Encouragement extends beyond “hang in there,” Jesus is coming to real meaningful steps to take to regain our balance and our calling.

He keeps saying to these churches, you’ve drifted; come back over here. This is how we overcome: We listen to Christ. Now I want to draw our attention to three areas this morning: the responsibility of our calling, the protection of doctrine, and the loss of love.

But to begin with, we must note first that the first item of business is to accept the verdict of Christ regarding what the church needs. He says, “I know your works.” If we don’t believe that He knows both our good works and our failings, if we don’t believe that, we cannot benefit from what we find in the book of Revelation.

Now when you and I talk to human beings, quite often, especially about something, you will hear this statement: “Well, pastor, what you need to know.” This is typically followed by a justification for disobedience. What you need to know? In other words, I’ve got a real good reason why I don’t do this or that.

What you need to know is this: And children, that’s perfectly acceptable when I’m talking to you and you’re talking to me. It’s not acceptable when we’re talking about Christ. He knows all things.

Leon Morris says the exalted Christ knows what goes on among His people. Matthew Henry says His commendation and His rebuke are to be carefully noted for He does not speak from ignorance. He knows what He is talking about. I speak often from ignorance, but Christ doesn’t. And unless you have abandoned the idea that this is God’s Word and that it speaks to His people in the 21st century, unless you’ve discarded that idea, you may reject what I say. You may reject what I think.

But when it’s in black and white in the text before you, you must accept what He says. And when He says to this church, “You’ve left your first love,” then we must accept that kind of verdict from Christ. We cannot just say, well, I’m not too sure. We have to accept His verdict and let Him work. And by the way, He says that to all the churches. Every letter begins except Smyrna. Smyrna is indirect. But all the other six churches, the first thing He says after He describes Himself: “I know your works.”

I know what you’re doing right; I know what you’re doing wrong. And I want to speak to both of those things. We must acknowledge and admit that in the 21st-century Christian, we just want the commendation. We want the pat on the back. We want the word of affirmation. We want the word of encouragement.

We do not want the word of correction. And we must be a people who are willing to hear. Listen to what He says. He does this repeatedly: “He that has an ear, let him hear.” He says this to all the churches. And this is both an invitation and a reminder. Now the reminder is, you have been given ears to hear.

Do you claim to be a believer in Christ? Do you say that you’re a Christian? Do you claim to be a Christian? Then you and I have been given ears to hear. It isn’t just now if you want to find the ears to hear what I’m saying, He says you’ve already got them because I’ve given them to you because you’re my people.

Now listen to this from Matthew to show you this: “Then the disciples came and said to Him, ‘Why do you speak in parables?’ And He answered them, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. The lost cannot understand.’ That’s why sometimes we’re not just spinning our wheels.

We’re talking to lost people about everything but Jesus. We’re talking to them about them to fill them. We’re talking to them about UFOs. And we never get around to talking about Jesus. They cannot hear because they haven’t been given the ears. But the believer has been given ears to hear.

And therefore, if we don’t hear, it is straight-out rebellion against the Lord. And again, the word; not me. What we can find clearly and definitively in the Scriptures, which has been agreed and affirmed by the church throughout the ages: Jesus, in that passage of Matthew, goes on to quote a passage from Isaiah.

And this passage is also found in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Greg Beal says that it is the Old Testament foundation for this saying, “He that has ears.” God’s people in the redemptive age we live have been given ears to hear. Why aren’t you listening? I tell you, children, because we’re talking about this, aren’t we?

Here in this book, He’s calling us to account. In these letters, He’s called the church to account. And there will be no getting to heaven saying, Well, I didn’t know; I never knew that.

Because if you’re exposing yourself to God’s word in reading and in study and in scripture and in church attendance, you’re not going to be able to say, “Well, I didn’t know that.” You will be accountable to God. Listen to Ezekiel 3:27: “When I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord God: ‘He who will hear, let him hear. And he who will refuse to hear, let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.'”

Why are Christians flocking to that kind of nonsense described this morning? Because there is no expectation of obedience in that kind of teaching. Just speculate. Just believe whatever you want to and never get down to the concepts of living for Christ.

This is an important consideration: Notice this phrase, Deuteronomy 9:24. Moses, after he’s given them all these instructions, says, “To this day, the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or ears to see or ears to hear.” Eyes to see or ears to hear? What an odd thing to say to people.

You’ve just given a whole book of rules and teachings and instructions. Why do you say that? Because it’s pointing us to this age with the coming of Christ when God’s people truly have been given ears to hear. And He says to them then, “It’s not just an invitation. It’s a reminder. You’ve been given because of your claim that you have come into oneness with Christ; you have been given ears to hear.” Are you listening?

Now that brings us then to our first point: our first highlight, the responsibility of our calling.

Last week, we briefly discussed the complexity of identifying the angels of the churches. And we’ve said that what they’re said to them extends to us. Regardless of their identity, notice where they are. Notice where they are: To one, to the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand.

His right hand. His right hand. What is the right hand in Scripture? And really in all of life, especially in Scripture. It is a place of honor; it is a place of privilege; it is a place of protection in his right hand. He’s holding the seven stars. It’s hard for us to get a grasp on this vision because seven stars and we’re thinking about them kind of floating around in his hand.

But they’re firmly in his hand. Commentators point out that the Greek word he had or he held in his right hand means a firm grip. We’re safe; we’re secure in Christ. Remember, it was John who in his gospel says this: “I give them eternal life and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”

The first point we need to see about the seven stars in the right hand is the security that we have in Christ. He will not let you go. Well, I want out; I say this, and I don’t mean to simplify it too much, but I’m at the ripe old age of 68 now, and I spend two-thirds of every day reminiscing and wishing things had been different.

And I know one thing: that I am glad He keeps me because I have made decisions through the course of my life which were wrong, which were stupid, which were misinformed. And I’m very grateful to say today he will not let me make that decision of walking out of his hand.

And if you consider that a violation of free will, I got nothing else to say. I beg you, Lord, do not let me go even when my wavering, wretched heart cries out to be set free. Keep me in your grace. Amen and amen.

I don’t think you’re in contact. I don’t think you are really conscious of the degree of your sinfulness if you never want Christ to hang on to you in this culture and in this time. Jesus says, “I have you.” And that’s a position of security, and it’s a position of salvation.

But guess what? It brings responsibility; it brings responsibility. The image not only serves to tell us that we are safe in his hand but also demonstrates that we are to be under his authority and control. I beg you again to bear with your pastor.

The American church must be exercised, I believe, of this, and that’s all that matters. I don’t have to do anything else. You know there’s a whole denomination called the free grace denomination where they have no teachings about righteousness, no teachings about repentance.

You believe that’s all you need to do. Friends, that is not what this book tells us. Paul uses the imagery of the body in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and its emphasis upon the fact that the head controls the hand; the hand doesn’t control the head.

You and I as believers must submit to the headship of Christ and live out his teachings in the day-to-day real world. Now here is a tricky area. I don’t like that phrase, but I have no other phrase, so forgive me if it’s incorrect.

The product of our individual culture is, and we just as well say it, admit it, acknowledge it; we just don’t like to be told what to do. We absolutely do not like to be told what to do. And I’m as bad as anyone else. I park my car wherever I want to park my car.

When I go to Walmart, I park in the fire lane, I park in the handicapped spot. If there’s a spot, I take it. And before I get judged for that, if you have a handicap tag and you can walk around in Walmart for an hour and a half, you do not need a handicapped parking spot.

You may be entitled to the handicap certificate, but if you’re wandering around Walmart for three hours, you don’t need to take that spot. And I know what I’m talking about. Oh, be careful, Pastor. Oh, be careful, Pastor. Everybody say it together.

So Joe Beeky, noticing this contrast, and none of us like to be told what to do, and we come to this passage and here’s Christ telling us what to do and we don’t like that. Joe Beeke says that we should note the contrast between Christ as a police officer, who almost nobody likes except fellow police officers, and a gardener.

They are both looking for the same thing, but for different reasons. Listen to how he describes it. He says, if a police officer pulls us over, he doesn’t care that you polished your car this morning or that you installed new headlights.

He is looking for faults, for infractions of the law. That’s his job. But Beeky goes on and says, our Lord is not like the policeman. Our Lord is like a gardener who walks among the flowerbeds he has planted to appreciate their rich color, their texture, and their growth.

This is how we should think of Christ amid his churches. He walks among them, not as a policeman or a fault finder but as a gardener rejoicing in the fruits of his labors. He comes as the Savior who laid down his life for His bride. But his heart aches. His heart aches because in the midst of all the lovely foliage and color, he sees a blight that will destroy us if it is not dealt with.

We’re still in a country good enough to know, many of us, whether you have a flower garden or a vegetable garden, you don’t get out there and do the hard work with those weeds, and you will get no fruit at the end of the year. They will take over and destroy it.

We used to have a lady here; she’s gone, dead now. When we first came here 31 years ago, this back lot was a wilderness. We still don’t know what to do with it. We mow it every week or every other week because we have to or turn into a wilderness again.

And we said, what are we going to do with this wilderness back here? And one well-meaning lady, she was a sweetheart; she’s dead and gone now, said, well, you know, some of those wildflowers growing out there really look nice. Yeah, and if you let them go, they’ll take over.

They’ll destroy. And this is what the Lord is doing. He’s not trying to be a nitpicker. Your pastor can be a nitpicker. Other people in your life can be nitpickers. Christ’s not trying to be a nitpicker. He’s trying to say that issue is going to destroy you.

It’s going to strip you of your spiritual energy. It’s going to turn you into something you aren’t. I’m really struggling right now because I, you know, I’m not really crazy about being old. And now people say sir and they’re nice to me. And you know why they’re doing that? Because I’m a nice old man.

He’s such a nice old man. He’s just such a nice old guy. You know, I go to Biolife and be a plasma. And I ask everybody, I know them all by name. How was your day? What are you doing? And they volunteer information about their week. And I know in their minds, they’re thinking he’s such a nice old man.

And I got thinking about this; well, it’s better than being called a bitter old man or a mean old man or a nasty old man. So then I’m struggling with that kind of consideration and issue. But when we look at our lives, Christ speaks to us and He says, “this is destroying you.”

This is stealing your joy. I don’t want to end up as a bitter old man. So then I got to get rid of stuff in my life that’s turning me into a bitter old man. Do you know envy will destroy you? You’re never going to have as much as other people have.

That’s the reality of the 21st-century world; it’s always been the world as it is. There’s always been the haves and the have-nots. Don’t spend your life in envy or you will end up an old, bitter person.

And what I do when I’m struggling with that kind of envy, I take it to the Lord and say, “Lord, here’s the problem.” He is not trying to control us; He’s trying to help us reach our greatest potential as His children. Christ’s caring protection here reminds us that our highest duty is to the Lord.

Each of the churches are facing challenges which ultimately hinge on our submission to his commands. The mantra of this hour is tolerance. It’s tolerance. We do not tolerate false beliefs; we tolerate people. We do not tolerate the things they believe.

We’ve gotten to a point where we think, in fact, it’s epidemic in our culture right now, the idea that if I disagree with someone over a political issue or a moral issue or a fiscal issue or whatever, because I disagree with them, I hate them. And that is simply not correct.

I oppose and to the point of hating the idea but I do not hate the person. We have equated; you hate this, you must hate me. No, I hate what you stand for, but I do not hate you as a person.

And this is the kind of idea we’ve lost in the church. We think we must tolerate people’s beliefs instead of tolerating the people. William Henderson, I couldn’t figure out where to put this in the message today, but he points out and this was in 1940.

He wrote his commentary in 1940: It is a special note that the Ephesus church is praised for its intolerance. You have tested the false apostles and you found them to be false. Christ commended them for taking a stand for the truth. And we flipped it completely on his head, and we take a stand for flexibility, for compromise, for rejection of truth.

And Christ says no; that’s the wrong thing to do. Our highest duty is not to the government. I believe in the government. I believe you know without the government, you ain’t gonna have anything. People say let’s tear it all down and start over again.

Well, who’s gonna protect your rights while we’re waiting for it to be rebuilt? Trying to make 330 million people happy. Knock yourself out and good luck to you.

When happiness is the only standard, we’ve lost all hope because you’re not gonna get everything in life that makes you happy. That’s just the way it is. Our highest duty is not to go to church leadership, whether local or extended.

And when I say that, I don’t mean your pastor preaching the word. I mean, when a denomination or a church or a pastor steps away from the truth and begins to teach and says things that contradict the Bible completely, you have no duty to support that person. You have no duty to support that church.

You have no duty to respect the person, respect the institution but you do not have to respect that decision. You’re accountable to God. I’m accountable to God. You’re not accountable to your parents, your spouses or your siblings.

Your highest duty is to Christ. I haven’t said this; told this story for a long time. A young man I was trying to witness to when I was a young Christian worked with him and his wife and I was talking to him about coming to Christ. He said, I’m coming to church, coming to Christ.

Coming to church, he said, well, if I did it, my wife would leave me. She just would not follow Christ. A few months later, I saw him; guess what? His wife left him anyway. Your highest duty is to Christ, not to your parents.

If they’re leading you astray, you don’t have to obey them when they try to lead you astray. Your husband and wife won’t serve Christ. You have no responsibilities to them because your highest duty is to Christ. Your highest duty is not to family members who happen to be trapped in false religion.

I’m sorry if you have family members and friends in the word of faith community, those people are teaching falsehood. I’m sorry if you have family and friends in the Mormon church or the Jehovah Witness church or the word of faith community. Those people are teaching falsehood.

Your highest duty is to Christ. Love them; support them; pray for them but never say that what they believe is. Now that realization, that point, that our highest duty is to Christ, this is what he’s saying in all of these letters. Here’s your highest duty.

That leads into point number two because Jesus’ commendation rises from and it’s tricky here because in a moment, it seems like the exact opposite; his high, his commendation relates to their protection of doctrine.

Protection of doctrine. Notice he mentions did I make a slide for that? Two false counterfeits of faith: false apostles and the Nicolaitans. Now, we’ll start with the Nicolaitans because we really don’t know much about these people.

There is some; Irenaeus makes some comments about them, and Clement of Alexandria makes some comments about them. John Gill goes on for four or five paragraphs describing them but almost every other commentary says, we really don’t know anything about these people.

We only know that their error was so great that Jesus uses a phrase we almost never find in Scripture: “I hate what they teach.” Yet this you have; you hate the works of the Nicolaitans which I also hate. Whatever they’re guilty of, it is not the same as I’ve tried to explain to you many times.

It’s not like that; this is so bad. It has risen to such an extreme that Christ says: “I hate what they’re doing and I commend you for hating it as well.” Children, we must learn how to plug that into our tolerant, inclusive, love, love, love culture because here’s Jesus Himself saying, “I hate what they believe and do.”

Now what are they doing? We don’t know. But we may assume; we infer that because they are one of three groups in the seven letters Jesus really takes issue with. The others are the followers of Balaam and then the followers of Jezebel.

And we know from the letters that the followers of Balaam and Jezebel engaged in sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols, and stay tuned for future information on that. But because the letters are applicable to all the churches and it is assumed that that must be part of the sin of the Nicolaitans as well.

That they’re somehow involved in sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols. Then we come to Christ’s words about false apostles, and let me read it again: “I know your works; your toil, your patient endurance. You cannot bear with those who are evil but have tested those who call themselves apostles.

And they’re not and found them to be false.” Now children, I understand. I understand that you could be weary because we always talk about false teaching. Maybe in your prayer time you say: “Dear God, I wish you’d help the pastor stop talking about false teaching all the time.”

But can I ask you to point out that Jesus commends their faithful endurance in resisting false teaching? Notice these words of commendation are directly applied to false apostles. They are false because their teaching was false and they are said to be evil.

Again, we’re not talking about the disagreements that have existed throughout the Christian church for thousands of years. This is something different now. And it rises to the level of evil.

And by the way, it isn’t simply that they are teaching something false in the local church; that’s bad enough. But they are seeking to be recognized as apostles so that they can go somewhere else and teach that falsehood.

You have tested those who call themselves apostles and you found them to be not apostles. The evangelical commentary in the Bible suggests that they are commended, the Ephesus church is commended for their refusal to accredit false apostles.

Why would that be important? Because an apostle has an authority other people doesn’t have and he goes to another church and if they let this happen, they’re teaching that falsehood over there, not just allowing it here. Notice; you have tested them.

This isn’t someone standing up and saying: “God has called me to be an apostle and the room breaks out in applause.” Well wonderful; praise God, another apostle. And I said no, no prove you’re an apostle. One of the challenges that I have as a pastor, it bears upon me.

Weighs on me and I won’t explain why because many of you may or may not agree with it but Paul says to Timothy: “Make full proof of your ministry.” Prove you’re called of God; don’t just say I’m called of God. These people said they tested them.

Their claim to be apostles was courageously submitted to scriptural scrutiny in keeping with other scriptural guidelines. But let us do not believe every spirit, try the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

I always want to pause and remind you and stress: Try the spirits; well I just feel such a good spirit around them. I watch that guy on TV you’re always criticizing, and he makes me feel good what is he teaching? What is he saying does it match up with scripture?

It isn’t about feelings. It’s not about oh I felt so good when he said: “I feel so good.” I like watching. None of you have had it said it for a while maybe you just know it’s no use to say it to me. Oh, I don’t know but it used to be people would say.

Oh, I like that person; I watch them, I like that. Are they teaching the truth? Are they proclaiming the word of God consistent with the historic church and the Scriptures? Try the spirits because false prophets have gone into the world.

That false prophet is being motivated by a spirit. The spirit might make you feel good but the teaching is wrong and you should turn from it. 1 Corinthians chapter 14. The next two passages, by the way, both in the context of spiritual gifts.

Paul says let two or three prophets speak and let the others weigh what is said. Weigh, evaluate what you’re hearing and see whether it’s consistent with scripture. 2 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 5: “Despise not prophesying; neither forbid speaking with tongues.”

He’s talking about the exercise of spiritual gifts and he says test everything. Hold fast what is good and abstain from every form of evil don’t just accept it on the basis of a feeling but let’s do the hard work. Let’s endure in the hard work of understanding in our Bibles so that we can repudiate false teaching.

Now though it is rejected by some, the scriptural evidence suggests that to be recognized as an apostle required two things. You had to see the resurrected Christ and be called by that Christ to that office.

It was not simply I had a dream last week and that literally boy such a powerful dream God is telling me He’s calling me to be an apostle that would not wash in the first-century church. It washes today because despite our protests we’re really not serious about doing things God’s way.

Listen to these passages of Scripture that suggest you had to see the resurrected Christ to be an apostle: Acts 1, 22 from the baptism of John until that day when He was taken up from us one of these men must become with us a witness to His resurrection.

There were twelve apostles. Judas killed himself. Peter says we’ve got to have somebody else so we have twelve apostles. That’s what Christ picked and we have to have them but that person has to be a witness to the resurrection.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9: “Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” The criteria for His being He had seen the resurrected Christ in a vision not like the others but he still had it as proof of his apostleship.

And then 1 Corinthians chapter 5, “He appeared to James; Christ did. Christ appeared to James then to all the apostles last of all He appeared to me for I am the least of all the apostles unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.

Yet the focus is upon seeing the resurrected Christ to be an apostle. Now what about the other 500? Earlier in this passage, it says 500 people saw Him at once but those 500 did not become apostles. Apostles.

Why not? Because they were not called to be apostles and it took those two things in conjunction having seen the resurrected Christ and being called to be an apostle.

And that means that there cannot be any modern-day apostles because nobody since Jesus went back to heaven except for the apostle Paul has ever seen the risen Christ in His physical form. Now you say what is important about that pastor?

It seems like you’re just going around the barn to make a point and this is why 2 John 1 “7-11 Many deceivers have gone into the world who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.” Lord may I pause to give you thanks for granting me the privilege of being in this position despite the fact that I hate having to be so straightforward.

You know, I’m a coward and I just beg your mercies. Many deceivers have gone into the world who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist watch yourselves so that you may not lose a full reward.

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive them into your house or give him any greeting for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. Now that does not mean hello in that culture they would pronounce a blessing the greeting was a blessing upon blessed be you in the name of the Lord.

And John says when you do that you’re a participant in their false teachings. You’ve now become that’s what Jesus is commending them for not doing not participating in their false teachings by applauding them well done he says because you’ve tested though you didn’t say, well you know it’s not that big of a deal maybe God could use it.

He says you proved; you tested them and found out they’re false teachers and you will not encourage their falseness. Then we come to the third one of the list and this one’s just difficult there are two great challenges applying the letter to Ephesus what is meant by this phrase, “you have abandoned your first love” or you’ve left your first love.

And do and by the way I consulted ten different commentaries commentaries and I could not come away with a clear consensus from any of them on this subject what does it mean you’ve left your first love now it is possible that this is an example of parallelism and this is a biblical term which means you repeat something in different words for effect.

It says the same thing he was; he was bruised for our iniquities, he was chastised for our transgressions. He was bruised for our sins, this is another one of those awful things about getting old anybody in the room can say amen with me that you can’t remember things that you used to know so very well surely as born our griefs carried our sorrows.

We esteemed and stricken smitten by God he was pierced for our transgressions crushed for our iniquities it’s saying it a different way but it means the same thing and it could be here what John is saying is you have left your first love because you’re not doing the things you did when you first became a believer.

When the church first got started, you’re not doing that anymore and in that sense you’ve left your first love now this tells us a couple of things quickly pastor this removes love from the realm of feeling. Love is not a feeling love is an action I’ve said this so many times through the years and people say oh I don’t know if I agree with that pastor.

Love is not just a feeling. Love is an action, as demonstrated by Jesus’ life on Earth. When He said “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends,” it’s about actions demonstrating love, not mere feelings.

In the context of Ephesus abandoning their first love, it means they stopped living out that sacrificial love in their daily lives and church practices. They might still feel love, but it wasn’t being expressed through their deeds or commitments as it once was when they first became believers.

This concept challenges modern churches to reflect on whether their actions align with the foundational acts of love demonstrated by early Christians. It’s about evaluating if our current practices still embody that original passion and dedication to Christ.

The implication here is profound: love, in a biblical sense, demands active participation. It’s not enough to simply feel affection or warmth toward God or others; it must be shown through actions—serving the community, caring for one another, standing firm against falsehood, and maintaining doctrinal integrity.

This brings us back to the central theme of responsibility in our calling. As Christ’s followers, we’re called to more than just profess belief; we’re asked to live out that belief actively. Our first love is not only about who or what we love initially but how steadfastly we continue to express and act on that love.

In today’s context, this means churches must continuously evaluate their practices, teachings, and community actions. Are they fostering a culture of genuine love that reflects Christ’s sacrifice? Or have they drifted into complacency, allowing routines and traditions to replace fervent faith?

This examination is essential not just for Ephesus but for any church seeking to remain faithful to its calling. It means being vigilant against false teachings, as the Ephesian church was commended for doing, and ensuring that love remains at the core of every action taken.

Thus, “leaving your first love” serves as a warning and an invitation to return to the essence of what it means to follow Christ—actively loving in word and deed. It’s about reigniting that original passion, not just for Jesus, but for living out His teachings authentically in our world today.

In summary, Ephesus was commended for its endurance against false apostles and doctrine but admonished for losing the fervor of their initial love. For modern believers, this calls us to examine whether we are merely professing faith or actively demonstrating it through sacrificial love and truthfulness. It’s a call to return to our first love—Christ—and embody that love in every aspect of life.

The journey towards regaining that first love is ongoing for each believer and church community. It involves constant self-examination, repentance where necessary, and an unwavering commitment to live out the teachings of Christ through love and truth. As we navigate our faith journey, may we strive not only to remember but to actively live out our “first love,” ensuring it remains vibrant and evident in everything we do.

This is a powerful reminder that faith is not static; it’s dynamic and requires active participation and commitment to grow and thrive. It challenges us to look beyond mere adherence to rituals or doctrines, pushing towards a deeper, more genuine relationship with God characterized by love in action.

As Ephesus was called back to its first love, so too are we challenged today. The call is clear: live out your faith through sacrificial love and unwavering commitment to truth, ensuring that our first love for Christ remains at the heart of everything we do. This isn’t just about individual believers but extends to entire church communities striving together to reflect Christ’s love in a world deeply in need of it.

In doing so, we not only honor our calling as followers of Christ but also become beacons of hope and transformation, demonstrating what it truly means to live out our first love for God in today’s complex and often challenging world. Let us then commit ourselves anew to this journey, encouraging one another to grow deeper in faith and more faithful in action, always aiming to reflect the love of Jesus Christ through every word we speak and every deed we perform.

May this message from Revelation not only challenge but also inspire each of us to examine our lives, communities, and churches critically. Let’s ask ourselves: Are we living out our first love? And if not, may God grant us the grace and courage needed to return to it with renewed vigor and dedication. Amen.