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Psalms 89:38-52 But You have
cast off and abhorred, You have been furious with Your anointed. You have
renounced the covenant of Your servant; You have profaned his crown by casting it to the ground. You have
broken down all his hedges; You have brought his strongholds to ruin. All who
pass by the way plunder him; He is a reproach to his neighbors. You have
exalted the right hand of his adversaries; You have made all his enemies
rejoice. You have also turned back the edge of his sword, And have not
sustained him in the battle. You have made his glory cease, And cast his throne
down to the ground. The days of his youth You have shortened; You have covered
him with shame. Selah How long, LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your
wrath burn like fire? Remember how short my time is; For what futility have You
created all the children of men? What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver
his life from the power of the grave? Selah Lord, where are Your former lovingkindnesses, Which You swore to David in Your truth? Remember, Lord, the
reproach of Your servants How I
bear in my bosom the reproach of
all the many peoples, With which Your enemies have reproached, O LORD, With
which they have reproached the footsteps of Your anointed. Blessed be the LORD forevermore! Amen and
Amen.
Father God, we give you all the Glory, Thanks, Praise,
and Honor. I ask that you bless all of those that read these messages around
the world and to bless their loved ones. Open our ears to hear your word, our
minds to be changed from any false beliefs, and our hearts to accept and
believe the truth that lies in your words. I ask that the truth that is in your
words, the Bible, will change hearts and they will be made new. In Jesus name I
pray. Amen!
Revelation 2:1-7 NKJV
In
Chapters 2 & 3 Jesus is addressing the pastors of the seven churches. The
messages that he is giving holds true for the modern day churches and if we
look deep into the messages we can recognize our own beliefs, actions, lost
love, misguidance, self works, etc. Each and every one of us, at some point in
our life has lived this way regarding the finished work of the Cross and may
still be living this way. If one is living in such a lifestyle and doesn’t know
it, then ask the Holy Spirit to unlock you heart so these messages of the seven
churches, minister to you.
1 "To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, 'These
things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the
midst of the seven golden lampstands:
As stated last week the
angel of the church is the pastor, priest, minister, or simply put the one that
is the leader of a church congregation. He who holds the seven stars and walks
in the midst of the seven golden lampstands is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the head of the true church, not
meaning denominational churches, but the body of people that have given their heart
to Jesus, those that believe with their heart and not their mind. Those that
have confess with an open mouth their commitment to Jesus, just like a bride
and groom openly confess their love and commitment to each other on their
wedding day. It is a vow that comes from the heart and not the mind. If it is a
vow from the heart it will most likely stand the test of time, but if it is
just from the mind, then most likely when hardships comes along the vow doesn’t
mean anything and distance will come between the couple, or separation could be
the results. The same holds true with a relationship with Jesus Christ. If we
make a commitment with only our mind then the things of the world, our flesh,
and Satan can pull us away from Jesus very easily. This is what was happening
in this church of Ephesus that Jesus was addressing, in particular with the
leader. Colossians 1:18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who
is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have
the preeminence.
2 "I know your
works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil.
And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found
them liars;
Jesus starts out
complimenting the church of Ephesus. He states He knows indicating His
omniscience (knowing all things). He compliments them on their works, labor,
and patience of the spreading of the Gospel; their standing up and opposing the
evilness that lies in the hearts of the unsaved; the testing of those that
claim to know the truth and come preaching and teaching lies. How is it that
they knew the truth and could discern true apostles? It is because the Spirit
of God was living within them. John
8:47 He who
is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of
God." John 8:44 You are of your
father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a
murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is
no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the
father of it. These
people were students of the scriptures and only students of the Bible can tell
the difference of what is being said, truth or lie.
Satan has done a wonderful
job in pulling people away from the truth of the Bible by keeping us busy,
inspiring denominations to teach from anything other than the Bible, inspiring
us to read anything other than the Bible, telling us we only need to hear a
couple verses of the Bible on Sunday, telling our flesh that when we hear the
truth not to believe it, because pleasing our flesh is what it’s all about,
etc., etc., etc. This is all work of Satan to keep us ignorant of the teachings
of God that is in the Bible. If we don’t know what the Bible teaches then how
are we suppose to know the truth? If we depend on our own logic we will be lead
in the wrong direction by our sinful flesh which is the works of Satan due to
the inherited sin nature from Adam and Eve. Ok, so about now you are thinking,
Bill, how do I know what I’m reading from you is true? There’s a few ways of
knowing; one, read and study the Bible; two, read John 8:47 above and if your
spirit agrees, you will not get conviction; three, if you don’t agree with what
I say then research until your spirit tells you the truth and then believe, but
don’t go to man, priest, pastor, minister, etc. and seek the truth, seek the
truth from the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to help you. If you don’t know how
to do research in the Bible then ask someone that does, to show you how to use
concordances, verse references, Greek and Hebrew definitions, bible software
search capabilities, etc. If you have conviction of what I say and don’t seek
the truth, and believe in what your logic tells you, your flesh will lead you
astray, because your flesh is sinful and of Satan. Read and study material that
is backed up with Bible verses and then make sure the verses support what is
being said. Some people take verses out of context to fit their lifestyle, so
read several verses before and after the quoted verse to make sure of the
relevancy. Matthew 7:7 "Ask, and it will
be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
3
and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored
for My name's sake and have not become weary.
The believers of Ephesus
were stead fast in their pursuit of spreading the Gospel, they endured the
trials associated with the Gospel, and they worked with great diligence, but
lost sight of Jesus.
4
Nevertheless I have this
against you, that you have left your first love.
Could you see this coming,
the build up with compliments and then the down side? Paul used this in Romans,
he would build up his fellow brethren and then he would pull the rug out from
under them. We also have experience this many times in our life, pertaining to
employment evaluations; parents telling us how good we are but don’t do that
anymore; pastors telling us how good we are but ending with how sinful we are
in God’s eyes, etc.
This verse can be
perplexing after the previous two. It sounded like this church was doing everything
correct, so what’s going on?
It isn’t that they lost
their love for Jesus, but they were in the process of leaving their first love.
They still loved Jesus, but looking back to the two previous verses you will
get the idea of what Jesus is talking about. Their new found love that they had
found when they were saved; the zeal in their hearts from their Spiritual
Birth; the assurance that they had been forgiven of their sins through the
death of Jesus on the Cross, was fading. They were so involved with church
matters their focus was on the physical things of the church and not on Jesus
like it was when they were saved. They were taking their focus off of the Cross
and placing it in fleshly works. They were in the process of leaving their
newfound love with each passing day. This is why the letter was addressed to
the pastor of the church because he is the one that is in charge of keeping the
flock on the right path. A pastor, priest, or minister is to teach the truth of
the Bible and keep the congregation going in the right direction. Woe to those
that don’t do this.
Here is how that works,
which is of Satan, and it is so gradual one can get led astray without even
knowing it. Take Exodus for example, when God was coming down on Pharaoh, the
parting of the sea, the manna from Heaven, the water from the moving rock, etc.
the Israelite’s all believed, praised, and worshiped God. In each instance when
some time elapsed from those events their flesh started questioning things,
they started murmuring, complaining, starting rumors, etc., and as a result,
started drifting from God and focusing on their wants and desires and how they
could satisfy their cravings themselves, instead of looking to God for the
answer. They left their first love!
Another example of losing
first love is marriage. When a man and woman fall in love and get married their
new found love and being together is one of great magnetism. They love being
together as much as possible. They shower each other with praise and affection,
but as time goes on that passion of love fades, even though they still love one
another very much. The zeal of being constantly together diminishes and
sometimes causes one or the other or both to focus their attention in another
direction and if left uncheck, could result in separation. They left their
first love!
This is the same for new
Born Again believers. They rejoice at their newfound forgiveness and life
through the forgiveness of their sins. As days pass they lose sight of the
seriousness of sin, and begin to lose the thrill of their forgiveness. 2 Peter 1:9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted,
even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. In the beginning of a newborns life, they
have enthusiasm without knowledge. With the passing of time the knowledge comes
and then the enthusiasm fades. What do you have now, knowledge without
enthusiasm? Both are necessary if we are to keep love for God intense and
untarnished. (Hebrews 10:32 But recall the former days in which, after you
were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings:
Hebrews 10:35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence,
which has great reward.) Have you left your first love?
Work for God must be
motivated by love for God, or it will not last. If one is busy with church
matters, who is the benefit for, themselves and the community, trying to do
good deeds to win favor with God, or out of love for God? This motivation that
drives us is a very important thing to know, because this is what was going on
with the church of Ephesus and what Jesus is warning them, our modern day
churches, and us as individuals about. Our God is a jealous God! He wants our
full attention. God states this fact with the first couple commandments that He
has given us. Exodus
20:3-5 "You shall have no other
gods before Me. 4
"You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall
not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am
a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to
the third and fourth generations
of those who hate Me,
5 Remember therefore
from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come
to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.
Remember
therefore from where you have fallen;
This phrase is referring to how the people of the church of Ephesus had fallen
from Grace. They stopped depending on Jesus and the finished work of the Cross
and their pastor was blind to what was happening. Galatians 5:4 You have
become estranged from Christ, you who attempt
to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
Repent
and do the first works;
Repent, repent of what? Repent of falling away and doing works of the flesh and
come back and do works out of love for Jesus. Jesus is telling the
pastor/church of Ephesus to refocus on Himself and the finished work of the
Cross and do works to glorify God and His Kingdom. Not for pride or so one can
say I did this or that at church or so one doesn’t brag about always doing
something for the church to gain recognition. These are all the wrong reasons
to do works, because they are works of the flesh and must be repented of. Jesus
was humble and so must we to receive His Grace. 1 Peter 5:5 Likewise
you younger people, submit yourselves to your
elders. Yes, all of you be
submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "GOD RESISTS
THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE." James
4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you
up. Proverbs 22:4 By humility and the fear of the LORD Are riches and honor and life.
Or
else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless
you repent; Jesus
states it pretty plain here that if one strays away He will remove the
lampstand. Jesus is the source of light and what He did for us on the Cross is
the means of salvation, and if we forsake Him and start living to please
ourselves, then He will remove the light of eternal life. From what we can tell
the Church of Ephesus did not repent and the candle stick was removed and the
church died based on historical facts.
6 But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the
Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
The leaders of the
Nicolaitans believed and taught that you could be saved and still have the
freedom to exercise such things as promiscuous sexual intercourse with women,
and making offerings to idols and eating of the offerings. These church leaders
led their people into sin and not away from sin. This is what God hates and so
did the church of Ephesus.
7 "He who has an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I
will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise
of God."
Jesus is making a
statement that if one strays from the truth and recognizes they are heading
down the path to eternal Hell, then repent, and come back to Him and He will
restore eternal life to them. We are to keep our ears open at all times and
tuned to the Spirit of God for guidance in this life. If we hear something we
are doing wrong, whether from the Holy Spirit or from another person, then we
are to let that enter our ears, travel to our mind, and settle in our heart in
the form of repentance.
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for
it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…...
Psalms 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a
steadfast spirit within me.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you,
unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Bill Wiesbrock
Last Week’s Trivia: Who was Agag?
Answer: Agag was a ruler of the Amalekites
who was captured by Saul. Agag was at first spared by Saul against the prophet
Samuel’s instructions. Later Samuel personally hacked him to pieces. 1 Samuel Chapter 15.
This week’s Trivia: Who was Agee?
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