Participants:
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP190002A
|
00:31 Hello Friends! Welcome to our study
00:33 the Sabbath School 3ABN Panel or 3ABN Sabbath School Panel, 00:37 you choose the order! 00:38 Here we are ready to go on an excursion 00:41 through an exciting Book called "Revelation." 00:43 It's not a hidden book, it's not a secret book, 00:45 it's a book that's power-packed and we've learned that 00:48 as much as we've known, we are still learning more! 00:51 Amen somebody? Amen! Amen! Amen! 00:52 So get ready because we are fired up and ready to go, 00:55 and we are only on lesson 2, just imagine what's going to 00:58 happen when we get to lesson 5. 01:00 So pause whatever you're doing and get your Bible, 01:03 your pen, your Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, 01:06 but if you don't have one, go to the following website: 01:09 ABSG.Adventist.org and download a copy 01:12 or go to your nearest Seventh-day Adventist Church 01:16 and say, "3ABN sent us, we'd like to fellowship, 01:19 and we'd like a Study Guide on the Book of Revelation. 01:22 What a beautiful cover! Isn't that nice? 01:24 Um hm, it is! The lion and the lamb which 01:27 both are a representation symbol, as it were, 01:30 of nobody other than Jesus Christ. 01:33 Shelley, it's good to have you here! I thank you. 01:34 Pastor Kenny, always good to see you! Thank you. 01:36 Jill, thank you for the work you do! Thank you. 01:39 And Ryan, no longer a new kid on the block, 01:41 good to have you here today! Amen! 01:42 He's always fired up. 01:44 That's good, when I was his age... 01:46 Hey, what am I talking about, I'm still fired up! 01:48 Let's now forget the age thing. That's right. 01:50 But before we go any further, Ryan, would you have 01:52 prayer for us? Absolutely! Let's do that... 01:54 Father in Heaven... Lord, we thank You for this day, 01:57 and we thank You again for the opportunity to come together 02:00 like this and study Your word. 02:02 But Lord, we can't do it on our own, we need Your 02:04 Holy Spirit right now to lead and guide us, to give us 02:07 the spiritual eyesight, the spiritual hearing 02:09 and knowledge and wisdom to be able to rightly divide 02:12 Your word of truth. 02:14 Father, I pray that each and every one of us 02:15 will be drawn together as brothers and sisters in Christ, 02:19 but more importantly to Jesus Christ through His word. 02:22 We thank You for Your continual love, grace and mercy, 02:25 and we ask these things in Jesus Holy name... Amen, Amen! 02:30 The Lesson is: "Among the Lampstands" 02:34 It's a very short memory text and I'll read it in... 02:36 Revelation 2:7, we are told, and this is by the way, 02:40 repeated seven times, actually eight because it's 02:43 later on in the Bible in the Book of Revelation... 02:45 "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit 02:49 says to the churches." How ironic that I read that text! 02:52 He who has an ear... the one thing I do have is an ear! 02:56 Laughter... I've got two of them! Often they stand out! 02:59 But you know what I like about this lesson 03:00 that stands out to me... is this lesson 03:04 finds the servant of God in adverse circumstances. 03:09 When the author of this lesson, Dr. Ranko Stefanovic, 03:14 put the lesson together, I thank the Lord for the way 03:16 he was able to extract. 03:18 You know, he has been gifted with that skill and ability 03:21 our colleague in ministry, we praise the Lord for 03:24 his wisdom, but we know that it's the Holy Spirit 03:26 ultimately that guides us as we begin to unfold 03:29 the story of Revelation. 03:31 But go with me to Psalm 73 because this is a beautiful 03:33 illustration of how Dr. Stefanovic decides to 03:39 preview what appears to be adversity for John on the 03:44 Island of Patmos. 03:45 It appears to be adversity, but I know that everything 03:48 that looks like adversity is not necessarily adversity. 03:52 My life began as a tragedy and abandonment that was 03:55 in fact a prelude to God's blessings. 03:57 Abandoned at 3 months old by my parents; left in the home 04:01 of an Adventist babysitter... can you call that abandonment? 04:03 No, that's an appointment to God's destiny for my life. 04:07 And so, here is Psalm 73, we're going to look at a 04:10 picture of a young man by the name of Asaph and he is 04:14 somehow blinded by his circumstances and I want to 04:17 make that point very clear because what we sometimes 04:21 think of adversity or affliction, can be appointment. 04:25 It's not necessarily adversity or affliction, 04:27 it could be appointment. Yes. 04:30 But sometimes God does not immediately deliver us from 04:32 our affliction or our adversity and we wallow in 04:36 the mire of our shortsightedness. 04:38 And when you read the story of Asaph, his perspective is 04:43 on how God seems to be unfair. 04:45 I'm going to go to that really quickly because 04:47 midway, as he is really ranting about the wicked 04:51 seems to be blessed, and how many of us have 04:54 seen people that we know, by their lifestyle choices, 04:57 and by the world they live in and by the things that they 04:58 do whether publically or we may know some people that 05:02 do that privately - we say, "How could they live like that, 05:05 and be so blessed! 05:06 I mean, we've said that before. 05:08 Well Asaph is not an unusual character and if 05:12 you would tend to fall into that category, 05:14 there is a light-turning-on moment in the midst 05:17 of his ranting. 05:18 Look at what he says in verse 1... 05:21 "Truly God is good to Israel too such as are pure in heart. 05:25 Shelley, give me verses 2-3... 05:26 "But has for me, my feet had almost stumbled; 05:29 my steps had nearly slipped. 05:31 For I was envious of the beautiful. 05:34 When I saw the prosperity of the wicked." 05:37 I was envious of the boastful, actually. 05:40 He was envious of the "boastful" when I saw 05:42 the prosperity of the wicked." 05:44 He said - These are the people that - I don't like the 05:47 fact that they are in such terrible life, 05:50 they live so horribly but they 05:52 are boasting about their wickedness. 05:53 And he goes on to chronicle, there verse 4 says... 05:58 "For there are no pangs in their death, 05:59 but their strength is firm." 06:01 In other words, they don't ever seem to be weak; 06:03 and he goes on to continue chronicling their 06:05 pride; how they're not in trouble like other men; 06:08 their eyes bulge, verse 7, with abundance; 06:10 they have more than heart could wish. 06:12 Have you ever felt like that? 06:13 I mean have you ever felt like that? 06:15 My wife and I once sat and watched an Oprah Winfrey 06:16 show when she was giving out vehicles to everybody... 06:19 "You get a vehicle, you get a vehicle, 06:21 you get a vehicle... You know that showed that... 06:22 And here we are, sitting at the edge of our bed, 06:24 our 4Runner had been wrecked, it got totaled when our vehicle 06:28 overturned in St. Louis, Missouri... 06:30 And I'm sitting there and I'm thinking... "Why could 06:32 not we be on that show today?" 06:34 Have you ever felt that way? 06:36 I mean, like... they don't need vehicles! 06:38 I need a vehicle! 06:40 But God is saying... Relax. The latter part of that year, 06:46 when I was at the General Conference with Doug Batchelor, 06:49 we were doing a series of meetings - I think it was 06:51 "The Prophecy Code" or one of those 06:53 wonderful meetings he does. 06:54 At the beginning of the meeting, I stepped out 06:56 on stage and introduced the television audience. 06:59 At the end of the meeting, I was introduced 07:01 to a lady - her name was "Faith." 07:05 This woman said to me, "When you stood up there 07:08 tonight God said, "That's my 07:09 servant, I want you to bless him." 07:11 The end result, three days later, the Lord gave me 07:13 a brand new vehicle, no payments, no insurance, 07:15 no registration coverage. 07:17 She said, "Just use it for the glory of God 07:19 and everything is going to be taken care of." 07:20 So God didn't need me on Oprah, 07:23 He needed me to do His will. 07:24 And so sometimes we find ourselves in this predicament... 07:27 this adversity, this affliction and God is saying, 07:29 "It's not affliction, it's happening 07:31 according to My timetable." That's right. 07:33 So we're visiting John on an island where it's not 07:36 affliction but it's assignment. 07:37 The Lord says, "You'll be too distracted if you stay in 07:40 Rome, you need to go where I can have you write 07:42 without any distraction." 07:43 And that's the same thing that happened to 07:45 the Apostle Paul. 07:46 If he were not imprisoned and shackled, 07:51 his life, maybe his prior life, could have been a distraction 07:54 to God getting the message to him... 07:56 But look at - through all of his affliction, he is one of the 07:58 most prolific writers of the New Testament. 08:00 So the first message is... Don't allow affliction 08:04 to be an opportunity to doubt the providence 08:07 and sovereignty of God. Amen! 08:09 Look at verse 17, I'm going to read verses 15-17 08:14 Jill, could you read that for us? Yes. 08:16 "If I had said, "I will speak thus," Behold I would have 08:19 been untrue to the generation of Your children." 08:21 (and what he meant there, he said, If I decided to say 08:23 good things, I wouldn't have been telling the truth, 08:25 but look at verses 16 and 17, Psalm 73) 08:28 "When I thought how to understand this, 08:30 it was too painful for me. 08:32 And verse 17. Until I went into the sanctuary of God; 08:36 Then I understood their end." 08:39 And then all of a sudden, his script changes. Yes. 08:46 Then he, all of a sudden, now sees God's providence. 08:49 He says, "Surely you set that in slippery places, 08:52 I know you set them up like that." 08:54 And some people live their lives for the prosperity 08:57 right now, but God is saying, "The Christian should not 09:01 focus on circumstance, adversity, nor affliction, 09:04 to doubt the sovereignty of God." 09:06 I mean, how could you be upset about somebody 09:10 mansion in Malibu or in Hollywood or Beverly Hills, 09:14 and God is building us a mansion in heaven? Amen! 09:17 So John is in this temporary condition and God had so 09:22 appointed him to communicate to us 09:24 that they couldn't even kill him. 09:26 So I would rather be in trial WITH Jesus, than in success 09:31 without Him and that's what the situation was 09:34 and we've had other examples. 09:36 We've had Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego; 09:39 or Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, their Hebrew names. 09:41 They were standing in the province in the court of 09:43 Babylon, they choose to serve God and here's the point, 09:46 and I think the lesson brings this out... 09:49 Whenever you choose to serve God, it may result in not your 09:53 demise, but your discomfort. 09:57 Discomfort and demise are not the same thing. 10:00 It wasn't a demise for John because at the end of that, 10:04 he says, "Even so, come Lord Jesus, Amen," and when He 10:08 closed his eyes in death, it was not at 10:09 the hand of his persecutors, but by the will of God. 10:13 Pastor Doug Batchelor, my good friend says, 10:15 "We are immortal until God is done with us and then we 10:19 still have the gift of eternal life when He returns." Amen! 10:22 We also have the stoning of Stephen. That's right. 10:26 Once again, in adverse circumstance... 10:29 he begins from the beginning of the attempt on 10:31 Christ to guide the Jewish leaders and he gets 10:34 so convicted that his situation does end in a 10:37 demise, but, you know what? To give your life for the Lord, 10:41 is better than to live without the Lord. Yes. Amen. 10:44 See, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, 10:46 that they may rest from their labors 10:47 and their works do follow them." 10:49 But I want to give you a couple of Bible passages 10:50 that if you may be like in a situation, like John was 10:54 on Patmos, your Patmos, your Patmos may be in Brooklyn, 10:56 or in California or in Texas or in the Bahamas or in some 11:00 location, you may be in the midst of the most 11:02 successful thriving financial community and you may feel 11:06 completely isolated and alone, and somehow cutoff from God... 11:11 But let me give you a couple of passages that will 11:13 encourage you: Isaiah 43:2, and I think many of us know that. 11:17 Isaiah 43:2, God is always with us in our times 11:22 of trouble. It says... "When you pass through the 11:26 waters - what's the next word? I will be with you. 11:30 And through the rivers - what? They shall not overflow you. 11:34 When you walk through the fire - what? 11:35 You shall not be burned, nor shall the flames scorch you." 11:40 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, know that as a fact. 11:43 To be in a furnace and the only thing that burns are the 11:45 Babylonian ropes and even then, it doesn't even 11:48 leave the smell of smoke on them. Praise God for that! 11:51 Another one... Who can get to 2 Corinthians 4:8-9? 11:55 Whoever gets there first, read that for us. 11:57 I think Shelley is there, looks like it to me. 12:00 2 Corinthians 4:8-9... "We are hard pressed 12:05 on every side, yet not crushed. 12:07 We are perplexed but not in despair. 12:10 Persecuted but not forsaken. 12:12 Struck down but not destroyed." 12:14 That's the lot of the Christian sometimes. 12:17 Have any of us ever gone through adversity? Laughter. Adversity? 12:21 Are we still here? Yes! To God be the glory, 12:23 we're here and we get those moments in our lives... 12:26 I know that my wife and I can recall a moment in 1995... 12:30 We were determined to quit this thing called "ministry" 12:35 because it was just too tough. 12:36 But look at what I would have forfeited. Yes. 12:39 It shudders us when we sit down sometimes 12:41 and recount the way that God has led us. 12:43 And when adversity comes, remember this... Adversity comes 12:47 not at the appointment of God, but at the allowance of God. 12:51 God knows when we need to be refined and sometimes 12:54 it takes warmer flames than we've ever been exposed to 12:57 to get the things in our lives burned out. 12:59 And I know that who I was in 1995, to God be the glory, 13:03 I am not in 2019, praise God for that! Amen! 13:07 Here's another one, Psalm 46:1, "God is our refuge and strength 13:12 a very present help - when? In trouble. 13:15 So God was on that island with John, that island of Patmos, 13:20 as was pointed out... "The followers of Christ, (this us on 13:23 the bottom of Sunday, the paragraph closer to the bottom. 13:28 "The followers of Christ should never forget that whenever 13:33 they find themselves in circumstances similar to those 13:37 of John, they are not left alone." 13:40 Isn't that wonderful? Amen! 13:42 Acts 17:27... "So that they should seek the Lord 13:48 in the hope that they might grope for Him and 13:50 find Him though He is not far from each one of us." 13:54 So He says - You might be looking for Me, 13:56 but I'm right here. 13:57 Road to Emmaus - He was on that road with the disciples and 14:00 friends, He is with you in your set of circumstances. 14:03 Amen and Amen! I have Revelation 1:10, 14:09 and as John is on the island, he says, "I was in the Spirit 14:15 on the Lord's day and I heard behind me 14:17 a loud voice as a trumpet." 14:20 So what day in the Bible is specified as the Lord's day? 14:24 Let's look at Genesis 2:1-3 and in the very beginning 14:31 the Bible says that as God is creating everything, when He had 14:35 finished creating everything, it says on the seventh day, 14:39 which is Saturday, God ended His work which He had done, 14:42 and He rested on the seventh day from all the work 14:46 which He had done, then God blessed the seventh day 14:49 and sanctified it." 14:51 That means God set it aside as a holy day. 14:55 Now there's no question which day this is because 15:01 in this passage "seventh day" is mentioned 15:04 three different times. 15:05 We know in Exodus 20, verses 8-11, this is part of the 15:12 Ten Commandments and God says something interesting. 15:16 And as you're turning there, I just want to remind you... 15:19 or tell you if you don't know... 15:22 The Sabbath day is a memorial of God as Creator; 15:29 it is a memorial of God as Deliverer and as our Sanctifier. 15:35 So He says in Exodus 20:8-11, "Remember the Sabbath day to 15:39 keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 15:45 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God." 15:50 And He goes on to say, in it you are not going to do 15:53 any work because in six days God created the heavens 15:57 and the earth and then He rested. 15:59 So it is a memorial of God, we look to Him as our Creator. 16:03 Deuteronomy 5:12-15... "It is a memorial 16:09 of God as our Deliverer, the Redeemer God... and again, 16:16 I'm just going to jump through these. 16:18 In verse 14, it says... "The seventh day is the Sabbath, 16:23 once again, of the Lord your God. 16:26 But verse 15 says... "Remember (in reference to the Sabbath) 16:31 that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and that your 16:35 God brought you out from there by a mighty hand, 16:39 by an outstretched arm; therefore, the Lord 16:43 your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day." 16:47 So we see it is a memorial of Him as Deliverer and then 16:52 my favorite, Exodus 31:13... God says, "Surely My 16:57 Sabbaths (He's laying claim to them) My Sabbaths you shall 17:00 keep for it's a sign between Me and You that I am 17:06 the Lord who sanctifies you." 17:08 I don't know about you, but all my life 17:10 I've tried to sanctify myself. 17:13 I tried to be a good little girl for the Lord. 17:15 I tried to be holy, I tried, I tried... I failed! 17:20 But when I discovered the Sabbath, 17:23 I learned that it is God's job, all He asked me to do is 17:29 surrender to just follow Him. 17:33 He's the one that's going to work in me to will and to do 17:36 according to His good pleasure. Halleluiah! 17:39 Isaiah 58:13, if there's any verse that shows 17:45 that the Sabbaths are God's, this is His... 17:50 God says, "If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath 17:53 to doing your pleasure on My holy day, whose day is it...? 17:59 It's God's holy day. 18:01 ...and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of 18:05 the Lord honorable and honor Him, not doing your own ways, 18:09 not finding your own pleasure, not speaking your own words... 18:13 See, God is saying, This is MY day. That's right! 18:16 And then Jesus said, in Matthew 12:8 that the "Son 18:21 of Man is Lord... what? ... even of the Sabbath." 18:25 So according to Scripture, when John says, 18:30 "I was on the Island of Patmos, I was in the Spirit 18:34 on the Lord's day." This was God's Sabbath day. 18:38 Now you know, there are some who say, "Well no, now the 18:43 Lord's day is Sunday in honor of the resurrection." 18:47 You know what we do in honor of the resurrection? 18:50 We're baptized. That's right! 18:52 Romans 6, we're buried with Him, we come up, 18:56 that's the honor of the resurrection. 18:58 It happened once, it goes for us 19:01 Now, there are people, though, who try to say... 19:06 "Well no, now Sunday is God's day." 19:09 But that doesn't line up with Scripture. 19:11 There's not one single Scripture that says that. 19:13 And, in the New Testament, in the entire Bible, 19:17 there's only eight different Scripture references 19:22 that use the phrase "the first day of the week" which 19:25 would be Sunday. 19:26 Five of these are when the women were coming to 19:29 the tomb and here their Lord had died; they go home 19:34 and rest on the Sabbath, according to the Commandment, 19:36 it says, and then they go back on Sunday morning 19:41 with the fragrant oils. 19:43 But let me go through quickly, the only other three 19:47 references to the first day of the week... 19:49 John 20:19... It says, "Then the same day (this is 19:54 resurrection Sunday) at evening, being the first day 19:58 of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples 20:02 were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood 20:08 in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be with you." 20:11 So you've got disciples that are trembling with fear. 20:16 They're hiding behind barred doors. 20:19 They don't believe the reports of those who have already 20:22 come and said that He was risen. 20:23 They don't know that Christ is risen. 20:25 This was not a worship service. Amen! 20:28 This was something where they were locking themselves 20:32 away so they wouldn't be caught. 20:34 Now the second reference to the first day of the week 20:38 that is remaining is 1 Corinthians 16:1-3... 20:42 where Paul says, "Concerning the collection for the saints, 20:44 as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you 20:48 must do also. 20:49 On the first day of the week let each one of you lay 20:53 something aside, storing up as he may prosper, 20:57 that there be no collections when I come." 20:59 There he's taking up a collection for those who 21:02 are in a... what am I trying to say? 21:06 Yeah, but what am I trying to say? 21:08 They're starving is what I'm trying to say. 21:10 Alright, so what he's saying to them when he says to 21:15 "lay it aside," literally in the Greek it's "Lay by him 21:20 in store." 21:21 So he's telling them, "Hey, I'm going to come through 21:24 and these who are in the famine, we're going to collect this 21:27 for them. I want you to already have it laid up 21:30 and stored in your house (and this would be grains 21:33 and different things that they are laying up in store) 21:36 and then he wanted it to be ready so that the 21:39 people who came through could take it to those 21:42 who were suffering this famine in Jerusalem. 21:46 Now the last Scripture is Acts 20:7-12... 21:52 This is the final of the eight references to the first 21:56 day of the week. 21:57 It says, "Now on the first day of the week, when the 22:00 disciples came together to break bread, 22:01 Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them 22:04 and continued the message until midnight." 22:07 Now they are breaking bread, Acts 2:44-46 talks how they 22:14 broke bread day to day. 22:15 So this is probably a farewell meal. 22:19 Paul has been at Troas for seven days; 22:22 He has met with the disciples more than once and now 22:25 he's getting ready to go away and they're having 22:27 a farewell meal and it says in verse 8... 22:32 You know, Paul is kind of long-winded... 22:35 kind of like some people I know at this table! 22:39 So he says that "There were many lamps in the upper room 22:44 where they were gathered together. 22:46 (so they were meeting in a private house, 22:48 the upper most room, probably the third floor because 22:52 they don't want to be interrupted)... 22:54 And the illumination is smoking lamps - it's thick, it's stuffy, 22:59 and in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, 23:02 who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by 23:06 sleep; and as Paul continued, he fell down from the 23:09 third story and was taken up dead. 23:12 So Eutychus was feeling sleepy, he gets in the 23:16 window to get a little fresh air, he conks off, he goes 23:19 down and then what happens? 23:21 Paul went down, fell on him, embracing him saying, 23:24 "Don't trouble yourselves, for his life is in him." 23:27 So this is like when Elisha fell on the 23:29 man to bring him back to life. 23:31 Paul falls on him and brings him back to life and many 23:36 people believe this is the only reason Luke 23:37 even recorded this. 23:39 So those are the only eight Scriptures 23:42 on the first day of the week. 23:44 Does anything say that God transferred His sanctity 23:49 from the seventh day Sabbath to the first day of the week? No. 23:53 So the Sabbath was founded on God's specific and divine 23:58 commandment - it was set apart for humanity's benefit 24:01 and when John says, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, 24:06 it was on the Sabbath. Amen! Amen! 24:08 Thank you very much Shelley. 24:10 Wonderful treaties on the Lord's day. 24:13 We're going to take a short break, 24:15 and we'll be back in just a moment. Amen! 24:23 Ever wish you could watch a 3ABN Sabbath School Panel again 24:27 or share it on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter? 24:30 Well, you can... by visiting 3ABN Sabbath School Panel.com 24:35 A clean design makes it easy to find the program 24:38 you're looking for. 24:39 There are also links to the Adult Bible Study Guide 24:43 so you can follow along. 24:44 Sharing is easy, just click "share" and choose 24:47 your favorite social media. 24:49 Share a link, save a life for eternity! 24:55 Welcome back to our continued study on the Book of Revelation. 24:58 Shelley, that was a wonderful treaties on the Lord's day, 25:01 but you want to correct something? 25:03 Yes, I evidently misspoke the reference in Corinthians is 25:07 1 Corinthians 16:1-3. Okay, thank you very much. 25:12 Pastor Kenny, you have now the privilege of unfolding 25:15 Tuesday's lesson, "John's Vision of Christ on Patmos" 25:19 You know, I thought as I read this beginning, I thought, 25:22 "How overwhelming." Really, I'm just overwhelmed with it, 25:25 just with the title encountering Christ on Patmos. 25:29 I thought, "Man, we need to encounter Christ every day 25:33 of our life. 25:34 You know, and this encounter that John had is absolutely 25:37 amazing and this Tuesday's lesson challenges 25:42 to read to begin with in Revelation 1:12-18. 25:45 Now I'll just kind of go through that in just a moment, 25:48 so I hope you have Bibles and whatever and you're 25:50 jotting things down quickly because a lot is said in a very 25:52 short amount of time. 25:55 This behooves us to take a lot of time and study it, 25:57 study at home, so please study. 26:01 We go into a description of Christ and what He's doing, 26:04 not only what He has done, what he is doing right now. 26:06 I thought how interesting what He's doing now, 26:07 what He was doing then, as it was, when John saw him 26:10 in vision - what was Jesus doing? 26:12 You know, is it important to us today to know that? Absolutely! 26:15 And I think probably as I studied through this 26:18 and read these verses in here, when it gave a description 26:22 of Jesus and it talks about His hair and it talks about 26:25 His eyes and His feet... it makes you want 26:28 to just fall down and worship Him. It really does. 26:31 It makes you want to just fall down and like dig a hole, 26:34 if you don't mind me saying it and crawl into it because 26:36 we're so unworthy and rather than stand on our feet 26:39 and act like we're some kind of equal to be in the presence 26:41 of every godly man or woman, encountered angels or 26:45 any kind of heavenly being, what did they do? 26:47 They had a little fear and then they began to shake 26:49 because they realized there was something heavenly there, 26:52 and so, as you go through that, we'll do it quickly. 26:55 John heard a voice and naturally as we hear a voice, 26:58 what do we do? Every time I hear a voice... 27:00 What? Who? And usually is asked to repeat it twice 27:02 for me to hear it, but said, he heard this voice 27:05 is what the Bible said, he turned around, 27:07 and he saw... what did he see? 27:09 It said seven golden candlesticks. 27:12 That to me, I looked and I said, "Well now would that be 27:15 the same? Well no, you look at it, it's seven golden 27:17 candlesticks talking about here, in the holy place of the 27:19 earthly sanctuary, Exodus 25, but they're different. 27:23 These here are different materially, if nothing else, 27:26 just materially; seven branch candlestick 27:28 of the Old Testament. 27:30 Well, John saw Jesus, Oh exciting, Jesus walking 27:34 among the seven candlesticks. 27:37 But if we didn't go to the word of God and try to figure out 27:39 what this was all about, we'd say, "Well good, Jesus 27:41 walking among the candlesticks, what good is it doing?" 27:44 But we realize He was walking among the candlesticks 27:46 and in Revelation 2:1, he saw Him there. 27:51 In Revelation 1:20, it says the Lampstands represent... what? 27:54 The seven churches! That's right. 27:57 The seven churches so I'd like to say maybe the whole church. 28:00 Talking about just the church in general, Jesus has the 28:03 oversight, Jesus is looking out 28:05 for the church... and what did he see? 28:08 He said "I saw One (I like that) I saw One like the Son of Man." 28:11 How would you know if you saw One like the Son of Man? 28:14 Well John certainly did... 28:16 You can read Revelation 1:11,18, you can read Daniel 7:13. 28:22 And certainly when you study it out, you're going to see 28:24 and this One is... what? Jesus Christ the Son of Man. 28:29 John sees Jesus in vision, I thought it was interesting 28:32 for the very first time. 28:33 They had been separated for about 50 years, 28:35 he really has not seen Him and a beloved disciple. 28:39 Jesus came showing His glory, in that glorified body to John. 28:45 And I thought, boy, wouldn't that be an awesome thing... 28:50 This is my opinion... Jesus was showing John all that He could 28:55 show him that all a human could possibly stand without 28:58 destroying him - that's how much glory He was showing him. 29:01 That's a lot of glory but He put it on him. 29:03 I'm telling you, it was good, dazzling, 29:05 overpowering brightness. 29:08 You know sometimes we see things and it's kind of 29:10 overpowering at times, look at the sun and solar power, 29:13 it's not gonna... I think it was more than that! 29:15 That Christ glorified revealed to John, 29:19 but He did it in the likeness of a human. 29:22 Because we realize what we know, I think it was brought out 29:24 and this being our first lesson, that we know that 29:27 Christ is eternally preexistent, we know that, 29:31 there's no doubt about it in Scripture. 29:32 We know He is the second Person of the Godhead. 29:36 We know that He has always been; there never was a time 29:42 that Christ was not with the Father. 29:45 We need to stand on those things because it's true, 29:48 and it's right and it's the truth of God's word, 29:50 and quit going by every wind of doctrine, pastors, 29:53 that's blowing around a lot of times. 29:54 When we read things from Scripture, let's take them 29:56 for what they say - let's just do this, it's good. 29:59 He's always been. 30:00 What did Jesus do? He came down and He took 30:03 on humanity for all eternity, that still blows my mind. 30:08 I've been in the ministry a long time, I can't figure it out 30:12 because all I do is look in the mirror. 30:14 I look in the mirror, at myself and I just 30:15 can't figure out why He would do what He did 30:18 for somebody like me. Absolutely! 30:21 It doesn't make sense except in the light of heaven, 30:24 and I praise God for that. 30:25 I know each one of you praise Him too. 30:27 He came down, (notice this) and as He came down, He came 30:32 down, as it were, like it says in human form and it tells me 30:34 right here that He is our Brother; I read in Scripture 30:38 He's our Elder Brother, but yet He's still God. Amen! 30:42 Something just over my head again, "Acts of the Apostles," 30:45 p. 582... everything I read in Scripture, I just say, "It's 30:47 over my head," so just bear with me if you can because 30:52 I get so excited about it, I think "how wonderful this is, 30:55 how could this be so good, we've got it made! 30:57 We have a God, right? We have Jesus! 31:00 I'm thinking, how awesome that is to think about it, 31:02 that cares so much for us, He cared so much for John, 31:05 He cared so much for humanity, He came down with an important 31:08 message that angels wouldn't bear, only Jesus 31:11 could bring that message. That's right. 31:12 And notice what it says here in "The Acts of the Apostles," 31:14 p.582, it says... "John is once more permitted to 31:17 behold the Lord." Oooo, that was good! 31:21 Notice how He's changed in His appearance. 31:25 "He's no longer a man of... what? 31:27 Sorrows! It says, no longer a Man of Sorrows. 31:29 He's clothed with garments of heavenly brightness, 31:32 and His countenance shined as the sun." 31:35 Christ took humanity entirely, (notice that) completely. 31:40 I'll give you three quick quotes here because why? 31:42 Bless your heart, some people get confused on it... 31:44 don't want anybody to get confused on it. 31:45 This is so important, this is life... this is life and death 31:48 issues as far as I'm concerned. Yes. That's right! It is! 31:50 Why? Because too many people come to your face, 31:53 and they make excuses for why they continue to live 31:55 a life of sin and they can't possibly gain victory. 31:58 They say that's not true, (notice) because they say 32:01 "Jesus had an edge over us, that's why He was able." 32:03 Not at all! Listen to this quote in "Manuscript 1, 1893," 32:07 says this... "Jesus came in the likeness of sinful flesh by pure 32:13 and what kind of life? Holy life to condemn sin in the flesh." 32:18 Philippians 2:7 says... "He was made in the likeness of men." 32:22 So not only do we have the Spirit of Prophecy but the 32:23 Bible, certainly it's in the Scripture - you can find it. 32:26 "Manuscript 93, 1893," says... Christ humbled Himself 32:31 in taking the nature of man, notice in its fallen condition. 32:36 Did you get it? Yes! Amen! 32:38 But He did not take the taint of sin. 32:40 This is very, very important. 32:42 Romans 8:3- what does it say? 32:44 This is one that is familiar. It says, "God is sending 32:46 His son, right? in the likeness of sinful flesh. 32:50 That just backs it up right where it says 32:51 what the Bible says right here. 32:53 One more, "Manuscript 94, 1893," notice this one... 32:57 It says, "His human nature was created... whose? Jesus. 33:02 His human nature was created, it did not even possess 33:06 angelic powers. Amen! Wow. It was human, 33:10 it was identical to ours, a human body, a human mind 33:16 were His. He was born of our bone and flesh of our flesh. 33:22 You say, "Wow, that's good!" 33:23 You go to Hebrews 2:16, it says, "For verily... what? He took not 33:28 on Him the nature of angels, but took on Him the 33:33 seed of Abraham." 33:35 It becomes very, very clear, doesn't it? 33:37 And also in Revelation 2:3, there's so much 33:41 about Jesus, you know, as we read that... 33:44 By the way, just jot down Revelation chapter 2 33:47 and chapter 3, read them all together there because 33:49 you'll see that Jesus says, at least seven times, 33:53 "I know you." What was He saying? 33:56 Jesus is the High Priest. Jesus, when John saw Him, 34:00 had the priestly attire on; He was walking among 34:02 the candlesticks representing His love for us. 34:05 I mean, I see that... as the earthly priest, he would take 34:09 care of the wicks and he would take care of putting the oil 34:12 in there... he would make sure and that way he became 34:14 acquainted with every... you know, we're talking about 34:17 every church, every church member that Jesus is wanting 34:21 to be acquainted with. 34:23 And so he keeps it shining brightly, you know, as you 34:26 take care of these lamps, the more you take care of them, 34:30 the more you cut the wick, the more Holy Spirit 34:31 and we talk about the oil you put into it, 34:33 the brighter they shine and naturally that's talking about 34:35 shining our way to heaven, we need that don't we? 34:38 We need that light of Jesus. 34:40 So Jesus just simply reminds us here, as we close with this 34:43 part of it, that He's always been, I mean I just seen that 34:46 in Scripture - He has always been, He is the first, 34:49 He is the last. Revelation 1:17 talks about, and He lives 34:52 forever." He has the keys of all power, right? 34:56 He has it in life and in death, Revelation 1:18. 34:59 "And Jesus says, (you can't say it enough) Jesus simply says 35:03 "I will never leave thee... Now Hebrews 13:5, "I'll never 35:08 leave thee and I'll never forsake thee." 35:10 And He says, "I'll be with you, (Matthew 28:20) 35:14 He says, "I'll be with you always unto the 35:16 the end of what...? of the end of the world. 35:18 Do you think that's a promise? Amen! 35:20 That is a promise we need Him, I'm thankful that He's got a 35:23 watchful eye over the church, over every individual, 35:26 every church and He knows what we are in need of, 35:28 and He has promised to give us that. 35:30 Praise God for it. Amen! Amen! 35:31 Thank you so much Pastor Kenny! 35:33 What an incredible privilege that the Lord Jesus Christ, 35:36 the Savior, the Redeemer of the world wants to dwell with us. 35:40 Wants to dwell with the seven churches and by extension, 35:44 each one of us - in our own lives, in our churches, 35:47 in our communities. 35:48 I have Wednesday's lesson here and we're looking at: 35:52 "Christ's Messages for Then and Now" 35:56 And, there's one verse I want to read before we pickup 35:59 here in Revelation 1:11, and I know we've already 36:02 read it here... Revelation 1:11, saying, "I am Jesus, the Alpha 36:08 and the Omega (alpha being the first letter of the 36:12 Greek alphabet; omega being the last letter 36:14 of the Greek alphabet) He is from everlasting 36:16 to everlasting." No beginning, no ending, 36:19 I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. 36:24 And said, "What you see, (speaking to John) 36:26 write in a book and send it to the seven churches 36:29 which are in Asia; to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, 36:33 to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia and to Laodicea." 36:37 So right now, we're just beginning to kick off 36:40 our study of the seven churches. 36:42 I know Ryan has the first church, 36:43 the church of Ephesus and then next week, we'll look 36:46 at some of the rest of those churches. 36:49 And these churches have kind of a threefold application. 36:53 There is a "Historical application" or there's an 36:56 application to the churches at that time, first century. 37:00 Then there is a "Prophetic application" or an application 37:04 through the Christian history from the beginning of 37:07 John's time, all the way down to the present day. 37:11 Then there's also a "Universal application"... 37:13 in other words - I could read any Scripture in here 37:16 and I might be able to find myself, 37:18 and I might be able to see counsel that I need 37:21 in my own life at that day. 37:23 So let's look at the historical application first. 37:25 Hopefully, we'll get to all of this. 37:27 The message was originally sent to the seven churches 37:30 in Asia Minor which is really modern day Turkey. 37:34 The Christians there were facing great challenges, 37:36 great persecution; there was idol worship; 37:40 there was the emperor worship that was compulsory; 37:44 there were public events and pagan ceremonies 37:46 and things, Ryan, that no Christian should be involved in. 37:50 And this is a message of encouragement 37:53 to the churches there. 37:54 It's kind of almost a travel route - if you look at the map, 37:57 and you see... say this is Turkey here, if I can do the 37:59 backwards and the Aegean Sea is on this side. 38:02 So Ephesus would be a harbor city, it's right on the coast. 38:05 And then Smyrna is a little bit north on the coast, 38:08 and then it starts to go... Pergamos starts to go north 38:10 but it's east and then it circles all the way back 38:13 around - almost all the way back around to 38:15 where we started with Ephesus. 38:16 So Ephesus, we know, was the largest city in Asia Minor; 38:20 it's the fourth largest city of the Roman Empire 38:22 at that time. 38:24 It was the center of worship to Artemis which was 38:27 an immoral figure and there was a great deal of 38:32 immorality in that city at that time. 38:35 There was a great deal of cult prostitution. 38:38 We know that Priscilla and Aquila went to Ephesus. 38:41 Remember on Paul's second missionary journey, 38:43 he met them in Corinth; they went to Ephesus, 38:45 and then on Paul's third missionary journey, 38:48 he came back and spent 3 years in the city of Ephesus. 38:52 We go north about 30 miles and we come to Smyrna. 38:56 Smyrna is second to Ephesus as a commercial center. 38:59 At that time when John was writing, probably 200,000 39:02 people living in Smyrna. 39:04 It was also a harbor city and it was a center of worship 39:08 to the goddess Roma and it had compulsory emperor worship. 39:13 In fact, this city, Ryan, was the first city that had 39:17 a temple to the Emperor Tiberius. 39:19 That was all the way back in A.D. 26. 39:23 But then we go a little 50 miles north to Smyrna and that city 39:28 was a wealthy city and it was actually the capital 39:30 of Asia Minor - maybe 120,000 to 200,000 people there. 39:35 It was the center for learning and for medicine. 39:38 It had the largest library in the Roman world outside of 39:42 Alexandria, Egypt. 39:43 parchment scrolls. 39:46 It was known as a center for healing. 39:49 They also had emperor worship and a temple 39:52 for the god Zeus there where they required 39:55 people to worship. 39:56 We go 30 miles southeast, we're starting the journey 39:59 coming back around the circle now and we go to Thyatira. 40:02 It's a smaller city, it was known for its trade, 40:05 and it had numerous trade guilds. 40:08 It had a temple to Apollo, the sun god; 40:12 a temple to Diana, the love goddess. 40:16 Lydia, the seller of purple, remember Paul and Silas 40:19 met her on one of their missionary journeys. 40:22 They met her in Philippi but Philippi is fairly close to 40:25 Thyatira, so they met her at that time. 40:28 Then we come about 30 miles southeast again 40:31 and we get to Sardis, and it was a large, wealthy 40:34 city and it a great military position, being probably 40:37 1,500 feet up on a mountain spur and it had a 40:41 defensible position. 40:42 They also had pagan worship and pagan gods. 40:46 Then we come to Philadelphia which is the newest 40:48 of all of the seven cities. 40:50 It's 25 miles southeast again, we're still making the circle 40:54 of Sardis. 40:55 It was rebuilt after a devastating earthquake 40:58 that took place in A.D. 17. 41:00 It was located on a plateau protected by water, 41:03 and it also was a center for required emperor worship. 41:07 Then we move to the last city, the City of Laodicea 41:10 which is probably 40 miles southeast as we complete 41:13 that circle around from Philadelphia. 41:16 It was known for its wealth, it was a major banking center. 41:19 It was known for its medical school, incidentally, 41:22 it had special ear and eye salve which, as we get into 41:25 the study of the church, Christ counseled them 41:28 to buy that from Him, and then it was also known 41:30 for the lukewarm water. 41:33 There is also a prophetic application to each one of 41:36 these seven churches... they represent the spiritual 41:40 condition in the church throughout history from the 41:44 time of the apostles beginning with the church of Ephesus, 41:46 we call that "the passionless or loveless church" because 41:50 they lacked love, approximately from A.D. 31 which would be 41:54 the ascension of Christ to about A.D. 100, 41:57 of course these dates could give or take for a few years. 42:01 Then we go to the persecuted church - that is Smyrna. 42:05 This is the early Roman persecution of the church 42:09 underneath the different Roman emperors. 42:11 That's about from A.D.100 to 313. 42:15 Then we go to the third church which is Pergamos. 42:17 That's the tolerant or the compromising church. 42:21 This is when the Emperor Constantine, he joined the 42:25 church and there was so much paganism and so many 42:28 other things that crept into the church during this time. 42:32 The fourth church, the church of Thyatira being the 42:35 compromising or corrupt church. 42:37 We call it simply "the church of the dark ages" 42:41 beginning about A.D. 538 and continuing to the 1,500s. 42:47 This would be the dark church, the church with immorality; 42:50 the church with the false doctrines. 42:52 Then we go to the fifth church, Sardis - also known 42:55 as the dead church coming out of those dark ages. 42:59 Moving into the 1700s, then the church of Philadelphia, 43:03 the missionary or the faithful church, the church of the 43:07 second great awakening, meaning brotherly love... 43:10 from the 1700s and that takes us all the way up to 1844. 43:15 And then we have the final church - the church of Laodicea 43:18 which is the lukewarm church or we could even say 43:21 maybe it's a little arrogant... 43:23 the arrogant and lukewarm church. 43:26 The church feels it has need of nothing. 43:29 This is the condition from 1844 to the present 43:32 that many of us find ourselves in and the Lord Jesus 43:37 wants to rescue us from that and wants to pull us out. 43:40 Each one of these churches though - has almost a 43:42 universal application... in other words, 43:45 I could read this and I could see that there is a 43:47 promise in here for me. 43:49 I could read it and see there's a commendation for me 43:53 or I could read it and I could see - there's a rebuke for me... 43:58 that I need to be paying attention to and that, 44:01 in a special way, I need to listen to. 44:03 Each one of the churches, Christ gives them a promise. 44:08 Each one of the churches have a commendation 44:11 except for Sardis and Laodicea. 44:15 Interestingly enough, those two churches - no good thing 44:18 is said about them. 44:19 Christ does not have any good words to say about them, 44:23 but there is always a promise. 44:25 So no matter if there's no good words or not, 44:27 at the end there is a promise, so there's always, always hope! 44:31 And then each church receives a rebuke except again... 44:35 for two churches - that would be the church of Smyrna, 44:38 the persecuted church, and the church of Philadelphia. 44:41 Those two churches received no rebukes. 44:44 So that's kind of the broad strokes, as it were, 44:47 as we look at the Historical application. 44:50 As we look at the Prophetic application and the 44:53 Universal application that we can have for each one of 44:56 these seven churches and I know, Ryan, you have the first church. 44:59 Yeah, absolutely! I'm going to launch us into 45:00 this study of the seven churches beginning with the 45:03 church of Ephesus. 45:05 And so I just want to give a little bit of a background... 45:07 You've already kind of established 45:08 a few of these things, but I'm just kind of overlap 45:11 here and talk about the literal city of Ephesus. 45:15 So just a few things... I just wrote down seven points here. 45:18 Ephesus was the fourth largest city of the Roman Empire 45:22 and the capital of Asia Minor. 45:25 It was the #1 seaport of Asia and therefore, 45:28 very important for the commercial trade industry. 45:32 The city was known for its theaters, gymnasiums, 45:35 bath houses, brothels and, of course, the famous 45:39 Temple of Diana which brought thousands of tourists 45:42 to that particular city. 45:43 The worshippers of Diana were known for their mystical 45:46 practices of the magical arts and astrology. 45:49 The city was notorious for its immorality and idol worship 45:53 as seen on display and we're kind of given an idea 45:56 of this in Acts 19 with the big riot and contention 46:00 that was going on with Paul's preaching of the gospel 46:02 and, of course, this idol worship, pagan worship going on 46:05 in Ephesus at that time, but I'll let you 46:07 study that on your own. 46:09 #7... While there seemed to be resistance to the Christian 46:12 message by pagans, Ephesus still was home to the most 46:16 influential Christian church in Asia Minor. 46:20 In fact, if you study the missionary journeys of Paul, 46:23 before he had died, he actually spent the longest 46:27 time in Ephesus, approximately 3 to 3-1/2 years 46:32 and so it was a special city, indeed, 46:34 and had a very strong church. 46:35 What I would like to do is go ahead and launch 46:37 into the actual Scriptural 46:39 study of this particular message to Ephesus. 46:43 We're going to begin with Revelation 2:1-4 at this moment. 46:47 The Bible says... "To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, 46:52 "These things says He who holds the seven stars 46:55 in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven 46:58 golden Lampstands; (He says) I know your works, your labor, 47:02 your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. 47:06 And you have tested those who say they are apostles 47:10 and are not, and have found them liars; 47:14 and you have persevered and have patience, 47:18 and have labored for My name's sake and have 47:21 not become weary. 47:22 Nevertheless I have this against you, 47:24 that you have left your first love." 47:27 And so I just want to unpack just those first 47:29 four verses just for a moment. 47:31 First of all, you'll notice that Jesus presents Himself 47:34 as holding the seven stars in His hands, of course, 47:38 and in the Bible, stars are representative of either 47:42 angels or in the case of Daniel 8, as we're told, 47:45 stars can also represent God's people, the saints of God. 47:49 I found this interesting quote in "Gospel Workers," p.13-14, 47:54 I may not read the entire quote, but notice what it says 47:55 here at the beginning... "God's ministers are symbolized by 47:59 the seven stars which He, who is the first and the last, 48:03 has under His special care and protection." 48:07 So these stars that He's holding in His hands... 48:09 they are His special ministers who are carrying out this 48:12 gospel work and I just figured I would add that 48:15 because that's very important. 48:16 He's walking amidst these seven branch candlesticks 48:19 and, of course, we know that these are His people, 48:22 this is His church and Christ is always with us, right? 48:24 He promises that He will never leave us nor forsake us, 48:27 as, of course, Matthew 28 reminds us that, "Lo, He will 48:30 be with us always," so always remember 48:32 Christ never will forsake you. 48:35 You will notice that in this particular text we just read, 48:37 He starts with, "I know your works," not I know your 48:43 faith... He says this to all the churches by the way... 48:46 "I know your works," and that always astounds me that He 48:49 says this because, in the Christian world today, 48:51 what do people say in regards to works? 48:53 We're not saved by works, we're saved by grace 48:55 through faith... which is always interesting. 48:57 Christ could have chosen to say, "Hey, you know what, 49:00 I know your faith, but that's not what He says here. 49:03 In fact we know, as we study in the Bible, that without 49:07 works, of course, our faith is dead, according to 49:09 James 2:17-18... The specific Greek word that is 49:13 used here for the word "works" here, when Christ 49:16 says, "I know your works," it's the Greek word "ergon" 49:19 which means "to toil, to labor, to put forth effort." 49:22 So Ephesus was not shy in working for God. 49:24 They were very much on task and on target and 49:27 forgoing the gospel ministry in putting forth the effort 49:31 in communicating the wonderful 49:32 love and grace of Jesus. 49:34 You also notice here that He says, "I know your works, 49:38 your labor, your patience," and so the word "patience" 49:42 here... there are two different words that's used 49:44 in the New Testament for patience... 49:46 the one that is used here specifically is the 49:49 ... let me see if I can say this correctly... "hypomone." 49:52 That's right! Right! "Hypomone" which means 49:55 "endurance, perseverance," and we have texts in Scripture 49:59 that help us understand this. 50:00 I'm not going to read all of them, but the famous one from 50:03 Hebrews 12:1... "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded 50:06 by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay 50:10 aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, 50:13 (notice what it says) and let us run with (there's that word) 50:16 endurance, okay... patience, hypomone (endurance). 50:21 The Ephesian church were an enduring people; 50:24 they were all about holding on to the gospel message, 50:28 preserving the doctrines that Christ had passed down to them. 50:33 In fact, we get a little bit of insight in this because in the 50:35 text that we just read, He says that, "They could not 50:39 bear those who are evil." 50:42 The church of Ephesus had a very low tolerance for evil 50:46 and for those who were teaching heresy. 50:48 In fact, we get a little bit of insight when you go back 50:51 to the Book of Acts 20:28-31, notice what Paul says here 50:56 to the Ephesian elders of the church, he says... 50:59 "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the 51:02 flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you 51:04 overseers to shepherd the church of God which He purchased 51:08 with His own blood. 51:10 For I know this, (and there is some sense of a prophetic 51:13 tone to it, so He's telling them what they can look 51:15 forward to)... "For I know this at after My departure, 51:18 savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing 51:20 the flock, also from among yourselves - men will 51:23 rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the 51:25 disciples after themselves. 51:27 And then he says, "Therefore watch and remember that for 51:31 three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and 51:33 day with tears." 51:35 And so the Ephesian church were always on the lookout, 51:38 and so in this case, when God is telling them... "Look I 51:41 understand that you cannot bear those who are evil," 51:44 God was commending them for their doctrinal orthodoxy 51:47 because they held true to those wonderful teachings. 51:50 But yet... (here comes the rebuke) "You have left 51:55 your first love (what in the world does this mean?) 51:59 One thing that comes to my mind when I think of 52:01 "You have left your first love" is the illustration 52:05 of marriage - you know, one is reminded of marriage 52:10 where at the beginning of the relationship love is alive 52:12 and vibrant, but the husband and the wife, they spend 52:15 quality time together, regularly express their love 52:18 one for another - that's just normal, but over a period 52:21 of time, that can dissipate as they begin to spend 52:24 less and less time and we could attest to this because 52:26 divorce rate and separation rate is higher than ever 52:29 in this country where people are busy, busy, busy, busy 52:32 and they're not spending time with each other. 52:34 Our families are fragmented, marriages tearing apart, 52:37 and we see this here, but I think of... "You have 52:40 left your first love," is it possible that 52:42 you can hold on to those doctrinal truths 52:45 but still lose the love... is it possible? 52:49 Absolutely and it's evident right here. 52:52 I think of Mary and Martha, Martha and Mary... 52:56 So Martha was the worker, I mean, she's doing the work! 53:00 She's ready to press it forward, where's Mary at? 53:02 Mary is at the feet of Jesus and she's soaking it in... 53:05 And so, you know, we have to have that healthy balance, 53:07 God wants us to hold on to the doctrinal orthodoxy, 53:11 He wants us to hold fast to those truths, but yet 53:14 without a daily relationship, intimate relationship with 53:17 Jesus Christ, we will lose our first love and that's a lesson 53:21 we can learn from this Ephesian church. 53:23 His response to that, of course, is to do your first works 53:28 because you've lost your first love - you know, 53:30 you've left your first love, now - you know what, 53:32 let's fix that - you have to go back and do your first works. 53:34 So Christ promises us here that if we do our first 53:38 works, we're good; if we don't, notice what the end of 53:40 verse 5 says, He says, "I will come on you quickly 53:43 and remove your lampstand 53:45 from its place, unless you repent." 53:47 Now basically this is Christ telling us... I'm going to 53:49 remove the light I have given to you - you're not going to 53:52 have that guiding light anymore because you chose not to repent. 53:55 So we need to make sure that we return to Jesus, 53:57 we repent of that lifestyle; we repent of all the 54:01 deeds that we have done that's wrong. 54:03 But I want to spend the rest of my time, in the little 54:05 time that I have on these Nicolaitans. 54:07 Notice verse 6 here... "But this you have that you hate 54:11 the deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also hate. 54:15 Now I have to say this because I have little time 54:17 but I want to come back to this when we talk about 54:19 Pergamos or Pergamum in the future. 54:21 Who are the Nicolaitans? 54:23 According to history, they were a heretical group of 54:27 followers of Nicholas. (Now Nicholas is mentioned in 54:30 Act 6:5- he was actually one of seven deacons and he 54:34 wasn't a true deacon, he was actually 54:36 a hypocrite and if this is true, Nicholas, of course, 54:40 apostasized from the faith.) 54:41 The Nicolaitans were a group who taught a radical 54:44 dualism between the body and the soul. 54:46 And so, in other words, they basically rejected 54:48 the truth - it was basically just live my life however 54:51 I want with the belief that I'm gonna be saved, 54:54 but no law, no discipline... so, you know, we have to 54:57 understand that Christ is telling them, I appreciate the 55:00 fact that you are not like the Nicolaitans, 55:02 You've rejected that mentality. That's right. 55:04 And of course, finishing up here... We have this beautiful 55:07 promise, and by the way, we're going to come back 55:08 to the Nicolaitans in Pergamos when we study 55:11 Pergamum but notice the beautiful promise 55:13 Jesus leaves us with here in verse 11... "He who has an ear, 55:17 let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches... 55:20 To him who overcomes, I will give to eat from 55:23 the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the paradise 55:26 of God! Isn't that a wonderful promise? 55:28 We will be able to eat from that Tree of Life, 55:31 I know there will be avocados on that Tree of Life! 55:33 Laughter! There will be no onions in heaven. Laughter. 55:37 That's open to discussion! That is open to discussion. 55:40 Wow, well thank you Ryan, thank you Shelley, 55:43 thank you Pastor Kenny. 55:44 I'm going to give each of you a few seconds 55:46 or so to go and summarize because it's so wonderful 55:49 as we walk through it, but sometimes it's good to go 55:51 back through that door and remember where we started 55:54 and what we talked about... Shelley. 55:55 Yes, well John said that he was in the Spirit 55:58 on the Lord's day. 56:00 Here he is on this rocky island... I can just see him, 56:03 it's Sabbath day; he's worshipping the Lord in spite 56:08 of his persecution; in spite of his conditions - he's 56:12 worshipping God and Jesus comes to him and brings him 56:17 this wonderful revelation. Amen, Amen! 56:20 Pastor Kenny... Well you know, in studying this 56:21 lesson here, I just see that the more time that we 56:24 spend with Jesus, the more that we should come to love 56:27 Him and loving Him means we want to be obedient 56:30 and serve Him and I think that we need to avoid 56:33 becoming lukewarm; we need to avoid becoming burned out 56:37 or to die out, and so today is the day to shine. Amen! 56:42 I just see the incredible love of a God who would come 56:45 and dwell with us; a God who loves us so much that 56:48 He doesn't want to leave us in our sin. 56:50 He doesn't want to leave us in our stuff or junk, 56:53 and He says, "Here's a way out, here's a promise," 56:56 and that's what I see in the seven churches 56:58 and the whole Book of Revelation. Amen! 57:00 Absolutely, you know, I desire, like the church of 57:03 Ephesus, you know, I want to uphold the truth of God's 57:06 word - I want to be a worker for Jesus Christ, 57:09 but I never want to lose the passion and the love 57:12 for spending time with my Savior - that I may present 57:15 and project that love of Jesus 57:17 to my fellow brethren, to everyone around me... 57:19 So that's my prayer for myself, our church, 57:21 and for everyone. Amen! 57:23 Thank you so much and thank you also for taking the time 57:26 to study with us, as I said at the beginning of the 57:28 program - "We're just getting started! 57:30 Revelation is just beginning to unfold before us 57:33 like a Spiritual artichoke." 57:35 And we're going to enjoy every time we... 57:37 is it artichoke? Is that the right one? 57:40 That's a good one. I think that's a good one. 57:42 I think I'll work with that one. 57:43 But we want to invite you to come back when our next 57:46 study next week is going to be: 57:47 "Jesus' Messages to the Seven Churches" 57:50 This is vitally important, there are only seven and the 57:53 next one is the "glorious church" at the 57:55 coming of the Lord, so we invite you 57:57 to come back, stay tuned... 57:58 walk with us through the most powerful message for this time, 58:02 which is, in fact, not just symbols and signs and 58:05 beasts but the beautiful Revelation of Christ Jesus. 58:08 God bless you till we see you again. |
Revised 2024-08-12