In his sermon 'Paul's Concern For Ephesus Still Relevant Today,' David Green discusses the warnings and concerns Paul had for the church at Ephesus as depicted in Acts 20, highlighting their relevance for modern churches. He emphasizes the dangers of false teachings and internal strife that can arise within church communities, drawing parallels to similar challenges faced throughout church history. Green advocates for a strong adherence to Biblical principles and warns of potential persecution, urging congregations to remain steadfast and prepare spiritually. He stresses the importance of church leaders, or elders, being deeply connected with their congregations and setting a Biblical example. Additionally, Green underscores the need for churches to maintain their foundational love for Christ and avoid merely going through the motions of faith.

Well, I do appreciate the opportunity to be with you all once again. Unity Baptist Church has a special place in my heart and certainly we pray for you all very often. And This is my first time being here at your new meeting place, so it's very nice. I'm very thankful that the Lord has blessed you with it, and we're thankful. If you have your Bibles, go ahead and be turned into the book of Acts chapter 20.

Acts chapter 20. We'll be reading at verse 17. And from Melletus He sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church. When they would come to him, he said unto them, You know from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews. Now I took back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught you publicly from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith, toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life here unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy in the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Now behold, I know that y'all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God shall see my face no more. Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shown to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood.

For I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own self shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to mourn every one night and day with tears. Now, brethren, I commend you to God, to the word of His grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. I have coveted no man's silver or gold or pearl, yea, you yourselves know that all these each hands have ministered under my necessities to them that were with me.

I've showed you all things how they so laboring me up to support the weak to remember the words of the lord Jesus how he said is more blessed to give than to receive. When he thus spoke it, he kneeled down and prayed with them all. They all went soared, fell on Paul's neck and kissed him. Sorrowed most of all for the words which he spake that they should see his face no more. They accompanied him under the ship.

And We pray our father that you bless the preaching of your word and our time of worship truly everything is sent down to bring honor and glory to you. May your will be done even this day. For it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. The title of my message I take from the text, Paul's concern for Ephesus.

There's much ground to be covered from this passage, many things that we can glean from it, learn from it. And glean from it and learn from it. But these things, many things that are applicable for us in our day, these things that are recorded here for those early churches which would have read Luke's account. We're going through the Book of Acts at our church. We're not this far yet.

We're in chapter 16, and I think it'll probably be a few months before I get to chapter 23 and going. But it's been a blessing to us. It's been a blessing to me. It's been a blessing for Sovereign Grace Baptist Church. Luke wrote this under the inspiration of spirit, two volumes set.

He wrote the gospel of Luke and he wrote the book of Acts. Some say it was probably for the defense of the apostle Paul who at the time of the writing was in trouble with the authorities on trial. Whatever the case is, we're thankful that he wrote it. He wrote it under his gracious spirit and it's been preserved for us in our own language. Paul had a concern here in this chapter, a concern that after he leaves this church at Ephesus, that there would be some people who would rise up from within and cause trouble.

From within and caused trouble. He himself was headed into a dangerous place, but yet he had concern for that church. And he spoke that day, and he gathered the elders together, and he said, there's going to be some wolves coming in that will tear you up if you're not careful. Rise up amongst the elders, speak some perverse things, lead people astray, all of that. Twist the words of God.

I submit to you today that the very concerns that Paul had both inside and outside the church, those things that were on his mind and went heavenly on him, both in Ephesus and going into Jerusalem, those kind of things are what's on the horizon and very well may be going on in many of the Lord's churches today and in many places across the world. Though we have not felt the heavy hand of persecution yet in our country, It is coming. And the concern is for unity Baptist, for sovereign grace Baptist and the other churches that are represented here, that those things that Paul had a concern for, for the church at Ephesus, is a concern that we ought to feel for our churches as well in today's world. We're not immune to these things. And as we think about these things, many of the very same heresies that the early churches were facing, those same heresies spring up in our day.

They're just repackaged for a new generation. Every time I hear something and it brings new to my ears, I think, well, this is new. I've never heard of this before. And I love history. I love reading books.

And I go back and I read books and I look at it and I come across it. I go back to the Baptist Examiners. Those guys were those older preachers that were back a couple of generations ago. They were fighting the same things that we're fighting. Go back a few more generations back to the times of B.H.

Carroll and Charles Spurgeon, they were fighting those things. Go back even further than that and even on the pages of the New Testament, the epistles that were written by Paul and Jude and we go into the letter to the Colossians and all of those things and truly what Solomon said, there's nothing new under the sun. That's right. That's right. I mean we've got Gnosticism today.

They had Gnosticism then. Words based salvation. That's, you find that all the way back at the Cardinal meeting. And these thought they could cover themselves up, hide themselves with feet leaves and all that. I mean, relativism, stotomy, men wearing women's clothes, the stotomy men wearing women's clothes These guys out there dressing like women, that's not new.

There's a reason why. There's a reason why God told his people, don't you be dressing like little girls if you're a man. Churches today face a lot of issues. We can either go one of two directions. And churches are going one of two directions.

We either go in the direction of the right way, the right path, the path of the scriptures, Or we can go in the wrong way. And while there are many wrong ways out there, there's only one right way. And that is the way that is in accordance to the pattern of the scriptures. So, for you, for you today, as we think about this text in Acts chapter 20 and what Paul is talking to these Ephesian elders, this group of pastors, and his great concern as he gets ready to head out to face what was waiting for him at Jerusalem. To face what eventually would happen to him in Rome.

Don't just think of this as being far off history. Understand, understand that it's coming, that this is not so far removed from us. And so I would, I would, I would say to you as you read your Bibles daily, especially you young people, study the lives of the early churches, study the pages of the scriptures, know the first century troubles, trials, and yet the persecutions and the blessings and how did God use those people, how they stood and know what's coming. We have in this country, I've reached a point, I believe, of no return. And I don't know how far the Lord will allow for us to stay where we're at right now.

I don't know how long it is until the rapture is going to take place or how long that things will stay where we are at this very moment where we're simply being tolerated as Christians. But, except the Lord intervening with either the rapture or a revival in this country, it is possible, it is possible that if we, if we continue to hold the line, if we continue to stand, if we continue, if we continue to refuse to compromise on God's word, we may very well experience the solemn and terrible privileges of persecution that first century Christians experienced. We may experience some of the things that Paul experienced. We may experience some of the things that concern him inside and outside of the church. In Matthew chapter five, if you hold your place there in Ephesians and go to Matthew chapter five, Jesus said is, Matthew chapter five.

In the Beatitudes, the sermon that they preach here, he said in verse 10, Jesus said, blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now that sounds very noble and It is very noble to die for the cause of Christ, and to be persecuted for the cause of Christ. But the next verse is the reality of it. When he says, blessed are ye, when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. As you study your Bibles and as you learn church history, as you look at the heresies that crept in and all the things that happened from the outside as well as on the inside.

Don't think of those men and those women as simply standing for the cause of Christ and even dying for the cause of Christ. They did that, and that is noble, and that is great. But understand, beloved, when they made their stand, and as they were dying, they were not, it wasn't in the local papers, it wasn't going around to some certain churches, certain places, that these people were dying for the cause of Christ and they were standing for the cause of Christ they were being they were they were there was a great spirit in pain against them right they were called read for this they were called atheists in the Roman Empire. Baptists were called atheists in the Roman Empire. Why?

Because they refused to go along with the gods of the Romans. They were accused of practicing incest. That's disgusting, folks. But they were accused of practicing incest. Do you know why?

Because a husband and wife, they were married. They were both Christian. The husband would greet his wife and sister. The wife would greet her husband and brother. They said, oh, you almost need to practice this.

That's disgusting. How can brother and sister be married? They weren't physically brother and sister, but in Christ they were. You see. They were seen as stupid, ignorant, and unlearned enemies of the state.

We see some of that in scripture. They perceive that the apostles were unlearned and ignorant men. Later in history, the Catholics ground up the Baptists as child abusers. Why? Because they refused to baptize their infants.

It didn't seem so known in the newspapers. I know there weren't many newspapers going around. But when the word got out in the community of what was going on. Tell you this, I tell you this because I'm not the prophet, I'm not the son of the prophet. But it's on the horizon folks.

What do you think's gonna happen to us? We're not gonna be persecuted because of what we believe in Christ. What we do with Baptism. But, homeschool your children. Take an asset from the state.

When you refuse to call someone by the preferred pronoun, what's that make you? A follower of Christ? Yes. But to the to the world that makes you big. Refuse to open up your church building to a, or rather not your church building, to your church membership.

To a son of my couple. You won't be seen as a follower of the true Christ. You'll be seen as a heretic. The one who doesn't follow the true Christ. You know, the one of love and tolerance.

This is the...this is how it's going to go down and your end and my end may not be as glorious as what we think of As you've seen, we've got to love the lord more than we love ourselves. Some of us have already been through dressing with rehearsal on these things. What I mean by that is we've experienced, we've experienced the smear campaign by some of our own brethren. Folks, that's easy. We've not been put in jail.

We've not been stung. We've not been put in. We've not come to church and found a padlock on the door. This has just been dress reversal. And when he says blessed are you when men shall say all men are evil against you falsely that's one of the blessings of it.

We've gone through this sort of thing in a way that's If it does get worse, like I suspect it will. You said preacher, I don't think I can handle that. You're right. We can't. I like comfort.

I enjoy an air-conditioned building. I enjoy being able to get in my car when it runs right. Everything works. We get to church, and we get out, and we get in a building, and we don't have to worry about giving a building and we don't have to worry about anybody bothering us and we can come sit and sit and have a pews or chairs and everything's good. I I really like that.

I can't handle any of that. Anything else in of myself either but the lord gives grace in all of those things as well. The saints home. But God can. And we'll see, we'll see.

How God can do great things even in and through people like us as time goes on. There's something to be said about preparation. And that's what Paul was doing here in Acts chapter 20, as he gathered these elders together. In Acts chapter 14, verse, I'm sorry, Acts chapter 20, Acts chapter 20 and verse 17, he says, And from Meletus he sent the Ephesus and called the elders of the church. He gathered them together to prepare them for his departure.

He'd been with them, But now he was guaranteed part. It was part of the preparation. You and I would see trouble brewing and we'd get ready for it. It could be a snowstorm in Winston-Salem, you know, You know it's coming, the weatherman talks about it, so go get your milk and your bread. I mean, everybody's there.

Everybody's at the Walmart. Food and wine or whatever. We're on that. Hurricanes coming. Everybody goes get a glass of water and all that sort of thing and then we just kind of wait it out.

It's a good thing to be prepared. Get the food, the water, the guns, the ammo, whatever we need. But there's some things that we have to do also spiritually. There's a biblical pattern for all this. Even in the Old Testament, you know, Proverbs has a lot of things about that sort of thing.

Go to the end and all of those things. The book of Acts has a lot of practical information. A lot of patterns that are given. There's a pattern. You want to know how to start a church.

There's a pattern for it. You want to know how things should be done, the order and all of that. We can see that in the Book of Acts and in the letters that are written there in the gospels and on into the into the epistles in the book of Acts. What do we find in the book of Acts? We find this great pattern of an elder led congregation.

You know, it's not it's it's not an elder rule. But it's an elder with and this is important with the Bible as your own rule of faith and practice. This is the pattern that we get over in Acts chapter 14. We would get it seems really shaping up. Acts chapter 14.

Acts chapter 14 verses 21 through 23 says, And when they had preached the gospel in that city, and taught many, they returned again to Listerin and Iconium and Antioch, conferring the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith, that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. And when they had ordained them elders in every church and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they believed." Paul and Barg was, I mean, and those guys, and those guys had kind of got beat up and suffered some. I mean, just in the previous verse there, the previous couple of verses, Paul had been stoned and left for dead. You know, he didn't he didn't give up. So, what was me?

I'm done with the Lord's work. He kept going. And he went and encouraged the others. But we find Paul and Barnabas, they were ordained elders in the church, but they were recommended men. They were involved with the congregation.

It's kind of like our ordination today. This is kind of how it all began. As I was thinking about the sermon preaching here, it was 20 years ago this month that I was ordained. There were men from other churches. They questioned me on the faith and all that.

Brother Peter was there, I'll never forget it. He asked me some tough questions. My grandfather was there, he asked me some tough questions. Some of those men are gone, but some of them men are still around and I thank the Lord for those men the men recommended but the church had them both and that's how it is that's how it is and that's scriptural By the time you get to Acts chapter 15, there's this great council that's called the Jerusalem Council. I don't have time enough to expound everything about that.

But in Acts chapter 15 and verse 22, then he pleased the apostles and elders with the whole church, the sin-chosen men of their own company, Damian with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas, surname Barsebus, and Silas, chief among them the brethren. This was the conclusion of the council. Now in those days there were apostles. We don't have apostles now. But we got the apostles, the elders.

And if there was a possibility for some men to lead or rule the church rather than if there was a possibility for men to rule the church, that would have been a good opportunity, but they didn't. They involved the whole church. If we were to put it in modern language, it would be, then it seemed good, then it seemed best, or maybe then the apostles and elders with the whole church decided or maybe just say they all voted. You see. And then of course Acts chapter 17 and verse 11.

These were more noble than those that I did, that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, and whether those things were so. You see, it was this pattern that's being built and then we read and as we study, we see that the Bible is the rule of faith in practice. It's a common lead, congregationalism, with the Bible being the rule of faith around us. Paul, as he met with these guys, he addressed them, these elders, these pastors there at Ephesians, at Ephesus. Acts 20.

Verse 28. He says, take heed therefore unto yourselves into all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseer to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with He was purchased with his own blood. So, wait a minute. I thought that Paul and Barnabas had appointed elders in the church And now he says the Holy Ghost made no overseers. Well, yes and yes.

You see how that works. God is working in and through the church and in and through these men and this is how that works. I was talking to another pastor not too long ago. I said, all these churches out there and there's doesn't seem like there's very many men who's who's coming up as preachers and pastors. I said, what the hell is going on in our country?

Is it because men are being men and stepping up or is it because god's not working with our people? But it does take me. It does take me. This isn't for the faint of heart folks and especially as we get on in into the into the history and into the future that's coming rather We'll find some men did enter into the ministry for the paddocks for the nice air conditioning. And all that stuff.

And they'll give up. Thank god Paul didn't when he got stoned in this Book of Acts would have turned out a lot different. Church history would have been a lot different. Church history would have been a lot different. I've been through a lot less than that.

And I know some pastors who have quit over a lot less than that. They give up at the first time. Oh, I guess the Lord doesn't want me to minister. Somebody got mad at someone I preached. Here's the thing, there's some guys who should quit.

And there's some guys who just need to man up and keep going. And oftentimes, those two, get it together, don't get it right. Unfortunately. It tells them to take heed to yourselves and to all the flock. We see there's something else that's important.

The key to understanding some of these things, I want to say this is passing. The elder is the pastor, is the overseer. It's all the same times, the same person, just different times in this group. But what was Paul's example to these people? And that was part of the preparation too.

As he prepared these folks to be ready for what was coming. Well, in verse 18, he says, when they were come to him, he said unto him, ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, The man of God, the pastor, the elder, the overseer, Paul was with him for a time as an example with him. He's going to smell like the sheep. He's going to be with the people, folks. The pastor's not going to be off in some house separated from the people.

He's going to be with them. He's going to be with them in the good times, and he'll be with them in the bad times. He's going to truly learn what it is to rejoice with them, to rejoice and weep with those who weep. He may not need to go to all of them, but he'll be with them at the birthday parties, and the graduations, and things like that. But he's also going to be with them at the sad times, at the hospital beds, and at the funeral homes.

He's going to be with them, counseling them, and helping them through some problems. And let me tell you, the flock has some problems sometimes. Beloved, they bear heavy on the pastor sometimes. He is with them in those problems. There's times that he can't even talk to anybody else about those things, what the congregation tells them.

There's times that someone will call me on the phone from church with some problem. And I can't. It's confidential. There's some things that I can tell my wife about. There's some things I can't tell her.

It's just how it is. Those things weigh heavy. He's going to have relationships with those people. Notice he said, how I kept back, verse 21, he says, how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shown you and have taught you publicly from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Pastors are to preach the whole council of God's word.

And that's tough. When I was called to preach, I actually worried that I would eventually... You ready for this, brother Peter? I was worried that I would eventually run out of space to prove. Now I don't know how everyone has time to get it all out.

There's so much. And then I go back over to the outlines and I think, how did I waste time on that outline? I think it was Spurgeon said, save your old outline so you can have something go back and weep over. It's a fact, man. You grow and learn and you go back and think, did I really preach that out of the comments?

I don't know. But preaching is the way to feed the flock. It's not the only way, but it's the primary way. And he said, He said, I have showed you and have taught you publicly. That's the preaching and from house to house.

Right, he's got to be saturated with the word of God. You want counsel on how to do this, what to do with this child, what to do in this situation? Here's my answer. Here's my answer. Oh, preacher, I was hoping you'd give me something else.

Maybe you should have asked somebody else. I'm a preacher. I'm a preacher. Paul would later tell Timothy to preach the word. And you go in and you study that text in 2 Timothy chapter 4 and there are no less than nine commandments in that.

Preach the word against and incest and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort. All of those things. Meditate on those things and consider them. We're coming in. Our quoblites will be pastors, elders, overseers.

What kind of men are quotas like to be pastors? Elders? Overseers? You know the Bible gives us an answer for that. You know the text.

You know the text. 1 Timothy chapter 3, 1 through 7, Titus chapter 1, 7 through 9. We'll not take the time to go there today. I believe these are qualifications. Our generation has fussed over the mean and significant over one of them, So much so that the rest have been lost.

We talk about the qualifications for a past man. All they want to talk about is, is he the husband of one wife? And what they want to know is, has he been divorced or remarried? Folks, there's a whole lot more in there. A whole lot more.

The other problem is that our society has declined so much so. We see it outside of the church building. We see it outside of the church building. We see it outside of the four walls of the building. We see it outside of the church membership, but it's crept into the church, into the hearts and minds of the church.

So much so that when we read those qualifications, we think that we're looking for a super Christian. That's not it. That's not it. Aside from being apt to teach, there are really no qualities asked of elders. This should not be normal for every Christian in the little church.

You'll back and study it. This should be normal everyday life for everybody. The pastor should be a pattern of that for everybody else. But due to the lack of Christian holiness and separation in our day, people regarded this as impossible to attain. And so we read these qualifications and we said, well, no one can attain that.

Phil Moon and Matt Schmonger, you won't know who these guys are, But they wrote a book called The Elders and the Life of the Church. And I just quote from them, because I like what they say. They said, none of us have perfected any of these qualifications. Rather we select individuals whose lives are generally characterized by these qualities. End quote.

In other words, In other words, the Bible says here that the pastor is giving to hospitality. That pastors were given to hospitality and I went to his house, I knocked on the door, he didn't open up to me so he must not be qualified right or or right? Or... Or... Here's a good one.

The scripture says, one who rules above his own house, having faithful children. He's got some grown children, They're not in church anymore. Hold up a second. Let's examine this for a moment. How is the man supposed to control his children once they're out of the house?

Or another good one is, this man has children and they're not saved. Don't laugh because there are some circles in sovereign grace churches where they say that a man has to have saved children in in order to be qualified to be a bachelor. It's God's business. It is God's business. My children are saved the exact same way your children are, by the grace of God.

We sow the seed, in the water. God gives me the grace. Go in there and examine those things and consider them. There's a lot to consider, but the Lord will bless. In fact, A proper pastor is a gift from the Lord.

That's what Ephesians chapter four tells us. When Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, in Ephesians chapter four, verses 11 and 12, says that he gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Till we all come in unity of the faith, of the knowledge of the Son of God, and the perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Though we henceforth be no more children tossed to and from, we carry about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men, becoming craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things, which is the heavy, even price from whom the body fitly joined together and compacted, by that which every joint supplyeth, according to the effect of working in the measure of every part, maketh it increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

A pastor, elders, these are gifts y'all, But understand something. On the flip side. So so so so they think with me for a moment. Knowing this. Knowing this.

We can't begin to bring this to a close. Knowing the path, knowing what God's gifts are, having the complete word of God is a great gift. The early churches didn't have this. We have something the early churches didn't have. We have to thank God every day that we forgot this.

Having pastors, the gifts. But it would be terrible if we had the wrong Bible. You know there are people out there who have wrong Bibles. Now I'm not talking about, just I'm not trying to get on the King James controversy, but I'm talking about there are people out there who try to say that there's Gnostic Gospels and all sorts of, there's some crazy things out there, You know? Get away from all that sort of thing.

There's people out there, those who have the wrong Bibles. What a terrible thing would be if you came and all you had was a Bible that was in a language that you didn't understand. That would be terrible. It's a blessing. How would pastors would it be a terrible thing to have the wrong message.

We've seen it. There's places all across this country where there are men who stand up in churches and they preach heresies and terrible things they beat down to people all this sort of thing they're not shepherds after God's heart they're not gifts of God they've got their own agenda It's a blessing to have a congregation. But it's wrong to have the wrong congregation. We don't just let anybody do it. We don't compromise the truth.

So then we can have anybody and everybody in here. So even though the pattern is to have an elder-led congregationalism with the Bible as our rule of faith and practice, We've got to make sure it's all in the right order to pattern. Set up properly because if we get any of them wrong, it's not a blessing anymore. It's not a blessing anymore. Paul warned the church at Ephesus what was possible to happen.

The next generation came up. Revelation chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2, beginning of verse 1. The very last mention of the church at Ephesus is found here. Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write, These things sayeth 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 labor, and patience, how thou canst not bear them which are evil. Thou'st tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and is found in liars, and is born as patients. For my name's sake, as labor, as no fainting. Check, check, check. They've checked off the boxes, right?

They've done the right things. By this time they're patting themselves on the back. The letter's not done yet. Verse four, Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen in repent and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of its place except thou repent.

But this thou hast, that thou hast hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also hate. He that hath a ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, and him that overcomeeth will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." This letter comes about, some say about 40 years after Paul had been there. I don't know. That's why I say probably another generation. It was the last, the last apostle who was living.

He was giving the revelation of Jesus Christ. This letter came from the Lord. By this time there would have been some familiar faces still at Ephesus, but there would have been some new faces. They had a lot going for them. A lot going for them.

They'd done a lot of good things for the Lord. But Jesus said to him, left their first world. I'm sure that as they read this letter, when they got to this one, it hit them to their core. What do you mean? What's, what do you, we're doing all these things right?

What do you mean? We've left our first love How would you feel you men who are here your wife came to you today But don't worry don't worry I still want to live in your house, I'll still cook you food, I'll still sleep in your bed, I'll still do your laundry, I'll still go through all the motions as a wife would, but I don't want to anymore. No one on the outside will ever know, but I don't. I want all the privileges of being your wife. I will retain your name.

What I am. I will learn that you feel as I do. Would you show your children to say, But I don't know. I don't know if you're learning, but I know you feel this in your tongue. Would you show your shoulders and say, that would be curious?

That would be fantastic! That's all I ever wanted was just a good old wooden plank and a blue chalk with me. The Lord won't have it anymore. That's essentially what was happening to the Jebus. They were going through the motions.

They left off the love of Christ. What a painful relationship that was. That would be for us. Essentially that's what was happening. The church was going through the motions just to say, Lord, I don't love you, but I'll stand for you, I'll sing for you, I'll preach for you, I'll tine for you.

I'll check off the boxes. I understand, sir, I'm only beautiful to this. I'll check off the boxes. Understand something. The heresies are real, the realities of persecution are real, The need for all the things that we read about in the scriptures are real.

But as we read through those things and set those things up in our churches, we must not ever think of them as being just mere checkboxes. That's true in our personal lives, Wherever we're at, whether you're a woman to grasp the church, whether you're leading in a teaching for the church, or preaching for the church, or pastoring the church, whether you're getting up in the morning to come to church, to come to the worship. Why did you even come here? To check off a box so you can go home and say, well, I've done my duty for the Lord today? Do what you do as individuals and as a church.

The love of Christ is really the love of Christ. He always has the freedom. We love him fully and fully, him. We do all these things. Whether we're in New Berlin, or Season's Saint, Whether we're a member of a church that's been around for a long time, or whether we're in a newer church.

When I pray to God for this church, over there at the bookstore, they asked me, we were talking, I said, everyone in the priest reunion in Baptist Church. They said, oh, I never heard of that. Where are they? I said, I have no idea. They just got a new building.

But I thank the Lord for y'all and I'm praying for you. May God continue to bless y'all in these things. Brother Gordon. Thank you. Please move.

Steven, please just move over to the front. Thanks for watching!