Episode 11 - The Church of Thessalonica

[00:00:00] Foreign. [00:00:08] Good afternoon. My name's Pastor Peter, co founder of Eyes to See Ministries International, a teaching ministry. [00:00:17] We are missionaries here in our own country as well as in Africa, India, Pakistan and other places. [00:00:25] There are places in, in the South America where we have been to and we're filming today out of Community Media of South Central Pennsylvania. I would recommend you look them up on their website. [00:00:43] It is a community organization as in their name and they pretty much, if you look on the website, it's a valuable, it's a valuable organization in our community and I would highly recommend you check them out. [00:01:01] Today we are finally going to get into the book of Revelation, Christ's letters to the seven churches. Last week you were given a general overview of what those seven letters pertain to. Today we're going to look at the Church of Ephesus. But, but before we do that, and this is very important, if you have your Bible open up to 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, because I want to go through this chapter quickly. [00:01:35] One of the things that I've been teaching on throughout this year is Bible prophecy, where we are. And that teaching is what inspired me to go back into the Book of Revelation, the last book in the Holy Bible where Jesus is evaluating his churches. [00:01:55] Most, most theologians put that book 60 to 65 years after Christ's crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. There are some that put it about 90 to 95 years. But there's some challenges at least with, with my mind in doing that and I don't want to get into that today. So I'm going to just say my opinion. [00:02:22] That book was written given to Apostle John by inspiration of God 60 to 65 years after the, the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ. And it's his evaluations of his churches. The church of Christ bought by his blood for his purposes. [00:02:46] I'm going to open in prayer and then we'll take a look at second Thessalonians for a minute. Father, I just than you for the opportunity that every week a message pertaining to Jesus Christ salvation, which would include salvation, God's free gift of salvation, forgiveness of sin and repentance, as well as where, where are we in God's timeline as far as Bible prophecy? There's been a lot of prophecies. The Bible, roughly one third of the Bible is, is prophecies. And we are at a place now where we need your guidance, your leading and your teaching so that the church can prepare itself. It needs to have an understanding of where it's at. So that's what I ask that you open the understanding of our hearts and that we can discern what the Spirit is saying to the churches in these last of the last days along your timeline. [00:03:58] And Lord, I pray that this message reaches all the people that you need it to reach so that they prepare. The unsaved can prepare and learn what they need to do to avoid the wrath of God in these upcoming days. [00:04:18] So we thank you, we bless you, let all the glory go to you, God, in Jesus name. Amen. [00:04:26] So 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. [00:04:34] This is Paul writing a letter to the Thessalonians, the church in Thessalonica. [00:04:42] Now we beseech you brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together to him. [00:04:51] That's what he was talking about in chapter one. [00:04:56] That you be not shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by Spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand. [00:05:14] Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come. Now this is the verse that I want you to really get in your heart. [00:05:24] The day of Christ is the coming of Christ. It's when the wrath of God is going to be poured out on this earth. [00:05:33] Let no man deceive you by any means that that day shall not come, except there comes a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed, the Son of perdition. So two things Paul tells the church and the reason he's writing this letter is false. Teachers have come in and have taught these people or tried to convince them and deceive them that the day of the Lord has already passed them. [00:06:08] And that's exactly why he had to address also what will happen to those that already died? [00:06:16] What's going to happen to them? Because Paul told them that Christ would come and there'd be a catching away of the Church and then the church would be with the Lord forever. [00:06:29] So he has to address two things, but there's two events that are going to happen prior to the wrath being poured out. [00:06:41] So the falling away hasn't happened. [00:06:45] However, if you look, if you study your Bible and you read your Bible every day and just turn the news on for about five minutes, you'll see the world literally is losing its mind. [00:06:59] The scripture that says there will be a time when right is wrong and wrong is defined as right. [00:07:06] We're in those days now. [00:07:12] America needs God's help. [00:07:16] We've turned away from God a long time ago. And right now we have a limited window of opportunity where we are we are being persecuted here, but not like what is going to come. [00:07:33] And we need to pray about that first and foremost. But you need to understand where you are at, where we are at as a church, so that you do not fall out of faith when things start to get rough. I believe personally, not everybody but myself has been called right now to teach on Bible prophecy and to teach people on who Jesus Christ is. [00:08:07] Because unfortunately, when the world looks at what is called in general terms, the Christian church as a group, they look at us, in the first century, we were united, the believers were united. [00:08:24] And now the world just says, oh, my, how they argue, how they're so divided. [00:08:33] And that's a true statement. I have family members that will not let me speak to them about this because they go on television and they listen to different people and they're confused. And. And because of some of that, they won't go to a church. [00:08:53] Now, you would think that you would be able to have an influence on your family, and in some respects you can. But Jesus said, your own, your own country, your own city is not going to welcome a prophet, which he was. [00:09:11] So that day, the day of the Lord will not come until there's the great falling away, the apostasy within the church and the Antichrist is revealed. So I know there's people on the Internet today trying to guess who the Antichrist is. [00:09:31] He's not been revealed yet. Biblically not been revealed yet. [00:09:41] And he's referred to as that man of sin who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped so that he as God sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. This is the abomination that Daniel was talking about. I believe in chapter nine, the Book of Daniel. [00:10:07] Remember ye not that when I was yet with you, I told you these things. [00:10:12] So Paul's reminding them. I've already told you and I'm going to remind you again. [00:10:18] And this is. This is a constant issue in the church forever. [00:10:23] There's always false teachers and there's always going to be false prophets. [00:10:29] Now, this is very important and it ties into when we get into Ephesus in a minute. [00:10:35] And now you know what withholds that he might be revealed in his time. [00:10:43] So in other words, the Antichrist cannot be revealed yet because there is what is called, there's the restrainer. He's being restrained back. Yet now, as decadent as the world is becoming, every day, every hour, plummeting into darkness by the second, the Antichrist cannot be revealed yet because he's being restrained. [00:11:14] Now. [00:11:15] The restrainer is the Holy Spirit, and I don't have time to teach on it this evening. [00:11:22] Some theologians believe it's the Holy Spirit himself. Some say the restrainer is the Church. Well, the church is. [00:11:32] Represents God. And if you, if you truly are a believer in Christ and received God's free gift of salvation, you have the Holy Spirit in you. [00:11:43] I believe that this is a combination of the two. I don't think you can separate the Holy Spirit and the Church and the Church from one another. [00:11:53] So that's the restrainer. [00:12:00] There is going to come a time when the church will not be here anymore and the restrainer is removed from the earth. [00:12:15] Now, there's a lot of terrible things happening. There's child abduction. We have, we have issues in the world, something called the Epstein Files, which I don't want to get into. But latest statistics have shown that with child abductions and people being captured and put into slavery, sexual slavery, the number one country in the world right now is the United States. [00:12:49] That, that was before President Trump was in office. And there was, I'll say there, there was a. There was an attempt to get back and to restrain things that were already in motion from happening. [00:13:04] So there's terrible things. There's wars and rumors of wars. There's an increase in devastating natural disasters throughout the world. [00:13:18] All these things are going to happen. [00:13:21] And as believers, if you truly believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he came to take away the sins of the world, and if you believe that he is the Son of God, that he was crucified, died, was buried, resurrected by the Father and now sits at the right hand, he's ascended into heaven. If you believe that in your heart and have confessed it, then you are part of the body of Christ. [00:13:53] It's important that we are what we are supposed to be. [00:13:58] Because there's going to come a day when all those people, and it's not a mystery disappearing like you hear a secret disappearing like what you see people proclaiming on the Internet. [00:14:13] This is an event that, that is an. That it is an imminent event. That means it will happen the day and the hour. We don't know. [00:14:22] There is no more Bible prophecy that needs to happen. Events before that does. And it's clear if you look in your Bible, in this book, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, you will see there is a catching away of the church. [00:14:40] And I know I've spoken on this before, but the church, after chapter two and three in the book of Revelation, it's not mentioned again until chapter 19 or 20. It's because we are not here. [00:14:55] That time is for the Jewish people to come into the kingdom to get the revelation of who Christ is. [00:15:04] It is going to be so bad during that time that there are two witnesses that are going to come back. And I'm not going to teach on that tonight, but I will tell you this. If you go into your Bible for I believe for three and a half years, I think in the Jewish calendar that's 12, 60 days, they will preach and they will be under God's protection. [00:15:34] All hell will come against them. And for 12, 60 days they will preach. [00:15:40] And then, then they will be killed and they will be left in the street dead for three days. [00:15:49] And the people that are on the earth at that time are going to dance and celebrate that they no longer have to listen to their sins anymore being preached to them. [00:16:02] And then they're going to be resurrected and the whole world will witness them being caught up. [00:16:09] And then they will know for sure that all this is the truth. And it's too late. The doors closed at that point. The, the, the, the, the wedding feast of the lamb would have already happened. The church. [00:16:27] So we will be judged by Christ. [00:16:30] Our judgment is to receive our rewards in the kingdom of God. [00:16:36] The judgment that will come later when Christ judges and separates the goats from the sheep. [00:16:42] That judgment is for those people. The goats are going to spend eternity in hell and the sheep are going to come back. They're going to come into the kingdom. They, there will be a final harvest of the Jewish people and there'll be other people that receive Christ. [00:17:02] I believe there's a lot of people right now because of messages that are being preached in the church that are not the whole gospel. [00:17:14] It's a part of the gospel. You can call it a watered down message or whatever. But if people do not have a revelation of the true condition of their heart and a true explanation of what is sin in accordance with God's requirement as defined by God, and if they don't understand what salvation, what they're being saved from, if they don't understand what these sins actually are and they don't have an understanding of what true repentance is, because repentance means you're going to change your behavior, your mind changes first and then you. The fruit of that will be what John the Baptist said. [00:18:00] There'll be fruit worthy of repentance. [00:18:04] You do not want to be around on the earth when the church is gone. The restrainer is going to be gone and there is going to be no spirit of God here on earth to hold back the enemy, the Antichrist, who is Satan's minion and all his other minions from doing everything that they want to do. [00:18:29] There's nothing to restrain them at that point. And literally for three and a half years, God's pouring out his wrath. Now Satan knows his time is short. Satan knows Bible prophecy and it's going to be literally hell on earth. Hell will be worse than that. But there will be no condition that you've ever experienced that's going to be like that and you don't want to be around when that happens. [00:18:58] That is the restrainer that is being spoken of that Paul's talking about. [00:19:04] God's going to remove it. He's not holding anything back anymore. And now Satan has a free reign to go do anything he wants to do. [00:19:16] And he is going to attempt to destroy every human being and bring as many to hell with him as he can. [00:19:24] And more than likely the first people that he attacks. [00:19:30] Satan hates God, the one true God and Jesus Christ, whom he sent. But he cannot destroy God. [00:19:39] So what is he going to always try to do to destroy God's people? [00:19:45] And who are God's people? [00:19:48] His chosen people initially were the Jews. [00:19:51] But if you're a Gentile and non Jew and you receive God's gift of salvation, you were one of God's people. [00:20:00] So it does not surprise me that if you would do a Google search today and ask Google, where in the world do the most Jews live? [00:20:12] It's in America, there's slightly less than that in Israel, which is only about the size of New Jersey. [00:20:24] And then the rest are dispersed throughout the world. And if you're looking at like a pie chart, you will see the majority of those people are either in Israel or, or in America. And then the rest are scattered and the percentage is almost meaningless, non existent. So that's who Satan's going to attack. [00:20:45] So if the church is not here and there's no restrainer to hold Satan back, there's no human being in the church that, that has been taught how to bind and loose the enemy that has the power and authority given to them by, by Christ as a believer, to do these things, to come against cancer, come against depression, come against anxiety, there'll be a teaching at some point in the future on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, what they are, who's the giver of the gifts, what we are to desire. [00:21:30] Because the church is not operating in this right now that most churches are not operating in the power and authority of God. And sadly to say it's for two reasons. [00:21:44] I would say a large number of them have not been taught, nor do they want to be taught for a whole bunch of different reasons. The rest of them just don't believe it. [00:21:58] And there's a large number because of fear. [00:22:02] I've run into pastors and churches that have seen evidence of my wife and I being used by God where God's confirmed the preaching, following with signs, wonders and miracles. But you can't teach or preach in their church. [00:22:23] They'll claim that they believe in the gifts of the Spirit, but one of the underlying factors is a fear that, that all of a sudden their flock is going to flock over and want to follow someone else and they're Jesus people. [00:22:40] I mean, that's why I see ministries as an independent ministry and not a church, because we equip churches to be able to understand the Bible, understand their identity in Christ, understand the gifts given by Christ to the church, understand the gifts of the Holy Spirit, how these things work. [00:23:02] And we have testimonies, the reality to show you that we have been used by God in this capacity. [00:23:11] So there's a resume, so to speak. The world would say so the world's going to be a terrible place. [00:23:19] The church won't be here. [00:23:24] The restrainer is gone and the devil is now going to try to literally remember the devil. Jesus said, the enemy came to steal and kill and destroy. But I have come to give you life and life more abundantly. That's your salvation. [00:23:50] And later Jesus said, I came to destroy the works of the enemy. That's what the church should be doing right now. The church should be the hospital. [00:24:01] And I know I would go down a rabbit hole. I didn't expect to do this, but it grieves me somewhat. I'll say when I hear people pray for healing for someone and they're praying for God to lead the doctor to lead his hands, to give him the wisdom to see what the infirmity is. It's a spir of infirmity. That's all we need to know as believers. And we have the ability to bind that, command it to go. [00:24:38] The devil will still attack those people and try to convince them. But my wife literally has a new heart and the medical evidence for that. [00:24:48] And I, I, I could, I have, I don't have enough fingers on both hands to be able to testify how many miraculous healings God's done in me. But you have to Apprehend that by faith. And there is a difference. For me to pray for somebody else to be healed versus me going and declaring my own healing, they're two different things. [00:25:12] So the world is going to be a miserable place. [00:25:16] And at some point, God's, He's. These people are doomed. [00:25:21] They're doomed now. But when that door closes there and this what's really going to be bad for these people, they are gonna be. They're gonna realize that Jesus Christ is real, they were wrong, and there's no more opportunity. [00:25:38] And I believe when they go into that darkness and into that pit of fire that they're gonna be cursing Christ for eternity, begging for another opportunity. And because it can't come, they're just gonna be as angry as the devil is. [00:25:57] Now. Why am I saying all this? [00:26:00] Because now we're going to look at the Book of Revelation, chapter 2, verses 1 to 7 again, 60 to 65 years after Jesus is crucified, died, buried, resurrected on the third day and ascended into heaven, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever. He now is evaluating his churches, his churches, and he's giving this information to John. We saw that in verse one of chapter one, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show to his servants things which must shortly come to pass. [00:26:53] And he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John. That's Apostle John, who bears record of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of the things that he saw. Verse 3. Blessed is he that reads and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in, in this prophecy. For the time is at hand. The time is at hand for the church to be taught this, to gain an understanding of it, to get it in its heart and to prepare itself. [00:27:32] We're in a preparation period, a betrothal period for our wedding. [00:27:38] We're the bride of Christ, he's the groom, and that's what we should be doing right now, preparing. How would you be preparing for that? Well, you were created in the image of God to be conformed into his likeness. What would his likeness be? [00:27:55] The fruit of the Spirit. [00:27:58] It's come to my attention two weeks ago that there's a church, a local church, teaching on that, right in our own community. [00:28:05] That is the image of Christ. You need to learn that because that's your report card. That's your gauge on where am I versus what am I? What should I be like? [00:28:19] So look at chapter two. [00:28:23] Now, I want you to keep in mind in three of the four gospels, the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we have the same message recorded by three messengers by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So it's God's word given to three people. [00:28:45] We have what's called the first and great Commandment. [00:28:50] When Jesus was asked, master, which is the first commandment in the law? The Law of Moses, and he said, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all of thy heart, all of thy soul, and all of thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is, like it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. [00:29:14] On these two commandments hang all the prophets and the law. [00:29:19] That's important to understand because that is the very thing that Jesus says to the church of Ephesus where they're lacking, so they're in violation of the first and great commandment. [00:29:34] Now let's look at what Christ says to his servant John. [00:29:41] And this is from. [00:29:42] I'll read from the new King James Version for you. I'll be gentle on your ears so that you can hear what the Spirit's saying to the churches. [00:29:59] So if you want to put a subtitle down to these seven verses, verses one through seven, you can call it the Loveless Church. [00:30:10] The message to Ephesus, to the angel of the Church of Ephesus, right? Now remember, this is Christ speaking to John. And he said, write these things down in a book. [00:30:27] These things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, Christ holds. And we'll talk about this in a minute. He holds the seven stars in his right hand, and he walks among the seven golden lampstands. [00:30:55] I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. So he's exhorting the church right now. He's telling them what they do. Good. Now this is management 101. You just don't beat people up and you don't start with what they're bad at. [00:31:19] You have to give them the whole council. [00:31:23] In the Bible, it says, the whole counsel of God, the wrath of God and the love of God. So Jesus is telling them what they do. Good. [00:31:31] I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. [00:31:42] And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars. Now, I want to go back a minute and just talk about, historically, Ephesus. [00:31:57] This is where the temple of Diana is. [00:32:01] That's one of the seven Wonders of the ancient world. It's a pagan temple, okay? [00:32:09] People from all over the world come to Ephesus to worship the pagan goddess Diana. [00:32:16] She's a perverted goddess, and that's for a whole different teaching. But this is a pagan city, a hedonistic city, where the church is. [00:32:28] They're a busy church. [00:32:31] They're doing things. [00:32:33] You know, I've visited churches before, and the first thing that they do when you attend regularly is give you an inventory and ask you to fill this out. This is the gifts. So they know where to plug you into the church. Well, I can tell you it's important that we serve Christ, but it's more important that you hear the voice of God telling you what he wants you to do, how he wants you to serve, and, well, that's enough of that. The first thing you need to do is look like the image of Christ. You need to be salt and light. People need to look at you and see that you're different. [00:33:16] Once again, I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. [00:33:25] And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars. How would they have tested them? They were Berean saints. [00:33:38] Paul said the Bereans were more noble than the Thessalonicans at one time. Because everything that Paul told, they went back and tested what he said against what they had in Scripture. [00:33:52] That's how the Thessalonicans are doing this. Paul's taught them to do this, and they're passionate. [00:34:01] Now, I will say this. [00:34:05] As far as true repentance goes, there was a lot of demonic activity in this city. [00:34:13] There was a lot of pagan worship, which is going to open the door for the demonic. There's a lot of witchcraft, a lot of diviners. Diviners. [00:34:27] I believe it was the Church of Ephesus, these people that were so radically saved that they burned tens of thousands of books publicly in the city on incantations and things once they received Christ. That's true repentance. There was a change that happened. [00:34:51] So he's found the false apostles liars. And I'll do a teaching again in the future on what the Church calls the fivefold ministry. And some were given apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. And what are those. I'm going to say, what are those offices? [00:35:13] And what should they look like? What should be the role of those people? [00:35:19] But there's one called apostles. Today there's a move in the church that everybody's using that title apostle, and they're looking at it like it's a status thing. I'm the head of the church here, so I'm going to call myself an apostle. [00:35:34] The definition of apostle in context from the concordance of what this word is in Greek is apostolos. It means a sent messenger. [00:35:48] A sent messenger by Christ who has performed miraculous feats. [00:36:00] So if you claim to be an apostle, I would test what you say first. [00:36:08] I'd listen to you test what you said first to me against the word of God. And then I would say, where were you sent? [00:36:18] Are you going on your own? Or are you being sent by Christ? And let me. Let's talk about miracles. [00:36:27] And if I start hearing I did this and I did that, and I did this, well, that's not humbleness. [00:36:36] Now, I will say this. [00:36:40] When I ask the Lord, is it time for you to send me? [00:36:45] Because it is his will for me. He never says no. He says, soon, Peter. And then one month, he says, now. [00:36:53] So he's sending me. [00:36:57] And when I go, he gives me the message. It's his message. All I am is the messenger. [00:37:06] And once that happens, he's faithful to confirm his preaching with signs, wonders, and miracles. [00:37:14] But I don't call myself an apostle. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm a sent one. I. I'm being sent by Jesus. That's what I am. I'm a pastor. I'm a teacher. I'm an evangelist. When I go into the mission field, I'm evangel. I'm used as an evangelist to be a revivalist preacher. [00:37:36] So these people have found the proclaimed or professed apostles to be liars. [00:37:46] They have great discernment because of the city they live in. They're in a wicked place where the temple of Diana is. [00:37:56] And there's. There's. [00:37:59] There's false religions there. [00:38:02] There's a lot of demonic stuff. [00:38:05] So these people have learned to have discernment so they can discern the truth versus what's from the Holy Spirit and what's not. [00:38:16] And Jesus goes on in verse three, and you have persevered and have patience. [00:38:24] So they're continuing their race. [00:38:28] They have patience and have labored for my name's sake and have not become weary. So that's the works, the labor. Jesus recognizes. They are probably numerically the busiest church in the kingdom in Christ's churches right now at this time in history. They're the model church that the whole world is looking at. They have a who's who list of people, Paul Apollos, that have come through there, that have taught them Timothy. [00:39:09] And they're looked at as a model. So the rest of the churches are looking at them and saying, there's the model. Look, they're busy. Look what's happening. [00:39:22] And they haven't become weary. [00:39:25] They're plugging along. They're going and doing all these things. [00:39:31] But Jesus says, nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Now I'm going to stop there for a minute. [00:39:42] I have this against you. In Proverbs 16:2, the word of God says, the ways of man seem right in his own mind, but I weigh the spirit. [00:40:02] What is your spirit like? Is it prideful, or is it a contrite and humble spirit? And then in Proverbs 21:2, he repeats that. But he says, I weigh the heart. [00:40:15] So nevertheless, I have this against you. So what's he doing? He's weighing their hearts that you have left your first love. [00:40:27] They didn't lose it, they left it. That's important to understand the difference. They left their first love, love. [00:40:43] That will become what they are condemned for if they don't repent. And we'll see that shortly. [00:40:53] The very next verse, verse five, he's going to give them the antidote. [00:41:03] If they repent, they repent and turn around, come back to God. How do you do that? They have to remember. So listen to what he says. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, they've fallen afar. [00:41:22] Repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. So there's consequences now. I got tired. One day, I did get weary. I was traveling a lot. I was studying this, and I felt like I was becoming very, very weary. [00:41:51] And I was forcing myself to do certain things. [00:41:59] But my motives were right. Because I know without the word of God, without meditating on the Word of God, I'm in trouble. [00:42:09] And I need to do that daily. I need to pray daily. So I'm doing those things. [00:42:16] But what I found was I'm reading this scripture and I thought, remember how far you have fallen. [00:42:25] And we could spend a whole lesson on what this means. [00:42:29] They've left their first love. The antidote is to remember what have they lost? It's the passion and the zeal that they had when they first came to Christ. [00:42:40] Remember, as believers, our witness is to lead them to Christ. We don't save anybody. We're to lead them to Jesus. [00:42:53] So I was thinking about this, and I thought, remember, remember. [00:43:01] And I went back and spent several hours on my back porch remembering when I first had the encounter with Jesus in the woods behind the outlets in Gettysburg and what that felt like and how I was willing to do anything. [00:43:24] And I was thinking about it, and I thought, boy, I don't know that I would have been able to lead my mom and dad to Jesus if I didn't have that passion in me. [00:43:36] Now. That passion is going to come out in different ways. [00:43:41] But I started to remember that, and it rekindled the fire in me to evangelize. [00:43:50] And what happened was it took away the weariness within me because I was thinking, I need to go to Africa in September. I need to go in October. I'm weary. We're moving. We're doing this, we're doing that. I mean, these things you could lump together, as I'll say, the cares of life, all that stuff that's gonna go away when we get called home. [00:44:17] And there will come a time when there's a new heaven and a new earth. And the Bible says the heat will be so intense, it will burn up every element that means air, water, fire, every element known is gonna just be consumed in that heat that God does. It's gone. [00:44:39] But as I remembered and I went back and remembered the beginning, I remembered also the level of a passion and a zeal that I had to help people. [00:44:55] You know, it was no longer, oh, gosh, the old lady's getting out of her car. I should go help her, even though I'm tired. It was like you jumped out of your car and you ran over there. And, ma', am, that's what's happened to these people. They're so busy that they can't see that they've lost their love. And Jesus is saying, I need you to remember what your love. Look at what your love is today, biblical love, and go back and evaluate that from when you first came to me and see how far you have fallen. That's the accusation to these people. [00:45:36] So a successful, busy church, but they left their first love. [00:45:43] Now, I could spend a whole day teaching on what that means, to leave your first love. [00:45:51] Another lesson on remember, and very deep. And these are the kind of things I teach when I go at conferences. But for time's sake, today they left their first love. And that's what he's talking about with, to do their first works. They're still doing works. Jesus said that. [00:46:17] He said that back in verse 2. I know your works, your labor and Your patience. [00:46:25] They're still doing things, but they left their first love. [00:46:30] So we have to remember what was it like in the beginning and how does that look like today? [00:46:42] So I learned as a new believer when I saw Galatians, chapter five. There's nine fruit of the Spirit. I've always used that as my report card. [00:46:53] When I go to bed at night, I repeat what they are. And at one time, I was inspired by the Lord to teach on the fruit of the Spirit. And what he had me do was look up the synonyms for every one of those words, and you'll see how they're all knitted together. [00:47:12] I mean, I probably had 35 different words that you would recognize under each one of those, and it's fruit, singular fruit of the spirit. But that's what we're to be like. [00:47:25] And when I did that, I always thought it was interesting for week after week after week. [00:47:32] Why didn't you let me start with the first one, Love? Because he had me start with joy. [00:47:40] And I realized when I got finished that the culmination of all those wrapped together is love. [00:47:48] And that's the image. That's Christ's essence. God is love, and that's what we're to be like. [00:47:54] So if you're not, if your behavior is not what those words are saying by definition, biblical definition, look in the concordance, then you have. [00:48:08] Those are the areas that you should be praying. God, I'm sorry. I repent. [00:48:14] I'm finding myself having less patience with people, and the less patience I have, long suffering's gone out the window because I'm even struggling with patience. And your word says I'm to have patience with long suffering and joyfulness. And, boy, the joy's not there anymore. I need help, Holy Spirit, I need your grace. That's the first step. You need to acknowledge where you're at with that fruit, that seed there, and deal with it. [00:48:47] Because if you're angry, the anger that is coming out of you is the manifestation of a root that's deep within your heart. [00:49:00] Most people, if they would say to me, I need help with anger. And I would say, well, let's talk about that. Why are you angry? Well, I was angry because you told. You didn't open the door for me last week. Pastor Peter. [00:49:17] Well, that's not the root cause of what made him angry. That's just the match that went off that into the dynamite keg that day. [00:49:29] So they need to remember how far they have fallen. They need to repent. They need to confess that they need to acknowledge that God's right and I am wrong. And I need to turn around God, I'm going to change my mind right now. I'm wrong. I agree. I left my first love and now I'm asking for mercy. Because your goodness, out of the goodness and mercies, you're faithful, that your mercies are new each day. I'm asking you to have mercy on me and help me with this. [00:50:07] I need your grace to get through this. [00:50:11] So help me identify what the issue is within my heart and then help me deal with it. That's true repentance. [00:50:23] Most people don't come to true repentance because it's always somebody else's fault or some other thing that caused the problem. [00:50:32] They refuse. And this is why I don't do counseling anymore. Because people want to just come into your office and complain for an hour. And then they thank you because they think that you helped them by venting. And you're not. You're just actually enabling them at that point. Until they come to the realization that I got a problem in my heart. [00:50:54] It's a heart issue. [00:50:57] So he tells them what he's going to do, that he's going to remove their lampstand. [00:51:06] If they don't repent. And then he says, but this you have. So he's going to finish with another exhortation that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Now, there's different theological doctrines on who these people are or explanations. [00:51:26] One of them believes it's a person that was in the church named Nicholas, who was a false teacher and he was a pagan worshiper and he introduced paganism back into the church. [00:51:41] Nevertheless, these people have fallen, and the Church recognizes that that's bad. [00:51:50] So they hate their works, which Jesus says, I also hate. So I encourage you to read this because I hear people tell me when I say God hates sin, they say that's impossible because God's love is unconditional. [00:52:09] And I give them John 15, 9, 10, that Jesus said, as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Continue in my love. If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. [00:52:29] So they've fallen. [00:52:33] And then he has a very profound thing to say in verse seven. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says. What the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth, says to the churches and very important to him who overcomes I will give to you from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. [00:53:06] The ones that overcome get to eat from that tree. [00:53:10] That's very important. [00:53:14] I'm not going to deal with a divided doctrine that has the church very split right now over one sentence when you can. [00:53:30] That's been so twisted right now over people being very, very becoming, very gifted with semantics over the words. [00:53:44] So you just want to read your Bible? I don't want to turn you away from what this says. These are the words of Christ. That's very important that you understand that. [00:53:55] Now I'm going to read from my notes. I think I have five minutes left. Maybe I'll ask my, my guide here, Sean. [00:54:06] I do. I have five minutes and counting. So what is verse two saying? [00:54:14] Which say they are apostles. [00:54:17] For time's sake, I'm just going to read my notes. One of the major concerns Christ expresses in his final message to the seven church was that they not fall away by tolerating false teachers, false prophets or false apostles who were distorting his Word, the words of Christ or weakening its power and authority. Now two points here. Christ instructs the churches to test all who claim spiritual authority. That's what they're doing. They're claiming spiritual authority. [00:54:53] And number two, note Christ's condemnation of the churches. And we're going to get to this in pergamos and thyatira for accepting rather than withstanding those disloyal to the truth and the standards written within the Word of God. So there's condemnation that's going to come to these two churches. [00:55:16] How about verse 4 left your first love. This refers to the Ephesians first, deep love and pattern and passion for Christ and His Word. [00:55:29] Two things. Number one, this warning teaches us that knowing correct doctrine, this is very important. [00:55:37] Knowing correct doctrine, obeying some of the commands and worshiping in the church are not enough. [00:55:46] They're not enough. The church must have above all a heartfelt love for Jesus Christ and His word. [00:55:55] 2nd Corinthians 11, 3 and you can compare that with Deuteronomy 10, 12 and point number two, sincere love for Christ results in single hearted devotion to him, purity of life and a love of the truth. [00:56:18] And I'll reference 2 Corinthians 11 and 3, 2 Chronicles 36, Matthew 22:37 and 39. That's where the first and great commandment is. [00:56:33] And John 21:15. [00:56:38] Now in closing, the seven golden candlesticks, these are stands that hold oil. They're not candles themselves. [00:56:51] In other verses, they're called lampstands. And you can go and look, look in the book of Zechariah, the prophet Zechariah, 4, 2. Because this is given a description of this. [00:57:06] This is why when we went over the parable of the 10 virgins, some had enough oil in their lamps and some didn't remember the groom was going to come at night and they needed oil when their lamp ran out. And they didn't all have it. This is what this is referring to. [00:57:26] The seven stars represent either angels who were assigned each to a church to assist in its spiritual warfare, or the pastors of these churches. I personally believe. And if you look this up in the concordance, the word angel, the definition of it, it's a special messenger from Christ in this context. [00:57:59] And it basically means, for example, the pastor. So these are the leaders of the church. [00:58:08] So if you go back to the angel, to the pastor of the church of Ephesus, or to the elder of the church of Ephesus, that's who the letter is written to. Now John has apostolic authority, spiritual authority. That's who Christ gave this to and said, write this down. And now as the true apostle, he's writing to this church the words of Christ to this pastor. [00:58:43] And I'll close on that seven verses. We could spend seven weeks dissecting what this means. [00:58:52] For right now, the importance is for you to know this is the last book in the Bible. These are the words of Jesus Christ. He's evaluating his church. [00:59:05] Only 60 to 65 years after he left, left this earth, he's still alive. [00:59:12] And we're, we're 2,000 years from now. [00:59:19] And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to look at what the church, how the church is operating today versus the testimonies and the judgments of God. In the book of Acts, Paul laid on a dead boy and he came back to life. [00:59:41] Blind people were given their sight. [00:59:44] The lame could walk. [00:59:48] Where is that in the church? [00:59:50] Now, just before. Because this is a. This is a. I'll say my own pet peeve. [00:59:56] I would, I would go and be bold enough to say that if you don't hear teaching in your church on divine healing, it's because the leader in the church doesn't believe in it. [01:00:14] And I'll qualify that in a minute. So if you don't have healing services, it's because it's it. They don't believe it. [01:00:23] Now, they believe the word of God. [01:00:26] And there's at least 20 different levels of faith in this book. [01:00:30] And not all of us have arrived. [01:00:33] So my wife and I are used by the Holy Spirit in divine healing. So we do do healing services and we teach on these things. But that doesn't mean that. So I have great faith. The Bible mentions great faith when it comes to this. [01:00:52] And there's other areas in my life where I don't have that great faith. I have a different level of it. [01:00:58] You were saved by grace through faith. So we all have faith. [01:01:03] On that note, I'll close. [01:01:06] And God, I thank you that there's no audience here right now to throw tomatoes at me after I made that statement. [01:01:16] Father, we thank you that when we speak your truth, your words, and we put forth the Holy Scriptures, that your word will not return empty. It will always accomplish that which you send it forth to accomplish. And we are just the vocal messengers. [01:01:36] So as I spoke your Scriptures and read and gave an understanding, just like your servant Ezra did, he gathered the people. [01:01:48] He read the Scriptures from early morning to midday for six days in a row. [01:01:55] But your Bible, the Word of God says they and the people received the Word because they were given an understanding. [01:02:02] So, Lord, I say and I ask in spirit and truth and in faith, working with love, with a rekindled zeal and passion for our first love, Christ. [01:02:20] Let those with ears open their ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches, to Christ's churches in these days, and what the church should be preparing for, how to prepare for that so that they do not miss. [01:02:39] Like when God closed the door on Noah's Ark and it was too late. [01:02:46] We were spared the wrath of God. [01:02:50] And that door will close very soon. [01:02:56] The church won't be here. The restrainer will be gone. So, God, I pray that you send workers into the harvest field. [01:03:07] Inspired workers, passionate workers. [01:03:11] Workers with a zeal that when they look at human beings, they see lost souls that need to be saved. [01:03:21] And we thank you for those that they see that aren't lost, that are truly saved, but that you use those that iron sharpens iron, and the one that is saved doesn't feel like they're alone anymore, that there is somebody else that wants to talk about Jesus witnessing and is actually doing it, and that they encourage one another and edify one another and go out with a new, kindled, rekindled, passionate fire for evangelism as we're called to witness for you. And Lord, I just pray that you inspire pastors and bring those forward that are willing to speak on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, that have testimonies. Let the ones that have give those courage that don't know about it, that aren't so prideful that they can't seek out somebody that does have that understanding to give it to them so they can pass it on to their flock and that the church can operate in the power and authority that you called us to operate in. [01:04:31] We thank you, we praise you and Lord, everything we do, we give all the glory to you. In Jesus name, Amen. [01:04:42] Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty early in the morning our song shall rise to the holy, holy, holy.