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What is a "first love?"
In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus instructs us, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." This is the first and greatest commandment. The first love we should have is for God Himself and His Son, Jesus. Most of our problems center around that central issue. When our love for God diminishes, many problems develop that have no solution except a return to that first love.
In Revelation 2:1-7, the church of Ephesus was dealing with neglected priorities. They had lost their first love, the one they had for God which was replaced with other things. The church in Ephesus had tried to substitute that first love for their own efforts. Jesus had many wonderful things to say about the church in Ephesus. He even said, "I know your works." He also said, "You have patiently suffered for me without quitting."
The church in Ephesus was even focused on doctrinal purity. They did not tolerate sin and wicked people.
We can be tireless in what we do FOR God, but if we do not focus our priorities on Loving God and Loving others, then we have lost what the message of the Gospel is all about. It is quite amazing how we can rationalize our lack of love by emphasizing our works. Churches can appear outwardly to be all God wants them to be and do, but inwardly be cold and indifferent toward the Lord Himself. The first love is the love we should have for the Lord Himself. Everything else flows from that.
Therefore, the most serious and often neglected priority of the church is a sincere and intense love for the Lord. All else is secondary. You won't want to miss this conversation. Along with last week's news and how these signposts point us toward the end times, we will discuss how we can get back to our "first love."
PRAY. PREPARE. PROTECT. PROCLAIM. PERSIST. PERSEVERE. PRAY AGAIN. PASS IT ON. POWER UP. POSITION PROPERLY. PAY ATTENTION. PRAY WITHOUT CEASING.
Check us out at endtimes.chat
Dan is LIVE FROM ICELAND! Yes, the place where people played volleyball by the volcanos! The news has been HOT for the last few days. Join us for news and more in connection with the ENDTIMES.
PRAY. PREPARE. PROTECT. PROCLAIM. PERSIST. PERSEVERE. PRAY AGAIN. PASS IT ON. POWER UP. POSITION PROPERLY. PAY ATTENTION. PRAY WITHOUT CEASING.
Check us out at endtimes.chat
This week, Dan is live from Dublin, Ireland. GJ and Dan welcome a pastor from Ireland, John Gamble to discuss the news of the day that could be signposts of the end times.
Tune in to hear more!
PRAY. PREPARE. PROTECT. PROCLAIM. PERSIST. PERSEVERE. PRAY AGAIN. PASS IT ON. POWER UP. POSITION PROPERLY. PAY ATTENTION. PRAY WITHOUT CEASING.
Check us out at endtimes.chat
What troubles the church today?
The same thing that troubled the churches 2000 years ago. In Revelation 2-3 are found seven letters from Jesus to the churches in seven cities.
Jesus Christ is described in the Bible as the Lord of the churches. A particular title is given to Him to impress deeply upon our minds sovereign authority and power. The church, composed of all believers in this age, is described as the body of Jesus Christ of which He is the head (Ephesians 1:22-23; Ephesians 4:15-16; Colossians 1:18; Colossians 1:24; Colossians 2:9-10).
As head of the church, He has the right to tell us what is wrong and what we should do about it. His headship is clearly depicted as He addresses each of the seven churches portrayed in Revelation, beginning with the church at Ephesus.
What Is the Significance of Seven Churches? To some, the number "seven" indicates perfection or completed action. Seven churches would, therefore, represent the total church throughout history. While we must remember that there were seven actual churches by these names existing in John's day, what the Lord says to these seven churches is what He would say to any of us living at any period of time. Many Bible teachers have concluded that all of church history is being pictured between chapter one and chapter four.
They relate these churches to the outline that the writer John gave to us in Revelation 1:19 "Write the things which you have seen" (Revelation 1) "and the things which are" (Revelation 2-3) "and the things which will take place after this" (Revelation 4-22) This outline may suggest that the seven churches, while a part of the events of John's day include everything which characterizes the church age until the future events start unfolding, beginning with Revelation 4.
Some teachers have even placed these churches within given historical time periods, such as Sardis representing the period of the Reformation. While interesting, such a formula cannot be conclusive. Church history has been marked by periods of revival and growth as well as periods of corruption, decline, and apostasy. The lessons of these seven churches in Revelation must be carefully observed by Christians in every age, regardless of the brand name on our church door or the repute of our religious tradition.
What Troubles the Church? When we examine carefully the churches to which John wrote, we see the following things that can trouble the church: Ephesus: neglected priorities Smyrna: satanic opposition Pergamos: religious compromise Thyatira: immoral practices Sardis: spiritual apathy Philadelphia: lost opportunities Laodicea: material prosperity These troubles affect all Christians and churches, not only when such matters specifically begin to influence us, but also when a given period of time is generally characterized by these problems.
We need to continue to pray that God keeps us all, as His church, on the right track with Him, so we will not MISS His return.
PRAY. PREPARE. PROTECT. PROCLAIM. PERSIST. PERSEVERE. PRAY AGAIN. PASS IT ON. POWER UP. POSITION PROPERLY. PAY ATTENTION. PRAY WITHOUT CEASING.
Check us out at endtimes.chat
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