Episode 74

Returning to Your First Love

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September 19th, 2021

35 mins 52 secs

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personal discipleship return jesus hope church the beautiful return

About this Episode

You know you have drifted when your doing for Jesus is more important than your devotion to Jesus.

Revelation 2:1-7 NIV

“To the angel 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.

Revelation 1-3 & 6 NIV

“To the angel 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. 2I 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.
6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Revelation 2:4 NIV

Yet I hold this against you. . .
“The cause of Christ, as important as it is, is not more important than your love for Christ.”

Revelation 2:4 NIV
|Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.

Mark 12:28-31 NIV
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NIV
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 NIV
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is . . . 8 Love never fails.
“You know you have drifted when your doing for Jesus is more important than your devotion to Jesus.”

  1. How to ____________ to first ____________ .

Revelation 2:4-5 NIV
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.

Was there a time when you loved Christ more than you love him now?

If you do not have a relationship with Jesus and would like to speak to someone about that please text: madenew to 474747

“Lord God, I need to confess to you a huge sin in my life.
My love for you has grown weak, casual, and cold.
I have been so busy and doing that I have drifted in my devotion to you.
Please forgive me. Help me turn back to a first love devotion to you.
Amen.”

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS, THOUGHTS and THINGS TO PONDER

For your personal discipleship, discussion with family, your Life-Group, or a watch party

  1. Quick Review

a. Ask yourself: Was there a particular point or passage of Scripture that challenged, confused, or caught your attention?

  1. What stood out to you in the message?

Good things can rob you of the best thing.

  1. What good things compete with or threaten the best thing (Jesus Christ) in your life?

  2. How or why do you think they compete or threaten your devotion to Jesus Christ?

  3. We often have inner longings or thirsts that drive us in our “doing.” What thirsts are you seeking to satisfy in your work for Christ that are not being satisfied in your relationship with Jesus Christ? How can you address that?

First comes love.

  1. Do you think Jesus would say that you have forsaken your first love?

  2. In what ways do you think stepping away from first love for Jesus is affecting you?

How to return to first love.

  1. Remember: What do you remember of your early devotion to Jesus Christ?

  2. If you don’t have a relationship with Jesus Christ, are you willing to speak to someone about your potential relationship with Him? If so, Text MadeNew to 474747

  3. Repent: Are you willing to confess the loss of first love for Jesus as sin?

  4. If you are in a great “love” spot with Jesus Christ, take a moment and thank Him.

  5. If so, take a moment and do that. If not, ask yourself why you are not.

  6. Return: As you think of your spiritual life and your love for Jesus Christ, what do you think God would say, “these are the first things you should return to doing?”

Bonus Material:
Crazy Love by Francis Chan

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