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Words to the Ephesus Church

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[ Revelation 2:4~5 ]

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

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Revelation, the last book of the New Testament, was written by John, one of Jesus' twelve disciples. The apostle John was exiled to an island called Patmos when he preached the gospel and was hated by the emperor.

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The apostle John spent on Patmos about 95-96 AD, more than 1900 years from now. One Sunday, the apostle John was praying to God. At that time the Holy Spirit was present to John, and behind him came a loud voice like a trumpet.

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That voice was the voice of Jesus speaking directly to John. “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”

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John looked back at whose voice it was. At that time seven golden candlesticks were seen in his eyes. Jesus stood among the candlesticks.

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Jesus was wearing long clothes that came down to toes. He was wearing a gold belt around his chest. Jesus' head and hair were white and both eyes shone like fireworks. His feet were as hard as bronze and his voice was as loud as the sound of water.

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He had seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp sword from both sides came out of his mouth. In John's eyes, he looked like an intensely burning sun. The apostle John couldn't stand like that of a dead man.

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Jesus extended his right hand to John and told John who he was and what John should do.

“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. "Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”(Rv 1:17~20)

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After speaking this, Jesus told John about the seven churches in Asia Minor. First of all, he spoke words of praise and reproof for the church of Ephesus.

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The church of Ephesus was established after hearing the Gospel preached by the Apostle Paul. Everyone in Ephesus was serving the idol, ‘Artemis’, which needed a resolution of great difficulty to abandon ‘Artemis’ and believe in Jesus.

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First, Jesus commended the church of Ephesus for keeping their faith. Believers in Ephesus actively did good works and labors as Jesus said in the place where they serve ‘Artemis’. Also, they endured the persecution around them with patience.

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There were wicked people in the church who acted differently from the Word. Believers in the Church of Ephesus did not compromise with them, but decidedly dealt with according to God's Word. Believers have prevented them from cluttering the church.

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There were also people who had false beliefs called “Nicolaitans” and cluttered the church. They introduced themselves as “apostles,” and seduced believers with the gospel and other content. But the believers in the church of Ephesus, with the right word of God, revealed that they were false apostles. Jesus commended them for their efforts to keep themselves from the word of God.

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With praise, Jesus greatly rebuked one thing that the Ephesus Church did wrong.

“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.”(Rv 2:4)

It means that the love for Jesus has cooled.

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Jesus told them to find out where they went wrong and recover quickly. He warned them that if they did not recover, He would remove the candlesticks from them. This was a terrible statement that Jesus would no longer be recognized as the Head Church.

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The church is where believers who believe in Jesus and are saved and become children of God are gathered. Believers must obey the will of Jesus, who is the head of the church, and live by it. Like believers in the Ephesus Church, we should live a right faith life with good deeds, toil, and patience. We must have the courage to fight and win against those who do evil things, such as those in the church at Ephesus.

We must eagerly learn God's Word in order to establish the church correctly by distinguishing those who clutter the church with wrong words, such as believers in the church of Ephesus. Like believers in the church of Ephesus, we must not fall into the sin of losing our first love. I hope that you will be praised by Jesus with a constant love of Jesus.

(This is the sample conclusion provided by CTM. Please feel free to change the conclusion to best suit the listeners of your sermon.)