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As I pray to the first of the
seven churches, and this one is the church at Ephesus, the
church at Ephesus. Now, you should know that I preached on this Sunday morning
in the Port Lincoln Church, and I understand that that message
you will be listening to this coming Sunday, Lord willing.
So you will get the full message that I preached on Sunday. What
we're going to do tonight is look for help in prayer, pointers
in prayer. Now, there are many things that
we can learn. from these very practical letters
to the churches. I have called them love letters,
the Lord's love letters to his church. And I mentioned on Sunday,
just imagine that if you were maybe renovating an old house
and you came upon a packet of seven love letters, you'd be
very interested to know what the writer wrote to the reader. and what the relationship was
between them. And so we can learn a lot from
these letters to the churches, and they can be a great guide
to us in how the Lord deals with us and how the Lord leads his
people. And so we're going to read the
first one, that is Ephesus chapter two, Revelation chapter two. and verses one through seven. Now, another pointer before we
read, there's a very easy way to learn the seven churches.
And that is if you have a Bible map, because if you start at
Ephesus, which was the closest to the coast, and you go in a
clockwise direction, each of the churches were taken in order.
You had Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, then Sardis and Philadelphia. The last one is Laodicea. And
if you look on the map, you will see that's like a just a circle
in the order of the churches. What a wonderful thing it must
have been to have seven churches in close proximity. Now, in Australia,
that's a real luxury. It's a bit like Canada, too.
To have another church, even within distance, is a luxury. It's very special to have those
bonds of fellowship. And I'm learning of the bonds
of fellowship that there are between you and the Port Lincoln
Church, with family connections, with a background of helping
each other. through the years. And then,
of course, I've even learned about the ladies meeting up in
Commons for lunch. So those are all things that
are very special. But, you know, we learn, too,
that even though we are the Lord's churches, every church is different. Every church has a particular
need and a particular ministry that varies one to the other.
And even though we are in the same gospel, doctrine, even all
free Presbyterian, and I've learned this moving around from church
to church, that you have Christians professing the Lord, love the
Lord, but each individual congregation is different. And that's one
of the reasons why the Lord starts his messages with, I know thy
works. And he says that to them all,
I know thy works. And in your group here tonight,
the Lord knows every heart, every burden, and the challenges of
this ministry to be faithful for the Lord. That's great to
know. Let's read this then, we'll get to it. 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, I know thy works, and thy labor,
and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are
evil. And thou hast tried them which
say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars,
and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured,
and hast not fainted. Nevertheless, I have somewhat
against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence
thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else
I will come unto thee quickly, And I will remove thy candlestick
out of his place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that
thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh
will I give to eat of the tree of life. which is in the midst
of the paradise of God. Now, going back just to chapter
one for a moment. And at the end of chapter one,
you have the angel, you have the Lord speaking to John the
apostle to write these things. And you'll see in verse 20, but
ye beloved, verse 20, chapter one, the mystery of the seven
stars which thou sawest in thy right hand, and the seven golden
candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels
of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks which thou
sawest are the seven churches. So we need to distinguish between
the star and the candlestick. The minister of the church is
the star. Now it's the Lord's will that
every one of his churches have their own pastor, their own minister. And that was likely the case
in every one of these seven churches in Asia Minor. And it was a phenomenal
thing. In the first century, at the
birth of Christianity, that these churches were established and
they had their own pastor. pastor, and that's not beyond
what the Lord can do. And I know that you have a special
arrangement here as you come under the ministry of the Reverend
Graham, and what a great thing it is that you have a man that
you can look to as your pastor, and he's accessible, he's up
here twice a week, most weeks. He can be reached by phone. He
can be called upon in any time of need. And that is the will
of the Lord. Now, these messages are primarily
to the pastor, because if the man of God in the pulpit is not
right, how will the church be right? If his Heart is not right. How can God be blessing? And of course, if he has not
that strength to carry on and do the work of the ministry as
he ought to, well, the church is going to suffer. The church
is referred to here as the candlestick, and that's a great picture as
well. Now, the menorah in the Old Testament
had seven candle holders, and they were branches that all formed
down into the middle stems. You have one standard going right
up the middle, that's the Lord. And then you have three branches
going out from the side, all feeding out of that center branch. That's a great picture of the
Lord's church. We are in Christ and we are drawing
our everything from him. Now, the purpose of a candlestick,
of course, is to give light and to shine forth the message. And that's the work of the church.
And that's perhaps where we ought to start tonight for prayer. Here is a pointer for prayer. The purpose of the church is
to shine the light of the gospel. And I can see that you're doing
that, but the text that you have outside your door, unashamed
of the Lord, unashamed of his word, and of course, praying
that this becomes a witness to all who travel up and down this
road. And you want to do what you can
to reach men and women with the gospel, whether it is sermon
audio, whether it is Facebook or literature. And I can see
a whole lot of tracks back there behind in the foyer. And you
have obviously got a burden to give men the gospel. That's the
work of the church. And we need to pray, Lord, make
us a bright candlestick. That's prayer number one tonight.
Lord, make this church a bright candlestick in lock and further
a field. The second thing is to pray for
your minister. He is the star. And you'll notice
at the end of chapter one that that star is held in the Lord's
hand. It says, uh, the mystery of the
seven stars, which thou sawest in my right hand, and they are
the ministers of the church, the messengers of the church. And you'll notice how chapter
2-1, it begins with, unto the angel of the church of Ephesus. Now, we don't pretend that ministers
are angels with wings or any such thing. We're not talking
about an angelic figure here. That is the Lord's way of addressing
the minister of the church. because he's the messenger. In
the Bible language, the word angel and messenger is the same
thing. Angels wear messengers. They bring the word of the Lord,
and that's what ministers do. Now, you and we all need to pray
for ministers of the church. They need God's grace and they
need God's help in the ministry. Now, that ties into the Lord
speaking to his church. And we need to pray that this
is a church where the Lord speaks and the Lord has a message. Now,
of course, for these seven churches, the Lord had seven separate messages. He didn't just write out one
message and say, copy, copy, copy to give to all seven churches. Every church had his own message.
And the burden of the pastor, the preacher, is that at every
meeting, whatever church it is, that he has the Lord's word.
Now, I want you to think of your minister week by week toiling
in the study of the Bible. And he has got a deadline. Tuesday
night is coming. Sunday afternoon is coming. And
then, of course, the meetings morning and evening in Port Lincoln.
Those deadlines are coming, and I need to have a message from
the Lord. I need to be sure that it's not
just an academic performance. Yes, these words never change. They are in black and white,
and they're all true. And a man can come up and quote
this and quote that, but that's not a message. A message from
God is a burden. There's a word on his heart that
he must deliver. And through the week, he will
be seeking the Lord's help. as he reads and studies the Bible,
as he makes notes on the message, and sometimes you think you're
finished, and then the Lord gives you another part to add to it,
or another way of saying it that would be better. And that becomes
the burden of the preacher. pray that God will speak through
his word and through his servant within the church, because the
church is the meeting place with the Lord. The Lord walks in the
midst of the candlestick and he promises to be present, but
he's present to speak. If I may change the picture a
little bit and go back to the tabernacle in the Old Testament,
the very first piece of furniture that is mentioned is the mercy
seat, right inside the tabernacle. God starts in the center and
works out. And God says in Exodus 25, there
I will meet with thee and commune with thee. And that ought to
be our prayer in the New Testament church too, that the Lord's house
is our meeting with the Lord. and that those who come in who
perhaps are careless and have no real thought, well, what am
I here for? That the Lord will speak to those hearts and those
who are perhaps lost in sin, that God by His Spirit will strive
with them, convicting of sin and of bringing them to faith
in the Lord Jesus. We want to be a church where
God speaks to men. and brings them to the knowledge
of the truth in the Lord Jesus. In Psalm 28, 1, it says, be not
silent unto me, lest I be like them that go down into the pit.
A church where God is not speaking, where God is silent, is a church of lost people. Lest I be like
them that go down into the pit. And we need to pray that God,
in his grace and mercy, will speak clearly. Now, the third
thing, I think we're getting our numbers in order here. So
we have to pray for the church, that it's a branch, that it's
a bright light. The minister, that he's a faithful
messenger. that there is a searching ministry. Now take that from verse two,
I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience and how thou
canst bear them which are evil and as born and so on. Nevertheless,
verse four, I have somewhat against thee. And here is God searching. searching hearts, searching souls. And we need to pray that there
will be a searching ministry, conviction. That's the work of
the Holy Spirit. The Spirit has come to convict
of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come. And we need to pray
for that searching ministry. Now, how does that happen in
a gospel Bible church. It happens when God's man, the
minister, the pastor, studies the Bible, and he explains and
expounds, probably verse by verse or truth by truth, and he points
out what God says in his Word, and then he applies it So he
reads it, he expounds it, makes people to understand it, and
then applies it. And that application of the scripture
is the searching of people's hearts. I've had it many times
over the years where people come to me after a meeting and they
will say, how did you know that I was going through that? How
did you know that about me?" And of course, I had no idea,
but it was God speaking. And that's because we have a
living Word, a Bible that speaks to men, and God speaks to His
Word. And where there's a church preaching
the book, And a man who has a burden to explain and expound that word
to the people without fear, fearing the Lord, not fearing men, that
will be a searching ministry. And that's what you want. That's
what you should pray for. Lord, search my heart. See if
there be any wicked way in me. This is what we find in the Psalms,
in those devotional passages of the Bible, that people ask,
they pray that God will show them the things they need to
know and put right. A searching ministry. So pray
for that. In verse seven, I would point
out, pray for ready hearers. It says, he that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Now that becomes now the responsibility
of the people in the pew, to have an ear to hear the word. I had a little text message from
the Reverend Gardner yesterday. He wanted to know how the meetings
went on Sunday, and I was able to respond in saying, it's a
great thing to preach to people who have an ear for the word
of God. And believe me, I've been in
meetings where people don't have an ear for the word of God. You
will get that at some kind of national events or public community
events, or maybe at a funeral, and people who just don't go
to church, and they happen to be in the meeting for a special
event, and they're not really there to worship, they're not
really there to learn the Bible, and when you get to preaching
the gospel and the Bible to them, you can just see they don't have
an ear for this. Their head's down, their head's
shaking, they're embarrassed, they're not comfortable. But
yet when you see someone who is eager, feeding on the Word,
how easy to preach to them. And that is the mark of a ministry
that is faithfully, regularly expounding the Word. Now we need
to pray that also for the children of the church. And I don't know
what you normally do here with little ones. Churches do different
things. But there are some big mega churches,
and the children are hardly ever in the church. They've got so
many programs and so many things going on for children that they
never hear the sermon. And they might be a teenager
before they're brought in to the church service, and they
don't have an ear for the sermons. because they have not been raised
to hear God's Word. And that's sad. And in the church,
we need to pray that our children will have an ear for the Word
of God. And that's God's grace, God's
Spirit at work in them. It says, he that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith. And again, we're seeing
here that God's speaking. The Holy Spirit is speaking.
And people in the pew, old and young, need to have an ear to
hear. So we should pray about that
tonight. That is our next big prayer. Pray for ready hearers. Now, ready in the sense that
God is already speaking to them. that they're already exercised
about perhaps their sin, or their distance from God, or their need
to get right with God, and they come into church and they're
anxious to hear. That's grace at work. Now, you
remember John, who wrote this book? In chapter one, verse 10,
it says that John was in the spirit on the Lord's day. Wouldn't it be wonderful if everybody
came to church already in the spirit before they come through
the door and they come in and they take their seats and they're
not dumbed down by the affairs of the world all week, but rather
they're in the spirit. They've got a spirit of praise,
a spirit of worship, a desire and a hunger for the word. Let's
pray for that. that God will give people a ready
ear for the Lord's work. The final pointer tonight, pray
for more of the Spirit's presence and power to prepare hearts. Verse seven again, he that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith, unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I
give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the
paradise of God." There's nourishment. Now, no doubt in heaven we will
eat of that tree of life. We will enjoy spiritual life
unending, and we will be nurtured and nourished in heaven to the
full. but we also desire that now. And it is the Lord's portion
for your soul to eat of the tree of life and to have satisfaction
in the Lord, to be nourished, to be fed, and built up in your
faith. To him that overcometh. And it's a great thing that we
can overcome. We can overcome the spiritual
apathy of this age, the carelessness of many people. And in our families,
we can see our children brought into blessing. We can see our
grandchildren even fed and nurtured in the things of God. Let's not
give up on that. Let's pray, Lord, make us overcomers
in our families and in this church, overcomers. That's certainly
the standard that we should be aiming for. And then comes the
promise, to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree
of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. And you
know that the Bible begins with a tree, the trees where Adam
sinned, and you have the fruit that was forbidden. And because
of that, they were put out and brought into misery and death.
Well, here is the restoration now. In Genesis, you have man
driven away from God by partaking of forbidden fruit. In Revelation,
we have God's people brought in again into fellowship, enjoying
paradise with God. And that's a great and wonderful
blessing. So these are pointers for prayer.
And there's no lack of things to pray about tonight. as you
can see from our short gleanings in this message. Now, don't think
that Sunday's message is going to be the same thing. It's quite
different, and it's from a different approach, and it deals with that
issue. The Lord said, nevertheless,
I'm somewhat against it because you've lost your first love.
That was the big issue in Ephesus. They did have the love of the
Lord, but to some degree, they left it. And that was a problem,
and they needed to repent of that. And that's the big issue
in this particular passage.
Prayer points
| Sermon ID | 513251044303066 |
| Duration | 28:04 |
| Date | |
| Category | Prayer Meeting |
| Bible Text | Revelation 1:1-7 |
| Language | English |
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