We must leave our first love

[CEO]

What is leaving your first love?

a) is it leaving our carnal physical self ?  surely love of self is everyone's first love

b) is it leaving the church of our parent's ? weren't most of first exposed to God and the    
   ten commandment law there ?  For me that was a southern baptist church with many   loving members.

c) is it leaving subsequent churches such as the WWCOG ?

d) is it leaving the true elect, chosen body of believers which are of Jesus who is the only true love ?

When we leave our first love, what are we leaving ?

Scripture ?

                                                        askseeknock
                                                        Charlie O                        

[Robin]

Here is the scripture

Revelation 2
1Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

2I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

3And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

4Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

5Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

6But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.

7He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

[Kat]

Hi Charlie,

I'm thinking you are referring to 'falling away from our first love.'
It is truth we all come to know Christ and build our spiritual house on sand, this would be our time in the church.  At some point we are disillusioned and fall away or leave our first love. 
This is from Ray's Lake of Fire series no. 13 and will explains this, to get a better understanding the whole article would be helpful.

http://bible-truths.com/lake13.html -------------------------------------------------------------

ALL FALL AWAY

I showed numerous times that all: leave their first love, forsake Jesus, look back, blaspheme, build a spiritual house upon the sand, etc.

It is when John is standing on the sand of the sea that he first sees the wild beast come up out of the sea. Now the questions become: "WHEN did John stand upon the sand in HIS life? WHEN do we stand upon the sand in OUR lives?

Answer: When the spiritual house that we all build falls down with a 'GREAT FALL.' When (notice I did not say, 'IF')...when our spiritual house built upon the spiritual sand falls, WE ARE LEFT STANDING ON THE SAND OF THE SEA. We are only INCHES above the very sea itself—the masses and multitudes of humanity who do not have any knowledge of God AT ALL. It doesn't mean that we have no knowledge of God at all at this quandary in our spiritual lives; it just means that we are no closer to God than all the humanity in the sea. Hence, we are not IN the sea, but rather standing on the SAND of the sea where out spiritual house just FELL!

And since God is not only calling some of us but choosing us also, God begins to teach us anew. And the first thing He begins to show us is the WILD BEAST coming up out of the sea that is the CAUSE of our being overcome and the CAUSE of our spiritual house falling! This wild beast will be reckoned with by all humanity sooner or later.

THERE MUST COME A 'FALLING AWAY' FIRST

I have shown you that John, Paul, Peter, ALL of the apostles, the whole church in Asia, the Seven Churches of Revelation, the entire flock of God's called, all built their houses upon spiritual sand—in other words EVERYONE ever called by God, falls, falls down, falls away.

The Proverb tells us that, "For a just man falls seven times..." That's a COMPLETE fall. But strange as it may seem, this is necessary in God's plan. What happens to a just man after he falls seven times? "...and RISES UP AGAIN" (Prov. 24:16). When he completely falls, he falls from grace. But for those whom God is both calling AND choosing, they will RISE UP AGAIN, for

"Who are you that judges another man's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Yes, he shall be holden up [made to stand up]: for God is able to MAKE HIM STAND" (Rom. 14:4).

We will ALL FALL! But afterwards, God "raises us UP AGAIN," and "makes us STAND." And from that time onward we have this sure promise of which we read before, but I want to read again:

"Now unto Him that is able to KEEP YOU FROM FALLING, and to present you FAULTLESS before the presence of His glory with EXCEEDING JOY, To the Only Wise God Our Saviour, be glory and majesty, and dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen" (Jude 124-25)!

When John's spiritual house built upon the sand fell down, he was left, standing on the sand of the sea by himself alone with God, and it is then and only then, that he is able to see the wild beast that came up out of the sea.

This wild beast is further identified in Rev. 13:14 when we are told this

"...beast, which had the wound [deadly wound, Ver. 3] by the sword, and DID LIVE."

He was wounded to death, but the wound was healed and he again lived. He also has a mark, and a name, and a number. What is this mysterious number that has baffled scholars, theologians, and saints for centuries? I will not give you the complete answer to this at this time, but will only show you that it is the number of mankind—humanity.
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mercy, peace, and love
Kat

[DWIGHT]

Charlie O,

Like others have said, Christ is our first love.  Remember when you first met Him and how sweet the fellowship was?  As for me, my first love lasted many years until I was so engulfed with the cares of Babylon and its doctrines that I woke up one day and like the song....I lost that lovin feeling.  That's when we fall and for me my fall was great and for many years I wandered like the children of Israel in the wilderness.  I really thought that I would never be allowed back and like all of us God, in His mercy and grace, dragged me back to Him.

Then you begin to realize how terrible you really are and as Ray has showed us, that's when we see what kind of a beast that's in us.  This verse in IIThess. 2:3 clearly shows us what happens and who we really are. "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition."  That day is the Day of the Lord.

The heart is desperately wicked so much so that God calls it the man of sin, the son of perdition.  Until I came to BT, I always thought that I was a nice guy, now I find out that I'm a beast...the man of sin...the son of perdition, but I couldn't have know any of these truths until I lost my first love.

Thank God, for all this came from Him so that He could do all His good pleasure in us.  It's so good to be the clay and not the Potter.

In Him,

Dwight

[CEO]

MG, Kat, Dwight

  All three of you are in agreement which makes me in agreement that we fall away from the christian church, which is leaving our first love.  What stumbled me is that both John and the church at Ephesus fell and both of them were very much exposed to  and believed the truth and were filled with the spirit which is Christ.

   BUT John did fall away from the church of his day- the synagogues.  The church at Ephesus also fell when the wolves entered in and replaced foundational doctrine with the doctrines of men, built upon the sand.  It is a timing thing, John fell  out of  the synagogues into truth, Ephesus fell out of truth into falsehood.


     It still stuns me that people who know the truth, the real truth, can depart from it.

     Thank yall for clarifying this for my understanding.

                                                             askseeknock

                                                              Charlie O

[Robin]

Hi Charlie,

I posted the scripture, but I don't think it means the great falling away from the church and recognizing the beast within us. I don't think God would have that against us. Maybe it means that they became lukewarm after being on fire at first. I really can't comment because God hasn't revealed that to me and I don't want to come up with my own interpretation, but I didn't want it to seem like that's what I meant by posting the scripture.

Thanks,
MG

[longhorn]

Sometimes you have to leave your last love too.

Longhorn