LETTER TO THE CHURCH IN EPHESUS
In Rev 2, the Lord told John to write a letter to the Church in Ephesus. He commended them for many things....
*He saw their works and labors
*He saw their patience
*He saw that they couldn't bear those that were evil (they removed them out of their midst)
*They operated in the gift of discerning of spirits and could tell a false apostle from a real one. They found them to be liars and didn't receive them.
*they've labored patiently and endured many things for Christ's name and hadn't grown weary nor fainted.
*they even hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans...those who tried to serve God while also trying to blend in with the world. They were trying to blend with Roman culture and encouraging other Christians to do the same during a time of dire persecution so they wouldn't be singled out. ("Just blend in" "do what everyone else is doing" "there's nothing wrong with it" "God understands and won't condemn us for it" <-- sound familiar? )
But the Ephesians knew not to be conformed to the world or it's ways. They knew you cannot serve 2 masters...a person IS going to love one more than the other until worldliness and compromise overtake a person. They were willing to stand out and suffer for the name of Jesus. And despised the ways of conformity, recognizing the devil's tactics to woo and draw hearts away from Christ with a little compromise here and a little there.
--> YET, the Lord had one thing against them....they'd left their first love!
They had become so busy working for Jesus, so busy standing against sinfulness, that they weren't spending as much time in prayer as they once did.
We can get everything else right. But if we lose that prayer time spent with our First Love, we could lose out eternally. Get back to the early altars. Stay God focused. And don't forget to spend quality time in prayer.
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A look into the root cause of David's downward spiral into the depravity of sin....
His first sin was not being in battle with his men.
If he had been where he was supposed to be, he would not have been where he was not supposed to be....on the roof overlooking the city which placed him where he could see anyone bathing on their roof.
He may have seen other women bathing but his eyes focused on Bathsheba. His sin here was that he continued to look until lust was conceived in his heart. He continued to feed those lustful thoughts until he couldn't stand it any longer and sent for Bathsheba to be brought to him.
Then after he committed the adulterous act with her, he thought no one would know.....until he received word back (which would have been several weeks later) that she was pregnant.
So to further cover up his sin, he called her husband home. When Uriah did what was honorable and would not go home to his wife while his friends were fighting for their lives, David then digressed more into the depravity of sin by having him killed.
He now was guilty of adultery AND murder.
He married Bathsheba and thought his sins were still hidden. But God knew and sent the Prophet to call him to repentance.
David was once tender before the Lord as a youth and spent much of his time in prayer. But somewhere along the lines as he grew older and perhaps because of his position and duties as king, he was not as close to the Lord as he once was. He was not as tender before the Lord as he once was or he would have felt that hot conviction convincing him not to do those wicked deeds. His prayer life was not as fervent or as frequent as it once had been. He had drifted away from the Lord without realizing how far. His conscious was seared.
UNTIL, God in His mercy sent a Man of God to preach that convicting message that pierced his hardened heart and brought a heartfelt prayer of repentance.
It is a message to us all. We all could be tempted and drawn away of our own lust and enticed (James 1:14) But it begins when the prayer closet is not frequented as often as it used to. Then it's a slow fade from there. Stay in the prayer closet. Keep the fires of prayer stoked and burning brightly.
His first sin was not being in battle with his men.
If he had been where he was supposed to be, he would not have been where he was not supposed to be....on the roof overlooking the city which placed him where he could see anyone bathing on their roof.
He may have seen other women bathing but his eyes focused on Bathsheba. His sin here was that he continued to look until lust was conceived in his heart. He continued to feed those lustful thoughts until he couldn't stand it any longer and sent for Bathsheba to be brought to him.
Then after he committed the adulterous act with her, he thought no one would know.....until he received word back (which would have been several weeks later) that she was pregnant.
So to further cover up his sin, he called her husband home. When Uriah did what was honorable and would not go home to his wife while his friends were fighting for their lives, David then digressed more into the depravity of sin by having him killed.
He now was guilty of adultery AND murder.
He married Bathsheba and thought his sins were still hidden. But God knew and sent the Prophet to call him to repentance.
David was once tender before the Lord as a youth and spent much of his time in prayer. But somewhere along the lines as he grew older and perhaps because of his position and duties as king, he was not as close to the Lord as he once was. He was not as tender before the Lord as he once was or he would have felt that hot conviction convincing him not to do those wicked deeds. His prayer life was not as fervent or as frequent as it once had been. He had drifted away from the Lord without realizing how far. His conscious was seared.
UNTIL, God in His mercy sent a Man of God to preach that convicting message that pierced his hardened heart and brought a heartfelt prayer of repentance.
It is a message to us all. We all could be tempted and drawn away of our own lust and enticed (James 1:14) But it begins when the prayer closet is not frequented as often as it used to. Then it's a slow fade from there. Stay in the prayer closet. Keep the fires of prayer stoked and burning brightly.
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