Salvation in Symbols and Signs

Rekindle the Flame

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Ivor Meyers (Host), James Rafferty (Host), Jason Bradley, Yvonne Lewis

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Series Code: SISS

Program Code: SISS000007A


00:29 Well, it's not that we couldn't spend more time on Revelation 1
00:34 but we are going to move on,
00:37 we've laid a good foundation, we've looked at principles
00:41 and we connected to the Book of Daniel,
00:43 we've understood some of the themes
00:45 and I think that we have the tools we need
00:48 to start our journey
00:50 right into this first epic of the seven churches,
00:53 so we're going to look at the seven churches
00:55 or at least begin the seven churches' journey,
00:57 we're going to look at the first church
00:59 we'll just move through... again...
01:00 we don't have an agenda so we can move through this
01:02 as fast or as slow as the Holy Spirit leads
01:04 so it's understandable.
01:06 So, we'll start with the first church which is Ephesus,
01:09 we'll read the verses and we'll start to break down
01:12 the timeframe to figure out where we are,
01:15 what this message means in the context of history
01:18 and also, what it means to us today which, you know,
01:22 there's the principle there of idealism
01:23 that allows the principles to be applicable to us
01:25 even right now
01:27 and I think we're going to get some good stuff here
01:29 out of the seven churches, it's a beautiful picture so
01:32 let's start with a word of prayer,
01:34 Ivor, you want to lead us off?
01:35 Sure, "Heavenly Father,
01:37 we want to ask that you would bless our study
01:40 as we open the Word once again, give us insight Lord,
01:45 anoint our eyes that we may be able to see the things
01:50 that you desire us to see,
01:51 we thank you Lord for caring and answering,
01:55 we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.
01:58 All: Amen...
01:59 Now I wanted us to pick up on the theme, the love theme,
02:02 because love is a huge theme here... in the first church,
02:06 they lost their first love is what is said about them
02:10 but before we get into the first church,
02:12 we have a picture of Jesus standing among the candlesticks
02:15 and they're identified
02:17 and we did this in the earlier session,
02:18 they're identified in verse 20 as the churches
02:21 and so, here's the picture and I call this... a prelude of hope
02:25 but I want us to pick up this picture with an eye on romance,
02:29 okay, here is the picture
02:32 of Jesus staying among these churches,
02:33 the churches have problems, they have issues,
02:37 they have baggage,
02:38 you know, relationships have baggage,
02:40 they have baggage
02:41 and the thing that I love about this picture
02:44 is that even though they have issues
02:48 and they have baggage and they have problems,
02:50 Jesus is with them... All: Hmmm... hmmm...
02:52 James: Jesus is with them,
02:53 now, what's really significant is...
02:55 as we look through these churches,
02:57 we're going to find that there are two churches
02:59 that have nothing negative said about them,
03:02 the first one is Smyrna,
03:03 which is going to be the second church in our order,
03:06 and the next church, the second church
03:08 that has nothing bad said about it is Philadelphia,
03:10 the church of brotherly love,
03:12 all the other churches,
03:13 Jesus affirms and then He corrects,
03:17 he affirms, he corrects, which, by-the-way,
03:19 marriage... relationships... start with the positive
03:23 affirm your wife, affirm your husband,
03:26 affirm your children before you correct,
03:29 He affirms and He corrects, Jesus was the Master
03:32 and He knows that they've got issues
03:36 before He gets to the issues, He pictures Himself among them.
03:40 "I'm with you, I'm with you... "
03:42 now, He could have pictured himself,
03:44 just with two of the churches,
03:45 he could have just pictured Himself...
03:47 as with Smyrna and Philadelphia
03:49 and He could have had this attitude of,
03:51 "When you other five churches get your act together,
03:53 when you listen to what I have to say,
03:55 and when you follow my rebukes
03:56 you can join our little group over here...
03:58 we've arrived and you can join us"
04:00 but He doesn't do that, see, Jesus meets us where we are
04:03 and this is the message of the Book of Revelation.
04:06 Jesus meets us where we are, He knows our baggage,
04:09 He knows our struggles, He knows our weaknesses,
04:12 we see this in the gospels, the woman at the well,
04:15 in the middle of the afternoon
04:17 because that's when no one else would be there
04:19 and this woman didn't want to be
04:20 seen or talked to by anyone else,
04:22 Jesus... meets... He knows her life history,
04:24 He knows everything about her
04:26 and He tells her that He knows everything about her
04:28 but the way that He relates to her
04:31 and the way that He communicates to her,
04:33 tells her that he cares about her and loves her
04:36 and she now is free from all that insecurity,
04:39 all that history... that she's free to run into town and say,
04:41 "Come and meet a man that told me everything
04:43 I ever did wrong. "
04:44 Isn't this the Messiah?
04:45 Okay, that's the picture that
04:47 Revelation is giving us of Jesus Christ.
04:50 He knows all the problems we have, but He's still with us,
04:53 ahead of time, He shows us that.
04:55 I want to add something there, in Revelation chapter 1
04:59 Jesus is described as having on a golden girdle
05:02 and that is very key because
05:05 that description goes back to the Old Testament
05:09 when the High Priest, in fact, is found...
05:11 it's Exodus 28 verse 4
05:16 and it describes the garments of the High Priest
05:19 that he was supposed to put on, the verse ends with these words,
05:22 "that He may minister unto me in the Priest's office"
05:26 so when we see Jesus with these garments on,
05:30 it's signifying that He has now entered into His priestly work,
05:35 part of that priestly... of course, that's going to be,
05:37 after His resurrection, He's ascended,
05:40 so the vision here of the churches
05:43 begins with Christ beginning His work of ministry of intercession
05:49 but the nice thing about this is...
05:51 that He wears a Breastplate, right, with the...
05:54 with the names of the children of Israel on it
05:58 meaning what? He's bearing them on His heart
06:02 so that picture of Christ carrying us,
06:05 Christ caring for us, Christ loving us
06:08 is what comes before...
06:10 "before I begin to... like... tell you about yourself,
06:14 let me just let you know that I have you in my heart... "
06:17 Yvonne: Yes... James: That I'm with you.
06:18 Ivor: I'm with you. James: I'm standing with you.
06:20 Ivor: Exactly, exactly.
06:21 James: I got your back... Ivor: I got your back.
06:23 James: This is the picture, in fact, we see the same picture
06:25 now, again, Revelation is simply picking up
06:28 this story of the Bible,
06:29 so, Ivor, went to the Old Testament?
06:31 The Priest had the breastplate,
06:33 in the New Testament we see here,
06:35 He's among the candlesticks, so how do we see this
06:37 illustrated in the life of Christ?
06:39 Do you remember when Christ was getting ready
06:41 to go to the cross, He was in the garden...
06:43 He was in the Upper Room with the disciples,
06:45 He was getting ready to go to the Garden of Gethsemane
06:47 and then the cross and He told His disciples that
06:49 what they were going to do was they were going to betray Him,
06:52 every single one of them, even Peter denied, "I won't... "
06:55 "No, you're going to...
06:56 you'll be the worst... okay, other than Judas... "
06:58 but then He said this, He said, "But after I am risen,
07:03 I'm going to go before you to Galilee... "
07:06 now think about that, Jesus says,
07:09 "You're going to forsake me but I'm not going to forsake you,
07:11 you're going to run from me but I'm not going to run from you
07:13 you're going to deny me but I'm not going to deny you. "
07:16 Yvonne: Hmmm...
07:17 James: See this is the picture of the gospel,
07:19 this is the picture in Revelation,
07:21 Jesus is with us in spite of our failures, our faults,
07:25 in spite of our abandonment of Him,
07:28 He sticks it out with us
07:29 and that's the love that draws us...
07:31 that's the love that draws us.
07:33 Ivor: We love Him because He first loved us. "
07:35 James: And so, this picture is vital as we open up the churches
07:38 because what's going to happen is we're going to look at those
07:40 churches and we're going to see history...
07:42 the first church is going to show us the history
07:44 of the early... of the early apostolic age
07:46 but we're also going to see ourselves.
07:47 We're going to see ourselves, We're going to see ourselves...
07:50 and we're going to think, "Wow! I thought... "
07:52 Okay, let's just start with the church of Ephesus,
07:54 Jason, read for us the first what is it, seven, five, six...
08:00 seven verses...
08:02 Okay, "Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write;
08:06 These things saith he that holdeth
08:08 the seven stars in his right hand,
08:10 who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
08:13 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience,
08:17 and how thou canst not bear them which are evil:
08:20 and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles,
08:24 and are not, and hast found them liars:
08:27 And hast borne, and hast patience,
08:29 and for my name's sake hast laboured,
08:32 and hast not fainted.
08:34 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee,
08:36 because thou hast left thy first love.
08:39 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent,
08:44 and do the first works;
08:45 or else I will come unto thee quickly,
08:48 and will remove thy candlestick out of his place,
08:51 except thou repent.
08:52 But this thou hast,
08:54 that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes,
09:01 which I also hate.
09:03 He that hath an ear, let him hear
09:07 what the Spirit saith unto the churches;
09:10 To him that overcometh
09:12 will I give to eat of the tree of life,
09:14 which is in the midst of the paradise of God. "
09:17 So, look at this and understand how it relates to us,
09:24 "I know your works... your labor, your patience,
09:27 you can't bear those that are evil,
09:28 you tried them which say they're apostles and they're not
09:30 and you found them liars, you've borne, you had patience
09:32 for my name's sake you have labored
09:34 and you haven't fainted... "
09:35 I mean, who among us
09:37 would not like to have that said about them?
09:39 Who? That's just a pedigree right there,
09:42 Jesus pouring it on, this is all just good stuff
09:45 and this describes the experience of the early church,
09:48 the early Apostolic church.
09:49 So we're starting in Christ's time,
09:52 we're starting in the Apostolic age
09:54 with this... with this... what was the word again?
09:57 This sequence of Genesis chapters 1 and 2,
10:02 we described the sequence of seven.
10:06 Ivor: Creation... yeah... one through seven... the cycle.
10:08 James: The cycle... the cycle of seven,
10:10 we're starting... right here,
10:12 we're starting with the Apostolic age
10:13 with the cycle of seven
10:14 and it's going to take us all the way down to the very end,
10:17 the second coming of Jesus, time of the judgment, post 1844,
10:20 the first church... Apostolic Church...
10:22 this describes... they were full of faith
10:24 and patience and labor
10:26 and they tried those that said they were apostles
10:27 and they're not they found them liars
10:28 and they had labored even more, they had more patience
10:30 but... what happened?
10:32 There was something that took place in that early church,
10:35 something that started to slip in their relationship
10:39 and it can happen with all of us,
10:41 when I first came to Jesus, I had nothing to offer Him,
10:45 I was just out of the world, fresh out of the world,
10:48 the words of that hymn,
10:50 "Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling"
10:53 I had nothing to offer Him and so, I was just...
10:56 I had this first love experience,
10:57 I mean, I was just on fire because Jesus had forgiven me,
11:00 He accepted me and I just wanted to live for Him
11:02 because I just... all this guilt was gone,
11:04 I was like, "Yes... " but then you know after a few months
11:08 I started... I learned about the Sabbath,
11:09 I started going to church on the right day,
11:11 I learned about tithe... and starting paying my tithe...
11:14 learned about the Ten Commandments,
11:17 and just started following all the principles of the Bible
11:19 and studying and... a few months go by...
11:22 I am doing this and I am doing this...
11:24 and I've labored and I've got patience and I've got faith
11:27 and I've tried those and said, "they're apostles,"
11:29 I was going to a lot of different churches actually,
11:30 not just the Adventist Church
11:32 and so I was trying the different doctrines
11:34 to see which one was true, so now, well... now...
11:39 I've little bit more of a pedigree there...
11:41 I have a little bit more going on,
11:42 I guess what I'm trying to say is, "The greatest enemy
11:46 of our love for Christ are our works for Christ...
11:50 the greatest enemy of our love for Christ
11:53 is our works for Christ... "
11:54 okay, I'm actually quoting Oswald Chambers on that one
11:57 but it's true...
11:59 the more we do... the greater the danger
12:03 that we would start... slip our...
12:05 slip from our full confidence, full trust,
12:09 full weight on Christ to our works, just a little bit,
12:11 we're just going to lean this way just a little bit.
12:13 Ivor: Self righteousness... James: Self righteousness.
12:15 Ivor: Let me throw something in here,
12:17 we talk about the cycle of one through seven
12:21 and how the first church is the beginning
12:24 so it's interesting that...
12:26 that's the very thing that happened in the beginning,
12:29 Adam and Eve were created in perfection,
12:32 they were like... this is like... first love
12:36 but something happens
12:38 that causes them to lose that first love,
12:41 they lost that first love, they fell from their position
12:44 just like we're reading about this first church
12:46 and what happens?
12:48 Satan came in and told them,
12:49 "You can be righteous by yourself,
12:51 you don't need God in order to be righteous,
12:53 you can know 'good and evil' for yourself,"
12:56 and so we're seeing here... this reflects...
12:58 almost like this repetition of history
13:00 between the first church and what happened with Adam and Eve,
13:05 and it's interesting because guess what?
13:06 What does He say is the reward for this first church?
13:09 James: Eat of the Tree of Life.
13:12 Yvonne: Hmmm...
13:14 Ivor: It points us right back to the Tree...
13:16 why is He pointing our mind back to the Garden?
13:18 could He be trying to tell us, "Listen, I want you to remember
13:22 how mankind got into this situation in the first place,
13:26 look if you're faithful,
13:27 I'm not going to cut you off
13:29 like I had to do with Adam and Eve from the Tree of Life,
13:31 if you're faithful and don't make the same mistake
13:33 of self-righteousness, 'I can be like God... '"
13:36 James: Sewing fig leaves together...
13:37 Ivor: "Sewing fig leaves together...
13:39 right, then... I'll give you the Tree of Life. "
13:41 Yvonne: Hmmm...
13:43 James: Powerful, good stuff because when we see this,
13:45 when we see the description here, we apply it to us,
13:48 we can apply... we're very practical on applying this
13:50 but we know it's the early church,
13:52 it... it... probably... we're going to look at this
13:55 as the early church period probably to about 100 A.D.
13:57 Paul, as he begins to pass from the scene
14:01 and later John as he begins he begins to pass from the scene...
14:03 both of them are warning the church
14:05 of the apostasy that's coming in,
14:07 of people that want the "preeminence," John says,
14:10 of those that are going to come up among you
14:13 to draw disciples after themselves,
14:15 now that is the spirit of Antichrist
14:18 and sometimes we think about Antichrist
14:20 as one religious system and one religious person,
14:23 no, John says, "There are many Antichrists... "
14:25 "Anti" does not necessarily mean against...
14:28 it also means "in the place of"
14:30 "in the place of," in other words...
14:33 we are in danger of putting ourselves
14:36 in the place that Christ should occupy
14:38 in the minds and hearts of other people
14:40 and this is where we have to be very careful,
14:43 even here, right now, at this table,
14:44 we have to point people to Jesus,
14:46 we have to point people to the Word,
14:48 we can't be pointing people to our opinions, to our pedigree
14:51 to what it is that we have to offer,
14:53 the whole point of this
14:55 is to open up the Word of God and point people to Jesus
14:57 because He's the only one that can really restore
14:59 and so, about 100 A.D. and onward...
15:02 there's this transition that starts taking place
15:06 in the early churches,
15:07 the first Apostles, Disciples... passed from the scene,
15:10 John passes from the scene...
15:11 and he's warning the church of what's going to come,
15:13 there's some heavy persecution
15:15 and heavy persecution will take us into the next church
15:18 and that's followed by some compromise that takes place
15:20 and so we see this beginning right here
15:23 the doctors of doctrine that's coming in...
15:25 the doctrine of Nicolaitanes that is causing compromise
15:30 in the early church period.
15:32 Yeah, we should touch on that... on Nicolaitanes
15:35 do you have a question?
15:37 I did... I just want to... well, it's more of a comment...
15:39 in verse 4, when you think about...
15:43 when you think about a love relationship,
15:46 and you think about how that... the first love...
15:50 that's your first love, that's so important to you
15:53 and how you're going to nurture it
15:55 and how you're going to spend time with it
15:58 and how you're going to get engaged in it,
16:01 then, Jesus is saying, "You've left your first love,"
16:06 again, this book of love, this is the romantic thing here,
16:11 you are walking away
16:14 from our relationship...
16:17 I like this, I think we need to build on this
16:20 just a little bit here because
16:21 what this is saying to us is,
16:23 "You can have all the doctrines right,
16:25 you can figure out who the Nicolaitanes are
16:28 and you can figure out who...
16:29 you can try those and say they're possibly not...
16:30 you can find them liars,
16:32 you can have all that stuff there
16:33 but if you don't have that relationship with Jesus Christ,
16:35 it's a "not" the candlestick's gone...
16:37 the candlestick's gone,
16:39 it's all about that relationship.
16:40 Ivor: The fire has died... James: Hmmm... hmmm...
16:43 Yvonne: Oh, taking away the candlestick
16:45 is taking away the... come on now...
16:48 taking away the fire... Ivor and Yvonne do a fist bump.
16:52 Yeah, the fire...
16:56 Ivor: Yeah, the fire is gone... the love is gone...
16:59 because that's what the book of Song of Solomon actually
17:03 equates or tells us that fire is a symbol of love.
17:07 "Love is like a fire that cannot be quenched"
17:09 so when that fire goes out, what God is saying is that...
17:12 He's not saying, "I've lost my love for you... "
17:14 He's saying, "You have lost your love for me"
17:17 James: But you can rekindle the fire.
17:20 Ivor: You can rekindle the fire. Yvonne: Come on... come on...
17:21 we can even call the Program, "Rekindle the Flame. "
17:24 Yvonne: "Rekindle the Flame!" I love it...
17:27 James: That's this one right there that's enough.
17:28 Yvonne: Yeah... yeah...
17:30 Ivor: So, it's interesting that we can even look back and see
17:36 that this very thing happened with Lucifer,
17:37 he was created perfect and righteous
17:42 but he ended up falling, right? from his place
17:46 because he left his first love,
17:49 so this is something that we see
17:51 reflecting many different levels
17:54 even though it's applicable to the church
17:57 in this particular time period we can see the principle
18:00 spilling out into other areas of the Plan of Salvation
18:04 and so, where are we right now?
18:07 we are... this first church...
18:10 is revolving around the 70-week prophecy, right?
18:16 the fulfillment of that prophecy...
18:18 the first church and where is our location?
18:21 we're in the Holy Place, right,
18:24 so that's just important to understand
18:25 as we move forward but about the Nicolaitanes,
18:29 if you look down in verse... chapter 2...
18:32 and look down in verse 14... it says,
18:35 "But I have a few things against thee,
18:37 because thou hast there them... "
18:38 now this is speaking about the second church,
18:40 we're not going there yet
18:41 but we're looking at this... for the first church...
18:43 "thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam,
18:46 who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block
18:49 before the children of Israel,
18:50 to eat things sacrificed unto idols,
18:52 and to commit fornication.
18:53 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine
18:56 of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate. "
18:59 So the doctrine of the Nicolaitane... whatever that was
19:02 was very similar to the doctrine of Balaam,
19:04 whatever Balaam was doing,
19:05 and what Balaam was doing...
19:07 Balaam was "supposedly" a prophet of God
19:11 but he was working against the cause of God.
19:14 Okay, so, this principle of compromise,
19:18 when you stand for God, you're supposed to stand for God
19:20 but this principle of compromise in the name of the Lord,
19:23 that's what's going on in the early church,
19:25 right? the Nicolaitans are teaching some kind of doctrine
19:30 in which compromise...
19:32 "Hey, hey, we're for God...
19:34 we're for God, you know we're for God... "
19:35 but there's beginning to be compromise
19:37 coming into the church.
19:38 This is, I think, a pretty interesting point...
19:43 is that Paul
19:47 who wrote the epistles...
19:49 he also wrote, "To seven churches... "
19:52 Yvonne: Hmmm...
19:53 James: Interesting... the seven is epistles to other churches,
19:55 Romans, Corinth, Ephesians, Galatians,
19:59 Colossians, Philippians... and Thessalonians, okay.
20:05 So seven churches... several different letters
20:07 but seven churches.
20:09 Ivor: Now John's letters to the seven churches,
20:12 come after Paul's letters to the seven churches
20:15 but if you read Paul's letters to the seven churches,
20:17 guess what he's doing?
20:18 He's warning against apostasy to come,
20:21 2nd Thessalonians... "a man of sin is going to arrive,"
20:24 Galatians... "Let no one
20:28 deceive you and introduce to you another gospel"
20:31 Colossians... "be aware of the worship of angels"
20:34 Corinthians... "all the... "
20:35 That's right, all these things, these points...
20:38 it's as if Paul was warning,
20:41 "Listen, something's coming guys
20:43 and you guys are letting something come up in the church,
20:46 if you don't address this... "
20:47 so when John is writing, he's saying,
20:51 "Look, these things... they're beginning to occur now,
20:55 'You've lost your first love' these things...
20:58 and as a result, you're going to see the man of sin rise,
21:02 you're going to see this teaching
21:04 where we pray to angels instead of...
21:06 you're going to see another gospel being introduced
21:08 that is not the one that Christ spoke...
21:10 all this is a result of leaving your first love described here
21:14 in the Book of... in the first church. "
21:16 Yvonne: Wow...
21:18 That is really powerful because Paul is more explicit about
21:22 specific aspects of what that false teaching was...
21:25 or what those false teachings were... he identifies them
21:28 in a number of different places like in Galatians
21:31 and he talks about specifically what they were doing
21:33 and the most important thing... the most important solution
21:37 as you said, Ivor, the most important solution
21:39 to what they were doing was to reconnect with Jesus,
21:42 they were being taught about another Jesus,
21:45 they were receiving another gospel,
21:47 they were receiving another spirit
21:49 and just like in Thessalonians...
21:51 he says in 2nd Corinthians that the devil would come
21:55 with ministers of righteousness
21:57 and as an angel of light and by-the-way,
21:58 Lucifer was a God-given name and it means "Light bearer"
22:02 so you've got the light, the light, the light
22:03 and that light going out... and Lucifer is the one
22:06 who is trying to put out the light,
22:09 he's trying to quench the light.
22:11 Ivor: The love...
22:12 James: The love... the love... the love...
22:14 and the other thing that's interesting is
22:15 the picture that Jesus has here in the candlesticks
22:18 is Him tending the lights... tending the lights.
22:21 Ivor: Yeah, keep the love burning.
22:24 James: Yeah and in Matthew 25... the ten virgins...
22:26 they're trimming their wicks so the light can burn brighter
22:29 and they're needing that extra oil
22:31 to be added so the light can burn brighter.
22:33 Ivor: So the five foolish virgins
22:34 actually run out of love...
22:36 James: Yes, Holy Spirit love...
22:39 Yvonne: Hmmm... that is so deep.
22:42 Ivor: Yeah, they burn out.
22:43 James: And this is all
22:45 "a relational... " this is what the
22:47 Book of Revelation is, it's relational.
22:48 Yvonne: And I think that's really what the focus,
22:53 our focus... so often, in our church
22:56 we get... we start majoring in minor,
22:59 you get pulled into a whole other way of thought
23:03 which is legalism and so often in many other churches,
23:07 you get pulled into... anything goes...
23:09 "I can do whatever I want... "
23:11 I did a little research on the Nicolaitanes
23:13 and... and the word... the word that was involved was
23:20 "Antinomianism" and it really is like "cheap grace"
23:25 now, grace is never cheap but the whole idea of
23:29 "you can kind of do whatever you want... "
23:32 and giving it... you kind of have permission
23:35 to do whatever you want...
23:37 this is showing... and we have to really apply this to us,
23:43 how are we relating to our first love?
23:46 Have we gotten sidetracked from our first love
23:49 that we're just so busy doing the work of the Lord,
23:52 or we're so busy doing whatever we're doing,
23:54 whatever it is... that we've lost our first love
23:57 and we give excuses for it like the Nicolaitanes.
24:01 So think about... whenever you start a relationship,
24:04 whether it was, okay,
24:06 the person that you ended up marrying right?
24:09 before you got married and you were dating that person,
24:12 courting that person... whatever...
24:13 there was that fire there
24:15 and there was that love
24:17 and "Ah man, I can't wait to be with this person
24:19 and I love spending time with them"
24:21 and then imagine the feeling, like, especially as a man,
24:26 to know that the woman that you love
24:28 is now looking elsewhere, you know what I'm saying?
24:31 That feeling of, "What are you doing?"
24:33 "Why are you doing this thing?"
24:35 You're not like... "Get out of here... "
24:36 you're just like... "Please... "
24:37 but I want you to think... just take a moment and think
24:41 what is Jesus thinking as He feels His Bride-to-be
24:46 beginning to lose her... her love... and wane...
24:49 and look at this letter to the first church
24:53 that's Christ saying, almost with tears saying,
24:57 "Please, don't do... don't leave me...
24:59 don't leave me... "
25:02 because that's what Satan is trying to do...
25:03 he's trying to say, "Look, there's better over here"
25:05 Christ is saying, "What do I need to do?
25:08 no, no, no, not what I need to do...
25:10 look at what I have done, look back at the cross,
25:14 look back at the 70-Week Prophecy
25:17 and look at what I did for you
25:19 as a fulfillment of that prophecy,
25:21 I came and died for you, I love you... this much...
25:26 remember me, remember what I've done for you
25:29 and please come back to your first love. "
25:32 Yvonne: Hmmm... beautiful.
25:34 James: One of the verses in Jude
25:35 and this Book is just before the Book of Revelation
25:37 that I think it really nails what Yvonne was saying also
25:40 in relation to the doctrines of Nicolaitanes
25:44 is Jude... and I don't say chapter
25:48 because Jude is one Book, there are no chapters in here
25:52 so Jude verse 4, "For there are certain men
25:55 crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained
26:01 to this condemnation, ungodly men,
26:03 turning the grace of our God into a license for sin,
26:08 lasciviousness,
26:10 and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. "
26:14 I say "a license for sin"
26:16 because that's the modern NIV translation, modern translation.
26:18 "Sin... " we're told in 1st John chapter 3 verse 4,
26:23 is "transgression of the Law,"
26:24 these men are coming into the church
26:26 and they're taking the grace of God
26:27 and turning it into a license to transgress God's Law
26:30 and to know the man of sin
26:31 and so Jude is warning the same thing
26:33 and he... this is also a prophetic chapter if you will,
26:36 talking about the second coming, the third coming et cetera,
26:39 so, we have this picture that takes place here
26:43 that fits perfectly with the early church
26:44 and what was taking place in the history of the early church,
26:47 we have principles that apply to us today
26:50 and that is... the application of those principles to us
26:54 is called idealism,
26:55 taking the history and working out the principles
26:59 and applying it to our lives today
27:01 and that's what we see taking place in this,
27:03 again, we're out of time but we want to remind our Viewers
27:07 that they can send in their questions in the form of video.
27:12 Yvonne: Yeah, yeah...
27:16 Jason: sss@3abn. org
27:19 James: sss@3abn. org
27:21 and we want to answer some of those video questions,
27:23 the reason why it's video is because we want to have
27:26 their beautiful mugs involved in the program,
27:29 we want to encourage and involve them, so,
27:32 all right, Jason, close us out
27:33 with a word of prayer, would you?
27:35 Jason: Sure, "Dear Heavenly Father,
27:37 thank you so much for being with us
27:38 as we study the Word today
27:40 and please be with the people at home
27:42 and help them to retain the information that was discussed,
27:45 thank you so much for designing such an intricate...
27:50 but yet... an intricate Word but yet
27:55 making it understandable to us
27:57 thank you for all the many blessings
27:59 that you bestow upon us and for giving us a mind to
28:03 be able to study, discern and retain the information
28:07 in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
28:09 All: Amen...


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Revised 2016-08-04