October 3, 2023 • 28 mins
Ever wondered about the real implications of Revelation 2 in our lives as believers? Well, I promise you'll gain some deep insights in this podcast episode as we unpack the profound words of Jesus, who is omnipresent in every gathering of believers, applauds our endurance and discernment, but challenges us for straying from our first love. We tread on the path of understanding His message, referencing Matthew 18:20 and Psalms 119:105, to illuminate the cruciality of His presence in our lives and how His words are still poignant and essential for the church today.
In our spiritual discourse, we urge you to rediscover the significance of our purpose as believers and the dangers of losing sight of our core focus. While appreciating the value of hard work, we emphasize that salvation comes by grace and not by works alone. As we contemplate the role of the church in today's society, we underline the church's duty to rise amid adversity for Jesus loves us. As His followers, we ought to make our faith count and seek His blessings. Join us on this enlightening journey as we delve into the mysteries and wonders of our faith.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, I give youthanks for today.
I give you thanks for new focus.
I give you thanks for your Son,who reaches and stretches and
is always there for us, but he'sa gentleman and he will be
(00:33):
there until the day that we come.
The decision gets made by us asto whether or not we come.
That is the gift of free willgiven by God's grace, and I give
you thanks for that.
Today I pray for everyone,within the sound of my voice,
that this message would be agift to them, that it would be
(00:54):
not so much revolutionary aseye-opening to them, that they
would find something withintheir own walk that this message
absolutely applies to, becauseGod's Word applies to everything
.
God's Word applies toeverything because God's Word
was written with us in mind, usindividually, not though it was
(01:19):
from thousands of years ago, butthus was written for them as
well.
But it was written for usindividually, by name.
God knows us by name.
Lord, god, I give you thanksfor that.
As we open your Word today, mayyour words be spoken, and not
my own.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Good morning, gang.
(01:41):
I pray this message finds youwell and resting in the peace of
Jesus.
Here we are at the beginning ofchapter 2, and I will admit that
this is the first time I'veactually recorded anything in
probably eight weeks, six oreight weeks, as new messages
have come up onto the podcastand we're working to rebuild
(02:04):
audience base.
I've been I don't want to sayotherwise occupied, but that's
the only word that comes to mind, and I'm sorry about that.
But I thank you for yourprayers.
I thank you for all things,including my dog, evidently.
(02:25):
I thank you for him as well.
I thank you for all things thatyou've done for me, for my
family, through prayers aroundthe world.
And with that let's get started.
We're in the beginning ofchapter 2, the book of
Revelation.
As we begin the letters to thechurches Now, do you guys recall
(02:49):
me asking you to think aboutwhat kind of letter you would
receive from Jesus?
What did you come up with?
I'm curious.
I'd love to know.
As for me, I know what I'd liketo say.
I'd like to say the church inPhiladelphia, and for those of
(03:10):
you who've read ahead, you knowwhat I'm saying.
But in moments of honesty andgross clarity, I can't make that
claim at all, and I dare sayeveryone listening to me is in
the same boat, and that's OK.
These letters are instructionalto the church of the first
(03:30):
century and they are alsorepresentative of the church
today.
That's the beauty of God's Wordit is timeless.
It reaches all of us,regardless of date or year.
Open your Bibles if you can,and if you haven't.
To Revelation 2, verse 1, let'sread the entire section.
(03:53):
And again, this is Jesusdictating a letter for John to
give to the church.
It says to the angel of thechurch of Ephesus write these
things, says he who holds theseven stars in his right hand,
who walks in the midst of theseven gold lampstands.
I know your works, your labor,your patience, and that you
(04:17):
cannot pair those who are evil,that you have tested those who
say they are apostles and arenot, and have found them liars.
You have persevered and havepatience and have labored for my
name's sake and have not becomeweary.
Nevertheless, I have thisagainst you that you left your
(04:42):
first love.
Remember, therefore, from whereyou have fallen, repent and do
your first works, or else I willcome and quickly remove your
lampstand from its place unlessyou repent.
But this you have that you hatethe deeds of the Nicolaotans,
which I also hate.
(05:02):
He who has ears to hear, lethim hear what the Spirit says to
the churches.
To him who overcomes, I willgive to eat from the tree of
life which is in the midst ofthe paradise of God.
That is Revelation, chapter two,verses one through seven.
(05:24):
And it's powerful.
It's powerful.
It says to the angel in thechurch in Ephesus, right as we
discussed earlier in this study,the angel here refers to the
pastor of the believers inEphesus.
He's the leader, the servantand the under-ower of the
congregation and as such, he isthe recipient of the letter
(05:50):
which he would then read to thecongregation of believers.
And that's how they used to doit.
They used to get a letter fromPaul or from, in this case, john
, the Apostle, john, the lastliving apostle of Jesus Christ,
(06:11):
the last living disciple ofJesus Christ, and they would
read it and ingest it.
And so Jesus then states thathe holds the pastors, the seven
stars those are the pastors ofthe seven churches in his right
(06:32):
hand, as he is present, walkingamongst the seven churches,
which are the seven goldenlampstands.
Okay, turn over to Matthew 1820.
This is a representation.
This is a representation ofJesus' words and the Gospels
(06:54):
Jesus said in Matthew 1820,.
This is the new livingtranslation for where two or
more gathered together as myfollowers.
I am there among them.
That's Matthew 1820, that isthe new living translation.
I want you to think about thatfor a second.
Jesus is with us Every time weshare the gospel, in every small
(07:18):
group, every gathering ofbelievers.
He is with us Further, forthose who have accepted Jesus,
the Holy Spirit lives inside us,guiding our steps.
The Bible says.
The Bible says he guides oursteps.
That's Psalm 119, verse 105.
If you want to look at that forhomework, it brings me peace
(07:41):
every time I read it.
In short, he's always with us.
He therefore knows ourvictories and our failings.
He gives the church in Ephesus asolid report card on what
they've done.
Well, listen to the list andsee if the church today measures
(08:08):
up Labor.
Jesus says he knows their works.
They work hard, they workreally hard.
They're patient.
Things don't always work outfor them.
They really don't, and we'regoing to go into in the second
where they actually were and howhard it was to be in Ephesus in
(08:32):
the first century.
But they were patient, theykept at it, they stayed, they
stayed steadfast, and that'ssomething that's going to come
up in a moment too.
They can't bear evil.
Okay, so they see evil, theycall it by its name and they do
the best they can to eradicateit.
(08:53):
And that's in point number four.
They tested and uncovered falseprophets.
You know, when I was attendingchurch in Colorado my church, my
home church my pastor used tosay all the time that I mean we
were a large congregation, itwas a big church and it was a
(09:16):
big church that behaved as alittle church.
But that's a that's a differentstudy altogether.
The thing was, a pastor used toalways say that if you came
into this church with badintentions, if you were a wolf
(09:38):
in sheep's clothing to use theold trope if you were, if you
were that, you'd be found out.
You'd be found out and you'd beeradicated.
If you were preaching a falsegospel, if you were trying to
gather followers for some falsecraziness and the Lord knows
(09:59):
that there's thousands ofdifferent false theologies in
this country alone, based,believe it or not, as they say,
on Christianity, and I'm notgoing to mention names and I'm
not going to, you know, get intoall that, because that's a
whole different universealtogether.
However, I will tell you thatthat it becomes a difficulty
(10:24):
because there's so many peoplegetting ripped off.
And what my pastor was sayingwas that no one was going to get
ripped off in our church.
To the best of our ability, weweren't going to allow you to
get ripped off.
And then he'd always saysomething else we're going to
love you all the way to the curb.
In other words, we're going totell you the truth, we're going
(10:45):
to try to help you understandwhere you've gone wrong and
we're going to love you all theway to the curb.
But if we have to leave you atthe curb, we will.
And that's what.
That's what the church inEphesus did.
They, they, they love peopleall the way to the curb.
They eradicated false prophetsfrom the church.
(11:05):
And how did they do that?
They did that based onscripture, based on what they
knew already from the Lord, fromthe disciples, from Paul.
Okay, they, they did what theydid because they knew what the
truth was and they measuredeverything against that truth
(11:28):
and they persevered.
They persevered that's pointfive.
They persevered in that.
Okay, they were a dedicatedchurch.
It's a solid list ofRecognition from the Lord.
They worked hard, they werepatient, they stood up against
evil, weeded out false prophetsfrom among them and they
(11:51):
persevered.
Sadly, the church in today byand large can't measure up to
this list.
When we look at the city ofepisodes, we see similarities to
cities of today and Understandhow hard it must have been for
the church, as I said earlier,to stand under the pressure
(12:12):
exerted against it.
Ephesus is a port city In whatis now Turkey.
It was a Roman city, meaningthat it practiced all of the
pagan rites and rituals requiredby Rome.
Okay Was known for a temple,the Roman goddess, little G
(12:39):
Diana.
So in the midst of thedebauchery and the sin of
everyday life stood the church.
Make no mistake, that stand inthose days Could most often, and
did most often, cost one theirlife.
Nevertheless, this is a commonthread in the majority of the
(13:06):
letters from Jesus in thissection.
He leads the letter by praising, and this is an amazing
leadership technique that thatyou know he exhibits here.
He tells them what they've doneright and the list as we've set
(13:29):
up here is is is quiteimpressive really, especially
based on what we know about thechurch in Ephesus At the time,
and and and the the absolute sinand ugliness that they were
surrounded by.
I'm a whole lot different thanchurches in Chicago or Denver or
(13:50):
San Francisco or any big citythat you might Think about or
point to.
The debauchery of today is isunbelievable and it's
unmeasurable, to be honest.
But so these are all goodthings.
(14:14):
But Jesus says Nevertheless.
Nevertheless and what is thenevertheless?
Let's go back to that sectionand, starting in verse 4, he
says nevertheless, I have thisagainst you that you have left
your first love.
Remember, therefore, from whereyou have fallen, repent and do
(14:37):
your first works, or else I willcome to you quickly and remove
the lamp stand from its placeunless you repent.
It's verses 4 through 6, newKing James version.
You've left your first love.
Hmm, you know it's.
It's interesting as I wassitting down this morning to put
(14:59):
this together.
It's been written for a while.
I just hadn't had a chance torecord it as I sat here today
and I went through my Biblestudy this morning and my divos
and I prayed it's something thatthe Lord's been on me about for
months Left my first love.
(15:21):
I've left my first love andremember, friends, that we are
the church, representative ofthe church, we are the body of
Christ and therefore each one ofus is the church.
I've talked about it a hundredtimes church buildings are just
that buildings of plaster andpaint and that's all it's when
(15:45):
the people of God inhabit thespace that it becomes a church.
So this letter absolutelypoints at each one of us.
We can be working hard, oh lordy.
We can be working hard.
We can be attending churchthree times a week.
We can be in our Bibles, we canbe Working hard for the
(16:14):
downtrodden, we can be involvedin soup kitchens and we can be
involved in homeless sheltersand we can be involved in in,
you know, in in, in Women'sclinics and all kinds of
different things.
We can even be speaking outagainst the, the sin of
(16:36):
Transgenderism and homosexuality, and we can be very vocal about
those things, and we can bedoing all of that work.
We can be doing all of thatwork Just like Ephesus.
Ephesus was busy, and thechurch today is busy too.
(16:57):
And the question is are we toobusy?
The, the sin of the church inEphesus, was a sin of omission.
They forgot their why, and Ithink that we as Christians
forget our why quite often.
I know I have I've been calledto the carpet just this morning
(17:19):
for that very thing.
Why do you do?
Why do you get involved.
Why are you involved?
It's because of Jesus, their.
Why is the same?
Why that all believers haveit's Jesus.
And Jesus says remember fromwhere you've fallen, repent and
do your first works.
(17:39):
The church without Jesus as itscenter is just a place, no
matter how many good works aredone there, there's nothing, and
I mean nothing without the why.
So that's, that's the firstthing, but let's, let's dial
that in a little bit more.
You know, I look at the churchtoday and I see a whole lot of
(18:08):
activity.
I also see a whole lot of badtheology in many places.
First and foremost and thechurch in Ephesus would stand
for this they would tell youthat that God's intention was
not to have you live a gloriousand happy life where, where
(18:32):
you're always successful andthere's never any pain and
there's never any suffering andthere's never any negative
anything.
So many theologies today focuson that.
That, that gospel, that falsegospel of name it and claim it.
(18:54):
Name it and claim it, gospel.
I need millions.
I'm gonna name it and claim it.
I'm gonna claim this and I'mgonna claim that and I'm gonna
claim the other thing.
It doesn't work that way.
Prosperity gospel is just that.
It's a false flag.
It's a ridiculous false flagand people are getting ripped
(19:19):
off.
People are getting ripped offand let's talk for a minute
about the church at large.
The church at large, regardlessof the, the prosperity gospel
folks, and the Mormons and theand the Jehovah Witnesses and
again, whole other studies,right, regardless of those folks
(19:43):
, the church at large, theProtestant church at large, the
evangelical church at large,gets so focused in on stuff
that's absolutely meaningless,meaningless.
I, I, I, we argue amongstourselves over, over secondary
(20:07):
items.
Somebody asked me once if youhad to believe in the rapture in
order to be saved.
I believe the rapture.
I think the scriptures are 100%clear on that fact.
But no, you don't have tobelieve in the literal rapture
in order to be saved.
I'll explain it to you on theway up.
(20:29):
That's, that's pretty much howI look at it.
So these are secondary itemsthat we argue about consistently
and we we argue about Christianmedia.
I mean I, okay, you know.
I mean you're not gonna becomebiblically literate from
(20:52):
watching the chosen.
Okay, you're just not.
And is it 100% accurate?
Absolutely not, absolutely not.
Okay, but but and when I sayit's not accurate, it's not
biblically correct.
There are, there are things.
(21:13):
There are important itemswithin the chosen that that are
not right.
Okay, biblically, now thecreativity that's used and all
those other things.
Okay, fine, you know, I can.
I can live with that, becausehe's trying to tell the story of
people and I get it.
(21:33):
But let's not argue about thechosen.
My goodness, let's not argueabout the chosen, let's not
argue about about all theselittle things.
Pastor Chuck Smith, who I nevermet, but Pastor Chuck Smith, was
my pastor's pastor, as I'vesaid before, and therefore is,
(22:00):
by by by fact, of lineage, mypastor, because Pastor Chuck led
my pastors, Pastor Pastor JeffJohnson.
Jeff Johnson led my pastor,pastor Ed, and Pastor Ed led me.
(22:20):
It became Pastor Chuck is oneof my pastors and Pastor Chuck
Smith used to say all the timelet's keep the number one thing,
the number one thing, andwhat's the number one thing?
It's our why, it's Jesus,that's the why.
So the work comes from faith.
(22:43):
Okay, the work comes from faithand direction from the Lord,
not anything else.
Remember, folks, that we'resaved by grace, through faith,
not of works.
We're saved by faith, not ofwork.
We're saved by faith, not ofwork.
So let's say any man shouldboast, no matter how hard we
work.
We're not gonna get saved basedon how hard we work.
(23:06):
We're just not.
It's not gonna happen like that.
And then James said faithwithout works is dead.
Okay, so there's a microcosmthere.
Right, there's a microcosmthere.
There's a microcosm there.
There's a balancing act,there's a hey, you know what.
(23:33):
You have, this faith, but thefaith is what drives you to good
works.
God's works, and that's whatJesus is saying.
Return to your first love,which is me.
Do things the way you used todo them.
If you have to, if you haven'tread your scriptures in a while
and you're down about that andyou just think to yourself I
(23:55):
can't start again Like I'm sucha loser, don't pick up your
Bible and read it.
Pray.
God will listen to you and getyour marching orders from him.
The church of today is very busyand what I find is that the
(24:16):
church, the sermons in thechurch, resemble TED Talks more
than anything else.
They're a self-help situation,and that's born of your desire
to be, of people's desire to berelevant.
It's also born of theprosperity gospel movement and
(24:40):
all of those things.
They're not intended to be TEDTalks.
They're not intended to beself-help.
You can go to Walmart and buyany self-help book you want.
How about you pick up yourBible pastor, study your
scriptures and then teach, teach, teach.
(25:05):
Have people open their Biblesin church, teach, have people.
Yes, put the scriptures up onthe screens.
That's fine, that's absolutelyfine.
But encourage folks to bringtheir Bible and to engage with
(25:26):
their Bible, because that bleedsover, that becomes a part of
their everyday life.
You've built that habit.
In Return to your first works,remember what happened when you
first got saved.
Remember how excited you were.
Pray on that today.
(25:48):
Remember that.
Remember what the air tastedlike.
Remember how free you felt.
Remember how relieved you felt.
Remember how much pressure hadbeen relieved off of you.
These are all things from me,but I'm sure that it's very
similar for a lot of people.
Remember the moment when youfinally broke down and said yes,
(26:13):
and then go back to theexcitement, go back to the
passion, and I will tell you, aswe close, that we are in a
position, folks, in this day andage, where the church must
stand up.
There's not a politician thatcan do it, there's not a public
(26:36):
figure that can do it, there'snot a famous person that can do
it, there's not a millionairethat can do it, or a billionaire
, it doesn't matter.
The church has been called tostand in the gap and we must do
that.
And the way that we do that,the way that we do that, is by
(26:56):
keeping the number one thing,the number one thing.
Friends, that's all the time wehave today and I thank you very
much for listening.
Remember Jesus loves you.
Jesus loves you Until next time.
Make it count, gang and beblessed.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, I give youthanks for today.
I give you thanks for new focus.
I give you thanks for your Son,who reaches and stretches and
is always there for us, but he'sa gentleman and he will be
(00:33):
there until the day that we come.
The decision gets made by us asto whether or not we come.
That is the gift of free willgiven by God's grace, and I give
you thanks for that.
Today I pray for everyone,within the sound of my voice,
that this message would be agift to them, that it would be
(00:54):
not so much revolutionary aseye-opening to them, that they
would find something withintheir own walk that this message
absolutely applies to, becauseGod's Word applies to everything
.
God's Word applies toeverything because God's Word
was written with us in mind, usindividually, not though it was
(01:19):
from thousands of years ago, butthus was written for them as
well.
But it was written for usindividually, by name.
God knows us by name.
Lord, god, I give you thanksfor that.
As we open your Word today, mayyour words be spoken, and not
my own.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Good morning, gang.
(01:41):
I pray this message finds youwell and resting in the peace of
Jesus.
Here we are at the beginning ofchapter 2, and I will admit that
this is the first time I'veactually recorded anything in
probably eight weeks, six oreight weeks, as new messages
have come up onto the podcastand we're working to rebuild
(02:04):
audience base.
I've been I don't want to sayotherwise occupied, but that's
the only word that comes to mind, and I'm sorry about that.
But I thank you for yourprayers.
I thank you for all things,including my dog, evidently.
(02:25):
I thank you for him as well.
I thank you for all things thatyou've done for me, for my
family, through prayers aroundthe world.
And with that let's get started.
We're in the beginning ofchapter 2, the book of
Revelation.
As we begin the letters to thechurches Now, do you guys recall
(02:49):
me asking you to think aboutwhat kind of letter you would
receive from Jesus?
What did you come up with?
I'm curious.
I'd love to know.
As for me, I know what I'd liketo say.
I'd like to say the church inPhiladelphia, and for those of
(03:10):
you who've read ahead, you knowwhat I'm saying.
But in moments of honesty andgross clarity, I can't make that
claim at all, and I dare sayeveryone listening to me is in
the same boat, and that's OK.
These letters are instructionalto the church of the first
(03:30):
century and they are alsorepresentative of the church
today.
That's the beauty of God's Wordit is timeless.
It reaches all of us,regardless of date or year.
Open your Bibles if you can,and if you haven't.
To Revelation 2, verse 1, let'sread the entire section.
(03:53):
And again, this is Jesusdictating a letter for John to
give to the church.
It says to the angel of thechurch of Ephesus write these
things, says he who holds theseven stars in his right hand,
who walks in the midst of theseven gold lampstands.
I know your works, your labor,your patience, and that you
(04:17):
cannot pair those who are evil,that you have tested those who
say they are apostles and arenot, and have found them liars.
You have persevered and havepatience and have labored for my
name's sake and have not becomeweary.
Nevertheless, I have thisagainst you that you left your
(04:42):
first love.
Remember, therefore, from whereyou have fallen, repent and do
your first works, or else I willcome and quickly remove your
lampstand from its place unlessyou repent.
But this you have that you hatethe deeds of the Nicolaotans,
which I also hate.
(05:02):
He who has ears to hear, lethim hear what the Spirit says to
the churches.
To him who overcomes, I willgive to eat from the tree of
life which is in the midst ofthe paradise of God.
That is Revelation, chapter two,verses one through seven.
(05:24):
And it's powerful.
It's powerful.
It says to the angel in thechurch in Ephesus, right as we
discussed earlier in this study,the angel here refers to the
pastor of the believers inEphesus.
He's the leader, the servantand the under-ower of the
congregation and as such, he isthe recipient of the letter
(05:50):
which he would then read to thecongregation of believers.
And that's how they used to doit.
They used to get a letter fromPaul or from, in this case, john
, the Apostle, john, the lastliving apostle of Jesus Christ,
(06:11):
the last living disciple ofJesus Christ, and they would
read it and ingest it.
And so Jesus then states thathe holds the pastors, the seven
stars those are the pastors ofthe seven churches in his right
(06:32):
hand, as he is present, walkingamongst the seven churches,
which are the seven goldenlampstands.
Okay, turn over to Matthew 1820.
This is a representation.
This is a representation ofJesus' words and the Gospels
(06:54):
Jesus said in Matthew 1820,.
This is the new livingtranslation for where two or
more gathered together as myfollowers.
I am there among them.
That's Matthew 1820, that isthe new living translation.
I want you to think about thatfor a second.
Jesus is with us Every time weshare the gospel, in every small
(07:18):
group, every gathering ofbelievers.
He is with us Further, forthose who have accepted Jesus,
the Holy Spirit lives inside us,guiding our steps.
The Bible says.
The Bible says he guides oursteps.
That's Psalm 119, verse 105.
If you want to look at that forhomework, it brings me peace
(07:41):
every time I read it.
In short, he's always with us.
He therefore knows ourvictories and our failings.
He gives the church in Ephesus asolid report card on what
they've done.
Well, listen to the list andsee if the church today measures
(08:08):
up Labor.
Jesus says he knows their works.
They work hard, they workreally hard.
They're patient.
Things don't always work outfor them.
They really don't, and we'regoing to go into in the second
where they actually were and howhard it was to be in Ephesus in
(08:32):
the first century.
But they were patient, theykept at it, they stayed, they
stayed steadfast, and that'ssomething that's going to come
up in a moment too.
They can't bear evil.
Okay, so they see evil, theycall it by its name and they do
the best they can to eradicateit.
(08:53):
And that's in point number four.
They tested and uncovered falseprophets.
You know, when I was attendingchurch in Colorado my church, my
home church my pastor used tosay all the time that I mean we
were a large congregation, itwas a big church and it was a
(09:16):
big church that behaved as alittle church.
But that's a that's a differentstudy altogether.
The thing was, a pastor used toalways say that if you came
into this church with badintentions, if you were a wolf
(09:38):
in sheep's clothing to use theold trope if you were, if you
were that, you'd be found out.
You'd be found out and you'd beeradicated.
If you were preaching a falsegospel, if you were trying to
gather followers for some falsecraziness and the Lord knows
(09:59):
that there's thousands ofdifferent false theologies in
this country alone, based,believe it or not, as they say,
on Christianity, and I'm notgoing to mention names and I'm
not going to, you know, get intoall that, because that's a
whole different universealtogether.
However, I will tell you thatthat it becomes a difficulty
(10:24):
because there's so many peoplegetting ripped off.
And what my pastor was sayingwas that no one was going to get
ripped off in our church.
To the best of our ability, weweren't going to allow you to
get ripped off.
And then he'd always saysomething else we're going to
love you all the way to the curb.
In other words, we're going totell you the truth, we're going
(10:45):
to try to help you understandwhere you've gone wrong and
we're going to love you all theway to the curb.
But if we have to leave you atthe curb, we will.
And that's what.
That's what the church inEphesus did.
They, they, they love peopleall the way to the curb.
They eradicated false prophetsfrom the church.
(11:05):
And how did they do that?
They did that based onscripture, based on what they
knew already from the Lord, fromthe disciples, from Paul.
Okay, they, they did what theydid because they knew what the
truth was and they measuredeverything against that truth
(11:28):
and they persevered.
They persevered that's pointfive.
They persevered in that.
Okay, they were a dedicatedchurch.
It's a solid list ofRecognition from the Lord.
They worked hard, they werepatient, they stood up against
evil, weeded out false prophetsfrom among them and they
(11:51):
persevered.
Sadly, the church in today byand large can't measure up to
this list.
When we look at the city ofepisodes, we see similarities to
cities of today and Understandhow hard it must have been for
the church, as I said earlier,to stand under the pressure
(12:12):
exerted against it.
Ephesus is a port city In whatis now Turkey.
It was a Roman city, meaningthat it practiced all of the
pagan rites and rituals requiredby Rome.
Okay Was known for a temple,the Roman goddess, little G
(12:39):
Diana.
So in the midst of thedebauchery and the sin of
everyday life stood the church.
Make no mistake, that stand inthose days Could most often, and
did most often, cost one theirlife.
Nevertheless, this is a commonthread in the majority of the
(13:06):
letters from Jesus in thissection.
He leads the letter by praising, and this is an amazing
leadership technique that thatyou know he exhibits here.
He tells them what they've doneright and the list as we've set
(13:29):
up here is is is quiteimpressive really, especially
based on what we know about thechurch in Ephesus At the time,
and and and the the absolute sinand ugliness that they were
surrounded by.
I'm a whole lot different thanchurches in Chicago or Denver or
(13:50):
San Francisco or any big citythat you might Think about or
point to.
The debauchery of today is isunbelievable and it's
unmeasurable, to be honest.
But so these are all goodthings.
(14:14):
But Jesus says Nevertheless.
Nevertheless and what is thenevertheless?
Let's go back to that sectionand, starting in verse 4, he
says nevertheless, I have thisagainst you that you have left
your first love.
Remember, therefore, from whereyou have fallen, repent and do
(14:37):
your first works, or else I willcome to you quickly and remove
the lamp stand from its placeunless you repent.
It's verses 4 through 6, newKing James version.
You've left your first love.
Hmm, you know it's.
It's interesting as I wassitting down this morning to put
(14:59):
this together.
It's been written for a while.
I just hadn't had a chance torecord it as I sat here today
and I went through my Biblestudy this morning and my divos
and I prayed it's something thatthe Lord's been on me about for
months Left my first love.
(15:21):
I've left my first love andremember, friends, that we are
the church, representative ofthe church, we are the body of
Christ and therefore each one ofus is the church.
I've talked about it a hundredtimes church buildings are just
that buildings of plaster andpaint and that's all it's when
(15:45):
the people of God inhabit thespace that it becomes a church.
So this letter absolutelypoints at each one of us.
We can be working hard, oh lordy.
We can be working hard.
We can be attending churchthree times a week.
We can be in our Bibles, we canbe Working hard for the
(16:14):
downtrodden, we can be involvedin soup kitchens and we can be
involved in homeless sheltersand we can be involved in in,
you know, in in, in Women'sclinics and all kinds of
different things.
We can even be speaking outagainst the, the sin of
(16:36):
Transgenderism and homosexuality, and we can be very vocal about
those things, and we can bedoing all of that work.
We can be doing all of thatwork Just like Ephesus.
Ephesus was busy, and thechurch today is busy too.
(16:57):
And the question is are we toobusy?
The, the sin of the church inEphesus, was a sin of omission.
They forgot their why, and Ithink that we as Christians
forget our why quite often.
I know I have I've been calledto the carpet just this morning
(17:19):
for that very thing.
Why do you do?
Why do you get involved.
Why are you involved?
It's because of Jesus, their.
Why is the same?
Why that all believers haveit's Jesus.
And Jesus says remember fromwhere you've fallen, repent and
do your first works.
(17:39):
The church without Jesus as itscenter is just a place, no
matter how many good works aredone there, there's nothing, and
I mean nothing without the why.
So that's, that's the firstthing, but let's, let's dial
that in a little bit more.
You know, I look at the churchtoday and I see a whole lot of
(18:08):
activity.
I also see a whole lot of badtheology in many places.
First and foremost and thechurch in Ephesus would stand
for this they would tell youthat that God's intention was
not to have you live a gloriousand happy life where, where
(18:32):
you're always successful andthere's never any pain and
there's never any suffering andthere's never any negative
anything.
So many theologies today focuson that.
That, that gospel, that falsegospel of name it and claim it.
(18:54):
Name it and claim it, gospel.
I need millions.
I'm gonna name it and claim it.
I'm gonna claim this and I'mgonna claim that and I'm gonna
claim the other thing.
It doesn't work that way.
Prosperity gospel is just that.
It's a false flag.
It's a ridiculous false flagand people are getting ripped
(19:19):
off.
People are getting ripped offand let's talk for a minute
about the church at large.
The church at large, regardlessof the, the prosperity gospel
folks, and the Mormons and theand the Jehovah Witnesses and
again, whole other studies,right, regardless of those folks
(19:43):
, the church at large, theProtestant church at large, the
evangelical church at large,gets so focused in on stuff
that's absolutely meaningless,meaningless.
I, I, I, we argue amongstourselves over, over secondary
(20:07):
items.
Somebody asked me once if youhad to believe in the rapture in
order to be saved.
I believe the rapture.
I think the scriptures are 100%clear on that fact.
But no, you don't have tobelieve in the literal rapture
in order to be saved.
I'll explain it to you on theway up.
(20:29):
That's, that's pretty much howI look at it.
So these are secondary itemsthat we argue about consistently
and we we argue about Christianmedia.
I mean I, okay, you know.
I mean you're not gonna becomebiblically literate from
(20:52):
watching the chosen.
Okay, you're just not.
And is it 100% accurate?
Absolutely not, absolutely not.
Okay, but but and when I sayit's not accurate, it's not
biblically correct.
There are, there are things.
(21:13):
There are important itemswithin the chosen that that are
not right.
Okay, biblically, now thecreativity that's used and all
those other things.
Okay, fine, you know, I can.
I can live with that, becausehe's trying to tell the story of
people and I get it.
(21:33):
But let's not argue about thechosen.
My goodness, let's not argueabout the chosen, let's not
argue about about all theselittle things.
Pastor Chuck Smith, who I nevermet, but Pastor Chuck Smith, was
my pastor's pastor, as I'vesaid before, and therefore is,
(22:00):
by by by fact, of lineage, mypastor, because Pastor Chuck led
my pastors, Pastor Pastor JeffJohnson.
Jeff Johnson led my pastor,pastor Ed, and Pastor Ed led me.
(22:20):
It became Pastor Chuck is oneof my pastors and Pastor Chuck
Smith used to say all the timelet's keep the number one thing,
the number one thing, andwhat's the number one thing?
It's our why, it's Jesus,that's the why.
So the work comes from faith.
(22:43):
Okay, the work comes from faithand direction from the Lord,
not anything else.
Remember, folks, that we'resaved by grace, through faith,
not of works.
We're saved by faith, not ofwork.
We're saved by faith, not ofwork.
So let's say any man shouldboast, no matter how hard we
work.
We're not gonna get saved basedon how hard we work.
(23:06):
We're just not.
It's not gonna happen like that.
And then James said faithwithout works is dead.
Okay, so there's a microcosmthere.
Right, there's a microcosmthere.
There's a microcosm there.
There's a balancing act,there's a hey, you know what.
(23:33):
You have, this faith, but thefaith is what drives you to good
works.
God's works, and that's whatJesus is saying.
Return to your first love,which is me.
Do things the way you used todo them.
If you have to, if you haven'tread your scriptures in a while
and you're down about that andyou just think to yourself I
(23:55):
can't start again Like I'm sucha loser, don't pick up your
Bible and read it.
Pray.
God will listen to you and getyour marching orders from him.
The church of today is very busyand what I find is that the
(24:16):
church, the sermons in thechurch, resemble TED Talks more
than anything else.
They're a self-help situation,and that's born of your desire
to be, of people's desire to berelevant.
It's also born of theprosperity gospel movement and
(24:40):
all of those things.
They're not intended to be TEDTalks.
They're not intended to beself-help.
You can go to Walmart and buyany self-help book you want.
How about you pick up yourBible pastor, study your
scriptures and then teach, teach, teach.
(25:05):
Have people open their Biblesin church, teach, have people.
Yes, put the scriptures up onthe screens.
That's fine, that's absolutelyfine.
But encourage folks to bringtheir Bible and to engage with
(25:26):
their Bible, because that bleedsover, that becomes a part of
their everyday life.
You've built that habit.
In Return to your first works,remember what happened when you
first got saved.
Remember how excited you were.
Pray on that today.
(25:48):
Remember that.
Remember what the air tastedlike.
Remember how free you felt.
Remember how relieved you felt.
Remember how much pressure hadbeen relieved off of you.
These are all things from me,but I'm sure that it's very
similar for a lot of people.
Remember the moment when youfinally broke down and said yes,
(26:13):
and then go back to theexcitement, go back to the
passion, and I will tell you, aswe close, that we are in a
position, folks, in this day andage, where the church must
stand up.
There's not a politician thatcan do it, there's not a public
(26:36):
figure that can do it, there'snot a famous person that can do
it, there's not a millionairethat can do it, or a billionaire
, it doesn't matter.
The church has been called tostand in the gap and we must do
that.
And the way that we do that,the way that we do that, is by
(26:56):
keeping the number one thing,the number one thing.
Friends, that's all the time wehave today and I thank you very
much for listening.
Remember Jesus loves you.
Jesus loves you Until next time.
Make it count, gang and beblessed.
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