The first-century Ephesian church withstood cultural pressure from numerous external sources and internal pressures toward theological and social compromise. And they managed to maintain biblical fidelity through the melee. Even so, in Revelation 2:1-7, John authors a message from Jesus to the church in Ephesus cautioning them that they had lost their “first love” and the “first works” that flowed out of that love.

Hunter and Autumn discuss the letter to the Ephesian church and consider parallels to our modern context. How might we be tempted to abandon our “first love” and the “first works” to which we are called?