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Revelation 2:1-7 - The Church at Ephesus · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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  So we're just going to pray and go into the Word of God.
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  Is that OK? Amen.
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  Father, we do thank you for this day that you've given us.
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  It is such a blessing, Lord, to be here with the body of Jesus
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  Christ, our brothers and our sisters, all of those, Lord, who
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  are of faith and those who are coming for the first time, who
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  are coming into worship with us and to sit under the Word with
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  us. Lord, we thank you for each and
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  every person whose heart you have touched this morning, Lord,
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  to come and to be with us this morning.
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  I pray, Father, that your very presence will be felt in there
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  this morning. Lord, I pray that You would
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  allow Your Holy Spirit to fill not only my heart, but everyone
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  else's hearts that are here. Lord, I pray that You will give
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  us understanding of the scriptures that we're going to
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  be studying today that we're going to be going over.
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  Give us an understanding of it, Lord.
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  Allow us to be able to see your truth with clarity and to be
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  able to rejoice in your truth, Lord.
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  It's your truth, Lord, that makes us free.
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  And we're so thankful for that. So, Lord, I need you this
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  morning. Please speak through me just as
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  you speak to me and to everyone else that's here.
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  Lord, manifest your very presence this morning in this
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  room. In Jesus name we pray.
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  Amen. So we're about to go into the
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  the, the chapters of two and three and chapters of two and
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  three really deal as you, if you remember a couple weeks ago, we
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  talked about how the Book of Revelation is broken down and
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  it's broken down in three parts. It's the things that John has
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  seen. It's the things which are, which
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  is what we're going to be going in tonight.
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  The things which are or, or this morning.
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  I'm sorry, I keep saying tonight, this morning, the
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  things which are and, and, and as we go into chapter 4 through
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  the rest of the book, we will be talking about the things that
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  will take place. Now, I know that it's very
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  interesting to go into the the prophecy of this book and to
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  talk about all those things that are futuristic, those things
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  that will come. All that sounds exciting.
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  It's interesting. But for me, chapters 2 and three
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  are really important because it talks about the churches.
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  Jesus gives a message to the churches and these are the seven
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  churches of Asia and he gives a message to them and each one of
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  those churches and each one of those messages somewhere we can
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  find ourselves and what it is that Jesus is saying.
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  So that's for me, it's exciting as we talk about the church,
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  which is our things that are now prior to going into chapter 2,
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  we were just in verse 20 yesterday, last week and in
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  verse 20, it talked about the mystery of the seven stars.
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  And, and, and as we said before, that there are different things
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  in the Book of Revelation that are symbolic.
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  And, and there's a lot of things that are literal.
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  And some of the things that are symbolic, there's some Gray
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  areas. I mean, there's a school about
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  that says this way. There's a school that says that
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  way. But then there's some things in
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  the Book of Revelation that may be symbolic, which Jesus
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  actually makes clear. He gives an explanation for
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  those things. And we should pay attention to
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  that when he does that. So here in in verse 20 of
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  chapter 1, he said the mystery of the seven stars which you saw
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  in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands.
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  And he gives the the understanding of that.
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  He said the seven stars are the seven angels of the Church of
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  the seven churches, the angels of the churches, the messengers
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  of the churches, the pastors or the elders that that that teach
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  the word of God in these churches.
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  Those are the seven angels and the seven lampstands.
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  Those are the seven churches. And that's what Jesus is going
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  to be talking about going forward are the seven
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  lampstands, the seven churches. And these are 7 churches that
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  are located in the, the area of, of Asia Minor.
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  Now when he says the seven lamp stands, he's talking about the
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  light, the lamp, the, the menorah was the lamp stand and
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  it, and it lit the, the Tabernacle was the only light
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  that was in the Tabernacle during the times when they were
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  in the wilderness and they were traveling the Tabernacle.
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  It was the light that represented Jesus and it was and
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  it burned consistently. Jesus is the light of the world.
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  Amen. So, so then later after the
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  Tabernacle, when they built the temple, the menorah was in the
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  temple representing the light of Jesus Christ continually.
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  Once again, Jesus is the light of the world.
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  But now Jesus tells us over in the over in the discernment on
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  the mount, he says you are now the light of the world.
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  So let your light shine so that men see your good works and
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  glorify his Father who is in heaven.
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  So he is the light of the world. So now he is speaking to these
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  seven churches. Now the, the, the responsibility
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  of the church is to enlighten its members of God's will, is to
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  shine the light on God's will and to shed light on the gospel
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  upon the spiritual, the spiritual, immoral and Dark
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  World. So here is a church as a cat, as
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  a, as a lampstand. We are to be the light in our
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  community. We are to be the ones to share
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  the light of Christ in our community.
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  And, and it also tells us that, you know, how do we respond to
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  darkness, the darkness of the world?
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  How do we respond to that? I mean, we, we hear it all the
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  time. You got to be the light and
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  darkness. We hear that all the time.
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  But how do we do it? How do we do it?
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  And, and, and I was thinking like I asked my wife this
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  morning, just so I can have a, a remembrance of it.
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  My wife, my grandkids, my kids, they took a trip to the Laurel
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  Caverns and then Laurel Caverns. They have caves in there and
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  they took them deep into the caves, and some of you probably
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  did that tour before. I probably couldn't do it
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  because I don't know. I don't know if I'll be
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  comfortable in spaces like that. But they go back into this cave
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  and then they get to a point where they tell them to cut the
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  lights off. And from what I understand, it
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  is so dark in those caves that you can't even see your hand in
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  front of you. That's how dark it is.
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  I don't have a reference for that for the caves, but I do
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  know what it was like when my grandmother used to take us down
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  to the southern part of Georgia and we will go in some of those
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  back roads. How many of you have been, I
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  don't know how many of you are going to the, the southern part
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  of Georgia, but in some of those back roads, you have no lights,
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  no lights. And if it's a night where
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  there's not a lot of stars or anything like that in the sky, I
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  mean, you, you cut your, you cut your car lights off.
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  It is airy dark, really dark, scary dark.
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  You can't see your hand in front of you.
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  I don't have a reference with that.
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  That's the only reference that I have for that kind of darkness,
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  that thick, eerie darkness. So the question is, how do you
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  respond to that kind of darkness?
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  Well, Jesus tells us, he says you're the light, you're the
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  light. So the way that we respond to
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  darkness, whether it's the darkness in our families, the
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  darkness in our communities, the darkness on, the darkness on our
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  jobs, we just simply cut the lights on.
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  We'd be a light. You can't shame darkness.
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  You can't, you can't, you know, condemn darkness.
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  You can't shout at darkness and think there's going to be a
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  change. No, you cut the light on.
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  That's how we dispel darkness. So that's why Jesus says you are
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  now the light of the world. So we go here to these letters,
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  chapters 2 and 3, and these are letters of these seven churches.
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  We need to remember a couple things.
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  First of all, these are literal churches.
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  These aren't, you know, fictitious churches.
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  These are real churches that actually existed in this 1st
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  century. The other thing we need to
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  understand is that these churches were all located on the
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  western end of Turkey and it was along the Aegean Sea and, and
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  these letters contain spiritual relevance.
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  And This is why I like chapters 2 and three, because these
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  letters contain spiritual relevance to the church today.
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  So as we, you know, as we listen to these letters, as we read
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  these letters, we should pay close attention to not only the
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  commendations, but also the rebukes that are in these
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  letters. Now, not all of these churches
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  get rebukes and unfortunately not all of them get
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  commendations. And we'll get, you know, we'll,
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  we'll point those things out when we get to them.
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  But we as a church should pay attention to those because we
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  can probably find our church in one of these, in one of these
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  examples, if not all of them. Some scholars believe that Jesus
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  was addressing different church ages or in in history.
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  However, he says that he who has an ear, let him hear what the
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  Spirit says to the churches, not to the church.
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  He says let the Spirit, you know, what does the Spirit say
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  to the churches? So I believe it as well as as a
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  lot of the other scholars, not that I'm a scholar, I'm not put
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  myself in that category. I'm just saying that I kind of
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  fall on this side of it, that these letters are a message to
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  the churches of all ages. There's a message to us, message
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  to them, message to churches that will be coming after us as
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  well. There's a structure that Jesus
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  puts together with these these these letters.
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  The first thing he does is that he names the recipient.
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  He gets a description of Jesus Christ.
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  There's a description of Jesus Christ and it's usually taken
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  from somewhere in the in chapter 1.
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  And then he gives a commendation or compliment of that, of that
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  congregations virtues and the things that they're doing well,
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  the things that please him. And in most of these, he also
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  gives a rebuke of what the church is lacking.
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  And then he gives a command for correction of what is lacking.
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  And he ends usually with a promise to those who are the
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  overcomers in that church. So we are going to be looking at
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  the first church here, which is going to be the Church of
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  Ephesus that he writes this letter to.
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  Now, the title in my Bible says the Loveless church.
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  That may be the title in your Bible as well.
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  And he so he's talking about the loveless church here now.
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  Now the Church of Ephesus. It just to give you a little
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  background about it before we get into the to the Scripture it
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  it it it existed between about 53 AD to about 9500 AD somewhere
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  in that neighborhood. The city of Ephesus was an
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  important seaport on the AGN coast.
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  The Ephesian church was founded by the apostle Paul who
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  ministered and established the church for about 3 years.
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  He spent three years in the city of Ephesus, and that's amazing,
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  especially when we hear about just how deep this city was.
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  He spent three years dealing with that darkness afterwards.
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  No, he appointed Timothy to be a pastor and then later the
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  apostle John himself, which was a pastor there at the Church of
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  of Ephesus. And it was from the Church of
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  Ephesus that John actually wrote the Gospel of John, first,
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  second and third John. And it was when he was exiled to
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  the island of Patmos that he wrote this book, the Book of
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  Revelation. This is the last book of the
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  Bible. And it was when he was exiled to
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  the island of Patmos. It's important to remember that
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  Jesus is head of the church. And he tells us he, he, he says
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  that almost. And what he definitely tells us
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  that in Colossians 1 and 18, he is head of the church.
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  He's the one that protects us. He's the one that watches over
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  us. He's the one that knows what we
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  do. He says when two or three are
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  gathered, I am there in the midst of you.
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  And here in verse 1, he says to the Angel of the Church of
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  Ephesus, right these things says He who holds the seven stars in
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  his right hand, who walks in the midst of the 7 golden
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  lampstands. So he walks in our midst.
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  Jesus is in our midst right now. He's in our midst.
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  He hears what we, what we, what we say, he sees what we do.
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  He's, he's here in this sanctuary.
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  He's over there where the the children are.
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  He's over there where the infants are.
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  Jesus is in our midst and he knows all, he knows all and he
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  sees all. So his, you know, he, he, he
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  says to us that, you know, he is walking in the midst of his
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  golden lampstands. And then in verse 2, he and, and
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  three, we're going to put these two together.
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  Verses 2 and three, he says, I know your works, your labor,
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  your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil.
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  And you have tested those who say that they are apostles and
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  are not, and have found them liars.
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  And you have persevered and have patience and have labor for my
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  name's sake and have not become weary.
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  So we stopped there. And now he, now Jesus is talking
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  to this church and he's giving them his commendation.
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  He's he, He's talking about the things that he admires about the
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  church that he sees. He says, I know your works.
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  I know your good works. I know your works of
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  righteousness. And just like he knows the works
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  that we do, he, you know they're, they're, he knows their
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  patience. He knows the fact that they
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  labor, they keep their hands to the plow.
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  They're, they're always about the things of the Lord.
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  This is a work in church. This is a church that's active,
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  very active for the things of the Lord.
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  They may have different ministries of evangelism and
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  ministries of, of food, you know, food pantries.
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  They may have ministries to different areas in the
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  community. They get out to see the people
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  who are sick or or they have, you know, teaching Bible studies
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  is I mean, there's a lot of things that this church was
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  involved and he knows their works.
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  He knows their patience, that they persevere and even in
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  endurance. And you know, even through the
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  suffering that this, this church was going through at the time
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  when you know, the mission and all those other emperors were
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  hating the Christians and they were being persecuted, The
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  people were persecuting them who were not Christian.
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  Some of the, the non believing Jews or the, the non believing
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  Gentiles, They were being, I mean, they were getting
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  persecution from all sides, but they persevered.
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  He says they, they persevered, they went through that, they,
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  they dealt with that. But Jesus says of the city, he
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  says, you know, he knows how dark that city is.
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  So it's a wonder that they were able to stay so committed to
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  him. This was a city that was so
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  dark. It was deeply rooted in
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  idolatry. It had a lot of false religions.
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  They worship the goddess of, of Diana, who was also named
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  Artemis. They worship her.
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  And, and because she was the, because she was the goddess of
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  fertility, their worship included lewd acts of sexual
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  immorality. The people would come to the
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  temple and they would, you know, participate in, in instant
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  burnings and chants and all kind of other things to this goddess.
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  And then as a way of worshipping her, they would participate in
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  sexual activity with the temple prostitutes, which I understand
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  they had hundreds of them that would come into this and to this
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  temple. So it was a beautiful tip on the
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  outside. In fact, there are people who
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  says that this temple was actually one of the seven
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  wonders of the world. So it's a beautiful temple on
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  the outside, but what was going on on the inside was nothing but
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  debauchery, sin, and all types of immorality.
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  They also had a lot of magic and sorcery and it flourished in the
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  city, which is one of the reasons why they were upset with
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  Paul, because when Paul came preaching the gospel, he put a
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  dent in that market and people weren't happy.
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  You know, when Paul came preaching the gospel, when
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  people started changing and receiving Jesus Christ as their
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  Lord and Savior and not worshipping this goddess, but
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  they started worshipping the true God.
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  They started throwing their books away and burning their
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  books And they, they, they, you know, they didn't buy these
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  statues anymore that they were making of, of Diana.
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  So that put a dent in their, in their industry.
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  So, you know, they, they not, you know, Paul got to go.
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  You know how that goes. Paul got to go.
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  He can't, he can't be messing with the money.
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  It's almost like there are times when I I've heard about
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  different preachers are pastors and different communities.
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  I remember us learning about pastors who would go into places
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  like the Hill District or places like other communities where
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  there's a lot of heavy drug flow.
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  And, and as they're preaching the gospel and they're, and
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  they're talking to people and they're getting people change
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  their lives. Christ is, is, is, is exposing
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  himself to people. He's showing himself to people
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  when and he's touching their hearts and people are changing
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  their lives that are changing their, their, their activities.
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  And they're no longer buying the crack.
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  They're not buying the marijuana anymore or the heroin.
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  The drug dealers get concerned and they begin to threaten the
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  pastors. So when people start to touch
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  money, things get crazy. One of the other things about
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  this particular church is that it did not put up with sin.
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  It did not tolerate sin. They didn't just turn their, you
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  know, they didn't just turn a blind eye when they saw sin
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  happening in the church. They confronted it.
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  They dealt with it. They didn't push it under the
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  rug. They dealt with it.
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  They did not bear evil. They didn't bear evil.
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  It wasn't like the church at Corinth who had the, you know,
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  who had the brother or the, or the man who was sleeping with
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  his mother-in-law and no one was doing anything about it.
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  All they were focused on was all the gifts that the church had
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  and all the ministry that they had and all the things that they
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  were doing that that was an outward show.
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  But Paul said no. Paul said no, I mean, this this
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  guy's is sleeping. He's committing sexual
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  immorality in the church and nobody is doing anything about
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  it. Paul said, I've judged him
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  already and he needs to go. He needs to go until he can
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  repent. And Paul's not, you know, he
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  wasn't saying I just want to get rid of this guy all together.
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  Paul was saying we need to put him in a situation where he can
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  see that what he is doing is contrary to the will and word of
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  God and cause him bring him to a point of repentance, which is
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  what church when church discipline when it has to
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  happen. That's why it's not to get rid
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  of the person. It's not to destroy the person's
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  reputation. It's not to condemn.
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  The person it's to give them an opportunity to repent and to get
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  back in fellowship with the Lord is to restore that person.
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  But this church is saying, I'm not, we're not going to deal
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  with evil. We're going to confront it.
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  And because of their knowledge of and commitment and then love
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  that they have for the truth, they tested those who claim to
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  be apostles and, and, and, and they just didn't just receive
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  everything that they said, but they would test it to see if it
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  was true, if it was really of the word of God.
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  They tested every spirit to see if it was of God and some of
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  these people, they found that they were just self-proclaimed
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  apostles and they were liars. They were false teachers and
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  these and this church didn't bear with that.
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  They confronted it and the Bible tells us that that's what should
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  happen. Over in first John four and one
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  he says do not believe every spirit but test the spirits
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  rather they are of God. And we remember the Bereans over
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  in the book of Acts chapter 17, the book of Acts, the Bereans,
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  they did the same thing. Even when Paul came to preach to
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  the Bereans, they didn't just take everything that Paul said
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  and and take a tooth and down and say, oh, it must be true.
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  Paul was up here speaking it. No, that's not what the Bereans
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  did. The Bereans searched the
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  Scriptures to see if those things were true.
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  Over in Acts chapter 1711, it says these meaning the Bereans
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  were more fair minded, were more noble than those who were in
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  Thessalonica in that they received the word with all
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  readiness and search the scriptures daily to find out
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  whether these things were so. And we should be doing that even
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  as we're teaching. I'm teaching right now.
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  These things should be should be checked to make sure that what
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  I'm saying is not things I'm making up.
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  Make sure that it's true, grounded and true, not just
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  ideas or things that sound logical.
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  Every time a teacher comes up and teaches, regardless of who
• 22:10
  it is, that should be our attitude.
• 22:12
  Well, yeah, I like what he's saying, but I want to make sure
• 22:15
  that it's of the Word that is the word of God, and not just
• 22:18
  some philosophy that he put together or some things that
• 22:21
  he's reading of somebody else that has nothing to do with the
• 22:24
  Word of God. We should check those things and
• 22:27
  make sure that they're true. In First Thessalonica and 1st
• 22:29
  Thessalonians chapter 5 and 21, he says test all things and hold
• 22:34
  fast to what is good. So these false apostles were a
• 22:39
  threat to all churches, and that's why it's important to
• 22:43
  call that out if we see it because they could be a threat
• 22:45
  to somebody else. They leave your church, but then
• 22:47
  they go somewhere else and spill that medicine and spread that
• 22:51
  and spread that that that heresy, heresy and false
• 22:55
  teachers are a major threat to churches today.
• 22:58
  So we too should be testing these things by the word of God.
• 23:05
  And then just at the bottom of verse verse three, he mentions
• 23:08
  the the the commendations again. He summarizes them again.
• 23:12
  He says the church had persevered.
• 23:14
  They have labored patiently and they had not become weary and
• 23:18
  well doing, but they had longevity, they had endurance.
• 23:24
  They didn't tire of doing the right thing.
• 23:28
  So they did all this service and they did this for about 4043
• 23:31
  years of service. But eventually there became an
• 23:36
  issue in that church and verse 4 tells us that issue.
• 23:41
  So we'll read verse 4 down to verse 6.
• 23:46
  Verse 4 says, nevertheless I have this against you, that you
• 23:52
  have left your first love. Remember therefore, where you
• 23:58
  have fallen, from where you have fallen, repent and do the first
• 24:04
  works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your
• 24:09
  lampstand from its place unless you repent.
• 24:14
  But this you have that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans,
• 24:21
  which I also hate. So he goes back and he says
• 24:25
  here, you've done all these great things.
• 24:27
  I love the fact that you are zealous for the things of the
• 24:31
  Lord. I love that.
• 24:33
  I love that you labor intensely. I love that.
• 24:38
  I love the fact that you persevere, that nothing seems to
• 24:43
  get you down. You don't tire just because
• 24:46
  things are going against you. You don't become weary and quit
• 24:51
  and you're well doing. I love that about you.
• 24:55
  I love the fact that you do all these good works.
• 24:59
  However, however, you have left, not lost.
• 25:07
  He doesn't say lost your first love.
• 25:09
  He says you have left your first love.
• 25:16
  Now as pastors, I would think that if we were to receive a
• 25:23
  message from Jesus and only had one thing on there that he
• 25:27
  didn't like that we were doing, but we probably be good.
• 25:30
  We probably be worshiping and praising him and thanking him.
• 25:34
  I mean just one thing, but for Jesus this was a big thing
• 25:39
  because in this thing it gives the motivation for everything
• 25:44
  that they do. He says you have left your first
• 25:51
  love. They were known for their love
• 25:59
  even when Paul was there. Paul has said of them.
• 26:02
  He says, you know what, I never ceased to pray for you from the
• 26:05
  time that I heard about your faith in your love over in
• 26:09
  Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 15.
• 26:14
  This is such a warning for the church that it's good to be
• 26:19
  about doing the things of the Lord.
• 26:20
  It's good to be about service. It's good to be in praise and
• 26:24
  worship. It's good to be in AV and all
• 26:26
  these different things that we do to teaching ministries and
• 26:28
  the, the children, all these things that we do, but we should
• 26:33
  always be aware of the motivation for why we're doing
• 26:36
  it. We should always be aware of
• 26:39
  that because if we're doing it for any other reason other than
• 26:42
  for the love of God, eventually that is going to wane.
• 26:47
  That excitement is going to wane.
• 26:48
  It's going to fade and it's going to turn into, to something
• 26:52
  that becomes territorial or becomes into something that
• 26:57
  becomes adversarial. You begin to get tired of of
• 27:03
  working with people because the love is gone.
• 27:07
  So you start to have issues with people who don't do it your way.
• 27:11
  Because now all of a sudden the motive for doing this is not
• 27:14
  just to please the Lord. The motive for doing this is to
• 27:17
  please you, to please me. I want to do it this way because
• 27:22
  this is how I want it done. I think we should provide this
• 27:26
  because this is what I want, what will help me.
• 27:29
  I think we should go here because all these things, not
• 27:33
  because we love Jesus, but because we love us.
• 27:39
  And we begin to and we begin to promote the, the speakers or the
• 27:44
  pastors and to, to put them on the pedestals as opposed to
• 27:49
  Jesus. So he said that first love, How
• 27:54
  do we act in our first love? How do we act our first love in
• 27:56
  our marriages? Oh, we were giddy.
• 27:59
  We were giddy. We couldn't get enough of each
• 28:02
  other. We call each other and just hold
• 28:04
  the phone. You hang up.
• 28:08
  No, you hang up. Couldn't get enough of seeing
• 28:16
  each other, couldn't get enough of talking to each other.
• 28:18
  And we weren't there to talk with each other.
• 28:20
  We talk about each other to somebody else, that first love
• 28:27
  and marriages are tough. It's tough to maintain a
• 28:30
  marriage when that first love is gone, because what happens is
• 28:34
  that all that's left is duty, responsibility.
• 28:39
  Yeah, we still do our husbandly things where the wife still does
• 28:43
  the wifely things, but there's no love.
• 28:47
  There's no love it it has waned. Serving the Lord also becomes
• 28:50
  tough whenever the the first love is gone.
• 28:52
  And and what used to be relationship has become nothing
• 28:56
  but religion, legalism and duty. When our love for Jesus and
• 29:02
  others grow cold, all that's left basically it feels like a a
• 29:08
  constraint or a a burden, a slavish obedience.
• 29:14
  Sure, we still obey, but not with the same attitude, not with
• 29:18
  the same heart when we lose our first love.
• 29:24
  You know Jesus never loses His first love for us.
• 29:28
  He is everlasting. His love is everlasting.
• 29:32
  He loves us just as much today as He did from the foundation of
• 29:36
  the world. He loves us just as much today
• 29:39
  as the day we first got saved. He loves us just some He.
• 29:42
  He, His love doesn't wane, His love doesn't fade, but our love
• 29:49
  can fade from Him. It's good to have knowledge of
• 29:55
  doctrine and obey that doctrine. It's good to have that, but it
• 29:59
  should be grounded in a deep love for Jesus Christ and for
• 30:04
  His church. That's where it should be
• 30:07
  grounded in. Jesus will always prefer the
• 30:09
  love of Mary, the love that Mary had when she, you know, when she
• 30:14
  was sitting his feet just to listen to his word.
• 30:17
  He would prefer that love over the works and the busyness of
• 30:22
  Martha. So let's get back to the
• 30:28
  beginning, that excitement. We can do that.
• 30:31
  Jesus is saying in this, in this message here, you can do that.
• 30:34
  I'm not writing you off. I'm not getting rid of you.
• 30:38
  I'm not turning my back on you. That's not what I'm doing.
• 30:41
  I'm just letting you know that because I walk in the midst of
• 30:44
  you and because I see what you're doing and because I know
• 30:47
  your heart. Remember when we described his
• 30:49
  eyes, He says his eyes were like balls of fire because he can see
• 30:54
  through to the heart, not just the outside of things.
• 30:59
  He can see through into our our hearts.
• 31:02
  And he says, what I see is that there's a fading of the love,
• 31:07
  your first love, you've you've not lost it, but you've left
• 31:11
  your first love, but you can get back to it.
• 31:14
  And look at what he says here in verse, in verse 5.
• 31:16
  He says, remember therefore from where you have fallen.
• 31:21
  It was really nice. It's really nice to think about
• 31:23
  that where you have fallen. Remember because where you've
• 31:27
  fallen from, that means remember the way it was when you first
• 31:29
  met me, when you first knew something about.
• 31:32
  Then you think back to the first time that the word of God
• 31:35
  actually took root in your heart.
• 31:38
  Can you think back to that time and how you loved Him and how
• 31:43
  you and how you conducted yourself?
• 31:45
  Then you couldn't wait to come to church.
• 31:49
  You would come to church every time the doors open.
• 31:52
  And when you weren't sitting in church, you were listening to
• 31:55
  tapes of His Word and you weren't listening to tapes of
• 31:58
  His Word. You listen to other pastors.
• 31:59
  You were you were listening to, you know, you were listening to
• 32:02
  Christian songs. I remember a guy came up to
• 32:06
  visit me from my hometown. And this was after I got saved
• 32:09
  and he's riding in the car with me and I'm playing all this
• 32:12
  Christian music. He said, boy, you've really
• 32:15
  gotten into this adventure. He didn't hear any world songs
• 32:20
  that he we used to play with each other.
• 32:22
  He said, man, you, you over the top on us, ain't you?
• 32:25
  But that's the way it is when we first fall in love with Jesus.
• 32:28
  It feels like we're like fanatics.
• 32:32
  And I'm not ashamed of that. I'm not ashamed of that.
• 32:36
  All you talked about was Jesus. All you wanted to talk about was
• 32:40
  Jesus. Everybody you met at some point,
• 32:44
  that conversation would get back to Jesus.
• 32:47
  You will find a way. You would hear a door that was a
• 32:50
  window or something that they said that would bring back a way
• 32:54
  for you to talk about Jesus. Remember the times when when you
• 33:00
  would come to serve and and everything was so joyful and so
• 33:04
  exciting because you weren't serving for you weren't just
• 33:08
  serving to be serving. You were serving because you
• 33:10
  loved him. Somebody tell you here, take the
• 33:13
  take those chairs and and move them over there.
• 33:16
  Yes, absolutely. Yes, because you just wanted to
• 33:21
  be doing work in the House of God.
• 33:25
  It was serving him and anything you asked me to do to serve him,
• 33:29
  I'm with it. And that's what we did at that
• 33:31
  particular time. It was those things that meant
• 33:34
  so much to us. Bible studies, we were there.
• 33:41
  Church picnics, we were there. Every time the doors open, we
• 33:46
  were there and wondering what can we do?
• 33:48
  Now? This particular church, our
• 33:50
  church is one of the most loving churches that I've ever been in.
• 33:56
  If somebody has a need, somebody's there to help with
• 33:59
  it. This church has never that I've
• 34:02
  seen since I've been here and I've been here now since 2011,
• 34:06
  ten, sorry, since 2010, I've been here and I've never seen
• 34:12
  this church lack in the area of love.
• 34:15
  Thank Jesus, thank God for that because I have learned about
• 34:24
  church body being here in a way that I have never experienced it
• 34:28
  before. This love that you guys have for
• 34:31
  the sacrificial love, you'll drop what you're doing to go
• 34:34
  help somebody. When it was snowing and we had
• 34:39
  this really bad snow, there are people who needed assistance.
• 34:42
  There were men who dropped what they did and went to go take
• 34:44
  care of it. When someone has a baby or if
• 34:48
  someone has a need for meals, people go and pitch in.
• 34:54
  I'm just seeing so much love in this house.
• 34:59
  But we also have to look at our own personal minister, own
• 35:02
  personal lives. Is there anywhere in my life
• 35:05
  where I'm lacking love? Is there anywhere in my life
• 35:09
  where my love for Jesus has waned or faded?
• 35:13
  Am I still serving him with the first love?
• 35:18
  And we have to be honest about that for ourselves.
• 35:21
  But he says, remember, therefore, from where you've
• 35:24
  fallen and repent, turn from it. Repent.
• 35:27
  Confess that sin. Confess that.
• 35:30
  Yeah, this is the way that I'm feeling.
• 35:32
  I have lost or left that first love.
• 35:37
  Serving now has become somewhat of a chore.
• 35:41
  And that excitement that I used to have with serving is not
• 35:43
  there anymore. It's a press for me now to come
• 35:46
  to church sometimes. It's a press sometimes to do the
• 35:53
  ministry that I first volunteered to do.
• 35:58
  We have to admit that to ourselves if that's who we are.
• 36:03
  So he says, repent and then turn from that.
• 36:06
  Turn from that and turn back to the Lord.
• 36:09
  Let that light in our continent shine again.
• 36:13
  That used to shine so bright. Better start talking again about
• 36:19
  Jesus Christ and the things that He's done for us.
• 36:23
  How about just giving back, getting back to Thanksgiving, to
• 36:27
  the heart of Thanksgiving to just sometimes when we pray,
• 36:32
  instead of praying with our laundry list of things that we
• 36:35
  need or things that we want changed in our lives or or
• 36:37
  things that we want to see different, even just the way
• 36:40
  that we pray for other people. How about someone sometimes just
• 36:44
  thanking him? Lord, thank you.
• 36:48
  Thank you for the things you've done.
• 36:51
  Thank You that I still have a desire to serve you.
• 36:56
  Thank You that I have not turned back from my salvation.
• 37:00
  Thank You that You continue to speak to me through Your word.
• 37:06
  Thank you that I still have food on my table.
• 37:10
  Thank you for the clothes on my back.
• 37:12
  Thank you for the roof over my head.
• 37:15
  Thank you for the old piece of car that I drive.
• 37:20
  Thank you. Thank you that my children are
• 37:24
  healthy. Thank you that I still that I
• 37:27
  still have some loved ones in my in my life.
• 37:30
  Thank you for the things you've done for my brothers and sisters
• 37:34
  when they were struggling. Thank you for the healings that
• 37:37
  you've given to our brothers and sisters that were we were
• 37:40
  praying for. Thank you.
• 37:43
  Sometimes we just need to go back to having a thankful heart
• 37:49
  with the Lord that helps us to get back to that first love and
• 37:53
  the gratitude, the gratitude that we have just from being
• 37:57
  saved. Thank you.
• 38:00
  I'm so grateful to you, Lord, that I am saved, that I've
• 38:04
  escaped the wrath to come. Thank you.
• 38:10
  What a blessing it is to not take those things for granted.
• 38:14
  And sometimes we can, just like we can take each other for
• 38:17
  granted. So things like thank you and
• 38:19
  please, they kind of leave our vocabulary in the home because
• 38:24
  we begin to take those things for granted when our loved ones
• 38:26
  do things for us. And we can do the same thing
• 38:28
  with the Lord. We can take those things for
• 38:31
  granted, take it for granted that while they know I love them
• 38:36
  so I don't have to show them no more.
• 38:38
  I mean, I've been here how many years?
• 38:42
  Still necessary to do those things, those first things,
• 38:46
  those first acts, Still necessary to do those things,
• 38:49
  just like it is for the Lord. But you know, the real blessing
• 38:52
  is the fact, like we said earlier, He never, never stop
• 38:58
  loving us. His love never faded from us,
• 39:02
  which is why he's even writing this because he's letting us
• 39:05
  know just how important relationship is with him.
• 39:11
  Relationship. He could have just let this
• 39:14
  thing go and say you don't all those other things.
• 39:16
  Ah, you don't love me as much as did I ask.
• 39:18
  OK, no, it's important for him to have relationship with us.
• 39:24
  Why I'm a Sinner, I'm not even worth having a relationship with
• 39:30
  him, but yet it's important to him that we have relationship
• 39:34
  with him and he wants it. He wants it.
• 39:40
  So we then do the first works like we talked about.
• 39:43
  Or else I will come quickly. I will come to you quickly and
• 39:47
  remove your lamp stand from its place.
• 39:50
  He's basically saying, I will come and I will remove your
• 39:56
  church. How Remove your church.
• 39:59
  The light in that church will go out and will go dim and
• 40:03
  eventually it will go out. The Church of Ephesus is not
• 40:07
  there anymore. Just the rumbles of it, just
• 40:09
  the, just the, the, the, the, you know, the, the leftover
• 40:12
  pieces of it, the remnants of it.
• 40:14
  That church is not there anymore.
• 40:18
  And there's a lot of churches today.
• 40:21
  Whose doors are closing? I bet someone in here knows of a
• 40:25
  church that over the past 10 years that is no longer here.
• 40:30
  Because when we leave the love of Jesus, eventually, eventually
• 40:38
  the right of our ministry goes out.
• 40:41
  Because when his presence go, so does he.
• 40:45
  So does the light. It goes so he says, I will come
• 40:52
  to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless
• 40:56
  you repent. That's twice He used the word
• 40:59
  repent. He is telling us that we still,
• 41:03
  regardless of where we are in our hearts, with Him we can
• 41:07
  repent and be restored. And that's the thing I love most
• 41:10
  about the Lord with each other. Sometimes we can do things that
• 41:15
  we will write each other off for the rest of our lives, not speak
• 41:19
  to each other ever again. So sad when that happens,
• 41:24
  particularly in families, but with Jesus that never happens.
• 41:28
  He says if you repent, all he's saying is just acknowledge.
• 41:32
  Agree with me that this is going on in your heart.
• 41:36
  Agree with me on that. Acknowledge it, confess it, and
• 41:41
  then turn from it. Change your mind about it.
• 41:44
  Turn from it and we get restored.
• 41:47
  So twice he uses the way he said, unless you repent, this is
• 41:50
  what will happen. Verse 6 says, but this you have
• 41:53
  that you hate the deeds of the Nicolatians, which I also hate.
• 41:57
  Now notice he didn't say I hate the nicolation, the Nicolatans,
• 42:01
  and I want to pronounce that right, just like we got to
• 42:03
  pronounce the Book of Revelation right without an S.
• 42:08
  Well, nicolate 10s is how it's pronounced.
• 42:12
  It's not pronounced nicolate shuns.
• 42:15
  And I'm just saying that to you because I made both of those
• 42:17
  mistakes. I made both of those mistakes
• 42:21
  and I got it clear. So I don't want you guys to make
• 42:23
  that mistake. It's the Nicolay tenants.
• 42:26
  And he's saying that, listen, you know, the the the deeds of
• 42:30
  the Nicolatians looking at lake tenants is what he hates the
• 42:33
  deeds, not the Nicolatans. He doesn't hate the people, but
• 42:37
  he hates the deeds. Why?
• 42:40
  Because your deeds are very similar.
• 42:42
  Their, their doctrine is very similar to Balaam's.
• 42:47
  It, it, it, it would it, it definitely encouraged sexual
• 42:51
  immorality. Basically saying that whatever
• 42:54
  you do with your body is fine, don't worry about it.
• 42:58
  So they're OK with all these things that they did in the
• 43:02
  temple because hey, that's just the body.
• 43:03
  Don't worry about it. It's the spirit that you got to
• 43:06
  be concerned about. Now, this is what makes it even
• 43:09
  more interesting. The one who founded the Nicolay
• 43:13
  10s was actually his name was his name was Nicholas.
• 43:18
  And he was actually one of the seven deacons who Peter and the
• 43:25
  apostles chose to be the first deacons of the church.
• 43:29
  He was one of them, but he fell away.
• 43:32
  He fell into some heresy and he never came out of and he let a
• 43:36
  people, a set called the Nicolaitans.
• 43:42
  In this group of people. There's about sexual immorality,
• 43:46
  it's about immoral conduct, all those things.
• 43:49
  It's OK. They're saying it's OK.
• 43:52
  But the other thing about the Nicolaitans is the fact that
• 43:54
  they also have this doctrine of what they, what they call
• 44:00
  basically we look at it and we see it's like clergy against
• 44:04
  laity. In other words, it brought
• 44:06
  hierarchy into the church hierarchy.
• 44:10
  So now the, you know, those who were in ministry or or those who
• 44:14
  were the elders or whatever more important than the people and
• 44:19
  they were to go betweens between the people and the Lord.
• 44:26
  The word Nicolaitans actually means conquer the people and
• 44:34
  then over here in verse 7, praise worship team can come
• 44:36
  forth. In verse 7, he says he who has
• 44:41
  an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church, to
• 44:45
  him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life,
• 44:49
  which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
• 44:54
  He who overcomes, he who has an ear, let him hear.
• 44:58
  So it's not just for this church, it's everyone who's
• 45:01
  listening, everyone who hears it from my voice.
• 45:05
  Let him come, don't go. If you can hear it, then listen
• 45:11
  to it. Understand what it is that he,
• 45:13
  they, he's saying. Let me understand what it is
• 45:15
  that I'm saying. Hear what the Spirit says to the
• 45:17
  churches and to he who overcomes.
• 45:20
  I will give him to eat of the tree of life.
• 45:23
  That's the the tree of eternity. The tree of life was mentioned
• 45:27
  back in Genesis at the very beginning, the tree of life was
• 45:31
  mentioned and it was shielded from everybody every you know,
• 45:34
  when he when he kicked Adam, when the Lord kicked Adam out of
• 45:36
  the garden, That tree had to be protected because didn't want
• 45:41
  him to eat from that tree of life and have eternity and the
• 45:44
  sense and and in the position that he was in, he was sinful.
• 45:47
  He become sinful, he become disobedient.
• 45:51
  But to those of us who overcome, those of us who trust in Jesus
• 45:54
  Christ, the true believers, those who believe that Jesus is
• 45:58
  the Christ, and those who obey the word of God, if you love me,
• 46:05
  you'll keep my commandments is what Jesus says.
• 46:08
  We get a chance to eat at that tree.
• 46:10
  We get that eternal life is what Jesus is offering, but he gives
• 46:15
  us an opportunity to repent. So my question to myself, I had
• 46:19
  to ask myself 2 questions. First of all, if the Lord was to
• 46:22
  write a letter to Calvary Chapel, Westmoreland, what would
• 46:26
  be what would be the commendations and what would be
• 46:32
  the rebukes? If He was to write that letter
• 46:36
  directly to me, what would be the commendations and what would
• 46:39
  be the rebukes? Even more important, where am I
• 46:42
  at in this message? Where is my heart?
• 46:48
  Is my heart fading? Do I need to go before Him and
• 46:52
  ask for a fresh feeling of His Holy Spirit so that I can have
• 46:56
  that first love? Where am I at?
• 47:01
  And only I have to be honest with myself, just like all of
• 47:03
  you have to be honest with yourself.
• 47:05
  But the thing that I want us to remember is that He loves each
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  and every one of us so much that a relationship with Him is
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  important. That's how much He loves us.
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  So let's pray, Father, we thank You for the message of love that
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  You give us. The theme of love, Lord, runs
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  through so many of the messages that you give us, Lord, to
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  listen to, that you give us to read.
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  That theme of love, Lord, because it was love that took
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  you to the cross. It was love that caused you to
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  give yourself up for us. I'm so grateful.
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  I thank you, Father, that your example of that love and that
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  first love, Lord, is what you tell us that we can get back to.
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  We can get back to the way that we used to be with you.
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  You are God of restoration. Lord, You will restore us
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  wherever we think that we've dropped off.
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  Lord, you can restore us. You desire to restore us.
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  Lord, I thank you that you see us as the apple of your eye.
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  We're so important to You that even above works, above our
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  labor, above are the obedience to the doctrine.
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  Lord, the thing that you desire most is relationship.
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  And I thank you that you're always there to be in
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  relationship with us, Lord. So on a night in which Jesus was
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  betrayed, he took the bread and he said, this bread is my body,
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  my broken body. This is the represents the body
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  that I that he allowed to be broken because he loved us.
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  And he says, eat this and as often as you eat it, eating the
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  remembrance of me. And then he took the cup, and he
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  said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which I
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  shed for the forgiveness of sins of many.
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  And once again He gave up us of his shed blood.
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  He shed his blood because he loved us and He didn't wait
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  until we got our lives together. But it was why we were yet
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  sinners. He demonstrated his love for us
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  about what He did on the cross. So drink this and as often as
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  you drink it, drink it in remembrance of me.
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  As often as you eat this bread and and drink this cup, you do
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  show the Lord's death until he comes.
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  The altar is open for anyone who wants to just come up and lay
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  before the Lord and to.