Love is the most compelling characteristic and the dominant
motive for the Christian life.

“And he said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.'” (Matthew 22:37–38, ESV)

“For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all,
therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” (2 Corinthians 5:14–15, ESV)

Introduction: The Setting and the Sovereign

1. The City of Ephesus

2. The Church’s Rich Heritage

3. The Christ of the Church

·        
The right hand of _______________

Strict accountability and sovereign protection

·        The Patrolling _______________

The Commendation

1. Sacrificial _______________

2. Steadfast _______________

3. Moral _______________ and church discipline

4. Doctrinal _______________

The Concern: A Fatal Heart Disease

Left, not _______________

Q: How does abandoning our first love for Christ show up
in our lives?

·        We become infatuated with knowledge instead of
______________

·        We become comfortable with the Holy instead of
in _______________of it.

·        We lose our evangelistic zeal and see the world
as our enemy instead of our ______________________

·        We become insensitive to the Holy Spirit and
thus become dulled to the besetting sins that distract us and _______________
God.

·        We become content with what we are instead of being drawn to become more like _______________

·        We begin to _______________ something or someone more than we love Christ.

It is a dangerous thing to go through the motions of Christianity without a passionate love for
Christ!

The Restoration Protocol

·        _______________

1.      _______________ the height from which you fell

2.     _______________ the gospel

“We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19, ESV)

·        _______________

Allowing our love to grow cold is a grievous offense, an act
of spiritual idolatry that hurts the heart of the Savior.

·        ____________________

Love is an action. Jesus calls them to go back to the basics
they practiced when they first fell in love with Him, such as prayer, worship,
reading the Word, and serving out of an overflow of joyful affection rather
than dry obligation. 

We must act our way into feeling rather than waiting to feel
our way into an action. 

A Warning And A Comfort

“Remove your lampstand
from its place.” This severe threat meant the total loss of their witness,
their effectiveness, and their existence as a church.

The Comfort: A Promise to the Overcomer

·        A universal call to _______________

·        Paradise _______________: A guarantee of
eternal, abundant life in the unhindered presence of God.

·        The _______________ of the one who
conquers or overcomes

“For everyone who has
been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome
the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who
believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4–5, ESV)

Ready to take your Next Step?

·        Go by the Next Steps area today after the
service

·        Use your phone and the tap card on the seat back
in front of you to go to the Next Steps tab

·        Fill out a Connect Card and drop it in the
offering box

·        Go to FBCFM.COM and click “Next Steps.”