Sermon Transcript Tone Analysis

But we need to Fan the flame and that's what we're going to do today.

Well, today, I'm starting a new series and that new series is the letters to the seven churches in the Book of Revelation.

Now, if you were here Wednesday night, you know, we we looked at the vision John got while he was on the island of Patmos and and the vision of Christ.

And now, right after that, we're going to start today with the church of Ephesus.

And so, what I want you to do now is I want you to take your Bibles and turn to Revelation chapter 2 And we're going to just look at the first seven versus today.

But, you know, things in our culture or happening quickly, I know you you can you can see it and there's no slow down.

You know, if our hope we're not in the Lord it would easy.

It would be easy to become discouraged.

When you look at our nation, I mean, we were talking about it in the men's prayer room.

You will become discouraged over the state of our nation and sadly, the moral and spiritual drift that we've seen for many, many years, and our country continues.

But sadly.

It's in our churches as well.

It's in our churches also.

And if the culture is drifting in the wrong direction, we have to ask ourselves or what about me.

Am I drifting in the wrong direction?

As far as spiritually goes?

Am I drifting from Biblical principles without even knowing it?

And many time we can and it can be very subtle thing when we drift away from God.

Because when you think about it after all what are cultures and what our church has its individual people, our church is made up of individual people.

And so, when we look at our individual lives, we have to think, well, am I drifting away from God? Well, Jesus commission John while he was on the island of Patmos to write 7 letters to seven churches in Asia Minor.

That's what we'd the seven churches of Revelation in chapters two and three but it was not only for those seven churches.

We can read it today.

And what I want to do is we talk about these different churches.

I want you to think, have I ever been involved in a church like this one?

Because we can see similarities in the first century church and the 21st century church.

So even though you may not have lived in the first century in Asia Minor these seven letters to the churches are meant for you and me none the less.

So there's three things I want us to understand before we start here with the church of Ephesus, what we're going to do three things.

When we study these churches, we going to learn something about the church itself.

Let's say in Ephesus we'll talk a little bit about that.

So we're going to learn something.

But then, we're going to apply the principles that Jesus gives to these seven churches, and we're going to apply them to our church.

And we're going to apply to our own life and then not only that, but these pictures are prophetic and other way.

A lot of a scholar.

See that?

These seven churches, bear.

A striking resemblance to The Seven Ages of church history.

And so the first one, we going to study is abscess which that would have been in the Apostolic Church.

The last one we going to study is laodicea, it describes the church that's going to be on the earth at the end of time.

And I think right now we are in the laodicean age.

Because it was a lukewarm church, and if there's anything that you could say about the churches today is that many are just lukewarm.

They need to Fan the flame.

The flame has gone out.

So these seven letters, have a primary perspective, a personal perspective for us, and also, a prophetic perspectives.

So let's begin, an abscess Revelation Chapter 2. I'll read the first 7 versus then we'll go back and unpack, but we're mainly going to be in verses 1 through 5.

So here's what the Bible says.

To the angel of the Church of Ephesus.

Write these things says, he who holds the Seven Stars in his right hand and walks in the midst of the seven, golden lamp stand.

Let's stop right there.

If you wouldn't here Wednesday night, you don't know what the stars are.

You don't know who the angel of the churches and what in the world is a lamp stand.

I mean, we don't know those things, but all you need to do is just look at verse 20, the last verse of chapter one and look, what verse 20 says, the mystery of the Seven Stars, which you saw in my right hand and the Seven golden lamp stand.

So he's going to tell us what these symbolize.

The Seven Stars are the Angels of the seven churches.

That let me explain that quickly angel we think the angel is, well, an angel with that word, angel in the Greek means messenger.

So I don't know if this means a guardian angel that guards over each individual church or if it means the pastures of the churches, because the pastor of churches are The Messengers, they give the message out.

So maybe he's talkin about the pastor or maybe he's actually talking about.

The God has a specific Angel over each shirt?

I don't know which one but we know what that means now but then look what it.

Is here.

The Seven Stars are the Angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands with you saw or the seven churches.

So the stars are less a the pastors of the seven churches and the lamp stands are the seven churches.

So then let's read verse one again to the angel or Pastor or guardian.

Angel of the Church of Ephesus.

Be staying says he who holds the Seven Stars or the Pastors in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven, golden lamp stands, who walks in the midst of the church.

So that tells us right there that Jesus Christ.

Is in the center or wants to be in the center of every Church.

He needs to be in the center of new Grace Church.

Everything we do all to be because of Jesus Christ.

Not because I want to do it, not because a deacon wants to do it.

Not because well, that's just the way we've always done.

And we're always going to do it this way, it all to me because this would go.

If I Jesus he he's right in the midst of the church.

Alright, verse 2. I know your Works.

He speaking to the church, it abscess, I know your worth, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear.

Those who are evil, and you have tested those who say they are Apostles and are not and have found them.

You have persevered have patience and have Labor before my namesake and have not become weary.

Well, that's great.

All 2 vs 2, + 3 is great.

First for Never Last.

I have this against you that you have left your first love.

Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the first work or else.

I will come to you quickly and remove, remove your lap, stand from his place, unless you repent.

But this, you have that you hate the Deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate, he who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says, to the churches to him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God, when he goes back to Creation there, the MIT of paradise.

Well, Let's start out with the destination of the letter and we see it in verse 12, the angel, or to the pastor of the Church of Ephesus Ephesus was the most prominent Church in Asia Minor.

How many of you have ever heard of the book of Ephesians?

If everybody have that was written to the church at Ephesus.

So all we have to do is go back and read Ephesians and we can kind of come to a conclusion.

What this church was like that was Paul's letter addressed to the Ephesians applesauce was a large.

What you would call a Cosmopolitan?

I guess City.

It was, it had about 250,000 people, living in that City at the time.

It was what we would call today or hustling bustling City a lot of Commerce and trade.

A lot of, they had a political headquarters there, they had a massive libraries there, they had hospitals there and they had lots of gymnasium where they would have the Ephesian games.

A lot of athletes would train their so it was not unlike a big city and our day, but what's big cities most the time spiritually?

Like.

Well they're kind of ungodly.

There's people just worship any and everything in this city was no difference because it worship the Goddess Diana, or you may have heard the name, Artemis.

They worship Diana, and and some other, some of the Roman emperors.

They were Imperial worship going on there.

And if you didn't worship the emperor, sometimes you may be thrown in jail.