Nevertheless, I Have Somewhat Against Thee (Church Of Ephesus) Revelation #1

Two hundred thirty cities dotted the coastline of Asia Minor, and many of them were great cities, but Ephesus was the queen of them all.

Paul went to Ephesus on his third missionary journey. He stayed there two years.

He had two things to say about those two years.

Look at I Cor. 16:9, saying, "For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries."

Now that was good news and bad news:

1. "For a great door and effectual is opened unto me…”

Notice, he said GREAT DOOR was opened to him. Who opened this door? God did!

That was the GOOD NEWS, but anytime God began to bless, you can expect Satan to move.

The devil is not going to bless a church without him trying to stop the move of God.

Notice, he says also…

2. “…And there are many adversaries."

The church of Ephesus is the first church we read about in the book of Revelation.

The book of Revelations talks about seven churches. They are: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.

There were other churches in Asia.

They were:

• Troas (Acts 20:5; II Cor. 2:12),

• Miletus (Acts 20:17),

• Colosse (Col. 1:2),

• Hierapolis (Col. 4:12).

The Bible does not tell us why John did not write to them, but we can assume two things:

(1)THE CHOICE.

God chose these seven churches that were symbolic of the seven kinds of churches that were to exist in the ages to come.

For example, our age is last church on that list called the Laodicean church age in where Christians NEITHER COLD OR HOT SPIRITULLLY.

There is another reason God did not choose the other six…

(2) THEIR CHARACTERISTICS.

Even though each of the seven churches had similarities, each one was different. This is, and always has been true among churches.

Illus: As you travel across America today you will find that all churches have similarities, yet, still, there are major differences also.

Let us look at the seven verses of scripture that deal with the church at Ephesus to see how we, as a church, compare to that church.

The first thing the Word of God reveals to us about the people in the church at Ephesus deals with...

I.THEIR LEADER.

Of course we can see why this would be the first thing because leadership is important to any church.

It must sadden the heart of God that many churches do not place much value on leadership.

They do not care if they have a history of failures; the important thing to them is filling out the slots when it comes nomination time.

And they wonder why next year will be like last year and last year and last year!

You see, all leaders lead in two ways:

(1) In a Good way

(2) In a Bad way

Look at verse 1 we read, “Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write…”

Angel here is messenger!

God is talking the Pastor as the messenger.

Each week GOD GIVES ME THE MESSAGE TO GIVE TO YOU!

But I cannot be an ANGEL OF THE LORD IF I PREACH THE WORD AND DO NOT LIVE IT.

And listen, if any preacher does not PREACH THE MESSAGE AND LIVE IT, IT IS THE CONGREGATION TO GET RID OF HIM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Illus: As the pastor of this church I feel like a fish in a fish bowl. People watch:

• What I say

• What I do

• How I drive

• What I wear

• How I pay my bills

• How I treat my wife

• How treat my dog

• How I conduct myself publicly

Illus: I stopped by Hardee’s the other Sunday after the morning service to get me a quick bite of food.

I was the only customer in the place and lady around 5O OR 60 asked me what I wanted. She never made eye contact with her as I smiled and told her what I wanted.

I had some bills in my front pocket that I had not taken time to straighten them out. I had only one dollar, some fives, some tens and one 20.

I placed them on the stainless steel counter before me and I was trying to straighten them out to pay her.

She said my order came to $11.14. So I stared to straighten the bills out but I only had a one dollar bill to make it twelve.

So, I gave her a 10 and a five, which would have made it 12.

But I was still trying to look among the bills so I could give her a tip. And I decided I would give her a five.

As I was doing this, she said in a very ANGRY VOICE, WHERE IS THE MONEY?