JUNE SOED CAMPAIGN
Week 3 Foundation Scriptures:
Revelation 2:1-7...
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for My name, and have not grown weary.
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
Building Scriptures
Ephesians 1:15, 3:17, 4:2, 4:15 & 5:2
4 TAKEAWAYS
1. FORSAKEN: abandoned or deserted; quit, depart from, leave behind, turn one’s back on, cast aside
Even-though the angel of the church at Ephesus was DOING many COMMENDABLE things; things DESERVING PRAISE from the Lord Himself, those things didn’t cover the one thing that he had forsaken…LOVING.
All the things he was DOING (vvs. 2,3 &6) were things that are encouraged and even commanded in the scriptures for him to do but his "FORSAKING" LOVE was a major issue jeopordizing his kingdom standing and place.
2. OUR LOVE SHOULD BE KNOWN:
In Ephesians 1:5, Paul says that their faith and LOVE were something that he “HEARD ABOUT" so their “LOVE towards all the saints (God’s people) was a point of conversation among other Christians and a point of commendation.
Likewise, our LOVE towards all the saints (God's people) should be something that is seen, known and spoken about continuously so much that it; our LOVE is something that when people speak or think about us, our LOVE is for a part of the reason.
3. THE GREAT EXTENT OF LOVE:
In the letter to the saints in Ephesus, we find what I believe to be an outline that makes up the LOVE from which Jesus said that the angel of the church in Ephesus had forsaken and fallen from...3:17; being "ROOTED AND GROUNDED IN LOVE", 4:2; "BEARING WITH ONE ANOTHER IN LOVE", 4:15; "SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE" and 5:2; "WALKING IN LOVE".
These 4 things COMBINED is the GREAT EXTENT OF LOVE:
4. “VIC-TOR-I-OUS”:
Jesus says if the Spirit is heard and REPENTANCE and the return of DOING the work of LOVE is DONE again, then that person(s) will be VICTORIOUS and will have the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
That's the VICTORY that we should want.
We must be willing to TAKE CONTROL of this real temptation to forsake LOVE. Understand that this temptation is real and that our fleshly desire at times will be to do so even at the smallest level is key. We have to constantly EXAMINE ourselves to see if our LOVE is where it should be according to the Word of God (The Great Extent of LOVE).
Our Lord and Savior wants us to CONQUER and OVERCOME this temptation.
When we take the time to EXAMINE if and where we have "FALLEN FROM" in regards to LOVE and REPENT and get back to DOING LOVE GOD"S WAY then we can be sure that we are indeed "created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Eph. 4:24) and in that He is pleased.
Watch our EXAMINE Bible Study Pt. 3 to hear more: https://youtu.be/o7Kf1qe1890
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