The Seven Churches Unveiled.
Revelation 1:1-3, 9-11NKJV
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.
9 I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, 11 saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches
Revelation chapter 2, Under the caption in my Bible—Ephesus, The Loveless Church.
Revelation 2:1NKJV “To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands:
We established last week that the angels spoken of as stars, regarding each church would be the messengers, the pastors, or shepherd of each church.
We also established last week that the seven golden lamp stands are the seven churches.
Revelation 2:1NLT “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus. This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lampstands:
I love verse 1 because the ‘One’ in control reveals His authority, might and power.
You’re hearing directly from the ‘One’ who holds the stars, messengers, or pastors in His hands!
The Lord also stands, “I walk among my churches! —The gold lamp stands!
In the book of Acts, the apostles went out as missionaries and started churches and then retraced their steps in order to see how they were doing (Acts 13; 15:36) In Acts 15:41 the Bible says that Paul “went through Syria and Cilicia strengthening the churches.”
Interestingly, The book of Exodus established the fact, that in the making of the golden lamp stands, God wanted it made of pure gold.
What I understand, that the making of these lamp stands had to be a God thing, or miracle, because 100% pure gold will not keep its shape, it’s too soft.
I believe that as God walks around our golden lamp stands He see nothing but—Love, Prayer and Grace.
He sees and hears about the Blood of Jesus—the testimony of Jesus. He hears the words of our testimony; He sees our testimony.
Revelation 2:2-3NKJV “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.
I love the fact that God is in the know about CECC! He sees and hears our praise, our call for help, our needs. He sees and hears of our service, and our servants heart, He’s aware of every sacrifice, and best of all, He sees and hears our daily obedience.
Revelation 2:2-3TM “I see what you’ve done, your hard, hard work, your refusal to quit. I know you can’t stomach evil, that you weed out apostolic pretenders. I know your persistence, your courage in my cause, that you never wear out.
Apostolic pretenders—they go through the motions of worship like Apostolics. Yet there is an emptiness to their praise, and their testimony is hollow. Their witness is weak and ineffective. They are spiritually tepid. They have a form of godliness but they lack its power.
The church of Ephesus did many things right. They stayed faithful. Verse 2, states…I know your works, your labor, your patience. Verse 3, God states, You never give up, never wear out!
During this time, Ephesus became possibly bitter, a little cold and callused. They had the rules down, but they became too rigid. They left the main thing.
What’s the main thing? God’s love.
Verse 3 of Revelation 2, God states, you can’t stomach pretenders. Maybe they had their feel of pretenders.
Spiritual pretenders would be those that have, and live with wrong motives. They’re just not right. P.H
Revelation 2:4NKJV Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
What’s in a first love? In the physical—flowers, nice dinners, a lot of attentiveness, phone calls, smiles, and affection.
How about our spiritual life’s? A church that teaches and preaches the Bible, A spirit filled body, tithing—Giving God your first fruit. Serving to share, The good news becomes priority in your world, Practicing God’s presence—hosting God. Becoming a worshiper, Holding onto your confession. Fighting the good fight of faith. Just believe.
Revelation 2:5NKJV Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.
In one verse we see the word repent used twice.
As of a matter of fact, the Lord told this church of Ephesus to repent, or else, “I will come quickly and remove your church, I’ll remove this body of Christ!
As you lose your first love you become—lax spiritually. Everything becomes okay, happy medium, plateau—little to no growth.
Again, Jesus heralds for this church to—repent, and go back. Going back isn’t regression, sometimes we all need to remember what the body of Christ is all about. P.H
What’s our DNA? Fruit mixed with spiritual gifts.
Revelation 2:6NKJV But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
What were the Nicolaitans deeds? The Nicolaitans deeds were strongly condemned. They seem to have been identical with those who held the doctrine of Balaam. They seem to have held that it was lawful to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication, sexual perversions and even child sacrifices.
There are some things that the body of Christ detest. Sin. Indulging in the flesh.
I’ve heard it said—Grooming the flesh.
John 6:63 Jesus said, The flesh prophets nothing, it’s the spirit that gives and produces eternal life.
“We really need to come to the conclusion that we hate the deeds of our flesh.”
We choose life—spirit filled living mixed with love, joy and peace. P.H
Revelation 2:7NKJV “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.”
Listen closely with spiritual ears what the Spirit has to say.
Over-comers will partake and eat from the tree of life.
Revelation 22:14TM How blessed are those who wash their robes! The Tree of Life is theirs for good, and they’ll walk through the gates to the City.
From the beginning of creation God placed thousands of trees upon the earth, but two trees were in the center of the garden.
Genesis 2:8-9TM Then God planted a garden in Eden, in the east. He put the Man he had just made in it. God made all kinds of trees grow from the ground, trees beautiful to look at and good to eat. The Tree-of-Life was in the middle of the garden, also the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil.
In heaven, the Tree Of Life flows from the abundance of Jesus, everything the water touches becomes alive, Just one taste from the Tree Of Life is all you need.
The Tree Of Life is eternal life. Life, the way God intended it to be. P.H
I want you to always remember that if the tree of life is in the center of your garden, God will bountifully supply!
Listen to Philippians 4:18-20TM And now I have it all—and keep getting more! The gifts you sent with Epaphroditus were more than enough, like a sweet-smelling sacrifice roasting on the altar, filling the air with fragrance, pleasing God no end. You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. Our God and Father abounds in glory that just pours out into eternity. Yes.
Benediction.
