yet we gather on the first day of the week to honor God, and the same principle belongs to the first part of each day.

Faith Works Through Love, Not Formulas

Scripture is full of formulas and steps, Dr. Hohman says, but without putting our heavenly Father first to draw from His love, they do nothing, and we conclude that it does not work. Then fear takes hold and binds us to the problems of this life. 1 John 4:18 answers it: there is no fear in love, and perfect love casts out fear. To be mature in love, he says, means living consistently by God first.

He notes that God teaches His people line upon line, here a little, there a little (Isaiah 28:10–11), which is why the series builds on its own foundations.

The key passage is Galatians 5:4–6. The Judaizers followed Paul’s converts and told them that believing in Jesus was good, but they also had to be circumcised to be saved. Paul answers that in Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. Dr. Hohman compares the translations he read to show how serious it is to lose the love element:

He feels the Passion Translation falls a little short here, because Paul’s point is not only grace but love. Faith working through love is what lets grace and all the goodness of God be fulfilled in our lives. When we lose that intimacy, we lean on formulas, and when they fail we blame God. That, he says, was the problem at Ephesus.

He warns that in the last days many will fall away from the faith by giving heed to deceiving spirits (1 Timothy 4:1). People fall away, he says, because they stop relying on God’s love and start relying on a principle that is good but, alone, cannot function.

Love Poured Out by the Holy Spirit

The heart of the sermon is Romans 5:1–8. Suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. That, Dr. Hohman stresses, is an experience, not an idea. Trees, dogs and cattle never had an experience with God. Adam did, and people still long for one.

He contrasts this with deduction. Someone can reason, “God so loved the world, I’m in the world, so God loves me,” or point to John 15:13 and conclude they must be loved. That falls short, he says, because a conclusion can be questioned the moment life goes badly. “Logic makes nobody a Christian.” The outpouring of Romans 5:5 is “felt or it’s nothing.”

A newborn, he observes, does not cry from pain so much as express a brand-new existence. Those who are born again likewise have an experience to tell. And he calls the Holy Spirit the most important person on the planet, the governor of our kingdom, who wants every morning to tell us about the love of God, embolden us and impart wisdom.

When hope has made us ashamed, he says, it is because we hoped in money, doctors, attorneys or a method. Those are not wrong in themselves, but our hope has to be in Jesus Christ. Proverbs 13:12 says hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life. He links it to Jesus’ promise of rivers of living water flowing from within (John 7:38).

He distinguishes two anointings. Believers have an anointing from the Holy One (1 John 2:20–27), an inner anointing that grows with personal time with God, and an outer anointing for ministry that comes with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The less of the inner, he says, the less of the outer, because faith works by love. God gives us a heart of flesh in place of a heart of stone (Ezekiel 36:26), one He can shape hands-on.

He also rejects the idea that someone from an abusive family cannot experience God’s love. Using Colossians 2:8, he calls it a human philosophy. A loving family is not the love of God either. Love does not come from bad families or good families, only from the Holy Spirit. So the church must never shut out the Spirit’s activity.

Christ died historically, he notes, teaching that the Greek word for died, which he renders apothnesko, points to a death that took place away from this time and place. But God demonstrates His love in the present tense, by the Spirit Jesus promised so we would not be left comfortless (John 14:16–18). No title, he says, gives anyone an advantage; he still needs the morning like everyone else. He closes with 2 Thessalonians 3:5, the Lord directing our hearts into the love of God, and an invitation to present ourselves to Him (Romans 12:1).

Living the Biblical Principle of First Daily

These steps come straight from the sermon’s applications:

• Give God the morning. Before the phone, the news or the work list, let Him tell you how much He loves you and renew His mercies in you.
• Take the 1 John 4 challenge. Read the chapter every morning and every night for one week, as Dr. Hohman assigned, and watch for the difference.
• Stop buying what does not satisfy. When you are drained, rest is good, but bring the spiritual need to God first instead of trying to fix it with money.
• Trade formulas for first love. If a principle “isn’t working,” check whether your faith is still working through love.
• Find the language of love. Ask the Lord how to express His love to the hard-to-reach people in your day, as the chocolate on the train did.
• Make room for the Holy Spirit. Expect an experience of His love, not only information about it, in your private time and in church.

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 A transitional message: part five and a new series
• 2:13 The first is the redemptive portion
• 3:26 Ephesus left its first love
• 4:32 Walk circumspectly: eyes all around
• 6:55 Rising early and Isaiah 55
• 9:12 The Green Stamps Redemption Center
• 10:06 Spending money on what does not satisfy
• 13:06 1 John 4:16 and the weekly assignment
• 15:16 New every morning: Lamentations 3
• 16:24 Fog and chocolate in the Swiss Alps
• 21:45 Love always finds a language
• 22:45 Creation by the spoken word
• 27:44 Man formed by hand and given breath
• 34:44 Adam and Eve hide in the garden
• 35:47 Formulas without love, and 1 John 4:18
• 37:05 Galatians 5: faith working through love
• 41:50 Romans 5: love poured out
• 46:56 Experience versus logic
• 51:27 The Holy Spirit, governor of the kingdom
• 57:04 Hope deferred: Proverbs 13:12
• 59:59 The inner and outer anointing
• 1:03:54 Family background and Colossians 2:8
• 1:10:32 No advantage with the love of God
• 1:13:09 Invitation to receive Christ

Biblical Principle of First Series

This is the final message in the series. Start at the beginning or go back one step:

• First message: The Biblical Principle of First #1: God’s Love Language and the Firstborn
• Previous: The Biblical Principle of First #4: Redeeming the Time and Returning to First Love
• You are here: The Biblical Principle of First #5: Love Renewed Every Morning

Frequently Asked Questions

Does every churchgoer automatically have the love of God?

No. Dr. Hohman says sensing God’s presence in a service, or appreciating a message online, does not make someone born again. The Bible says the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and that comes through personally receiving Jesus Christ. He also says it is not enough to receive Him privately and tell no one; a person who has truly experienced His love, like a newborn or a newly engaged couple, wants to tell others.

Does a pastor or leader have an advantage with God’s love?

Dr. Hohman says no. He functions apostolically, oversees an organization and a school system, and has preached for more than forty years, yet he says that gives him no advantage with the love of God. He still has to get with the Lord every morning and let His love be poured out into his heart, exactly like anyone whose ministry is on a job somewhere. Preaching and knowledge, he adds, cannot put love into anyone.

Why does this sermon matter for the days ahead?

He tells the church that it will see a greater empowerment of believers than it has known, and at the same time a world with more intense hate and anger. In that climate, he says, you had better know the love of God. Only love renewed daily keeps hope from making us ashamed and gives us a language of love for people who are hard to reach.

Scripture References

All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:

• Romans 5:1–8 — love poured out by the Holy Spirit
• Lamentations 3:22–23 — mercies new every morning
• Revelation 2:4 — leaving your first love
• Ephesians 5:15–16 — redeeming the time
• Isaiah 55:1–3 — buy without money and without price
• 1 John 4:16 and 1 John 4:18 — God is love; perfect love casts out fear
• Genesis 2:7 — man formed and given breath
• Galatians 5:4–6 — faith working through love
• 2 Thessalonians 3:5 — hearts directed into the love of God

How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.

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