To the Church in Ephesus Revelation 2 To the angel[a] of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him

who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------There is something very special about your first love isn't there? It is filled with excitement and amazement. But that isn't what we are talking about in this passage. The phrase 'first love' isn't necessarily talking about first in timeit is a reference to first in priority. Mt 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. I. Love Can Fade. A. The Admonition to Ephesus. 1. Some have said that this was a reference to their coldness toward reaching others. 2. I can understand that. 3. I believe that when we begin to drift in our passion for our Lord, we will also lose interest in reaching others for Christ. 4. Both are intimately tied together. 5. Jesus demonstrated clearly that His love and focus was always about others. 6. He also told those who would be His disciples that their love for others would be the identifying characteristic of their love for Him.

Joh 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. 7. The Ephesians were once excited about their faith, and they were still doing the right things, but their love and passion had dimmed. B. This Was Not A Small Matter. 1. If this wasn't corrected, it would have devastating consequences. 2. "I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." 3. Now what does that mean? a. Jesus explained the imagery in 1:20. b. The stars were the angels (or pastors) of the churches. c. And the candlesticks were the churches. d. Now we can understand the impact of what Jesus said in v5 e. If the church didn't get back their love and passionit could result in losing their influenceno more a light in their city! C. This admonition wasn't just for the people of Ephesus. 1. It applies to every one of us today. 2. It is just as important, if not more so, in our culture today. 3. So the question for us this morning is this: II. How Is Our Love? A. We can only lose something we first have possessed. 1. If you have never accepted Christ as your Savior, then you have never known this love. 2. If you have no relationship with Jesus this morning, God wants you to know that He longs for you to come to Him by faith. 3. The Bible tells us that He first loved usas a matter of fact He loved us while we were yet sinners! 4. Let me take just a moment and explain to you how you can have a relationship with an Almighty and Holy God. B. God's love is for all of us. 1. The need is universal.

Ro 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: Ro 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 2. Without Christ we have no hope of eternal life. 1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Ro 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 3. We can come to Christ right now! Ro 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Ro 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 4. Once we are born into the family of God by grace through faith, we become His child forever. Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. C. However, this admonition is to those who have known His love, and have grown cold toward Him. 1. What causes our love to fade? 2. Many things can contribute to this in our lives, but the number one reason is neglect. 3. Losing our focusallowing other things to take precedence in our lives. 4. Taking our relationship with Christ for granted. III. How Do We Get It Back? A. The Lord said to repent. 1. Repentance involves a change in our thinking that will result in a change in our behavior. 2. It means that we must stop, don't go any further, and turn back to God.

3. Love is an emotion, but it is demonstrated by our actions. B. The Lord said to remember. 1. Remember what? 2. Remember where we used to be in our walk with the Lord. 3. Remember how it was in the beginning? 4. Remember the excitement of the Word of God in our lives? 5. Remember how we couldn't wait to get to church and hear more about Him? 6. Remember how we used to talk about Him to others? 7. If there is a time in our lives that we remember when we were closer to Him, then this message is for us! C. The Lord said to re-do. "do the first works" 1. Go back to doing what we used to do. 2. What does that mean to us? 3. It means that we should return to the same fervor and zeal for serving God that we had when we were first saved. 4. That may mean that we must fall in love with the Lord all over again. 5. It will require that we re-focus our attention on Jesus Christ. IV. We can love God better. A. Prayer and Bible Study- communication is vital to a loving relationship. B. Prepare ourselves for meaningful worship - there is a difference between coming to church and coming to worship. C. Practice living for Him daily and in all circumstances of life. D. Proclaim the gospel to others in obedience to His Word. E. Prove our love for Him by what we do. Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.