Letters to the Seven Churches, Ephesus

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God’” (Revelation 2:1-7 ESV).

This letter is the first of seven letters that Jesus Christ sent to the churches in seven different cities. Now, from my understanding, these were the believers in Jesus Christ (the body of Christ) of the entire city of each of these cities, and so they probably did not meet all in one place at the same time. For we know that they met from house to house and in the temple courts daily, and all the body was to participate, using the gifts given them by God, so these could not have been very large gatherings, not all of them.

In four of these letters the Lord spoke both words of affirmation as well as words of correction, and he called the people to repent of the areas where they were not doing as the Lord would have them to do. In two of the letters he had only good to say about those who were his followers, and in only one did he have nothing good to say on their behalf, and that was the church in Laodicea. Many people feel that the Laodicean church represents the church in these last days before our Lord’s return. I see that here in America.

Okay, so the Christians (the body of Christ) in this city were doing many things right, and they were against evil and evildoers, and they hated lies and deception and false teachings and anything that led their people into sin and to rebel against the Lord. So they were not trapped in the deceitfulness of sin and they were not putting up with sinful practices and false teachings, but they were staying true to the Word and to doing what was right. But it appears that they were doing so absent of the Lordship of Christ.

So, we can go through the motions of religious practice, and we can do many of the right things, and live moral lives, and hate evil, and even confront evil and evildoers, and speak out against false doctrines of the faith and against the liars who are deceiving the people, and still not be in right relationship with Jesus Christ. For we can do so as a matter of habit and routine but without making Jesus truly Lord (Owner-Master) of our lives. He is not the one running and controlling our lives, for we are still in control.

So it is not enough to just be religious and to not do evil and to do good. For if Jesus is truly our Lord, then he is the one directing our lives in every area of our lives, not us. We are not just going through the motions of having daily devotions, but we are attentive to hear the Spirit’s voice speaking to our hearts leading us in the way he would have us to go, like he led me to do this video, and that the teaching was to be from the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3. For God has a plan for each of our lives.

Basically, the message here is that it is not enough to just go through the motions of religious practice and to do many of the right things if we are the ones still directing our own paths and if Jesus is not truly the one leading us in the ways that he would have us go day by day, and minute by minute. So we have to be listening for his voice speaking to us daily, counseling us in the ways he wants us to go, and leading us to do the things that he has for each one of us to do and to say and to be for his glory, honor, and praise.

So, if all we are doing is just going through the motions of religious practice, and even if we are against all evil and all deceptions, but we are still doing what we want to do each day, and Jesus is not really #1 in our lives, then we need to repent (turn away from) that sin of not making him #1 but of letting other things in our lives rule our lives instead. For he must be Lord of our lives, and we must be living our lives daily as guided by the Holy Spirit in walks of obedience to him, and we will have eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

Letters to the Seven Churches, Ephesus

Video Talk

December 6, 2024

https://youtu.be/hM_MCuECVSk

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He is Lord  

Unknown

He is Lord; He is Lord.

He has risen from the dead,

And He is Lord.

Every knee shall bow,

Every tongue confess

That Jesus Christ is Lord.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxwzmr_aWx8

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