(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

What I've decided to cover, first of all, is the seven churches, the seven churches that we read about in Revelation. And of course, these were literal churches that existed here at the time of writing of John. And these letters, or the book of Revelation was to be sent to all these seven churches. But of course, the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit also wants this to be heard to the churches. Okay, so even though it's given the, you know, each church is given a name, these are letters, these are lessons for every church that belongs to Jesus Christ. Okay, so the series basically is going to be called the seven churches, and this is the seven churches part one. And the first church that we're going to be looking at is the church of Ephesus, the church of Ephesus, and see what the Lord wants us to learn as a church. Okay, how can we look at ourselves? How can we examine ourselves, New Life Baptist Church, next to how these other churches were examined by God? What are we doing well? And what are we doing not so well? What is it that we need to improve in? So I think there's great things that we can learn here with the seven churches. But I want to start off with Revelation chapter one, verse 10. Revelation chapter one, verse 10. John says, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. And what thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches, which are in Asia, unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. So these are, of course, words that Jesus Christ is speaking to the Apostle John. And then he says in verse 12, and I turned to see the voice that spake with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. Okay, so this is important. Not only does he see Christ, the one who spoke to him, but he sees these seven golden candlesticks. Drop down to verse number 16. It says, and he, that being Jesus, had in his right hand seven stars. And out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. So we see the seven golden sticks, and now we see seven stars in the right hand of Jesus Christ. And then drop down to verse 20. So, of course, Jesus wants us to know what this image represents here. In verse 20, it says the mystery of the seven stars, which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. So if you know what the word angel means, it means messenger. Okay, the word angel just means messenger. That's why we have, you know, a term in the Bible called an evangelist. Evangel, e, angelist. It's got angel in there because it means messenger, and ev, that prefix ev before angel means good. You know, so an evangelist is a good messenger. Okay, it's a good messenger. Of course, bringing glad tidings, bringing the gospel to people. So angel basically just means messenger. It's not always a reference to the heavenly hosts. Okay, it's not always a reference to that. So here we have the seven stars being angels of the seven churches, or the messengers of the seven churches. And it says here, and the seven candlesticks, which thou sawest are the seven churches. Okay, are the seven churches. So these, basically, I'm an angel. All right, as your pastor of New Life Baptist Church, Jesus Christ would consider me an angel to this church. Okay, and you're like, no, you're not. I am, all right, there you go. I'm an angel to this church, okay. But not only is the star important, but so are the candlesticks. Okay, and why are churches here references candlesticks? Why, why do you think that is? It's because it's not just the pastor's job, it's the church's job to shine forth the light of the gospel. It's the church's light to shine forth the light of God, the light of Jesus Christ. That's why we're referred to as a church as a candlestick. Okay, because the purpose of candles is to bring forth light into this dark world. All right, so that's your job, church, New Life Baptist Church. Your job is to make sure we shine the light out to this lost and dark world. So that just gives us the picture of what we saw of Jesus Christ. Now let's cross over to Revelation chapter two. Revelation chapter two, we're going to go, like I said, through each church, and today we're just going to go through the first church, the church of Ephesus. So Revelation chapter two verse one, the Bible says, unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write, these things save he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. All right, so keep your finger there and turn to first Peter chapter three, please. First Peter chapter three. First Peter chapter three, because we see that Jesus holds these stars, these angels, these pastors in his right hand. And boy, that gives me great comfort. It gives me great confidence to know that as the pastor for this church, I'm being held by the right hand of Jesus Christ. What a great honor, you know, what a great honor for me. And hopefully, if you want to be a pastor one day, if you can work through all those things, you can share in that honor as well. But first Peter chapter three verse 21, first Peter chapter three verse 21, I want you to notice what it says here. It says, the like figure, where unto even baptism doth also now save us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. Okay, so we have Jesus Christ, who sits on the right hand of God the Father, and who's on the right hand of Jesus Christ, you know, figurative speaking, the pastors, pastors of churches that represent the candlesticks. Now, here's the thing, you're saying, Pastor Kevin, is every pastor a star being held by Jesus Christ? Well, no, because not every church is a candlestick. Okay, in fact, many churches are not shining forth. They're as dark as the world. There is no truth coming from the Bible. There's no truth coming from the preaching. Of course, these would not be churches of Christ. These will not be churches that are candlesticks. In fact, it's the blind leading the blind. It's darkness with many churches. And so we need to stand true to the job that God has given us to be a light to this world. Okay, to be a light to this world, we see that Christ, he takes a very important position on the right hand of the Father and pastors, or pastors to be if that's one of you, you're going to take a very important position to be held in the right hand of Jesus Christ. Okay, but it also says in verse 22, that because he's seated on the right hand of God, that angels and authorities and powers are made subject unto Christ. Okay, now, I know this is not the first primary interpretation of this verse, but I want you to notice who's been made subject unto him. Number one, angels, and of course, that's the heavenly host. But pastors also called angels, angels, authorities and powers. You see, as the pastor of this church, I have been given authority and power of this congregation. Okay, I've been given authority and power. I've got the rule in this place. Okay, but then you say, well, hold on, are you going to be like King Nebuchadnezzar? We heard this earlier today, right? You're gonna take all that power to yourself, it's going to go to your head. You set up a golden image, and you know, Pastor Kevin, everyone's got to get around and bow to that thing. No, because I'm made subject under Christ. Okay, so everything that I do, the power, the authority, the position as an angel must come under the authority of Christ first. Okay, so again, important position, but subject unto Christ. Okay, and this is what's going to help pastors not get, you know, too much of a big head is that when they realize, hey, that they're subject unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, so it's a great thing. Please turn to First Peter now. Oh, you guys are in First Peter chapter five, verse one. First Peter chapter five, verse one. All right, First Peter chapter five, verse one. The Bible says, the elders, now, of course, the term elder is used interchangeably with a pastor. And in fact, this is the passage where you see that. But let's have a look at this. The elders or the pastors or the angels, if you want to take that term, which are among you, I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Now, what's the job of the elder? What does it say here? It says, verse two, feed the flock of God, which is among you, taking the oversight thereof. I want to stop there for a moment. It says, taking the oversight thereof. Now, some people have made this to mean that as a pastor, it's my job to look at everybody's family, everybody's home, and oversight that. You know, hold on, you're doing wrong in your house. So, you know, I've got to step in now and fix that. Now somebody's saying, look, it says, taking the oversight thereof. In other words, what was previously mentioned? In what way is a pastor to take oversight? In what way is a pastor to watch over the souls of the people in the church? What was just mentioned, okay, feeding the flock of God. It's important for me to ensure when I teach the Word of God, that I'm doing it to feed you, okay, to give you spiritual food. That's how a pastor takes oversight. It's not about being your best friend. It's not about finding loopholes for your messed up life to make you feel better about yourself. No, my job is to ensure that the Bible is being preached, that you're being fed the Word of God. That's what it means to take oversight. Because if you preach the Word of God, it's going to help people's lives, okay. It's going to help them overcome sin. It's going to help them walk in the ways of the Lord. Hey, that's the best way to watch over people's souls, is to give them the power, give them the strength and the confidence to walk in the ways of God, to know what the Bible says. And then it says in verse number two, the next part of it says, not by constraints, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. But then look at this, just in case you let that power and authority go over your head, verse number three, neither has been lords over God's heritage, but been ensampled to the flock, okay. Now look at this, it says here in verse number four, and when the chief shepherd shall appear. Of course, the chief shepherd or the good shepherd, that's Jesus Christ. And notice that he's called the chief shepherd, okay. Meaning that the elder has also been given that position as a shepherd, okay. He's the shepherd, I'm the shepherd, but Jesus Christ is the chief shepherd above me, okay. And of course, that's where we get the term pastor from, okay. In Latin, shepherd is pastor. In Spanish, if you were to say the word shepherd in Spanish, it's pastor. Okay, pastor means shepherd. And you can see how it's then used interchangeably in this passage with the elders. The elders are to be this way, so therefore are the shepherds, so are the pastors. And it says in verse number four, and when the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. And I want that crown, all right. I'm just telling you, I want that crown of glory. So if you're a pastor that's feeding the word of God to his people, who's given the oversight and not being lords over the flock of God, of the inheritance, or let's say the heritage of the Lord, then you're in line to receive that crown. That's a special crown that's given to pastors, okay. So, you know, I want that crown. I want to do the best job I can for you. Yes, because I love you. Yes, because I love the Lord. Hey, but I'm looking forward to the heavenly rewards as well. I hope that crown comes, man. I hope I'm not like, okay, Lord, where's that crown? You did a bad job. No, you know, that's going to drive me to make sure that I do the best that I can, that I put my best foot forward feeding the word of God to you, okay. So let's go back to Genesis, sorry, Revelation chapter two. Revelation chapter two. And actually, no, sorry, keep your finger there and go to Matthew 18. Matthew 18, because in Revelation chapter two, not only did it talk about the seven stars, but then it said about Jesus who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. What are the candlesticks again? The churches. What does it say here? That Jesus walks in the midst of the churches. Man, how important is church? How important is it to come to the house of God knowing that Jesus Christ is walking in our midst? Do you believe that today? I do. That's why I'm in church, because I want to encounter Jesus Christ. I want to encounter his word. I want to be, I want to hear from the spirit of God. You know, we see that Christ walks in the midst of the churches here. And of course, in Matthew 18 verse 17, Matthew, sorry, 18 verse 20, Matthew 18 verse 20, the Bible says, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Do you believe that from Christ? That's his promise to us. When we're here, we're with the Lord. You know, again, you know, we're looking forward to the coming of Christ. We're looking forward to seeing face to face. Hey, but we can encounter him in church today. We don't just have to wait for the future. That's exciting to see him physically, but to be with him spiritually is to be gathered together in his name. Now, one thing that I've heard this verse being used, Matthew 18 verse 20, I've heard this being used by people that are anti-church. People that are like against the church institution. Now, I understand to some extent why they are. I mean, a lot of churches are messed up. I understand. I kind of understand why people sort of lose interest and lose hope in church. But hey, still church is an institution that God wants us to be part of. Okay. And so they'll use this verse, say, well, I don't need to be in church. I can just gather with my mates, with my family, we'll just get two or three of us in Jesus' name. And Jesus says he's going to be in the midst of them. Have anyone like house church people, people like that, has anyone heard that argument before from this passage? Yeah, a few of you guys have, right? The weird thing is, let's look at the context. Just go back three verses in verse 17. Matthew 18 verse 17. Within the context of the teaching of Jesus, it says, and if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it out to the church. Tell it out to the church. But if he neglects to hear the church, let him be unto thee as heathen man and a publican. As a heathen man and a publican. All right. So the context of being gathered, two or three together, in Christ's name, is about church. It's about being gathered in church. So those that use this verse against church, boy, I mean, they're just totally taking that out of the context of Christ's teaching. All right. Now, this is, of course, talking about individuals in the church having conflicts, you know, having problems, and how to correctly address those problems between brothers and sisters in the same church, and how to carry about church discipline. I don't want to go into that all that much, but look at verse 18. This just explains to us, so the rest of this passage, explains to us just how important church is. In verse 18, Jesus says, verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven. Again, I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as such in anything, that they should ask, it shall be done for them of my Father, which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Say, what's that about? Well, in the context of this, about making a decision, church discipline, kicking someone out of the church, for whatever reason, Jesus says, look, if as a church we bind things on earth, or loose things, they're gonna be bound in heaven, or loosed in heaven. In other words, as a church, this is why church discipline is so important. It's so important. Because Jesus says, what you do as a church, when it comes to discipline, will apply in heaven. What do you mean? So let's say there's a conflict between brethren in a church, and the conflict gets resolved in the church. It gets resolved, or let's say it's loosed. It's loosed. There's no more problems there than the problems dealt with in heaven. If we in this church sort out our conflicts, God says, well, it's sorted out for me. It's sorted out in heaven. But if we don't sort out our problems, then it's not sorted out by God. And if we don't sort out our problems between our members, and we need to kick someone out, we've had to kick that person out, but as far as God is concerned, it has not been sorted out. So God will come down and make sure proper justice is being served, or proper discipline is being served on that person. So it's interesting how Jesus Christ speaks of the church. Our decisions when it comes to conflict, our decisions as a church is as though Jesus Christ in heaven said that's how it should be. And this is why we kick people out. Because God gives us direction for that. And if we're not doing it, we're not practicing what God would want to do in heaven. I mean, the church has a lot of power on the earth as far as God is concerned. I mean, not in the eyes of men, but in the eyes of God, we have a lot to say. And what we decide united as a church has a great influence in heaven. So church is important. Church discipline is how God has chosen to act upon disputes and conflicts on this earth. Now go back to Revelation chapter two, verse two. Revelation chapter two, verse two. The main thing that I wanted to drive home there, guys, is just how important church is in the eyes of God. In the eyes of God. How important the position of a pastor is in the eyes of God. Okay, very important. And it's an honor to be part of a good church, of course. In verse number two, Jesus says about this church, he says, I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience and how thou canst not bear them which are evil. I love that. This church, they can't bear with those that are evil. Okay, they don't allow evil people in the church. They can't put up with them. And that's how we should be. If we have wicked evil people in this church, we ought to be a church that says we can't bear with that. We don't want that here. We want it out of here. And then it says, and thou has tried them which say they are apostles and are not and has found them liars. So again, keep your finger there. Let's turn to first Thessalonians chapter one. First Thessalonians chapter one, because this verse number two started with, I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience. Okay, now you say what's the difference between work and labor? I mean, I guess these two terms are used interchangeably many times, but work is the task you want to do. Okay, is the task you want to accomplish and labor is the toil or the effort you put in to do that work. Okay, so for example, one of my tasks as a pastor, again, like we saw is to feed you the word of God, is to preach the Bible, right? That's my work. But then some labor more than others. I mean, some will give you your 10 minute feel good message, you know, where they barely put any effort in or preachers that just basically preach the same thing week in, week out. You're not growing, you're not learning anything. And then some pastors will put several hours into their sermons. And I promise you as your pastor, I put several hours. I don't know how many hours. I mean, there's several hours putting it down on paper, but the several hours that I spent meditating on the passages and thinking about certain things, man, I can't even work it out. I mean, that's why I like letting some of you guys put sermons together, so you can actually appreciate how long it takes. I mean, if you've put a sermon together, you know how long it takes. And then you can appreciate when other people preach, you can appreciate the work they put behind it, okay? But it's a labor of love. And the reason I wanted to ask you to turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter one, look at verse number three, is because this parallel is what we saw in Revelation 2. It says here, remembering without ceasing, look at this, your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope. Remember that? That was in Revelation 2. Your work, your labor, and your patience. Patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father, okay? So you see that the labor, so it says there, it calls the labor of love. The labor of love, okay? And when you, if you get behind, if you get to a church and it's just shallow preaching, okay? You're not learning anything. It's a 10 minute, like I said, a 10 minute feel good sermon. Guess what? The preacher doesn't love you. The preacher doesn't love you, okay? The one who labors in the work that God has given, he labors because of love. He labors because of love, all right? And so just remember guys, whoever gets up here to preach, you're laboring and you're going to put your best foot forward. You're going to do the best job when you do it out of love. Do it out of love toward God, you do it out of love toward the brethren in the church, okay? The labor of love there. And he mentioned there the work of faith. So every work we do at the church, it ought to be by faith, okay? We need to be walking by faith, okay? We're not relying on our own strength. We're doing the work that God has instructed us to do. And of course, why by faith? Because when he talks about the patience there, it says we need to have the patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what's going to drive us to do great works for him, is when we have the hope of Christ. We know Christ is coming back. We know he's coming back and establishing his kingdom. We know he's coming back to destroy the antichrist and the wickedness of this world. We know he's coming back and he wants us to rule and reign with him. He wants to give us rewards in heaven. He wants to give us those mansions on high. He wants us to enjoy the new heavens and the new earth. In other words, our eyes must be on eternity. Eternity. That's what's going to drive us to do the work of God, okay? Not our eyes on the temporal things of this world, but our eyes on the hope of the coming of Christ. That's what's going to push us forward, all right? Second coming, the rewards, eternity. These are the things that's going to keep us operating, empowering ourselves as we work as a church, all right? Now, back to Revelation chapter two, verse two. Back to Revelation chapter two, verse two. We saw that they cannot bear those that are evil. In what sense? It says here, and thou has tried them which say they are apostles. So there are people coming to this church and they're saying they're apostles. They're saying they're religious leaders. They're saying they're teachers. But what's this church been commended for? It says you've tried them. You've tried them. You've checked them out, okay? You've checked out. Are you legit? Is what you preach incorrect according to the scriptures? That's how we need to be, all right? We don't just let anybody come here and get behind the pulpit and preach. I need to know who you are before you come here and preach. You know, if there's a traveling missionary, a traveling evangelist that I don't know, and they contact say, I'd love to visit your church and preach and put forward my mission and my goals. No way. I have no idea who you are. I have no idea who you are, okay? So we need to make sure whoever we're allowed to preach behind this pulpit, whoever we're allowed to teach are people that have been tried, that have been proven, that we know these are legitimate teachers. They know the word of God, all right? It says here, say they're apostles and are not, and has found them liars, has found them liars. Man, if you've got a pastor that's constantly lying, just get away, get away, okay? Get away from them, get away from them. But it says they say they're apostles and are not, okay? So one way of viewing that is that they are false apostles, they're false teachers, they're not true apostles of the Lord. Okay, that's one way of seeing it. But also they say they're apostles and are not. In other words, they say they have the office, but they don't, okay? Again, make sure the pastor you put yourself under has been scripturally ordained, that they hold the office, okay? According to the Bible, they don't just come up, man, I'm a pastor, I've been ordained. Hey, show me, where did you get ordained? Who ordained you? What church sent you out? Let me know, I wanna know. Hey, that's how we try the apostles, okay? Please do your due diligence. Make sure whoever you listen to, whoever you support, we have the internet these days, we have all kinds of pastors we can listen to, try them first before you start listening to them, okay? This church has been commended for their work, okay? For proving who they allow to teach in their church. Verse number three, verse number three, Revelation 2, three, and has borne and has patience, and for my name's sake has labored and has not fainted. So to a large extent, this church, this is a really good church, okay? To a large extent, they have remained faithful as a church, okay? They've just powered on, they've continued serving the Lord, they've continued laboring, they've not fainted, they're still, and what this tells me is that churches can faint, okay? Churches can stop, churches can stop laboring, okay? So we need to be like this church, continuing to remain faithful as a church, and verse number four, nevertheless, so he's given them all this good stuff, you're awesome at all this stuff, right? Nevertheless, nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Now before we just get into what that means, we need to remind ourselves as we continue as a church, you know, six months later, a year later, five years later, that we examine ourselves, that we examine ourselves, is there something that God would say, I have somewhat against thee, okay? And look, we don't panic. The worst thing to do is to become overly critical for a better church, we're lacking in this area, we're not doing that, and people get disgruntled, and no, look, it's okay. This was a good church, okay? But there was something that God had against them, okay? And we need to be aware as a church, be mindful, me as a pastor, right? But yourselves as a congregation, you are the candlestick, okay? To make sure that if there's something we're not fulfilling well as a church, we need to fix that. Jesus gives these churches time to fix things, okay? He doesn't just tell them, I wouldn't say go to hell because they're safe, but he doesn't say, look, get out of here, look, he gives them time, you'll see he gives them time to repent, okay? Because of course our God is a loving God, you know, he's got long suffering, he's merciful, and he just wants the churches to do what's right, okay? That's his whole purpose, not to destroy churches, to go and do what's right, but we see even this church, God had something against them, and he says, because thou has left by first love. What's their first love? Of course it must be the Lord God, right? It must be the Lord God. Keep your finger there and turn to Matthew 22. Turn to Matthew 22. Matthew 22 verse 36. Matthew 22 verse 36. Jesus gets asked this question, master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. The first and great commandment is that we would love our Lord, okay? This church was doing a lot of good things. They were busy, they kept doing the works that they knew they had to do, but their hearts started to drift away from the Lord. They started to leave their first love, okay? And I think this can happen, especially when a church is very busy, you know, overly complicated, too many ministries, and people forget just to praise and honor and love the Lord, you know? They're just filling the tasks without having the right place for the Lord in their heart. And if you guys just go back to Revelation 2 verse 5, Revelation 2 verse 5, and this is what happens when you start to lose love for the Lord. What's going to come next? It says, remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, okay? So they used to love the Lord God, okay? They did love him. And so look, remember where you have fallen from. Look at your love today. Where is it? It's not where it used to be. You need to get back to where you were before. He says, and repent and do the first works. Repent and do the first works. So what do we learn here? That when they lost their first love, then they lost the first works, okay? They stopped doing the first works that the church was supposed to do. Say, what are our first works? We already kind of covered it, okay? The candlestick, okay? Shining the light of the gospel into this dark world. That's the work that we're left to do, okay? Matthew 28, 19, Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever have commanded you. And lo, I am with you all the way, even unto the end of the world. Amen, the Great Commission. The Great Commission is preaching the gospel. The Great Commission is baptizing believers. The Great Commission is teaching whatsoever have commanded thee. All the Bible, okay? The first works, of course, the first of that is getting people saved, okay? Before you get them baptized, before you get them into church, is getting them saved. Hey, these guys had stopped doing the works. These guys had stopped going out there preaching the gospel, doing the soloing, all right? Maybe they substituted with the track ministry. Maybe that's what happened, right? Do they have prince and princess back there? Oh, probably not. But hey, they probably substituted the soul with some other activity in the church. They were still very busy. They were very busy. They were doing a lot of good work in how busy they were, but they had forgotten the first works, okay? They say, well, I know this church that doesn't do any soul winning. That's because they've left their first love, and they no longer love the Lord the way they used to. A lot of good churches have started, knocking doors, preaching the gospel. And then when they're satisfied with the side of the church, well, we don't need that ministry anymore. Yeah, the reason you get there is just you've lost the first love. You've drifted away from loving the Lord the way you ought to. And you say, what's going to keep me going and doing the door-to-door soul winning? What's going to get me out there? It's your love for the Lord. It's your love for the Lord that's going to get you out there preaching the gospel to begin with, all right? So the first works. We need to make sure we're a church that doesn't forget our first works. Now, sometimes on Sundays, I'm a little tired. I don't always go soul winning on a Sunday, but I always try to make sure that that week I go out. Sometime, maybe multiple days that week, I always strive to get out there and make sure as a pastor, the Bible said I need to be an ensemble to the flock, okay? So I need to make sure that I'm doing the work. I can't expect you to do it if I'm not doing it, okay? So I need to make sure that as a pastor, and of course, as we go through this, you know, the pastors in the church, we're working together. We're working together, loving the Lord. We need to make sure we're all accountable for these things. Now, ultimately, it falls on me, of course, first and foremost, but we're all responsible to make sure we continue shining the light of the gospel, okay? And for some of you that travel further, you know, I understand you may not be able to do the soul win with us, but hey, try to find time in the week to get out there and knock doors in your local area, okay? And verse number six, Revelation chapter two, verse six, Revelation chapter two, verse six. Actually, sorry, verse five, we didn't even finish it. It says, and do the first works, or else, if they don't repent, if they don't get back to the first works, what's gonna happen? Else, I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. So you see, Jesus gives them time to repent, okay? Get this right, church. You got a lot of good things happening there. Get back to the first works. Get back to your first love, you know? But if you don't do it, Jesus says, look, I'm gonna remove your candlestick out of his place. You're no longer gonna be burning. You're no longer gonna be shining the light of the gospel. You're no longer gonna be a light in the world, okay? You'll be removed out of its place. What does that mean? We already saw that God walks in the midst of the candlesticks. If that candlestick's not in place, the Lord's not gonna be walking in the midst of that church, okay? It's gonna become a dead church, a dead church, not even the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ will be there, okay? I mean, that's not the church you wanna be part of, all right? So it's a primary warning. What's the point? If this church is not about Christ, what's the point of having church? We wanna make sure that our candlestick is always in its place, okay? And kids, one day, you're gonna be the next generation. One day, you're gonna be the leaders, and you need to make sure the candlestick remains here on the Sunshine Coast, okay? That we continue working, bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ into this world. Verse number six, verse number six. But this thou hast. This is something good, something else good that you have. He says, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitians, Nicolaitans, sorry, let me read that right. Nicolaitans, which I also hate. I say, what? Didn't God only hate in the Old Testament? Isn't the New Testament God different? Isn't He full of love? He says, look, I also hate them. Hey, this is something good about you that you also hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans. Wow, is that the New Testament, Pastor Kevin? It is, all right? And this church has been commended for the hatred. Can you believe that? I thought we're not supposed to hate. Jesus says, look, it's good. All right, it's good. And what do they hate? The deeds here of the Nicolaitans. Now, if you guys just drop down to verse number 15, Revelation chapter two, verse 15. This is about another church. This is the church in Pergamos. But this group is also mentioned here. It says here, Jesus speaking, so hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate? Okay, which thing I hate? So we see that the Nicolaitans not only have deeds that are hated by God, but they have doctrine, deeds and doctrine that are hated by God. Now, some teach, like there's a lot of questions. Who are these Nicolaitans? Where else can we read about them in the Bible? Well, you can't, okay? If you want a biblical understanding of who they were, you're not gonna find it in the Bible, okay? Besides what God has told us in Revelation chapter two, okay? Now, I'm just gonna give you some, I had to look this up a little bit, but I'll give you some ideas of what people say they were, okay? Now, the Nicolaitans come from the name Nicholas. I've got a Nicholas, right? We've got Nicholas. And what they say, in a negative sense, they say that, well, the name Nicholas means to conquer the people, to conquer the people. That's what I've heard preached, okay? By some pastors. They conquer the people. And again, we saw that pastors should not be people that are lords of God's heritage, okay? I'm not here to conquer your life and control you in every aspect, and this becomes a cult. And we need to check, before we do anything, we need to check with Pastor Kevin, okay? Or we become a denomination. We've got like our headquarters, or we've got a president, a pope of this church, and basically we can't do anything unless we get approved from the higher ups or something like that, you know? That's what some people teach, but that's not even what Nicholas means, okay? I mean, they're trying to find this negative slant, right? They're trying to find something to explain this. You know, Nicholas just means victory of the people. Means the people's victory. Victory of the people. That's what Nicholas means. It's a positive thing. But of course, you know, you're trying to find something, you know, you're trying to find some negative slants as to what that means. So that's not the right answer, that's not the right... Yeah, it's possible that their leader was a Nicholas. Maybe that's why they're called that way. I don't really know. It's possible. But that's not what the issue is, okay? Some others have said that basically it's like sexual deviance or a love of money. I mean, look, just look it up on Google and there's many opinions as to what they did and what they taught, okay? Now again, I try to be as biblical as I can. And if the Bible remains quiet, you know, I'm not going to strain it and nap, okay? I think we need to step back and look at what the bigger picture is. The bigger picture, okay? It's not so much what do they believe and what do they teach. The fact is what they did and what they taught was false. What they did and what they taught was hated by God regardless of what exactly it was, okay? And as we, as a church, as New Life Baptist Church, we need to hate wickedness. We need to hate, you know, our wicked deeds and we need to hate false doctrine regardless if it's Nicolaitian's here or some other false religion, okay? Again, this church has been commanded for their hatred. And look, I hate the deeds and the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. You know, I hate the deeds and the doctrine of Islam. I hate the deeds and the doctrine of Judaism and of Hinduism and of Buddhism, okay? I hate the deeds and the doctrine of those that preach another Jesus, that preach another spirit, that preach another gospel. I hate false doctrine. That's how we need to be as a church. A church that hates every false way, okay? That's the teaching that we get here, guys. Don't strain it on that. Don't worry about what the Nicolaitians are. The world doesn't really tell us. The issue is we need to hate false doctrine, okay? I hate the works of the Jehovah Witnesses. I hate the works of the Mormons going out there and preaching false gospels. Hey, I hate the works of false Baptist churches that are teaching false gospel as well, okay? I hate the works of churches that teach another Jesus, that have another spirit. Yes, I hate the works of the Pentecostals. They have another spirit, okay? And if we can hate those things, the Lord says, well done. I hate them too. I hate them too. As long as we hate the things that God hates, God says, good on you, okay? That's how we need to be as a church, all right? Verse number seven, please. Revelation chapter two, verse seven. The Bible says, hear that half an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh, and by the way, let me just stop there for a moment. You say, well, is this for our church? Again, verse seven. Let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches. Yes, this letter was specifically written to the one church, but God wants all the churches to pay attention and learn from the other churches, okay? And it says, to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. So we're gonna end on this one, guys. But let's go to 1 John 5, verse four, very quickly. 1 John 5, verse four, because we wanna make sure we're a church of people that have overcome. We wanna make sure we're a church of people that can rightfully eat from the tree of life, okay? Which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Are you looking forward to the paradise of God? I am, man, I am. I wanna get there as soon as possible. I wanna get there, right? But 1 John 5, four. So how do we overcome? Very straightforward and very simple. 1 John 5, four, the Bible says, for whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world. Have you been born of God? You've been born again? You've been born of your mother? Hey, you need to be born again. You need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, experience that new spiritual birth, right? You become the new man. You're given that new spirit, that revised spirit of God, the new man, okay? That new man is who has overcome the world. Not this flesh. Flesh is still strong in this world, but the new man never sins. The new man has overcome the world, all right? And then it says, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Salvation is by grace through faith, okay? Salvation is by faith. That's how we access God's grace. It is not of works. It is not of works, okay? By faith, verse number five. Who is he that overcometh the world? But he that believeth that Jesus is the son of God. You believe that Jesus is the son of God? It says that you believe it, believe your faith. If you believe that, you believe that he's died for your sins, that he's resurrected, he's given you eternal life, then you've overcome the world. You've been born again. Praise God, okay? And you can participate of that tree of life. What a promise that God leaves this church with. You know, yes, they've got something they need to fix, but God promises, hey, you're gonna be in paradise, eating from the tree of life, you know? Because here's the thing. You know, they've stopped preaching the gospel, okay, stopped preaching the gospel. So it's possible that church had now people that were not even saved, okay? Because once you stop preaching the gospel, once you stop preaching the clarity, the simplicity that's in Christ, of course, you're gonna get a lot more people coming in. They're not gonna know the way of heaven. I mean, I've seen this. I've seen churches, good churches, right? Well, once upon a time, but then possibly half the congregation are not even saved. You know, half are, the other half are not. Why? Because the preaching of God's word is not happening anymore, okay? They're not preaching against the false gospels anymore. And people are just thinking, well, I believe in Christ. I guess I can be a Christian. No, it's believing Christ 100%, your faith resting on him and nothing else. Now turn to the book of Revelation and verse number 22, please. Revelation chapter two, verse one. Let's just end on this. Revelation chapter two, verse one. Let's have a look at this paradise in Revelation chapter two, verse one. And of course, this is now the new heavens and the new earth after the millennial reign of Christ. The Bible says, and he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal proceeding out of the throne of God and of the land. In the midst of the street of it and on either side of the river was there the tree of life, which bear 12 manna of fruits and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Hey, so this is something we can participate on. The tree of life. Adam and Eve were restricted from accessing the tree of life, weren't they? When they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. And we as people that have overcome the world, we as people that are born again, are going to have access once again to this tree or there are going to be many of these trees, right? And verse number three. Look at this. Look at this promise that God gives the church here. And there shall be no more curse. No more curse. But the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it and his servants shall serve him and they shall see his face and his name shall be in their foreheads. What a promise, okay? It's whose face are we going to see? Well, if you just look at the previous verse in number three, it says, but the throne of God and of the Lamb. So we see God the Father and God the Son. And of course, I mean, many, you know, when Christ walked the earth, many saw his face. Even our Old Testament saints saw the face of Christ, you know. But we've never, nobody has ever seen the face of God the Father. Hey, and when we're there, we're going to have the great honor of finally seeing God the Father face to face. What a great privilege. And his name shall be in our foreheads. Verse number five. And there shall be no night there and they need no candle neither light of the sun for the Lord God giveth them light and they shall reign forever and ever. Wow, what a promise that we can reign with God forever and ever. That's a promise that has left us. Hey, let's be a church that keeps this candlestick burning strong. Let's be a church that can review ourselves after a few months, a few years, and not be ashamed to say, hey, we've dropped the ball in some areas. Let's repent and let's fix that, okay? The only way we're going to know is we keep preaching the Word of God. We keep feeding ourselves the Word of God. And we're not so prideful to say, hey, we can do better. We can do better. We can do more. Or we've left this. We need to get back there because we don't want to lose the candlestick. I don't want to be in this church if we lost the candlestick. I don't want to be here. I'd rather find the church where the candle is burning strong and just go there. You know, I want this church to survive for many generations. I want this church to survive to the coming of Christ, okay? When we can all participate of the tree of life together. Let's pray.