Letter #1 "Dear Ephesus: Is This Love?" Series

Three Things:

Commends

Condemns

Commands

1) Jesus Commends Ephesus: Vs. 2 "I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance."

For how diligence they were in their service!

Labor--describes "toiling to the point of exhaustion."

And for how faithful they were in suffering!

Question: How quickly do you let the trials of life shake your faith?

And for how firm they were in Jesus!

Vs. 2c "you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false." (NIV)

2) Jesus Condemns Ephesus: Vs. 4 "Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love." (NIV)

For how they had forgotten their first love!

Love--describe is a devotion to Christ that is full of passion, excitement, and fervency!

Ephesians 6:24 "Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love." (NIV)

3. Jesus Commands Ephesus: Vs. 5 "Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first." (NIV)

To consider their former devotion!

Question: Are you just going through the motions?

To confess their fateful decline!

Question: Do you feel dead?

To change their future direction!

Warning: There are consequences to sin!