Hey, man, what a blessing it is for us to be with you here tonight. Dr. Folger, thank you so much for allowing the man to come and myself. We have been praying for you. I've gone through what your pastor has just gone through. I was 40 years old when they yanked my appendix out. For me, it was something that I was glad to let him have it. I'm at the hospital. I mean, I'm in agony. And the surgeon comes in. He looks at me, taps a couple. Does this hurt? And I'm, yes, that hurts. And he said, well, we've got you scheduled at 10 minutes. We're going to take it out. I said, take whatever you want. You can have it all. But it was the experience of a lifetime, and we just trust your pastor is right back at it here. I know I was looking forward to hearing him preach tonight, and what a blessing it is to be with you. Let me just send my greetings from Dr. Chappell. Again, this church is near and dear to Lancaster Baptist Church. We appreciate so much the families that are sending your young people our way. And we recognize that that is a real commitment on your part and sacrifice on your part to send your young people to the left coast. And for you folks that are here in Ohio, I know sometimes we think of California and kind of praying that it'll fall off in the ocean maybe sometime. And yet, we do have some good. fundamental brethren there and it is exciting to see what God is doing we're praying for revival and we're praying that God would just use West Coast Baptist Bible College as a means to help in training men and women for the ministry coming alongside local churches like this and desiring here to just polish a little bit of what you as parents have put into your children. And I tell you what, some of the most coveted staff people today are those graduates coming out of West Coast. And what a delight it is all across the country just to see West Coast Baptist College grads that are serving God and making a difference in the world that we're living in. Now, we just came from that state just north of you. I don't want to say the name because I'm in the sacred desk here. You know, up there they think that they're a little better than you. I don't know if you've picked up on that at all, the folks there in that M state. They really have it in for you. They do. I don't know how you feel about them up there, but man, they're kind of mean towards you down here. There are, second to California, more West Coast students coming from Michigan. Oh, I said it. than any other place. And so, let's get with it here in Ohio, alright? Don't let them beat us in that. We are anxious to have your men and your women. We are a ministry college. And our heart's desire is to equip laborers for the harvest field. And what a desperate need there is today, and we're asking that God would use West Coast Baptist College to have an impact in the lives of your young people. Just a couple books I want to highlight. Dr. Paul Chappell in Desert Places just came out with a new book. It is really the testimony of what God's done in 25 years. And it's hard to believe that we're celebrating 25 years, but this is the story of some of the precious souls that have been saved through the years and what God has done in their life and transforming them into trophies of grace. And then also, show thyself a man, becoming a man of God. I know your pastor would know Eldon Martins, and a good pastor friend across town from where I pastored for many, many years, and had a marvelous conference, the Master's Men. And I think your pastor's been there several times and preached for us, but we'd have 1,000 men coming together and just praising the Lord being encouraged through the preaching of the Word of God, and Dr. Martens just had a heart to help men in that area of really being men of God. So if you haven't gotten your Father's Day gift yet, all right, here it is. On the back table, show thyself a man becoming a man of God. If there's a young man in your life, if there's a grandfather, By the way, as of yesterday, number five grandchild here, my fourth son, and his precious wife just gave birth to another boy. Alright, so keep them coming. God's blessed us with seven children, five our boys, and now we're starting to see the grandkids. And I'm waiting for 49, all right? We did our part. We had seven. There's seven of them. I'm doing the math, and I'm expecting at least 49 grandkids, and we're looking forward to some great days ahead, if the Lord should tarry. Let's take our Bibles, please, to Revelation chapter number 2 tonight. Again, Pastor, thank you so much for just allowing us to be here this evening. I trust that God will speak to us through His precious Word. The book of Revelation, chapter number 2. And this evening, I'd like us to take a glimpse at two local churches that are given to us in the Word of God at different times in their history. Matter of fact, the church we're about to read concerning here in Revelation chapter 2 is the church at Ephesus. And this is approximately 90 AD. This church is possibly three decades old. And I want you to keep in mind here that sometimes as a local church grows and develops and also puts some age behind it, there are some specific cautions that God gives to that type of a church. And tonight, from the Word of God, we'd like to look at that church as well as contrast that to a very young church. It was mentioned that I have the privilege of working with young men in church planting and out of Ambassador Baptist Church, seeing churches reproduced out of our local assembly. And praise the Lord, the fifth church was just planted this fall, right in Fresno, across town. And they're having some wonderful, wonderful days. The church is seven months old. We just saw, just a few weeks ago, 77 folks in the service, had five saved during the service, four adults, a teenager. And the Bible still works. God's wanting to reach a world with the gospel. And he's going to do it as we give ourselves to worldwide evangelism that leads to churches being planted. And so if you are able, let's stand together for just a few moments and read a few verses. Revelation chapter number 2. Follow along as I begin reading here in verse number 2. I know thy works. and thy labor, 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, and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember, 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." Lord, we ask this evening, as we gather in your presence, that you would meet with us and that you would take your holy word through your Holy Spirit. And Lord, allow us to have ears that would be open and sensitive to your Holy Spirit. Thank you for Cleveland Baptist Church. Thank you for the Folger family and what they mean to the cause of Christ in the United States and what a blessing they have been to so many. And I pray tonight as the men have sung and as we're opening the Word of God that we can be a blessing to a church that is a great blessing. I pray that you'd have your will and way. Help me now. I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. And you may be seated. Some years ago, the London Transit Authority was receiving a lot of complaints because those double-decker red buses that wander around the streets of London were passing right by customers who were standing waiting at the bus stop. An explanation was placed in the London Times giving the reason that the London Transit Authority sought here to pass by some of the customers. The explanation is as follows. It would be impossible for us to maintain our schedules if we are always having to stop and pick up passengers. Now, when you and I look at that or think about that, we go, you know, there's really something that's gone haywire with the London Transit Authority. They have lost focus on the big thing or the main thing. And the big thing, the main thing for a bus driver is to stop when there's somebody waiting to get on the bus. And yet, we recognize that as a church, sometimes we lose out on some very important things if we're not careful. And the Bible teaches us here in Revelation chapter number two that there is a church that God gives to us at a certain stage in their life to help encourage us to see exactly the need of maintaining first love as a local assembly. First Thessalonians chapter one. Would you page there with me? Go back here just a few pages. First Thessalonians chapter number one. Preaching tonight on the challenged church or the challenge of maintaining our first love. Whenever we look in scripture at the local church, we recognize that the corporate body is nothing more than a representation of each and every one of us individually. When God speaks about the church and speaks about how the church needs this or needs that, the honest truth is God's speaking to me and God's speaking to you. God is allowing us to see at an individual level that in order for us to function corporately as a body like God wants us to, to function, that individually God is looking for something from each and every one of us. And so as we look at two churches tonight, I'd like us to read a few verses from 1 Thessalonians 1 and get the heartbeat of a very young church. 1 Thessalonians 1, would you note verse 5? For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power. And in the Holy Ghost in much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake, and ye became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost, so that ye were in samples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. And from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God were to spread abroad, so that we need not to speak anything. Number one tonight, the condition of two churches. If we were to compare in time these two churches, they're separated by about three decades. And yet when you take the scripture and you look at the text of 1 Thessalonians and Revelation chapter number 2, we recognize that God gives us the spiritual temperature or condition of each and every one of these churches. The young church, and by the way, I want you to go back in your own mind to when you were first saved. I think some of these qualities you'll find. In your own heart, in your own life, as you received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, how many can remember that day when you got saved? Let me see your hand, all right? How many remember what God did in your heart in changing you? I can remember as if it was yesterday, the first time I said no to the Holy Spirit of God. the very first time. You know, when you're first saved, you just want to tell everybody that you got saved and that you're born again and that you're on your way to heaven. And, I mean, you're so excited. I couldn't help but tell people about what had taken place in my heart and my life. And I can remember going to a grocery store, and there was a gal that I went to high school with that was behind the cashier And my food is going down here, the conveyor belt, and I only had a couple items and the Holy Spirit said, now tell her what happened. And she saw me and she said, hey Mark, how are you? And then she started just machine gun questions at me about what I was doing and what was going on. And before I knew it, my three items were in a little bag and I was out the door. And as I was going on my way home walking, the Holy Spirit said, now why didn't you tell her? It was real. I mean it was real, it was the Holy Spirit speaking moment by moment as we are desiring here to just be that child of God that God's called us to be. And this young church, the church at Thessalonica had that kind of a spirit. Notice, they were first of all mimics. Verse 6, and ye became followers of us and of the Lord. We get our English word mimic from that word followers. And we recognize that the first quality here of this church is that they followed here the examples that God placed in their life. He became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. Not only were they mimics, but they also then became mentors, because the Bible says in the very next verse, so that ye were in samples to all that believe. That word in samples is that word that gives us the idea of a stamp. It's like you took some wood and carved it and you made an impression. God says here that, first of all, this early, young, hot, on fire for God church, what they possessed here was a hunger to follow God, follow His word, follow the men of God. And then they became mentors. They became the pattern. They became the one that folks were looking at. You recognize tonight that you are the very best Christian that somebody knows. And that we ought to be in samples. We ought to be here. Dads for our children and our grandchildren. Examples of what it means to be a man of God. And our women here tonight, mothers and grandmothers need to be that example to our young ladies on what it means to be a woman of God. There's a desperate, crying need today for that. The condition of two churches, the young church, they're mimics, they're mentors, and they became messengers. Notice here verse number eight, for from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God were to spread abroad. This is marvelous because they became followers. They watched, they observed, and now they become the pattern themselves. They are mentoring what they have received, and they are tremendous messengers. That word there deals with the echoing, the sounding the Word of the Lord. That's what a young, excited Christian does. That's what a young church does, and that's what older churches need to continue to do by the grace of God. Well, let's go to the older church. Revelation, please, chapter number 2. And look at the condition of this church. Revelation chapter number two. This is very interesting to me as I look at verse number two The Bible says I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience and how thou canst not bear them which are evil and now has tried them which say they are apostles and are not and has found them liars Several thoughts here about this church. Number one. God says they were diligent Don't notice their work. I know thy works and thy labor. I I have found in my Christian life that it's become easy to just go through the motions of working for the Lord. I was called to ministry 31 years ago, and for these past 30 years, I've been serving the Lord. And there are times in my life when it can become mechanical. It can be something here that I'm just kind of going on through it. I'm in church because I've always been in church. I show up for the prayer meeting because I've always showed up for the prayer meeting. And here, this church, the Bible says they were diligent people and they were doctrinally pure. The scripture tells us, "...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." So doctrinally, they're straight. We see here that they are very diligent in the work of the Lord. You'd say, what's to complain about? What a wonderful example of a church. They're busy for God. They're standing for doctrinal truth. It's all wonderful. Except the Bible says this little word in verse four, nevertheless, in spite of that. Let me tell you something. We can be right doctrinally. We can be busy as busy can be in the work of God, and yet if we lose If we lose what is described in verse number four, we are going to lose much. And the Bible tells us in verse four, nevertheless, I have someone against thee because thou hast left thy first love. They're diligent people, they're doctrinally pure, but they are drifting from their passion. They are leaving their first love. And if I could say as a church matures or as a Christian matures, one of the things that happens to us is that we look at a young Christian that's all excited and bubbly and desiring to share the good news with folks. And we just say, well, don't worry about that. They'll settle down after a while. They'll get over it. They'll calm down. Listen, the reality is that God is desiring for us here to make sure that that passion continues to burn in our hearts. God is desiring for us not just to be doctrinally right, although we need to be doctrinally right, and not just to be diligent, although we must be diligent in the work of the Lord. Always abounding in the work of the Lord, for we know that our labor is not in vain in the Lord. We must overflow in that. We must abound in that. God's saying, do not be diligent, or God's not saying, set aside doctrine. What God is saying is He's saying, don't you dare lose. Don't you lose it because if you lose the passion notice the warning that goes along with first number the four nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou has left thy first love Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works or else I will come on to thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick so the contrast or condition here of the two churches, it's it's it's real and The young church, mimicking, mentoring, they became messengers. They're sounding out the word of the Lord everywhere. The older church, they're diligent. They're doctrinally straight, but they're drifting. They're drifting in this area of passion. Let me say something. You've got vacation Bible school starting here tomorrow. And you're going to have some little children that are going to come, maybe for the very first time in their life, to hear a gospel message. And you've not only heard it time and time and time and time again, but sometimes we feel like, well, hasn't everybody? Let me tell you the story about my wife, Victoria, as a child in a neighborhood of a church like Cleveland Baptist Church. Grew up in a home where her folks were Episcopalian. That meant that they went to church on Easter and maybe Christmas. They had nothing to do with the Baptists. Matter of fact, they went to that great fundamental college on the West Coast. What's it called? UC Berkeley? Maybe you've heard of it. They came out of that 60s generation. Must I say any more? They did not want anything to do with the Baptists. The Baptists were the crazy people in the neighborhood. I mean, the Baptists, I mean, are you kidding me? They keep coming to our door. And they didn't want their little precious girl to go to that Baptist cult down the street, or whatever they thought it was. And there, there was a Sunday school teacher in the neighborhood that worked here with the children. And the children got excited about coming to Sunday school. And my wife, Victoria, at that time, just a nine-year-old girl is invited. And she starts begging Mama, can I go? Can I go? I want to go. And Mom said, we're Episcopalians. All right, we don't go to the Baptist church. And she begged, and she begged. And finally, Mama, who never, never goes back, once she says something, Mama stays with it. But this one time, she said, I'll let you go, but mark it down, you get to go one time. And don't you ever ask me again about going to that Baptist church. Sunday school teacher, listen, listen to me. One opportunity. As far as you know this week one opportunity As far as you know that precious young little boy or that little girl one opportunity here to sit in front of you hearing maybe for the first time the wonderful story of Jesus Christ and There that Sunday school teacher took the Word of God and opened it up and she was riveted as a nine-year-old girl She'd never heard anything like that before in her life She wasn't saved at that time, but I'll tell you something, God did something in her heart. I mean, God started to stir her up about a need that she had spiritually, and she begged Mom again, let me go, let me go, let me go, and Mama finally said, okay, go, go, go. And she got saved. Now, the sad thing is, is my wife gives testimony of the fact that she was so glad that it was that particular Sunday school teacher that was teaching her that day and not others that she had in future years. As they took out their book and as they read their lesson. Because the Sunday school teacher that communicated to her the truth of the Word of God had that passion. Had that first love. had the first love for Christ and the first love for that little nine-year-old girl. To make a long story short, here we are in the ministry, 30 years, seven children, five grandchildren, all serving God. What a blessing. Why? Because a children's worker said, I'm not going to let the passion go. Maybe tonight, at the close of the service, you want to come and say, God, just re-fan that passion. Just give me that heart again. Because I don't want to just be right on the outside. I don't want to stand right, just stand right where the Bible stands. I don't want to just be busy and in my place as a vacation Bible school worker. I want that first love. So that's the contrast of the two churches, the condemnation of the Ephesian church. It's interesting here, it speaks about what they laugh. Now, if I had a book here, and I'm wandering around, and I'm in the hallway, and I get lost, and maybe I'm talking to someone, and I leave it there thinking, okay, I know where it is. I'll come back to it later. The truth is I haven't lost anything. What I've done is I've just walked away from it. I have just left that book. The Bible doesn't speak here about us losing anything. It speaks to us about leaving something very important. And there's a difference between losing something. I lost my first love. Well, not biblically. The Bible says you left it. And I've always heard that when you lose something, you go back to where you lost it so that you can find it once again. Go back to where you were spiritually when you had that heart passion for God. A bus worker, Sunday school teacher. Staff member. Why don't you go back to that time where you know that it wasn't about just fulfilling a duty and responsibility But it was because of your passion for God That's where God wants us to be that's the condemnation they left something and and if you lose something God says there are leave something there is the potential for you to lose something very important Let's go back to the verse Revelation 2 Notice this, verse number five. My friend, the candlestick represents the church. What a stern warning. God says, you know, you might be doctrinally okay, You might be busy, you might have a form here of going through the motions, that might be an order, but if you lose that heart's desire, that first love, the truth is, God says, I may have to remove the candlestick from my place. What a solemn warning. Oh, how we need this so desperately if we're to be the church that God wants us to be. All right, now, what's the commonality between the two churches? Look at verse 2 once again. I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience. And now would you go back with me to 1 Thessalonians 1, and let's look at what these two have in common. Verse 3 of 1 Thessalonians 1, and I must go quickly. Remembering without ceasing your work, And labor and patience. Did you get those three words? The exact same things that they're commended here 30 years later in verse 2. I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience. God even gives them to us. Thy work and thy labor and thy patience. God the Holy Spirit who wrote both of these letters gave them to us in the exact same order. And I believe he did so so that we have a better understanding of what does this mean. this first love. What is this passion that God wants us to have? So the commonality is both of them are commended for their work, both of them are commended for their labor, both of them are commended for their patience. And yet the contrast is clear, and you see it. God adds something when he speaks about this young church that he does not add when he speaks about the church at Ephesus. The young church followed along. What does he say? Remembering without ceasing, would you help me tonight? Your work of what? Work of faith. Your work of faith. You see the contrast here between the two is the heart or the motive behind the activity. It's wonderful. It's wonderful to work for God. But do you know that God says without faith, it's impossible to please him? What a sad thought that we can work for God year in and year out. And because it's not a work of faith, God says without faith, it's impossible to please me. I don't know about you, but when I stand before God one day, I want to hear those words. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Well, it's not just the activity that God's looking for. He's looking for the heart behind the activity. Is it a work of faith? I love church planning because church planning is always a work of faith. It is not just work. It's having to trust God completely that God does his marvelous work of birthing a church out of nothing. And what a wonderful thought it is. But here the Bible talks about this work of faith. Faith is that missing ingredient. I mean, really believe when you teach that Sunday school that God's going to use His Word to do something. As a church, recognize that when pastor leads us here into another program or project, that by faith we understand God's going to take that and use that for His glory. It's not just a work. It must be a work of faith. And all that, we examine everything we do for the Lord and make sure that our hearts are filled with faith. You get on the bus this week, just by faith, trust that God's gonna do something in the lives of those kids. You know, not sometimes we see them and we don't see the heart behind or the soul behind that little one. And how God wants us here to make sure that our work is a faith-filled work. All right, not just work, but notice what else it says, and labor, but not just any kind of labor. Do you see what it says? Labor of what? Help me. Labor of love. So what is it when we leave our first love? Well, the contrast between the two churches is quite clear. Oh, you've got work, but the other church has a work of faith. Oh, you've got labor, but the other church has a labor of love. You know what kids need this week? They need the love of Christ. They need your love. They need to know that somebody in this world cares about them. And oh, that we would recognize that as we labor, that our labor should not be in vain if it is truly a labor of love. I don't know what ministry you have or what role you have, but as you labor, would you labor in love? That's putting that first love passion back into the work. That's exactly what God is missing from the church at Ephesus. It's exactly what he highlights here in this young church of Thessalonica. And I believe with all my heart it's what he's looking for in my life and your life, even here in the auditorium tonight. Work of faith, labor of love, and then it says patience of what tonight? Patience of what? Hope. You know, you and I can be patient about a lot of things and just endure. But it's a totally different thing when that endurance is coupled together with hope. And hope in the Bible is a little different than the hope and change that we've heard about over the last few years. The hope in the Bible is all about a confident expectation. So I can be patient, confidently expecting here that God's going to be God in this situation. I mean, yes, let's be patient. But let's have that patience motivated by a confident expectation in God. Hope thou in God. Oh, what a blessing here. God is giving to us a marvelous picture of what it is to be a church that still has its first love. And it is the heart behind all that we do. Maybe tonight, doctrinally you're right and diligent in your work, but you have drifted from the passion that God desires for us to have. Did you catch all three words in their sequence? Did you look at them? Look at the three words by themselves. Not work, labor, and patience, but look at the three that are the heart behind it. What is it? Faith, love, and what? Hope. Oh, that sounds familiar, doesn't it? Faith, hope, and love. This on fire young church didn't get away from that passion behind all they did. And I pray tonight that we as God's people, especially this week, would look at how we can get that passion restored in our own life. So it's not just work for work's sake. It's not just labor for labor's sake. It's not just holding on until Jesus comes, patience. Oh, but that honestly from our heart it would be an offering of our love and gratitude to God, that we would please Him by our faith, that it would be our love that would be on display, and that we see here that with that patience would be a confident expectation, a hope, a hope that all that we're doing is not for us, it's all for His glory, it's all for Him. Would you bow with me in prayer as we close?