Welcome to the bonfire and this is the start of season seven. Thank you for journeying with us. If you missed any previous seasons, check out all the videos on YouTube. It's on my channel. And today we begin this seventh season by going to the book of Revelation. And we're going to look at, in chapters two and three, God's message to seven different churches. Now, for this podcast, it's all about seeking God, gathering together around his word, God's story, history. And he tells us through scripture. We love to dive into the Bible. That's where we grow in our faith. That's our nourishment. That's where we learn more about God, ourselves, life, making good decisions. And as you get to the end of the Bible, because there's 66 books, it concludes with Revelation. Now, a lot of people say they read 65 books, but they skip the book of Revelation. What a mistake. This is God's word, and we need the conclusion. In fact, God has placed the book of Revelation to give us confidence in God, to give us comfort. We see how the story ends. Isn't it good to know that the victory and the battle belong to the Lord? And don't ignore the book of Revelation because it has so many important prophecies. It's important that you know, coming up, there is an Antichrist, that you know the devil is thrown into the lake of fire, that you know there's a false trinity, the devil, the Antichrist, and a false prophet masquerading as light, and we know there's one God, three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's important when people use phrases like Armageddon or millennium, what is the thousand years, this millennial reign, what is that? That's in the book of Revelation. Seals, trumpets, and bulls. The book of Revelation. I'm giving you some teasers here so you can dive in and really study the final book of the 66 books that together make up the Bible. This is scripture. It's God-breathed. It's our true source. It's reliable. And we need to spend time in the book of Revelation. That's my first, as we start this season, my first exhortation, encouragement to you is don't skip the book of Revelation. You're gonna see that Jesus Christ rules and reigns forever. You're gonna learn more about his return. You're gonna learn more about the end times. All of that is in the book of Revelation. And far too many people are ignoring the book because why? It's not as cut and dry, clear as some other passages. That's okay. There's some mystery. There's some metaphors. There's some symbolism. There's a lot of things happening in the book of Revelation and in this vision that's given to John. John's the human author. The Holy Spirit writes the entire Bible. John writes five books in the Bible. The Gospel of John, first, second, third John, and then Revelation. This is a final book as he's on the island of Patmos. and he's listening to God. In all these things, he's tuned into God, and then he's being faithful to write down what he's seeing, experiencing, and hearing, and whoever has ears to hear, let them hear. What does that mean? When you're reading the Bible or you're listening to God's word, be tuned in with your soul, your mind, and your heart. And then ears to hear, not just hearing information, because we want far more than knowledge. We want transformation. Ears to hear means that you're a doer of the word, that you hear it in such a way that you agree with it, your life aligns with it, and then you start to share it with other people. That's what it means to really let the word of God dwell in you richly and then be faithful to pass on what God teaches you. In chapter 2, and that's where we're going to focus, chapter 2 there's seven different churches, seven different letters to the churches, and with each of these there is a historical city. Now some people, as they read it, will also say that these descriptions of the historical cities also seem to describe eras, And then others point out that churches today look a lot like the churches that God is addressing this letter to in Revelation chapter two. We're gonna start with the historical, and the first letter is to the church in Ephesus. With each of these letters, there is usually, there's one aspect where God commends, and then there's another aspect where God rebukes. I would say for all of us individually and also as a church, we need both. To grow in our faith, we need both. We need some people who are there encouraging us. Some people who are there just picking you up, building you up, compliments. giving glory to God, and then affirming and confirming your gifts, your hard work, and we all need that. So be someone who both receives and gives encouragement, and then when you see things, spend time affirming people. We do that in our staff team, where we'll literally all gather together, and then what are the affirmations? with your family, with your close friends. Don't just appreciate people and then hold that on the inside or have that thought. Actually put words on it. Actually tell them and take that relationship risk to point out some of the great things that God's doing in their life and how you appreciate them and how they're unique and what God is doing through them to bless many other people. Notice, if God communicates with commending and rebuking, and he's the one that we follow, then we also want to live that way. And throughout the Bible, there's also the value of a rebuke. Wounds from a friend can be trusted. There's a rebuke that sometimes calls us out of sin. Has anyone ever known your sin and said, you've got to change, you've got to repent? They say that in love because they want the best for you. Or sometimes we have a blind spot and someone will rebuke us because we didn't even realize what we were doing. or unintentionally, we hurt someone, we bring some miscommunication, some misunderstanding. So we need to own that and apologize, learn from it, grow, receive God's grace, and move forward. And that's the design with the rebuke. It's coming from a heart of love, and it's delivered in such a way that it's gonna help the recipient become more like Jesus, glorify Jesus, and represent God well in this culture and in this world. Receive both from people. Affirmations, people commend you, and then also rebukes from people. If you're stuck in a sin like David was, it took Nathan to come up and say, David, you're the man. And that changed David's life. If no one rebuked David, he might have stayed in cover-up mode, he might have stayed in a double life, but that rebuke from Nathan changed the trajectory of his life, and David became a man after God's own heart. We want to make sure that we're open to and also we're communicating both. If you never rebuke anyone, the question is, are you afraid of people? Are you all about your popularity? Are you trying to protect yourself? Like if you never rebuke people, you're not building up the body of Christ. But when you rebuke, do it in love. You're not better than anyone. It's not like a finger pointing. It's not done with a malicious spirit. A rebuke, a godly rebuke, leads to repentance. And you can't control what the other person's going to do, but be faithful in both. For each church, this is important, to listen to God. How does God assess the church? You have a lot of opinions these days. You just name a church and everyone, there's hundreds of opinions about the church. And that's probably true personally too. There's a lot of opinions that people have of you and lots of assessments. And sometimes people judge. Sometimes people have a misperception. Sometimes people slander and gossip. All that matters is what God says and how God sees it. And it doesn't matter if you have a thousand people that are hating, throwing shade, a thousand people that are undermining you, all you need is that audience of one. And when God approves, it doesn't matter ultimately what anyone else thinks. Our goal in life is to be faithful to God, to hear, well done, my good and faithful servant. And that's why it's important for these churches to take seriously and listen to what is God saying? What's God's assessment? Sometimes the whole world will be clapping and saying, awesome, we affirm it. And God is looking at that same thing and saying, that's wrong, that's sin. Ultimately, I say this again, if you're somebody that's trying to please people and get more likes and have the applause, and you're always kind of gauging the room. How do people like me? How did that go? Don't live with that insecurity. Be secure. Look what God says in his word, and when you live that out with love, you can know that you're honoring God, and you know that God is commending you, and he is generous, he is kind. His voice is the one voice we want. As this begins, we have the church in Ephesus, and whenever you read details in the Bible, like Ephesus, you do a little research, and Ephesus, what is this city? Well, this is a seaport, and I live in Seattle, so I can easily picture a seaport, commerce, it's thriving economically, and yet spiritually, they're struggling. They have Artemis, they have false gods, they have temples, people coming from all over to worship the false gods. They have a lucrative business, silver shrines, that are making little these miniature idols that people are buying. Sin is lucrative. They have a business there in Ephesus. And also there's a book in the Bible called Ephesians, which is Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus. And the letter from Paul, we find out that Ephesus, there's a pretty solid church there. When Paul was there establishing the church, we also find in the book of Acts, Paul lived in Ephesus for years. Paul stayed there because God told him to stay there. He continued to share the gospel. God's word filled the place. And yet at the same time, there was a riot in Ephesus. As you read in the book of Acts, the riot that happened. Well, how did that happen? Paul's preaching that these false gods, repent, get rid of them. There are no gods at all. There's the one true living God. And so people are turning from worshiping Artemis, they're getting rid of silver shrines, they don't purchase those anymore. And now all the people have been making money in this business, the sin business, there's a lot of money in the sin business. But when people turn from sin, those businesses, they all lose a lot of money. And every time someone breaks free from sin, those businesses are threatened. The businesses were threatened as Paul brings the gospel. Now people are worshiping the real God. They don't need their idols anymore. And what happens? They go after Paul. There's a riot. Don't ever think that just because you're sharing God's word in the gospel that everybody's gonna like that and that things are gonna go smooth. Paul goes into cities, he's faithful to build up new churches, to build up new leaders, and then spread God's word. And as he does that, there's almost always persecution, threats, beatings, thrown in jail. Some people are killed, martyrs, as you read through the book of Acts. This is a tension between light and darkness. And in Ephesus, there's the material thriving, but then the spiritual revolution that starts to happen there. And that's the beginning of the church in Ephesus. And Paul's also going to write them a letter. When we read about Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2, this is a little later historically. So now, as this letter is coming, we know that the church has been existing for about 40 years. It's a church that now, after 40 years, how are they doing? Some churches only last 10 years, 15 years, 20 years. Not all churches make it to 40 years. At this point, we have second generation Christians. They were the first people in Ephesus that came to know Jesus, but as this letter's written here, now we have second generation Christians after 40 years. This is what God says to them. He commends them. He says, I know your deeds, your hard work, your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name and have not grown weary. What God's saying is that he sees that trial after trial, they've continued to move forward. And as they've done that, it hasn't been easy. Some journeys are not easy as you follow Jesus. Some people suffer more than others. As they continued in their faith, they were recognizing false teaching. They were recognizing false prophets. And they stayed true in terms of doctrine. They're staying true in terms of hard work. They're staying true. There's a lot of people who are solid in doctrine, serving faithfully, overcoming false messages, overcoming lies. And in a culture that's often corrupted, twisted, they are staying on point in those areas. That's why God commends the church in Ephesus. And every time you persevere when it's difficult, God's cheering you on. God sees every trial you go through, and God is the one who's strengthening you, sustaining you, pouring out His grace, and we also choose that we're gonna keep moving forward. We're not gonna shrink back, we're not gonna go sideways, we're gonna move forward. That's what's happening for the church in Ephesus. Now that's the commending. What about the rebuke? The rebuke comes after that and this is the message from God. Yet I hold this against you. You have forsaken your first love. What does that look like? People are serving God, they are solid in doctrine, but they have drifted from their first love. Jesus is our first love. If you're a follower of Jesus, that's where there's no other first love that God's going to approve. Now sometimes we put a person in our first love, or we put a job or a career in our first love, or we put some pleasure or even some sin as our first love. It's easy in our culture to get distracted. There's a lot of people who start out with Jesus as their first love and then it shifts unintentionally and they end up dropping Jesus from first down to second, third, or fourth. There's a story in the Bible where Mary and Martha are with Jesus. And Martha is there next to the Lord, abiding with Jesus, listening close with him. Mary is soaking up, lingering in his presence, enjoying her time with Jesus, trusting him. And then Martha, on the other hand, is so busy. She's worried about all the tasks. She has a long to-do list. She's starting to get resentful towards Mary. If you ever met someone that's focused, over-focused on the tasks, this is what you're going to see. They're stressed out and they resent people who aren't doing as much as they're doing. They expect everybody to be stressed out and doing that too. Notice we abide with Jesus and then we respond. If you put performance first, what can happen? You're serving Jesus, but you're not loving Jesus. You have the right doctrine about Jesus, but you're not close to Jesus. There are so many people in the church that would pass the biblical quiz, and they're active serving in some way, but the question is, do you really know the Lord? Are you abiding with Jesus? That's what happened in the church in Ephesus, and it's easy to see how you can both commend them and they need a rebuke. God says, remember the heights from which you have fallen and repent. Do the things you used to do at first. What does that look like? When you've drifted from Jesus and he's not your first love, remember the heights to which you have fallen. Remember when you loved Jesus. Remember when you just wanted to talk to Jesus and listen to Jesus and sing about Jesus and tell other people about Jesus. Remember when your life was just saturated with the hope of Jesus. Remember that and now be inspired by that. Let's go back to our first love. It happens in marriage. At the wedding and dating, we were opening doors for each other. There were compliments. We just wanted to spend every day together. And then, you know, the honeymoon, the start of the marriage, it was just bliss. It was so wonderful. And then couples look at each other after years like, well, how did we end up here? And this is what God says, repent, that means turn 180 degrees, turn from sin to the Savior, and as you repent and go back, start doing the things you first did. Well, what did we do when we first started dating? We intentionally spent more time together. We had meals together. We would walk together. We would study the Bible together. We would pray together. Well, what are we doing now? Well, we're just doing work, and we're just chasing kids. Well, that's a shift. You've got to go back to some of those things. Start doing the things that built up the relationship, and then the feelings will come. People who are in a rotten marriage say, well, I just don't feel like I used to feel. Well, you might not until you start doing what you used to do. Similar with our walk with God, there's habits we cultivate. If you don't spend any time praying, if you don't spend time worshiping, if you're not spending much time thanking God, if you're not spending much time in the Word, all these sources and these wells that God gives us so that our souls are on fire, so our souls are overflowing, so His hope is filling us, His Spirit is filling us, His Word is filling us, the picture of the Christian life is being filled. If we're not receiving and we're not cultivating these habits to receive, we start to drift, because the current in the culture is to drift. And the Ephesians probably drifted further than they realized, and God says, remember, God says, repent, we need to come back to our first love. You know, and I trusted Christ, and my family was over 50, and nobody that I knew was born again, and everything was new for me. And so for my children, it's a different spiritual experience because early on in life, they started going to church, reading the Bible, hearing about Jesus. And we have a home where we celebrate the Lord, we love the Lord. That's a different experience, second generation. The second generation has to own their faith. You can have parents in a church that love Jesus, But for the kids, they have to have their own relationship with Jesus. And somewhere in here, in the second generation, complacency set in. Maybe the kids didn't have the same passion mom and dad did. You gotta come back to Jesus. The answer is Jesus. And hearts also need to shift in Ephesus. But the second generation's different. And if you're someone that grew up with a Christian home and Christian parents, then how do you make your faith your own? How do you even go beyond where your parents are? And you're gonna do some things differently. In your parents' relationship with God, there's some things you really appreciate, and there's other things where you're like, you know, we need to change this, or God's doing something new, and that was great 20 years ago, but that's kind of an old wineskin right now, and then you're gonna live for God in your generation. David was a man after God's own heart and it said he was willing to do whatever God wanted him to do and then it said he was faithful in his generation. Every generation needs to be faithful and every generation is different. Right now, there are so many dynamics with our phone and there's some positives there. There's more sermons, there's more Bible, there are more spiritual resources, but then there's also challenges with our phone that we can get distracted. And how do you live out your faith on social media? How does a teenager navigate everybody contacting them all day long. I didn't have that growing up. You know, when school ended, it was like, okay, I'll see you tomorrow. But now school ends and it's a flurry on the phone for the next six hours. Right now in America, over seven hours a day on screens. So the phone right now is the place where people are just, their faces are engaged, they're locked in all day. That's a different experience of following Jesus than 20 years ago. How do you do that well? How do you stay away from the porn and the trash and also all the criticism that can take someone down? But also how do we use this technology to spread the gospel and God's word around the world? Like literally we're reaching billions of people now. through all kinds of interviews, podcasts, hope initiatives. It's exciting. So there's a potential, there are the dangers, and we need to prayerfully make decisions and walk in God's wisdom. That's just an example. But the second generation, it's going to be different than the first, but you can go further. You can go further. The Israelites wandered in the wilderness. It was amazing what God did through Moses. Incredible that God set them free. The Israelites, no longer slavery in Egypt, but now they're in the wilderness. But that was not the end of the journey. God had something for Caleb and Joshua to lead them into the promised land. God has worked for the next generation that's significant. And every generation needs to walk with God. And in this story of the Ephesians, At this point it's 40 years, but then you know what's going to happen centuries later. You're going to see that the city and the church start to fade in their influence. And then I was reading by the 14th century Ephesus was uninhabited. We don't know all the details there, but it's incumbent on every generation to own their faith, to serve Jesus, and don't forsake your first love. You can look religious, but you're not really abiding with Jesus. You can fool some people. Because they see you, you're on that committee, you're on that team, you're serving, you're using your gift. Wow, you said some statements that were solid Bible, but where's your heart? Adam and Eve, where are you? To Elijah, what are you doing here? And even Jesus said to the disciples, you call me Lord, Lord, but are you really gonna do what I want you to do? A lot of people do great things for Jesus, and then Jesus says, yes, but I don't know you. That's strong in scripture, when Jesus said, okay, there you were, you did this, this, this in my name, but I don't know you. Knowing Christ, our first love, that's who we need to come back to. And for the church in America right now, if we don't come back to Jesus and walk in His love, His truth, His power, if He's not our first love, if we have other things like our retirement lifestyle, our hobbies, our money, our possessions, the success of our kids' athletic career. I could just keep going down and down the list where little things, we just keep push Jesus down a little, push Jesus down a little, push Jesus down a little, and yet you can still go to church, you can still be a member to church, you can still read some and quote some Bible, but don't forsake your first love. With each of these seven letters, let's learn, let's hear, because this is how it concludes. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Ears to hear, overcome. That's the theme with all seven of these. Today, just the first one. We're going to look at all seven of these. If you haven't studied the book of Revelation for a while, start here and then tell friends. Let's dive into the book of Revelation together. Let's, season seven of the bonfire, let's do this together. Spend some time, not only looking at chapter two of Ephesus, look at Paul's letter to the Ephesians, and look in the book of Acts, what's happening in Ephesus. Have ears to hear what God is telling you, and then overcome. Overcome in the strength of the Lord. Overcome because you know the end of the story. If you know that Jesus wins, Then you also know these trials right now, they're temporary, they're fleeting, they're gonna pass. What's your most difficult trial right now? Well, this is what we learn. Say no to the false teaching, say no to the lies about your trial. Continue to serve, continue to stay in the Word, but most importantly, keep Jesus your first love, because that trial will fade. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And remember the closeness you had with Jesus. Repent. Anything that's keeping you away from God is not from God. Let me say that again. Anything right now that's keeping you away from God, that's pushing Jesus out of number one, that's not from God. It could be a blessing that turned into an idol. Well then, push it back down so it's not number one and just declare to the Lord, You're my Lord. You're my Savior. If you've never made that decision, today's the day to do it. Say, Jesus, you're my Lord and Savior. I turn to you. Forgive my sins. I repent. And thank you for dying for my sins, paying the price. Thank you that you're risen, that you're alive, that you're my living hope. And Jesus, I want to walk with you. If we all read this from Ephesians today, we all repent. We all need to repent, return with all our heart. We all have Jesus as our first love. Then you know what's going to happen? There's going to be fruit in your life, love, joy, peace. There's going to be boldness in your life. You're going to lead others to Jesus. You're going to be active in a local church. Notice these seven local churches. You're going to find a local church. You're going to serve there. You're going to be a blessing there. It all starts with Jesus first, first love. And then he'll add everything else. Make sure that your ultimate goal is to be faithful to Jesus and don't settle for any other lesser goals. Don't settle for just trying to please the people who are close to you. Honor the Lord and remember the church in Ephesus. Let's continue to follow Jesus. Seven letters in the book of Revelation. I'm excited that we're doing this together. Thank you so much for joining in at the bonfire. This is a place about God's presence. This is where we meet him. God is love, God is light, God is a consuming fire, and God is our greatest joy.