Unto The Churches Series: Ephesus 

  In the Book of Revelation, in chapters two and three, Jesus addresses the churches. While I realize that the Lord is addressing these historical, literal churches, many scholars believe that these churches represent certain church ages. I would add that each church that Jesus addresses has specific warnings and exhortations from our Lord to individual believers. Let us begin with the first Church, Ephesus. 

Ephesus was an ancient port city in modern-day Turkey. It was known for the massive temple of Artemis, a Greek goddess or Diana, as the Romans called her. In 129 BC, King Attalos of Pergamon left Ephesus to the Roman Empire in his will. The city then became the seat of the regional Roman governor.

Ephesus was second only to Rome as a cosmopolitan center of culture and commerce. As a port city; goods arrived from the harbor, and caravans traveled the Royal road. Christianity spread in Ephesus in the first century A.D.

Many converts emerged from this goddess cult. Proselytizing did have its challenges in Ephesus, as recorded in the book of Acts. Those who made money from the goddess cult persecuted Christians because they put a dent in their income.

Eventually, Christianity became the official religion of Ephesus but in 262 A.D., the splendor of Ephesus was destroyed by the Goths. 

In Ephesus the Messianic Jews had a hard time accepting the Gentile converts. In Paul’s letters to the Ephesians, he tried rectifying this barrier by explaining that all believers were now one people through Jesus Christ. 

In the book of Revelation (given to the apostle John), Jesus commends the church of Ephesus for their diligent works in the kingdom of God. He also commends them for their patience in suffering.

Since the church of Ephesus consisted of a mix of Gentile pagans and Jewish converts, it was challenging to keep the faith pure and unadulterated. Port cities tend to flourish with all kinds of strange superstitions and weird ideologies. Ephesians were diligent in keeping out worldly practices and strange beliefs. They were doctrinal Puritans.   

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John. 4:1

While the Ephesians tested people’s ministries and doctrines, the Lord pointed out that they had a severe problem. He told them (in John’s vision) that they had left their first love! In other words, the Ephesians had a form of knowledge but not the whole truth. They knew the letter of the word, BUT they did not have an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, who is THE WORD.

The Ephesians had religion. Doctrinal purity, while good, is not the end all to be all. Many apologists suffer from this ailment of religiously over relationship. Some don’t even know they have this problem. These doctrinal Puritans will strain over a gnat and swallow a camel!

I can say this because I was one of them. A complete freak for pure doctrine but couldn’t see the person of Jesus Christ past my nose! If you asked me if I knew the Jesus of the Bible, I would tell you most assuredly! I would get out my doctrinal purity chart and show you how much I knew about the Bible. I am a very educated person, you know! I could wrap a cult leader around my doctrinal yardstick! This same mindset goes for a lot of religious doctrinal Puritans. Just like the Ephesians! A lot of zeal but no fire.

Unless you know your Bible well, I would not recommend getting into the ring with one of them. They use a very sharp sword and can poke you a good one with it!  One thing these doctrinal Puritans don’t have though is the fire of God. They are scholars on ice! You won’t see many of them used to heal the sick, cast out devils, or raise the dead. They are too busy explaining it all away! Nor will you see them on their face worshipping the Lord, crying out in intercession for the lost to get saved, or feeding the poor. These doctrinal Puritans are busy studying the word! 

Now don’t get me wrong, knowledge of the Bible is good! Pure doctrine is good! Jesus commended the Ephesians for their doctrinal purity. But if you don’t have a passion for Jesus and love him with all your heart, what does doctrinal purity mean in our relationship to God?

 I know many uneducated Christians who have no clue about major doctrinal issues but they have the fire of God in their belly! These fools on fire are what changed the world! What education did the fishermen have? 

Are you a scholar on ice? A doctrinal Puritan with no Holy Spirit power in your life? Then you need to return to your first love! Seek the Lord while he may be found! Cry out to him to put his fire in your belly! It’s not enough to be doctrinally pure. Jesus himself, in his admonition to the Ephesians, said so himself!  

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. 

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The Court of Heaven


The Bible says there is a court in heaven. God opens his court to hear testimony.
God is the judge in his heavenly court.
God stands up to open heaven’s court. He pronounces judgement in the earth. TLB PSALMS 82:1

The word for court or ‘congregation’ is Edah. This word does not just mean a group of people. The TLB version says God’s court system is a council. Like a king’s court in which David or Solomon made judgments for the people’s concerns. Like a judge and jury.

Psalms 89:14
“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Unfailing love and truth walk before you as attendants.

The heavenly court operates much like our western common law court.

In a court of law for criminality, the prosecution brings forth a charge based on a broken law.

To prove the law was broken, there must be evidence presented.

The defense needs a good argument based on a set of defense standards to beat the charges.

Our defense in God’s court is to plead the blood of Jesus Christ once we confess and forsake our sins.

In a civil case, the opposition must have more evidence for or against it to win or lose a case. It’s called preponderance of evidence. In other words, the more evidence one has, the better to prove guilt or innocence.

In God’s court, the accuser (satan) sets out his case against us. He tells the court of God how we have violated the law somehow. He points out all our failures and inadequacies.

It is important to confess our sins before God and repent ASAP because it can be used against us in a court of law. God’s court.

If the accuser has legal precedence against us, we will reap the consequence of our sin. There is a correlation between a particular sin and a particular judgment in our lives. These are set out in scripture under the law.

The law cannot save us but it can call us out on our sins. The law is not abolished under the New Testament, but the sting of death brought forth by breaking the law is broken through the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Unconfessed sin is dangerous in a Christian’s life.

It causes a curse to operate. Scriptures call this the curse of the law. Breaking God’s law causes death. Spiritually, physically, emotionally, and materially.

Jesus came to redeem us from the curse of the law. All confessed, and repentant sin is redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Some Christians make excuses for having chaotic lives with trouble on their doorstep all the time. They argue, “well, we live in a fallen world.”

I know about the consequences of having sin in my life. I’ve had to learn things the hard way. Since I am old and wiser now, I can warn you to make sure you work out your salvation with the fear of the Lord always at your forefront. That is, don’t take anything in the Bible lightly. Disregarding the scriptures will cause you no end of grief.

Just because you may have been honest all your life but your mouth shoots off doubt, scorn, disbelief, accusations against others, gossip, slander, etc., this will cause demonic activity to flourish in your life. The tongue is a wicked member, but some Christians don’t take this seriously.

When I started doing some huck and chuck, my life got better. When I took God’s word more seriously, I had more success.

Jesus came to redeem us from the curse of the law. Not to let us wallow in sin with the world. Christians do have tribulation, but the Scriptures tell us there is deliverance. The devil will try to trip us up, but we have a way out. That way out is a sword.

In the story of Ester, when the wicked one wanted to kill all of God’s people, the King gave them a sword in order to defend themselves.

We have the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God to counter the accuser.

When MR. Devil tells you that you are a failure because you blew it too many times,you can take the sword of the Spirit and say…IT IS WRITTEN; Mr. Devil, that a righteous man, falls 7 times and gets back up again. That means I’m going to get this right, and you are a liar!

God will back you up.

That’s legal precedence for him to be able to kick the devil out of your life.

If Mr. Devil says, “oh, you are weak, sick, infirmed. You can’t possibly be of any use.”

Take the sword of the Spirit and give him a good one.

Mr. Devil, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Get behind me, in Jesus’ name.

The only thing that the devil listens to is the word of God. He has to. Its the word of God that holds all things together.

Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Hebrews 1:3

When we bring our legal precedence before God’s court, he will honor it.

If you believe that God’s word is more powerful than anything in the universe, you will see your life changed for the better. When you take God’s word and present it before the court of heaven, God will always honor it. He watches over his word to perform it. Be patient and give him time to work all things together for your good!

Don’t give Satan any place. Use the sword of the Spirit when he attacks. Keep a clean slate with the Lord. Plead the blood of Jesus over your life every day. Then the accuser will stay under your feet where he belongs.




THE GOSPEL BOOTS

Part of our spiritual warfare armor is the gospel boots. Let’s take a look at what the Bible has to say concerning this part of our armor.

Ephesians Chapter 6 vs 15

And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

The KJV uses the Greek word hetoimasia which means preparation.

To be in a constant state of readiness or make ready for use.

In other words we must always be prepared to minister the gospel at all times.

How do we prepare? Scriptures tell us it is by studying the Bible.

2 Timothy 2 : 15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

We need to know the Bible in order to answer people who ask us questions about our faith. Now we don’t have to go to theological school in order to do this. In fact, many times people just end up being indoctrinated with denominational interpretations that omit or add their own take or lean on scriptures anyway.

It is best according to any lawyer, good journalist, writer or historian to research all angles of interpretation in order to get a balanced view. Bias always resides in the mindsets of men.

Even God says that out of two or three witnesses is truth established. (1 Corinthians 13:1)

Our doctrinal lean should always line up with the Bible and not any man made versions of a scriptural doctrine.

We must know the truth in order to share the truth. How can we minister to an unsaved person Bible truth if we don’t know Bible truth?

The Bible tells us to be prepared at all times in order to present the gospel of peace to others. What is this peace? Peace with God through Jesus Christ the Savior.

The Gospel boots not only prepare us to present the gospel message but they are also used to wage war against the devil.

During Roman times the soldier wore a sandal called a Caligae. This sandal actually had nail like studs embedded in the sole. These boots or sandals were deigned to march for long periods of time but they were also used as deadly weapons. A solder could take off his shoe and club the enemy to death with it.

That is what the gospel boots do too. They take us into all the world to preach the gospel of peace and they are also used to clobber the devil with. Every time we minister the word of God to someone we are beating the day lights out of that old devil.

Put on those gospel boots today! Be prepared and ready to preach the good news! At all times, in all places and every where you go!

ROMANS 15: 29

And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.


He Comes Like a Thief !

Why does Jesus say in scriptures that he comes like a thief in the night?

A thief sneaks in without anyone knowing to snatch something away. Jesus was referencing in this parable to his coming for his bride.

In Revelations 3:3 Jesus is reprimanding his church. In particular the church that was in Sardis. He tells them that if they don’t repent of dead works and strengthen their walk in the Lord by returning to him zealously and being watchful (watching in prayer) then as punishment for disobedience they would find Jesus coming to them as a thief in the night.

In other words, like a thief who comes unaware to the owner of the house, ,Jesus will come to snatch away his prepared bride but those luke-warm and not watching will be left behind.

This scripture reveals that there will be unrepentant believers left behind in the snatching away of his bride. Referred to by some as the rapture or translation of the Spirit.

In Matthew 25
Jesus talks about coming for his bride.
There are 5 virgins with oil in their lamps and 5 virgins without oil. The 5 with oil were watching and waiting having their lamps filled with oil.

What is this oil? A Holy Spirit filled life. The other 5 virgins had the word. They knew what the Lord’s will was. They knew he said he would come to get them someday but these 5 did not take his word seriously. They were fooling around in the world. They thought they had lots of time but suddenly like a thief in the night the bridegroom came and they were left behind.

In 1 Peter 3:10- 11 it also says that the day of the Lord’s return is going to come like a thief in the night.

Peter goes on to exhort Christians to keep the Lord’s exhortation in mind. To walk worthy of our calling while we are here. Not walking in riotous living but in holiness and the fear of the Lord.

That is what Jesus was talking about. Having our oil burning. Having zeal in our walk with the Lord. Going about our Father’s buisness but at the same time having our eyes fixed on his return. Living in the world but not of this world.

Jesus told his people to be zealous and repent for not watching and living a Spirit filled life. He warned that if the owner of the house had been watching he would have known in what hour the thief would come.

Are you watching for the Lord’s return? Are you ready for his appearing? Is the oil in your lamp burning with zeal? If not return to the lover of your soul today! You do not know in what hour your Lord will appear!

He comes like a thief in the night!