2 <\/strong>\u201cTo the angel of the church in Ephesus write: \u2018The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2\u00a0<\/sup>\u201c\u2018I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but\u00a0have tested those\u00a0who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.\u00a03\u00a0<\/sup>I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up\u00a0for my name’s sake, and you\u00a0have not grown weary.\u00a0 Jesus looked at His church, and He knew its condiction. It was no mystery to Him. There may be sin or corruption hidden in a congregation, but it isn\u2019t hidden to Jesus. He would say the same thing to us today, both as individuals and as a congregation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4\u00a0<\/sup>But I have this against you, that you have abandoned\u00a0the love you had at first.\u00a05\u00a0<\/sup>Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do\u00a0the works you did at first. If not,\u00a0I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.\u00a06\u00a0<\/sup>Yet this you have: you hate the works of\u00a0the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.\u00a07\u00a0<\/sup>He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.\u00a0To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of\u00a0the tree of life, which is in\u00a0the paradise of God.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The first step in restoration for the Ephesian church is for them to\u00a0remember. They need to\u00a0remember from where you have fallen. This means remembering\u00a0where they used to be in their love for the Lord and for one another.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 8 <\/sup>\u201cAnd to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: \u2018The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 9\u00a0<\/sup>\u201c\u2018I know your tribulation and\u00a0your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander[a<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0of\u00a0those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.\u00a010\u00a0<\/sup>Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison,\u00a0that you may be tested, and for\u00a0ten days\u00a0you will have tribulation.\u00a0Be faithful\u00a0unto death, and I will give you\u00a0the crown of life.\u00a011\u00a0<\/sup>He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.\u00a0The one who conquers will not be hurt by\u00a0the second death.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus knew the works of the church in Ephesus also (Revelation 2:2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 12 <\/sup>\u201cAnd to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: \u2018The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 13\u00a0<\/sup>\u201c\u2018I know where you dwell,\u00a0where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not\u00a0deny my faith[b<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0even in the days of Antipas\u00a0my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.\u00a014\u00a0<\/sup>But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of\u00a0Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might\u00a0eat food sacrificed to idols and\u00a0practice sexual immorality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus said this to each church. It is true of each one of us. He knows our\u00a0works, even if there isn\u2019t much to know.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a015\u00a0<\/sup>So also you have some who hold the teaching of\u00a0the Nicolaitans.\u00a016\u00a0<\/sup>Therefore repent. If not,\u00a0I will come to you soon and\u00a0war against them with\u00a0the sword of my mouth.\u00a017\u00a0<\/sup>He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.\u00a0To the one who conquers I will give some of\u00a0the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with\u00a0a new name written on the stone\u00a0that no one knows except the one who receives it.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The simple word\u00a0repentstands out. Five of the seven churches are commanded to repent.\u00a0Repent\u00a0is a command that applies to Christians, not only to those who first come to Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 18 <\/sup>\u201cAnd to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: \u2018The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 19\u00a0<\/sup>\u201c\u2018I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.\u00a020\u00a0<\/sup>But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman\u00a0Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants\u00a0to practice sexual immorality and\u00a0to eat food sacrificed to idols.\u00a021\u00a0<\/sup>I gave her time to repent, but\u00a0she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.22\u00a0<\/sup>Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works,\u00a023\u00a0<\/sup>and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he\u00a0who searches mind and heart, and\u00a0I will give to each of you according to your works.\u00a024\u00a0<\/sup>But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call\u00a0the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I\u00a0do not lay on you any other burden.\u00a025\u00a0<\/sup>Only hold fast\u00a0what you have until I come.\u00a026\u00a0<\/sup>The one who conquers and who keeps my works\u00a0until the end,\u00a0to him I will give authority over the nations,27\u00a0<\/sup>and\u00a0he will\u00a0rule[c<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0them with a rod of iron,\u00a0as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.\u00a028\u00a0<\/sup>And I will give him\u00a0the morning star.\u00a029\u00a0<\/sup>He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The reference to\u00a0adultery\u00a0is important. It speaks of both sexual\u00a0adulteryand<\/em>\u00a0spiritual\u00a0adultery. When these Christians honored other gods, they were unfaithful to the Lord who saved them.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":1168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","filesize_raw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-reading"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7284"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7285,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7284\/revisions\/7285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/p>\n\n\n\nTo the Church in Smyrna<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
To the Church in Pergamum<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
To the Church in Thyatira<\/h3>\n\n\n\n