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TITLE: Left 1st Love

TEXT: Revelation 2:1-7

PROPOSITION:

QUESTION: What?

KEY WORD: Explanations

Introduction:

  1. Chapters 2-3 – Jesus addresses each of the 7 churches

  2. To the angel (messenger, elder, preacher) ?

  3. What the Spirit says to the churches – vs. 7

The Ephesian Church

  1. Beginning – Acts 18:18-19:7

  2. Elders met Paul – Acts 20:17-32

  3. Paul wrote a letter to them – Ephesians

    1. Urged them to be “rooted and ground in love” 3:17

    2. Speak the truth in love – 4:15

    3. Walk in love – 5:1

  4. Timothy was there for some time – 1 Timothy 1:3

What was wrong?

  1. Letter begins with high praise – work, labor, patience

  2. However – left first love

    1. Often a text for sermons on attendance, giving, evangelism, faithfulness

    2. Just a few years – early date of Revelation (3 years); late date (20 years)

      1. Paul was there – 55-58

      2. Wrote to Timothy – 60-63

    3. Every congregation is one generation (20-25 years) from apostasy

    4. Galatians 1:6 - “so soon removed” - it can happen quickly

First Love, First Works

  1. This is not – puppy love, first crush on someone

  2. Here – first love and first works are connected

  3. What are the “first works” - and we can learn the first love.

    1. Hear

    2. Believe

    3. Repent

    4. Confess

    5. Be baptized

  4. What had they kept?

    1. Works, labor, patience

  5. What had they left – abandoned, quit, stopped?

    1. Hearing?

    2. Believing?

    3. Repenting?

  6. Do you remember when you first became a Christian?

    1. Is the “honeymoon” over?

    2. Have you lost the excitement, zeal, desire?

    3. Where is the blessedness I knew when I first met the Lord?
      Where is that soul-refreshing view of Jesus and His Word? - William Cowper

Love vs. Hatred

  1. Return to first love

  2. Hate the deeds of the Nicolatians

    1. See Revelation 2:14-15 – compare to Baalam, fornication, immorality

    2. We must do more than disagree with moral or doctrinal error

    3. We must “abhor that which is evil” - Romans 12:9

When is a Church of Christ no longer a church of Christ?

  1. We must be a light – lampstand – candlestick – to the world

  2. Shine the glorious gospel – 2 Corinthians 4:4

  3. When the light fails – the lamp is removed

  4. When the bulb burns out – throw it away.

  5. Christ's coming is “quickly”

    1. We often think in terms of – punishment deferred until end of time

    2. Some punishment can occur - sooner

 

From Spiritual Sword article by David Pharr




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