FIRST LOVE #1: OUR FIRST LOVE by Rabbi Brian Bileci - 2-4-24

4 “But you walked away from your FIRST LOVE—why? What’s going on with you, anyway? Do you have any idea how far you’ve fallen?...5…“Turn back! Recover your dear early love. No time to waste…” - Revelation ‭2‬:‭4,5b‬ ‭(MSG)HOW TO PRIORITIZE LOVE FIRST IN EVERY RELATIONSHIP:1. REMEMBER WHO IS YOUR FIRST LOVE1 “To the angel of the church of Ephesus...2 “I know your WORKS...4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your FIRST LOVE. 5 REMEMBER therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the FIRST WORKS... - Revelation 2:1-5 (NKJV)SEVEN CONGREGATIONS:1. EPHESUS: Overzealous believers who forsook their first love – Rev. 2:1-72. SMYRNA: Persecuted believers who suffered for the Messiah – Rev. 2:8-11 3. PERGAMOS: Compromising believers that need to repent – Rev. 2:12-17 4. THYATIRA: Morally corrupt believers with false doctrine – Rev. 2:18-295. SARDIS: Dead believers that are spiritually asleep – Rev. 3:1-66. PHILADELPHIA: Overcoming believers with brotherly love – Rev. 3:7-13 7. LAODICEA: Materialistic believers with lukewarm faith – Rev. 3:14-22Go and proclaim to the people of Jerusalem, The Lord proclaims: I REMEMBER your FIRST LOVE, your devotion as a YOUNG BRIDE, how you followed me in the wilderness, in an unplanted land. - Jeremiah 2:2 (CEB)“You REMEMBER your FIRST LOVE because they show you, prove to you, that you can LOVE and be LOVED, that nothing in this world is deserved except for LOVE, that LOVE is both how you BECOME a person and why.” ~ John Green2. BE FAITHFUL IN YOUR MARRIAGE COVENANT WITH THE LORD   19 And I will make you my BRIDE forever. I will make you my BRIDE with goodness and justice and with LOVE and mercy. 20 I will make you my faithful BRIDE... - Hosea 2:19-20 (ERV)4 ...You will be called the People God Loves [My Delight Is In Her; “Hephzibah” in Hebrew], and your land will be called the BRIDE of God [or “Married” in Hebrew - “Beulah”], because the Lord loves you [takes delight in you]. And your land will belong to Him as a BRIDE belongs to her husband [be married]. 5 ...As a man [bridegroom] rejoices over his new wife [the BRIDE], so your God will rejoice over you. - Isaiah 62:4-5 (EXB)31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a NEW COVENANT with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah ...33 But this is the COVENANT that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law [TLV: “My Torah”] in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. - Jeremiah 31:31-33 (NKJV)9 “I have LOVED you even as the Father has LOVED me. Remain in my LOVE. 10 When you OBEY my commandments, you remain in my LOVE, just as I OBEY my Father’s commandments and remain in His LOVE. - John 15:9,10 (NLT)3. DON’T BE DECEIVED AND RECOMMIT YOUR DEVOTION TO THE MESSIAH2 ... I promised you in MARRIAGE to one HUSBAND, to present you as a PURE VIRGIN to the Messiah. 3 However, I am afraid that just as the serpent DECEIVED Eve by its tricks, so your minds may somehow be lured away from sincere and PURE DEVOTION to the Messiah. - 2 Corinthians 11:2-3 (ISV)17 But whoever cleaves [“joined” or “married”] to our Lord becomes one spirit with Him. - 1 Corinthians 6:17 (Peshitta - Aramaic Bible in Plain English)....24 But, just as the church is subject to the Messiah [“in covenant marriage”], in the same way women should be subject in everything to their HUSBANDS. 25 HUSBANDS, love your wives, as the Messiah loved the church, and gave Himself for it... - Ephesians 5:21-26 (NTFE)