Playlist:

playlist Go to the First Love, Leaving (topic) playlist

First Love (Part One)

Bible Study by Martin G. Collins

A Christian's foremost responsibility is to love God wholeheartedly. A decline similar to the Ephesians' loss of their first love affected the first-century church.


First Love (Part Two)

Bible Study by Martin G. Collins

Christ's reprimand of the Ephesian church, "You have left your first love," seems odd being said to a church that appeared so busy doing God's will.


Keeping Love Alive (Part One)

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

Works demonstrate our faith, our response to God's calling and His freely given grace. Reciprocity is always a part of our relationship with God.


How to Know We Love Christ

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

We cannot become weary of well-doing, allowing our first love to deteriorate, looking to the world for satisfaction. Here are 8 tests of our love for Christ.


Do The First Works

Sermonette by Richard T. Ritenbaugh

We also need to return to our first love and diligently do the first works, including fellowship, continuing in the doctrine, and doing things properly.


Hebrews, Love, and the Ephesian Church

Feast of Tabernacles Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

Like the Ephesians, the weary veterans in Hebrews were becoming apathetic through outside pressures, losing their former zeal and devotion to Christ.


What Are You Leaving?

Sermonette by David C. Grabbe

The Ephesians had a strong sense of duty and served as a vanguard in the battle against false doctrines. What was lacking was devotion to Christ.


No Real Love Without God

Sermon by John O. Reid

We are called to take on the very nature of God, to put on the love of God. Surprisingly, We can rekindle our first love by ardently keeping God's Commandments.


The Seven Churches (Part Three): Ephesus

Bible Study by Richard T. Ritenbaugh

Christ's letter to the Ephesians focuses on a people who succeeded in fighting heresy and apostates but, in the process, had left their first love.


What Is the Work of God Now? (Part Four)

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

The scattering of the church was an act of love by God to wake us from our lethargic, faithless condition. The feeding of the flock is the priority now.


Intimacy with Christ (Part One)

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

We must guard our time, not allowing busyness and involvement with activities of the world to prevent us from forming a deep intimacy with God.


Hebrews: A Message for Today

Feast of Tabernacles Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

The book of Hebrews provides reasons to recapture flagging zeal, focusing on the reason for our hope and faith, establishing Christ's credentials.


Hebrews (Part Two)

Sermon/Bible Study by John W. Ritenbaugh

Hebrews is addressed to a people living at the end of an era, who were drifting away, had lost their devotion, and were no longer motivated by zeal.


The Holy Spirit and the Trinity (Part Seven)

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

God personally handpicks individuals with whom He desires to form a reciprocal relationship. This relationship must be dressed, kept, tended, and maintained.


What Is the Church's Work Today (Part Three)

Feast of Tabernacles Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

The primary focus at this time is the repair of the faith once delivered that has seriously deteriorated because of heresy, apostasy, and Laodiceanism.


Letters to Seven Churches (Part Two): Ephesus

Sermon by Richard T. Ritenbaugh

The Ephesus church effectively battled various heresies, for which Christ commends it. However, the members lost sight of the reason, having left their first love.


Unity (Part 6): Ephesians 4 (C)

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

Unity has to come from the inside out, with God raising a leader which His people, having their minds opened by His Spirit, will voluntarily submit to.


The Providence of God (Part Five)

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

God uses calamities as part of His creative process. Like Jacob, who initially succumbed to weak faith and fear, we must repent of our loss of devotion to God.


The Handwriting Is on the Wall (1996): Scattering

Feast of Tabernacles Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

God initiated the scattering of the church for our ultimate good. When the revelation of God was replaced with the wisdom of this world, God intervened.


Conviction and Moses

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

Our conviction reveals itself in living by faith. Moses is a stunning example of how a convicted Christian should live — with loyalty and faithfulness to God.


Hebrews (Part Twelve)

Sermon/Bible Study by John W. Ritenbaugh

Hebrews 11 provides examples to bolster faith. The faith described is not blind, but is carefully developed from systematic analysis of available evidence.


He Who Overcomes

Sermon by John O. Reid

Just as fighting to escape its cocoon strengthens the butterfly, our calling requires effort above what the world has to endure to become free of Satan's cocoon.


The Importance of Follow-Through

Article by David F. Maas

Just as important as follow-through is in an athletic motion, its spiritual counterpart is vital to our life in Jesus Christ.


Caught in a Blizzard?

Sermonette by Bill Onisick

We are being exposed to a spiritual blizzard, bringing darkness and coldness into the entire world. We are admonished to stoke the fire of God's Holy Spirit.


Many Are Called, But Few Are Chosen (Part One)

Sermon by Martin G. Collins

Jesus Christ warns us to hold fast to true doctrine. Secular historians help us discover the identity of the small flock repeatedly rescued from apostasy.


Prayer and Seeking God

Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

Rather than having an apathetic relationship toward God, we must ardently, earnestly, and fervently seek God in order to imitate His behavior in our lives.


Exalt With Music

Feast of Tabernacles Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh

Music has an intense power to stimulate the emotions, trigger the imagination, set the mood of services, and serves as a teaching vehicle for instruction.


Those Who Hunger and Thirst

Sermon by Richard T. Ritenbaugh

In the Beatitude, hungering and thirsting for righteousness are present tense active participles signifying continuous longing for God's righteousness.


Hebrews (Part One)

Sermon/Bible Study by John W. Ritenbaugh

In terms of spiritual insight, Hebrews is a pivotal book, whose function is to bridge the purposes and themes of the Old and New Testaments.