Sunday, February 14, 2016 – Returning to our First Love
Revelation 2:1-7
A. - 2:1 "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:
B --2 'I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;
B -- 3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary.
C -- 4 'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
C -- 5 'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.
B -- 6 'Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
A - 7 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.'
I. Meditation on the passage
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Rev 2:1-7
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A(2:1)
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2:1 To the angel of the church in Ephesus, write this (2:1)" (ἐκκλησίας)
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B(2:2-3)
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2:2 you have tested those who call themselves apostles but are not, and discovered that they are impostors. (2:2)
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C(2:4-5)
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2:4 you have lost the love you had at first. (2:4)
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B'(2:6)
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2:6 you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.(2:6)
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A'(2:7)
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II. They key point of the passage
A. The debate
1. First love is love for Jesus
2. First Love is love for Christians
B. My Answer
1 John 4:19-21 (See also James 2)
19 We love, because He first loved us.
20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
John 13:33-34
33 "Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.'
34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
C. Spiritual Revival is when true faith in Messiah Jesus produces true love in us for God and others.
Galatians 5:6
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.
III. How should we then live?
A. Do you tolerate evil in your own life?
B. Do you test the doctrines that people present in the light of the Word?
C. Do you continue to follow Jesus even when it brings social shame?
D. Have you abandoned a “lawless” approach to the gospel?
E. Is your “orthodox faith” leading you to actively seek to love other believers?
1. Do you pray for those in this fellowship?
2. Do you seek to spend time with people in this fellowship?
3. Are you willing to help people in the fellowship at a practical level?
4. Are we as a fellowship having an active deaconate that is seeking physical ways to show Christ’ love to those in need?
5. Are we involved in showing Christ’s love to society to help the most needy, oppressed and desperate?
a. The unborn
b. Children without water (Living Water International)
c. Those in prison who need the gospel
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