Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

I Know Thy Works Pt. 1

Amen. Good to be in the presence of the Lord; amen? Good spirit, worship, and excited about what the Lord is doing in our lives. We spent Friday night, in our meeting with the deacons, pretty much doing a survey of the ministry, trying to analyze the last year, and each of your lives, our lives, find out where we're at and in the process found out the Lord's doing a good thing among us; amen? How many of you feel that you have grown in the last year in the grace of God? Amen? How many of you feel you are prepared for the coming of the Lord Jesus if He comes right now? How many of you believe you are going up if He was to come right now? Let me see your hands. Praise God. Amen. Good things that are happening and yet we have a lot of work to do; amen? How many of you know you are not perfect yet? Even though you think you are, right?

Therefore, we want to talk about the evaluation of the body of Christ, ourselves individually, and there's only one place that we can really critically evaluate the church, and that's in the book of Revelation and Jesus' evaluation of the seven churches of Asia. And we're going to go over those in survey and see whether or not we can find ourselves as a fellowship and then identify, of course, each of us as individuals in there. Now, you are going to find out every one of these churches are applicable to the day that we are living in. We do not believe in strong dispensationalism. We don't believe that as these were being penned by the apostle John that he was speaking to a dispensational church of Ephesus and then in the very last days there would be a dispensational church of Laodicea. We believe that what was taking place in the seven churches in the first century as John addressed them, as Jesus was speaking, is the same thing that's going on today, because there is no new thing under the sun; amen? We realize that in every generation you can identify both the good and those areas that are lacking in the church of Jesus Christ. As we look at these seven churches you are going to find out that to all seven of them they have these two phrases in common. The churches are distinct, they have great victories that were distinctive and they had needs that were distinctive, but the one thing they had in common was this, Jesus spoke it to every church, "I know thy works" and "let them that have ears, hear what the Spirit's saying to the churches" (Revelation 2:2, 7)

"I know thy works" don't try to get out of it. He knows. His eyes are searching to and fro; amen? He knows the very secrets of every one of our hearts; our thoughts are before Him. We realize that He knows, and since He knows, 'fess up; amen? Be willing to accept what the Spirit of God's saying to us. And as the Word of the Lord comes to us, as we study, as we're hearing the Word of God taught; God knows your heart. He's speaking it not to destroy you, but to restore you. The Lord chastens those that he loves, the Scripture says. He allows us to experience these trials and tests that He might prove us; He already knows where we are. He's wanting us to understand where we are. So as we go through the different trials of life, as we receive different revelations, it's for the purpose of our edification, restoration. Now, we're going to talk this morning about the church of Ephesus. There's probably no church that has more spoken to it than the church of Ephesus in the Scriptures. You'll find that in the book of Acts, Chapters 18 through 20 deal with the church of Ephesus. As Paul was on his third missionary journey and we find that this great church was established, it became the premiere outreach of Asia Minor.

The Pastor of the church at Ephesus was Paul's own son in the faith, Timothy, who he left to pastor the church. Probably one of the greatest epistles that takes us into the highest rapture of understanding the relationship that a man can have with God is the letter to the Ephesians. Therefore, you have the Pastoral Epistle, 1 Timothy, that we can learn a lot about this church. You have Acts 18 through 20; you have the epistle to the Ephesians. Now, the letter to the Ephesians was interesting. Most of these letters that Paul wrote were hammered out on the anvil of false doctrine and the need to bring correction to the church. The letter to the Ephesians was written just about the same time, but right on the tail of the letter to the Colossians. Now if you have studied the Word of God you understand that there was a great heresy that was taking place in Colossi and Paul had to write and address the heresy that was taking place there. Paul had never been to Colossi; they had never seen his face, he says. Yet by the Spirit of God he was speaking pure doctrine into their midst. And the Colossian church existed because of the Ephesian revival and the disciples, then, as they were dispersed and went out into all of Asia, the Word was preached throughout all Asia. They all heard it.

We are responsible to get this same message out, aren't we? How many of you can say that there are still people maybe at work that don't understand the reality of the Gospel? They may have heard the name of Jesus. They may have a Bible in their homes. They may know who Billy Graham is. But have they heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ? And if they haven't, that's our responsibility, isn't it? Because of the things, the Scripture says, that we have seen and heard, if they're real to you, you can't help but speak them. You just can't help but speak them. He said, "Freely you have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:18) amen? What you received in secret, in your prayer chamber(, what we've received as we gather together, the Scripture says as the last days approach we're to shout it from the house tops.

So I believe that God's stirring our hearts, as a people, to reach out, because this is the last days. "We've got to labor while it's day, the night's coming when no man can work" (John 9:4) amen? It's on us. We realize that society as we know it-I wish I had an article that I just read that somebody gave me, it was tremendous talking about the condition of our society here in America. I agree with Phil Graham, who says that if something drastic is not done, those of us the age that you and I are, before we die, should the Lord tarry, will not know this nation as it's always existed. We're a people that are experiencing, possibly, a last generation, before the Lord comes, before this nation, as we know it, deteriorates. And we've been given the greatest responsibility and the greatest gift that a man can have. We know Him and we must declare Him; amen?

Now let's go to the book of Revelation and start in the second chapter. And I've said all that to premise this: We're going to see that this is part, I believe, of what the apostle John was addressing when he brings the one reproof to the Ephesian church, and that was that they had left their first love. We're going to find out that they're still busy about judging the actions of one another, of the teachers that were emerging and coming through this great revival center of Asia. No different than it is today, the preachers hear about a church that's on fire for God and they want to come and be a part of it. We realize that this is part of what took place and we'll find that early on in the ministry of the church in Ephesus they were very careful about who they received and who they sent. And even the great apostle Apollos, if you'll remember when he came to Ephesus and sat under the tutorage of Aquila and Pricilla, before he went to Corinth, while Paul was still gone and had returned back into Judea. They sent him to Corinth with letters of recommendation. They sent him and said "he sat here under our tutorage receive him; he's a great gift from God." And of course we know that caused a few conflicts when Paul was going to come back and minister in Corinth and they wanted letters from him. Do you remember that? They wanted a letter of recommendation from Paul; Paul said you want a letter, you're it; amen? You are my epistles. You exist because of my apostolic ministry.

We realize that this is a little bit of the environment of what's going on in this particular day. False prophets were arising. They were bringing a doctrine that was other than that which Paul had originally brought, and he said if you hear any other doctrine being preached than that I've brought you, he said it doesn't matter whether it's by letter, it doesn't matter whether it's by word of mouth, or whether they say they received it from an angelic messenger. He said if they bring you any other message let them be anathema, damned to hell. Amen? There's no other message than this message that I've brought you, and that's Jesus Christ and Him crucified. There's no other message that can be brought than that of the cross of Jesus Christ: His death for you and your death for Him.

You see, most Christians today, as we've said, have only one cross in Christianity, they love to sit and bow and think of the great death of Jesus and many of them make the sign of the cross and they kiss it and carry it around and have it on a thing with little beads and all of these different things. They just love the fact that Jesus was on that cross. He got off; amen? And He ascended to the right hand of God the Father. And sent you one to get on; amen? Christians do not like to talk about their daily crucifixion. They don't like to talk about the message that Paul brought where he said, "I die daily;" amen? "I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). That's the message. And there isn't any other. That's the message, that love for which Jesus accomplished for us. And the zeal, the burning desire, to freely give and live it out before a lost and dying world. Have we lost the first love? Many of us are still excited about pursuing God and receiving knowledge of Him, but are we representing Him? You see, that's the first love that He's talking about. He said, don't lose that zeal that you first received to live My life out. And so it's very important and you're going to find out as we begin to analyze these vehicles that we have into church of Ephesus, that you're going to see a common theme.

The zeal of these people for righteousness; and they're commended for that. We're going to talk about how they hated the Nicolaitanes. We're going to talk a little bit about who these people were. Oh I'm not going to tell you who the founder was, because there's too much debate of who the founder was of this sect called the Nicolaitanes. The one thing that we know is that they were a derivative of the same spirit of Balaam. They were very interested in bringing the gospel for money, and telling people what they wanted to hear, and thirdly, bringing forth a message of permissiveness.

So when you begin to see all these things, you're going to see, especially as you read in the Pastoral Epistles, you're going to see how this church of Ephesus that started so purely is already beginning to deteriorate just a few years later. Because as you go through, and begin to study out, you're going to find that this book of Revelation and this letter that was brought to them as John was exiled on Patmos, you're going to find out that this was probably brought to them around A.D. 68. You will find that the book that Paul wrote to Timothy was probably somewhere around A.D. 62 to 64, just a few years prior.

So you're going to see that what Paul admonished Timothy to do, the church of Ephesus was not responding readily to Timothy's ministry. He was to rebuke the false teachers, wasn't he? And those that brought another doctrine. Do you remember that in 1 Timothy, Chapter 1? We found that he was to deal with the heresies in 1 Timothy, Chapter 4 that were being brought among them and you remember there were the two different camps. There were the Nicolaitan camp. We would call it Gnosticism. We would call it ultra-grace today. Where people said all you have to do is accept Jesus and you can live any way you want! But there was the other camp, as you read the fourth chapter of 1 Timothy, and that was those who were the Judaizers, the legalistic people of their day. We find them today in our churches, don't we? The people that say you have to part your hair this way. You have to wear your dress this long. You can't wear any makeup. You must wear your hair like this. You must hold your mouth like this, when you're praying, or whatever it is. And they want to put everything to the letter of the Law. And they tell you that everything is wrong and sinful and don't touch and don't taste. Asceticism. The two extremes. They've always been there. They always will be. Don't think it strange. We have both camps here, this morning. We realize that as Paul was writing to Timothy and saying look, get these false teachers taken care of, bring this thing into proper order. As you survey across that first epistle of Timothy you'll find out that-in fact, look over there for just a second. He makes one very interesting statement that I want to refer to, he comes out of the fourth chapter, of course, and he's bringing the reproof to them for this asceticism, and all the different things that are taking place. And just prior to his death, in the second epistle of Timothy, and just prior to having been given this epistle from John, these words are penned:

"Preach the Word. Be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts they shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the Truth and shall be turned unto fables, but watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry" (2 Timothy 4).

Timothy is working diligently in Ephesus as this pastor and he's trying to set this church in order. To keep it pure because of all of the worldly environment that's inundating the church. "The cares of the World, the deceitfulness of riches, the lusts of other things that enter in and choke the Word of God out." (Mark 4:19) You see, Ephesus was known for a couple of different things. Ecclesiastically it was known as the road to martyrdom. You want to get martyred? Hang out in Ephesus. They'll send you to Rome. Ok? Pretty soon, you're going to hear that you want to get martyred, hang out in Sterling; amen? They're going to hate you. They hated Him. They don't want to deal with a people who are going to bring the Truth without compromise. And you're going to see that's what the Ephesians were known for.

Culturally, economically, they were a star of Asia Minor. They weren't the capital, but they eclipsed the capital in grandeur. Beautiful, colonnade streets if you can see leading from the Temple of Diana. The roads were paved with marble-don't you like marble? How many of you like marble? I love marble. I like to go down to D.C. and look at the buildings and check out all the different things. I love to see marble and to enjoy the beauty of it. And you see that all polished and shining. Can you imagine streets made out of marble? All of the beautiful colonnades. If you could see some of the artists rendering, it's just absolutely-the aesthetics are fabulous. And it would come down from the Temple Diana and this colonnade street all of marble, the columns, the street, whatever, and leading down to this beautiful harbor. Things were beginning to change, however, in the times of Paul. The harbor was beginning to silt up. There were three rivers that were pouring into it and the harbor was silting up and they were actually losing the harbor and they were having to extend the city in that direction to try to keep the sea trade going. They tried to go in and dredge the harbor at one time. It was too large of a task. But at this time there was still the glory and the grandeur, in Ephesus. The amphitheater would sit about fifteen thousand people. You can imagine the different plays that they would have and the Greek tragedies that would be portrayed.

The Temple of Diana was almost four times larger than the great Temple that Herod had just built. Surrounding the Temple of Diana there was this one wall, absolutely gorgeous, almost ten feet thick. That went down through that area that we were talking about through all the beautiful colonnades, almost, I believe it was, eighteen thousand feet. Over three miles in length, ten feet thick. The Temple site was known as a haven. No one could be arrested there. So all of the criminals began to congregate in this Temple area that we're talking about, surrounded by this wall over three miles. We know how infamous all of the Temple prostitution was that was taking place. Very similar to the worship in Corinth. The monies that were being generated through trade in Ephesus were all stored, very similar to the Bank of England, all the money was in this place, the Temple of Diana, Artemas, for the Greeks. And, so we see that it was the center of everything that they did, economically, culturally, and religiously. So you need to see this for what it is. It was a very wealthy city, as we said.

And so with all of that in mind, Paul shows up. Okay, I want you to see all that is going on. Paul rolls into town from Corinth for the first time. And the book of Acts, we can pick that up in the eighteenth verse. Now just before you go over there, go back to Revelation, and we're going to read this account and then we're going to go to Acts and we'll be back. Second chapter of the book of Revelation, little bit of background for you. I want you to get a feel a little bit for where we're going. I want you to see that what we have here is a combination of a Hellenistic culture in Asia Minor that's now being embraced by the Romans. They, of course, have their original Asiatic roots. So, what a conglomeration of beliefs and history, ancient and current.

And in the midst of all of that Paul arrives. Now, just prior to the demise of this city, John pens these words of Jesus. This is not the words of John, it's the words of Jesus, to His church. Paul receives revelation, and under inspiration wrote his epistles; and they are infallible. But he did not transcribe as John did. I want you to see the magnitude of what's being spoken here. It's all the same authority, all the same wisdom, all the same truth; but I want you to see that distinction. "Unto the Angel of the church of Ephesus write," now if you'll follow from the first chapter we find that he says there's a mystery I want to talk to you about, and as Jesus appeared, John looks at Him and sees Him as one walking among seven candlesticks, and He has seven stars in His hand. He interprets it for us and tells us that the seven stars are the seven angels of the churches.

This doesn't mean that we got some little feathered thing flying around in here right now, that every church has an angel that's hanging out. How many of you know there's more than one angel here this morning? Amen? Every one of us brought a bunch with us. So just, if you feel like your chair's getting tighter, maybe that's what it is. Or you had too much for breakfast. You can choose. And we realize that the angels are with us. The Bible says that He's given His angels charge over us lest we should dash our foot against the stone. (Matthew 4:6) The angels of the Lord encamp round about us; amen? We understand that. These angels were not the ministering spirits of God. These-the word here is literally "the messengers". It's referring to the spiritual overseer of each church. There's a term that was real familiar with the individuals who have been raised in synagogue and so they were familiar with this term. So we're talking about the gift of God, the overseer of each individual church. The candlesticks are the individual seven churches.

We see that He makes this statement: "Unto the Angel of the church of Ephesus write, these things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand. Who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks" (Revelation 2:1). This word is written to the overseer who is held responsible for the course of each fellowship. He acknowledges Himself as holding the overseer in His hand. He is the head of the church; amen? And He has control of each overseeing member. And we need to understand that and have confidence in that. He goes on and says in verse 2, "I know your works and your labour and your patience and how thou canst not bear them which are evil." Now, get this down in your notes, and I want you to see who this church is and what they're doing. They cannot bear evil. Now we're talking about this primarily in light of who we are as a fellowship. What our responsibility is to do that that's accepted of God and receive commendation of the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's see if we can find ourselves, Calvary Temple, in here somewhere; and then in addition, to see if you can find yourself individually, because these apply to us as individuals also. "I know your works, I know your patience and how you cannot bear them that are evil. And how you've tried them that say they're apostles and are not and have found them to be liars." Interesting, isn't it? "And hast born and hast patience and for my name's sake have laboured and not fainted."

We see the endurance quality here. He's commending them for the fact that they're not weary in their well doing. You know, a lot of people can make a run at righteousness for a short period of time and may receive momentary revelation and say, ‘Yeah, bless God, here's what we're going to do,' and then all of a sudden time goes by, the pressures of life, circumstances begin to dictate, and that stand that they made for righteousness against society, against the home, against spiritual recognized leaders or whatever, eventually they're worn down and cave in and become another statistic of those that were sucked up by the spirit of the Nicolaitanes.

Because the word Nicolaitan literally means ‘conqueror of the people.' Another rendering is ‘to conqueror by many.' Now, some render it to ‘conquer many,' some render to ‘conquer by many.' I think when you look at it contextually you're going to find out that literally here's what it's saying: ‘the majority rules.' Whatever's accepted in society by the majority, whatever's accepted in the church by the majority, it must be right. And that's what the Nicolaitanes were propagating. They were saying, "look, everybody's doing it, we're all spiritual, we all love Jesus. The recognized leadership among us is saying it's acceptable. It must be lawful." But have you lost your first love? What was the word that you first received? What was the message of the apostle Paul that first came to you? "If any other word's preached, let him be anathema" (Galatians 1:9).

Does it sound a little bit like the day we're living in? Things haven't changed. And so as Jesus is speaking to this church of Ephesus He says, "I know thy works, and thy labour" (Revelation 2:2). He said, "I commend you for your endurance [in standing for righteousness]. But I have this against you" (verse 4). Now as much as the church of Ephesus did right, they have this one indictment against them and it's a strong indictment. The greatest, I believe, commendations are given to the church of Ephesus. But, I think also the greatest criticism. You've lost, or left, your first love. "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen [and get back]." Turn around. Recognize where you are today. Flee from all appearances of evil. Remember from whence you have fallen. Remember the peace that you had when you were walking in obedience to God. Remember the great excitement that you had when you were walking in the spirit. And as we go to the book of Acts you're going to find out that this church was birthed in the supernatural. This was a church that came and understood what it meant to use the name of Jesus, to cast out devils, to heal the sick. Praise God! They were birthed in the supernatural. "Having begun in the spirit are you now made perfect in the flesh" (Galatians 3:3)?

I believe there's a word for us as a fellowship here. And I think it's important for us to see what He's speaking when He talks about having left the first love. "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works" (Revelation 2:5). Now let's remember who is writing this. This is the author of the Gospel of John and the epistles of John. John was called the apostle of what? Love, the love of the brethren. I think what he's talking about here is this, I think he's saying return back to a spirit of serving one another not just judging one another. Get it in your notes. Return back to a spirit of moving in the power, not to establish how righteous you are, but to bring about mutual edification to the body. Return to the motive of love. Not just pure doctrine for pure doctrine's sake. Not to reveal how much you know, but return to the motive of love so that the Body of Christ can be prepared for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I believe that's what Jesus is saying to this church because nowhere is He telling them to change what they're doing. He's just saying change your motives! He's not saying change a thing! He's not saying back off of the judgments that you're making! He's not saying dilute this message a little bit. He's saying, look, I commend you for these things! I commend you that you hate evil! I commend you that you bring judgment upon false doctrine! But what He's saying is do it in Love. Make sure that you have not lost the motive, and make sure that it's not a message in letter, but that it's in the Spirit and Power of the Holy Spirit that founded this church. Powerful message that Jesus is speaking. And you know what, if He were standing here this morning He'd be saying the same thing, "I know your works." To us as individuals, to us as a fellowship.

I have no question in my mind that we would receive the commendations that are given to the Ephesian church. That's a bold statement. But I believe that we would right now, if Jesus were to appear right now, and would speak to us as a church-and we're going to deal with each church separately. I believe that we would receive high marks; we would receive the same encouraging statements that the church of Ephesus received! I believe that Jesus would speak to us! I believe He could even use this exact verbiage! That's something to rejoice in! Amen? That's something to delight in and to rejoice and say "Praise God! Look what's He's done in our midst!" And give Him all the glory.

As we're seeing this, He's speaking and He's saying "however, you've lost [or left] your first love. Remember from whence you are fallen, repent and do the first works [or else]" (Revelation 2:5). I get a little nervous when He says "or else", don't you? Or else! Now watch, "I will come quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." Now I want you notice the word "quickly", because the fact of the matter, right now, the church of Ephesus' fate is sealed, they're going down. But He's saying, "you can stay it for a moment, if you'll repent." It won't happen in your generation.

And what's taking place here, when He talks about the candlestick here and the removing of it, I want you to see it for what it is they were, the revival center or Asia. We had a couple of different centers. Judea had who? Jerusalem. Syria had who? Antioch. Asia had Ephesus. Macedonia had Philippi. Acacia had Corinth. God chooses to raise up ministries that complement one another and are to work together. We realize that as this ministry is coming forth He's saying "you" as the primary source of ministry will be removed. Now I can do it quickly, if you don't repent. Or it will evolve into this judgment that's been placed. The decision is yours.

Who's He writing to? Timothy. What was it that Paul had to admonish Timothy in? "Stir up the gift that's in you" (2 Timothy 1:6). How many of you think that these words from Jesus would stir you up? He's the pastor of the church. Do you think he's getting discouraged a little bit at this time? I think he is. Here's this great revival center. Here we have these people that were birthed in the supernatural. A people zealous for God; and now they're beginning to heap up to themselves teachers having itching ears. (2 Timothy 4:3) They're beginning to oppose his position that was apostolically ordained. He's sitting there having to deal with the false doctrine. These people are affluent. They have all of the cultural inundations that we were talking about.

How many of you when you read the Scriptures forget to factor all of this in? You're just kind of reading this thing and it's almost a like a fairy tale. And here's all these little Christians and they all just love God, and no problems, and praise God isn't it great! It's no different than the way we're living today. They're folks just like us. And so as Jesus is speaking to this church, He says, "look, you need to repent or I'll come quickly!" "And remove your candlestick out of its place of prominence...except you repent." And then He comes back and makes reference-listen! The fact that He speaks to it twice shows how the heart of the Master had been touched, and their zeal for righteousness and true Holiness. "But this thou hast, that that hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans" (Revelation 2:6). Now look at these words, get it down, this is Jesus speaking. Most people don't realize Jesus hates. They just think He loves. "Oh, God's love!" And we have this perspective of God. God the old grandfather that just pats everybody on the head. Little red fat cheeks. We really think that God's Santa Claus, a lot of us. We don't realize that as He portrays Himself here, He's a God of holiness!

Read the book of Revelation! He's a God of holiness! He is absolutely unapproachable without the blood of Jesus Christ! Every creature made when it comes into His presence falls at His feet as dead! And cries "Holy, Holy, Holy." Even he who knew Him best in His earthly body, John, who laid upon His bosom, when he saw Him in the fullness of His glory, fell at His feet as dead! Do you understand we're going to stand before Him one of these days? And you think you're going to walk up and slap Him on the back, "Thanks, Jesus. Appreciate all you did for me." Glory to God. Good to be here; amen"? Not going to happen! We've got this concept of what it means to be Sons. Yes, we're sons, yes we're heirs, yes we are loved! He is God! And there's none like Him! He's totally separate-that's what Holy means, an entity to Himself. He exists without anything else. But all things are made by Him and by Him all things consist, Colossians says, or better rendered, are held together. The majesty of our God! Think about it. I want you to see it, for who He is. When John is speaking here, he's speaking as he's being overwhelmed. This God of love, this little Santa Claus mentality-yes, God is love, but God is righteous. And the Bible says, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). Read the book of Psalms, you'll find out that God hates. He reveals the things to us that He does hate. Romans says, that we're to love what God loves and hate what He hates. Do you? Many of us are trying to love what God hates because we think we have a higher understanding of love than God has. But we're to love all things-because I want you to know, I hate this spirit. I hate that sect. I hate what they're doing. I hate their deeds. "And he that has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. Now to he that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God" (Revelation 2:7).

Let's go to the book of Acts. I thought we were going to get it done this morning. We're going to still give her a shot here, but we're just trying to overview this. How many of you see how much time you could spend on each church? Give it a valiant try. But if you'll look in Acts 18, we'll start there and begin to see that the church of Ephesus was birthed in a very interesting way. Paul's made the distinction of ministering to the Gentiles in Corinth, he's there for eighteen months as he's departing now, heading back to Judea. The Scripture says in verse 18, "And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him, Pricilla and Aquila, having shorn his head and Cenchrea." And we realize it says, "for he had taken a vow." "And he came to Ephesus [verse 19] and left them there. [Pricilla and Aquila] And he himself entered into the Synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. They desired him to tarry longer, he consented not; bid them farewell saying I need to keep the feast in Jerusalem. But I will return unto you if God will." And he leaves Ephesus.

Now a very interesting thing happens here. As he's gone, Apollos comes into Ephesus. Aquila and Pricilla are still there, and you know the story, it starts about verse 24. And it says, "this man was instructed [verse 25] in the way of the Lord and was very fervent in spirit. And he taught diligently the things of the Lord, but he knew only the baptism of John." Interesting. Here's Apollos, a great orator, we know of his great spiritual gift, he's there ministering in Ephesus, but he only knew the baptism of John. Now John's was the baptism to what? Repentance. His was a ministry that said the Messiah is coming. Paul's message was He's come! And he's gone! And he's coming again; amen? Now what are you doing? His message is Jesus is ascended to the right hand of God the Father ever living to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25).

His message is that we now are the visible representation of Jesus on this planet. We are the Body of Christ. We are the Bride of Christ. We are bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh. Is that not what he said to the Ephesian church? Didn't he say that your natural marriage is nothing more than a type of the union between Christ and the church? The whole message of the book of Ephesians is the unity that we are to have as a body and our relationships in Him! Those are two key phrases. Get it in your notes. The two key phrases of the book, to the letter to the Ephesians, Unity, In Him. Unity and who we are in Him. If we abide in Him we will be in unity. We realize that Apollos is there, he's preaching this message. Aquila and Pricilla begin to "show him the way more perfectly." (Acts 18:26) And now, once he understands this full message, this guy was fired up to start with. Don't you know what position he's in now? I would love to have heard this guy preach after he got that revelation from Aquila and Pricilla, wouldn't you? And now they send him to Corinth. Now the time that he leaves Ephesus and goes to Corinth, Paul now shows up back in Ephesus. And as he rolls in he finds a few believers and he says unto them in verse 2 "Have you received the Holy Ghost since you've believed? [they said] we didn't even know that there be any Holy Ghost."

How many of you realize you still have a job to do out in society? How many of the friends that you run into on work or whatever, they say, "I'm a Christian"? But have you received the Holy Ghost since you've believed? We didn't even know there was a Holy Ghost! Oh, we knew there was one...somewhere. Because in the Apostle's Creed he's spoken of. But I don't know if I want anything to do with that Holy Ghost stuff, because you know the people that are full of the Holy Ghost, they go out there in West Virginia and handle snakes and drink poison and stuff. The only thing I know about Holy Ghost is that people roll in the aisles and swing from the chandeliers. That's why we have so many in here. I've been here twenty years and never seen anybody swing from one of those things yet. In fact if they do we'll be praying for them, because those babies are coming down, man! That's people perception. They don't even know there is a Holy Ghost. The purpose of the Holy Ghost. You see, Paul's bringing the church at Ephesus this message that's so necessary. That message that went out in Jerusalem, so early in the church. Oh, they were mocked; they said they're drunk. But the Master said, "You will receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me" (Acts 1:8). The first love. The power to evidence His life.

We read the letter to the Corinthians and we understand the ministry of the Holy Spirit; why is it that we're full of the Holy Ghost, to empower us to bring mutual edification one to another. As we pray in the spirit we pray unto God, we give thanks well and we edify ourselves (1 Corinthians 14:2, 4, 17). We build ourselves up. Make ourselves more like Christ. Make ourselves more servants. Make ourselves more readily, an example of His Holiness. You see when Paul returns to the church at Ephesus he had a specific reason; he was bringing them the message of the power. Have you received the Holy Ghost since you've believed? We didn't even know there be a Holy Ghost. What have you been baptized to then? John's baptism.

You see many of us have been involved in John's baptism. We've preached a message of repentance and some people have repented. You've got to grow! Amen? "Yeah I've asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins." What have you done since? Are you growing...to the full stature of Jesus Christ as the letter to the Ephesians says? He says for this reason, Jesus speaking, "I put in the church these ministry gifts, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to perfect you, to do the work of the ministry." (Ephesians 4:11) Are we doing it? The first love.

I think we as a fellowship are doing a good job. My judgment of us is in agreement with what I believe Jesus is saying to the church of Ephesus. I believe we are doing a good job there. I think we're doing a good job in our personal holiness. I think we're doing a good job in allowing the gifts and the power of God to manifest itself through us. I would say the one thing we need to guard against is that in our righteousness we don't become self-righteous, in our judgment we don't become judgmental, and in our doctrine we apply it to ourselves first. Let's learn from what he said to the Ephesians church so that we don't receive the same indictment. Now, we've worked against this for a lot of years and have dealt with it. And I think that the Spirit of God is doing a good work among us.

Let me finish this up here in this nineteenth chapter. See what happens. Paul lays his hands on them, verse 6, they receive the Holy Ghost, they speak with other tongues, prophesy. That's what happens when you're full of the Holy Ghost. There's a lot of people who want to be filled with the Holy Spirit and not speak in tongues. That's impossible. I won't get into that whole teaching today. It's impossible. Every historical biblical account of those that were filled with the Holy Spirit says "and they spoke with other tongues," they prophesied. And the only one that doesn't implies it. Because Simon the sorcerer came after they had received and said "I'll give you money, I want this gift that on whomever I lay my hands they receive the Holy Ghost" (Acts 8:18-19). The apostle responded and said, "you have no lot, you have no matter in this utterance." So the utterance is referred to, though it's not specifically spoken and so we understand that this is the consequence of those who are full of the Holy Spirit. And all the men were about twelve. Not twelve years of age; there were twelve of them.

I'll never forget in our youth group in California years ago I was teaching through this area and one of them said "Man! They were young!" And I said "Yeah, younger than you; get about Father's business." Praise God! He went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for the space of three months. That doesn't mean the one service went on for three months, but sometimes it seems like that, doesn't it? And we realize that he's there and he's speaking boldly without compromise. He's bringing them this message of the Holy Ghost; disputing, persuading the things concerning the Kingdom of God. Isn't that what we were told to preach by the Master? "Go into all the world...preach the gospel." What is the gospel? The gospel of the Kingdom. What is the gospel of the Kingdom? You don't have to read-even carefully in Matthew, in Luke. Read Matthew 10. Read Luke 9 and 10. You don't even have to read carefully and you'll see that the Kingdom of God, the message of the Kingdom is synonymous with healing the sick, casting out devils, raising the dead! The resurrection power of Jesus Christ! The ability to live victoriously over sin! The boldness to stand against principalities, powers, and say, "greater is in me than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4). "That no weapon formed against us can prosper" (Isaiah 54:17). "That we've been given all power and all authority over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means harm us" (Luke 10:19), amen?

You see, that's what he's equipping this Ephesian church with. He says you're going to war! They're going to make you the road to martyrdom! They're going to hate you. You haven't seen anything yet. Now get ready and don't lose your first love. It's not how you start the race, it's how you finish! So he's bringing them this message. He's speaking with boldness. nothing shall by any means harm us but spake evil of that way before the multitude." We get a lot of that today, don't we? You know it's not enough that people don't want to do it, they have to speak evil about you. They have to justify their spirituality, so they try to find things that they can speak evil about you. They'll either fabricate or exaggerate or whatever it takes. "but [they] spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. And this continued by the space of two years [look at this, verse 10] ... so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them." Special miracles! Thank God!

Now you don't make a doctrine out of this. A lot of people want to make a doctrine out of this; they want to make it into an everyday occurrence. "Just write me today and I'll send you one of my aprons." I wonder what the dude's doing cooking anyway. But anyway, we realize that here's these preachers and they want to send you one of their aprons. Little sissified preachers. They are moving around-I know that there are great chefs among us. So, we realize that what we're dealing with are special miracles. But they're real, it shows the power of God. But the ones that want a let you write in every week and they'll send you a prayer cloth and I remember one evangelist that you could write and they were tearing up the carpet out of their prayer room so they could sell little chunks. Give me a break! "Try those that say they're apostles [and lie]" (Revelation 2:2), amen?

You see, we get criticized a lot because we speak against these things that are abominations to God. Heretical type actions and statements and people say it to us, they say, "you're being so judgmental." No! Jesus commends those that will speak against these false actions and doctrines! And if Jesus commends it, I really don't give a rip what anybody else thinks. And so what we're dealing with here is the fact that this is real, it's supernatural. It works!

I'll never forget one of the first, it was either the first or the second, letter we ever received from our radio broadcast. I can't remember which one, first or second letter. About a week or so had gone by and we were preaching the word. God had told us to start preaching the word over the radio and by faith we stepped out. At that time the church, all the leaders that were here in the church were opposing it. They didn't want to be involved and incurring that debt. God had spoken it to me, so I did it on my own and waiting for the first response. A few days had gone by. No responses. Just a lonely little post office box; nothing in it-a few angels hanging out in there that we commissioned.

And we received this letter and it went somewhere along these lines-I was teaching on healing, the power of God, the ability for the power of God to be transferred. How the woman touched the hem of His garment and was made whole. The virtue went out of Him. He said "Who touched me? I perceive that virtue has gone out of my body" (Luke 8:46). We talked about the ability for that power to be transferred. They will lay hands upon the sick and they will recover. And the letter went something like this, the lady said "I was so excited. I was listening to this message and the reality of it," she said, "It just struck my heart and my brother [or uncle or something like that] was in the back in another little house in the back and they were an invalid; they were laid up. And I received this and got so excited." She said, "I just grabbed the radio and took off into the back yard." It wasn't the portable one. And just took off and poomphf [note: this is a sound effect]-and I can see the cord hopping around. And she said, "And I went in and I just put the radio on him and said you gotta hear this!" And said "As soon as I touched him with the radio, he was healed," amen?

Now we can start a doctrine. Praise God. The doctrine of Panasonic transference. And if you really want someone healed you just lay a radio on them. It doesn't have anything to do with that! It's special miracles. But the fact of the matter is this, it is the supernatural, it is the power of God that wants to set people free. Praise God! From those of us that are ministering the Word there are, there are times when that anointing begins to emanate. There is a transference. It's from the hem of His garment; the laying on of hands. I have had taken from my body elements of my clothing, that have been taken and transferred across the United States and put upon people and they've been healed. We've known that-it doesn't happen every day. It doesn't happen every month. But it happens. Return to your first love. Begin to understand the power of His visitation. And see the miracles that are wrought, in His name.

Well some people saw it and got pumped Man. Certain vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon themselves. We know this story, don't we? They went out to try to imitate this. And they said, "In the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches, come out!" and the demon speaks out of him and says, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?" (Acts 19:15) Amen? You'd better not just run out there and think that you can come up with some formula and say, "In the name of Jesus come out." They'd better know who you are. When the disciples came back, Jesus spoke to them, and they said "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in thy name" (Luke 10:17). And He said, "Don't rejoice in the fact that the demons are subject in my name, but rejoice in this rather that your name is written in heaven" (Luke 10:20), amen? In the heavenlies. Where principalities and powers hang out. That's where their strongholds are.

It didn't say written in the Lamb's book of Life. We find that in the book of Revelation. Thank God our names are written in the Lamb's book of Life; amen? But I thank God my name's written in the heavenlies too. I thank God that people in the heavenlies know who I am. I thank God that demons know the name of Star Scott and when I say "in the name of Jesus, come out" and they say "We know Jesus, we know Paul, we'd better get out of here," amen? His name showed up. Praise God! He's one of the believers. He's full of the Holy Ghost. Let's not lose our first love. Let's not-realize what the thing is that God has called us to do and be about His business.

As the story goes on-we're going to finish for this morning. The Bible says, that in verse 17, that as Paul was continuing to minister and this had gone forth, it says, "it was known to all the Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus and fear came upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified" (Acts 19:17). Isn't that what we're wanting? We don't want a reputation as a fellowship for the sake of having a reputation. We don't want people to be running around telling stories about the great deeds that we've done. That Saul has killed his thousands and David his tens of thousands. We want the name of the Lord magnified. And many that believed-look what happened, when they saw the reality of the power of God, "many that believed, came, and confessed, and showed their deeds and many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together and burned them before all men. And they counted the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver." True revival in this city-repentance man! The utterance came forth today about the high places. There's a lot of people that have those little things brought back. Not these people man! Their little curious arts. The little, idols that they had, what ever it was. Whatever pertained to religion outside of Jesus Christ was brought and burned; amen? That's the message we need to bring forth today. You're saying "Pastor, I've done that. There's nothing left in my life." We're not talking about you. We're talking about what we have been called to proclaim. We're talking about the people that you come in contact with. We're talking about the people that are saying their Christians and still have their little books set back. What ever they may be. Now you see, He said, "I know your works." I've seen what you've done, your zeal. I understand the birth that you had under Paul. I understand the pastoral care that you've had under Timothy, and he's done a good job. I also understand human nature, Jesus is saying to us. "Don't be weary in well doing" (Galatians 6:9). I know the tendency to have begun in the spirit and try to be perfect in the flesh. I want you to understand the letter kills, it's the Spirit that brings life. (2 Chronicles 3:6) I commend you for what you've done. Continue to do it in the spirit. Continue to do it in the spirit of love. And I'll not quickly remove the candlestick. "So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed" (Acts 19:20).

Father, we thank You for the Word of God. We ask that you would speak to us as a people as we study these churches and help us to hear what the Spirit would say to the church today. As we analyze ourselves as a fellowship, help us to embrace the things that You commend and to ask ourselves are we truly doing that? Do we truly hate evil? The church is to hate evil. The church is to love pure doctrine. The church is to judge those that would bring any doctrine contrary to that which has birthed us. Those of you that apologize, those of you that make excuses for the spiritual leaders, the personalities that you may admire. When they write false teachings, like "Good Morning, Holy Sprit", they need to be opposed! When they get into politics instead of proclaiming the gospel, they need to be judged. When they promote unity with those who are in heresy and are proclaiming themselves the mediators. Then let's be as noble as the Bereans and find out whether these things are so, and if not oppose them. And don't apologize to anybody for it. Don't let the Nicolaitans, the majority rules mentality, determine your proclamation of the truth, but minister it in love. Don't look for people to judge; look for people to edify. Unity and relationship in Him is what Ephesians is about. The key to Ephesians, Chapter 1, about verse 17, where he's saying "I want you to come, the revelation of the knowledge of Him." Return to your first love. Know Him and you will represent Him. Let's stand before the Lord.

As Gary plays and we're just allowing the Spirit of God to minister to us. Did you hear something this morning, that stirred your heart? Is there something the Holy Ghost spoke to you that stirred your heart this morning? Go home and mediate on it. Put it to work! Get it working this afternoon. Get it working tomorrow. Be a "doer of the Word" (James 1:25). "To He that has, shall more be given." (Luke 8:18) If you'll hold on to that that you've heard this morning by the Holy Spirit, more revelation will be given to you. But if you refuse to use it properly, that that you have "will be taken and given to" somebody that will use it. (Luke 8:18) That's the Bible principal. Let's receive it. That the name of the Lord would be magnified. We're going to sing this. If you have a need this morning you come; just let us minister to you in the Love of God.

"Holy One, Most Holy One." If the Brethren will come, please. Oh, Father, we come to receive your grace. The love of God. Hallelujah! Oh, Jesus! Hallelujah! Oh just bless Him! Oh, thank You, Lord, for Your visitation! As Gary just continues to play we're going to pray for these that have come. This is part of what we were talking about, the privilege of caring for one another, bearing one another's burdens. The desire to use that power that's in you for others. As you can pray effectually now the prayer of faith. See these that are here healed and see the enemy as he comes against their minds driven back! To lift up the hands that are hanging down. Thank God for it.

Brethren, come, let's pray. Just begin to intercede as the Holy Spirit lays these upon your heart, just pray and let's believe the power of God to manifest. Each one made whole in Jesus' name. Glory to God! Father, we come in the name of Jesus! That name that is above every name! As you've said, the effectual fervent prayer of righteous men availeth much-Father and we pray in the name of Jesus! We speak to sickness and command its power to be broken! We proclaim peace over each mind. Oh, Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Glory, glory, glory, glory! Yes, Lord! Lord, You speak life to Your children. Father, we speak peace upon each ones heart. Oh, hallelujah! Hallelujah! Just lift your hands up now and worship Him. Just thank Him for what He's done in the lives of those this morning! Thank Him for His power that indwells you! If you can stand before Him this morning and hear the "Well done" of the Ephesians church-just rejoice in it; just thank Him that He's brought you to that revelation! It's nothing you've done in yourself; it's the gift of God. It's the grace of God. Hallelujah! Father, we will give You all the glory in Jesus' name; amen! Amen.

Before you go, turn to somebody and say, "hear what the Spirit's saying to the church." Praise God! Go in peace, God's love go with you in Jesus' name.

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