Dwelling Place

Al Pittman: Today on the Dwelling Place. Sometimes we can come to church and say, "Oh my works. I came to church Sunday morning. I'm here. God must be pleased with me." By my attendance, and sometimes we can be a regular attendee, coming to church and doing all the right religious things, and our heart is miles from God.

And the Lord is not looking and judging us by our outward appearance, but by our hearts. He looks on your heart right now. He's looking at your heart this morning. You say, "Well, I'm here. I'm looking pretty good. I got my Bible. I even remembered to bring my Bible this morning. Wow, the Lord really loves me. I smiled at people," or whatever it is. Look at these wonderful things that I'm doing, and God says, "Where's your heart?"

Dwelling place, dwelling place, dwelling place. You are my dwelling place. Dwelling place, dwelling place, dwelling place.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to the Dwelling Place, a radio ministry from Pastor Al Pittman of Al Pittman Ministries. The purpose of this radio program is to encourage you, strengthen your walk with the Lord, and grow.

To support this program financially or learn more about the ministry, visit us online at AlPittmanMinistries.com. That's AlPittmanMinistries.com. Thank you for partnering with us. Now, here is Pastor Al.

Al Pittman: Let's do that. Let's get into the word of God here in Revelation chapter two. Revelation chapters two and three are the Lord's letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor. We talked about that last week. Jesus is speaking here to the first church that he's addressing, which is the church of Ephesus.

I've entitled this message—actually, it's going to be a series of messages—with this title: Blessed for Success. To the seven churches of Asia Minor. Many of you are probably familiar with the 1975 best-selling book for men entitled *Dress for Success*, which was basically telling men how to dress to be successful in business and in personal life.

Then it was followed up by a book for women in 1977. But in regard to the seven churches of Asia Minor, Jesus exhorts them in chapters two and three to be not dressed for success, but to be blessed for success. And the reason for his exhortation to these churches is that they might avoid religiosity—just mere religion—and that they would also avoid being contaminated by the world.

The Lord exposes here, staying with the Dress for Success theme, the Lord exposes really attire or fashions which are carnal practices which we should avoid within the church that are a detriment to our witness as a church but also as believers in the world. So we're going to talk about that today. He begins here with the church of Ephesus. But before we go any further, let's ask the Lord to bless his word and to give us ears to hear what he has to say to us today.

Father, we ask in the name of Jesus that you would bless your word. We thank you, dear God, for your word that it goes forth with your promise that it will never return to you void but will accomplish that which you sent it to do. So give us ears to hear what the spirit of God is saying and hearts to receive your word. We give you all the praise and all the glory in Jesus' name. And everyone said, Amen. Over at Creekside, Amen.

God bless you guys. Thank those of you who are joining us by way of the internet as well. You're so welcome, and we're so glad you could join us today. But we begin here at verse one, Revelation chapter two. Read along with me. It says, "To the angel of the church of Ephesus write..."

And the angel, of course, can also be translated—the Greek word for angel can be translated messenger or minister of Ephesus. He says, "Write this: These things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands." Now, we know that's Jesus from our study last week. The seven stars in his right hand are the messengers or the ministers of the seven churches, and the lampstands represent the seven churches.

And he says, "I know your works," verse two, "your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars. And you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my name's sake and have not become weary." Wow. What a reputation. Somebody would look at a church like that today and say, "That is a successful church."

I think it's interesting before we move forward that the Lord starts with the church of Ephesus and that he starts with this topic. And the topic that he's going to address here is their love for him. Because our love for the Lord is the most essential thing in the church. Our love for Jesus Christ in the life of the believer is the most important thing.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then all these other things will be added, Jesus said. Our love for the kingdom, our love for Jesus Christ must be first and foremost in the life of the disciple or the follower of Jesus Christ. And so I think it's interesting that in everything God does, he has a purpose behind it.

I think it's interesting that he starts here with this topic. He could have started with any of the others. He's going to talk about other things regarding the churches in Asia Minor, but he starts with love because it is the most essential thing that we need to have as followers of Jesus Christ—love for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

In fact, they asked Jesus what was the greatest of all the commandments. Jesus quotes the Old Testament in Matthew 22:37. He said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart," that means with all your feelings. God should have mastery over our feelings. Amen? Our feelings shouldn't dominate our lives. In fact, we don't live by our feelings; we live by faith in God's word.

"With all your heart, with all your soul," that is the vital life of your soul, that vital principle, the very spirit, the essence of who you are, your very life, your identity. And then, "and with all your mind," that is your deep thought. What do you meditate on? What dominates your mind? He says, "This is the greatest commandment: to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."

If you don't get anything right today but you've loved God, you've had a successful day. Amen? There is no greater exhortation for the believer or the church than to love the Lord thy God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Now, the believers in Ephesus face a lot of challenges. The challenges that they face, we face today in our society.

Just a little historical background on Ephesus: Ephesus was a port city located on the coast of the Aegean Sea, the sea between the mainlands of modern-day Greece and modern-day Turkey. It was the fourth largest city of the Roman Empire. Acts chapter 19 in the New Testament testifies to the fierce opposition believers faced in Ephesus. And historians tell us that in Ephesus, they celebrated at least 14 pagan deities. And the most popular among those deities was the goddess Diana.

So it was a total pagan culture, total godless culture, if you will, that the believers were living in there in Ephesus. In fact, Diana, being the most popular among these pagan deities, they had a temple dedicated to her there in Ephesus. In the day of Paul the apostle and John, this temple was known as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Diana is also known as Artemis. She was a mythological deity that the Romans worshiped and also the Greeks worshiped. She was the goddess of hunt and of moon, of the stars, and of birthing life. She was also called Mother Nature. Amen. Sound familiar? But it's interesting that there in Ephesus, Jesus is exhorting the church because he understood that they were in danger of losing sight of their love for Jesus Christ.

I was looking in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia for the definition for Ephesus. What does the word Ephesus mean? It means literally, "desirable." I thought that was interesting. Desirable. Because the believers here had lost their desire for the Lord and not knowing it. Sometimes we can begin to drift away from the Lord and not know that we're drifting from our desire for the Lord.

They had more of a love for their labor in the Lord, and they replaced their love for the Lord with their labor in the Lord. They were doing a lot of things right. But the Bible tells us in Psalm 37:4, reminds us that we should delight ourselves in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart. If you delight in the Lord.

It is possible to delight in the work so much that it becomes our desire rather than Jesus Christ. This coming week, I'll be at a regional pastor's conference, and it's so easy for even pastors especially to find themselves in love with the ministry and not the Master. To be in love with the work. "Oh, I love the people coming and, oh, I get to preach sermons and stand in front of people. Oh, I've written books and I've done all these things." We can fall in love with the ministry and not be in love with the Master.

You can be in love with the things that you do for Jesus and not be in love with Jesus. It's possible to be in that position, and Jesus is aware of that because he tells them, "I know your works." Amen. He knows our works. He says, "I know your works. I know your labor. I know your patience. I know your intolerance for evil. Oh, your leadership, you have a leadership screening process. You've tested those who said they were apostles but they're not apostles. You have a great screening process. You have patience and perseverance, and you've done works in my name. And you're not weary. You guys are still going." He says, "I know your works."

But he also knows their hearts. Sometimes we can come to church and say, "Oh my works. I came to church Sunday morning. I'm here. God must be pleased with me." By my attendance, and sometimes we can be a regular attendee, coming to church and doing all the right religious things, and our heart is miles from God. And the Lord is not looking and judging us by our outward appearance, but by our hearts.

He looks on your heart right now. He's looking at your heart this morning. You say, "Well, I'm here. I'm looking pretty good. I got my Bible. I even remembered to bring my Bible this morning. Wow, the Lord really loves me. I smiled at people," or whatever it is. Look at these wonderful things that I'm doing, and God says, "Where's your heart?"

Is Jesus Christ first in your heart, in your life? Jesus knew that the church of Ephesus was in a place where they were doing a lot of great things, but their heart was far from God. He says here in verse four, "Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love." Wow. How do you leave your first love? You're doing all this stuff. They began to drift.

In all their works, they were drifting, not taking the time to love Jesus. And Jesus said, "I've got this one thing against you. You've done all these things, but you've left your first love. Remember," verse five, "therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate."

I love the fact that when the Lord points out the cause or our sin, that he also points out the cure. He doesn't leave us waddling there or leave us there languishing in our guilt, in our shame. He provides a way out. And not only that, he provides encouragement. He also encourages them here, as we'll see in just a moment. But look at the remedy that Jesus gives to them.

He says, "Here's the remedy. It's twofold. Number one, remember." It's in your text. It won't be on the screen; it's in your Bible. He says, "Remember. Remember." Now, we see an example of failing to remember what Jesus Christ has done for us. Remember from where you've fallen. Remember how passionate you were for the Lord. What happened? Remember from where you've fallen.

We have an example of failing to remember found in the Old Testament in Ezekiel chapter 16. Let me give you the backstory. The Lord is speaking through the prophet Ezekiel to the children of Israel. They had forgotten their God. And so the Lord is rebuking them here basically because he reminds them, "You guys have forgotten where you came from."

And he uses as an illustration a child being birthed, just birth on the ground and it's still in its blood and everybody passes by but nobody's there to help that child. The child is totally hopeless. But then God comes along and he helps the child. The child represents Israel. The child also represents you and I. When we came to Jesus Christ, we were helpless, we were hopeless. Nobody cared, as David said, "No man cared for my soul." And yet the Lord came along and he helped us.

I want to read—it's kind of long, but I think it's worth reading. It gives us a perspective on where we were and how the Lord found us and what he did for us and the danger of forgetting what God has done for us. So here in Ezekiel chapter 16, we begin at verse nine. Read along with me.

Again, the background is Israel's been birth, they're just a child, hopeless child lying there on the ground. And the Lord says in verse nine, "Then I washed you in water, yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood and I anointed you with oil. I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin. I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk."

Verse 11, "I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrist and a chain on your neck. And I put a jewel in your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head." He gave you a bunch of bling. Amen? "Thus you were adorned with gold and silver. Your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful and succeeded to royalty."

"Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through," listen, "my splendor." I love that. See, our beauty is not of us; it's of the Lord. "Which I bestowed on you," says the Lord. He says, "I found you. Nobody cared for you. You were still waddling in the blood and all of that, having just been birth, and I found you and I'm the one who picked you up. I washed you. I gave you some clothes. I put jewelry on you. I put a crown on your head. I cleaned you up. It was my splendor, my beauty that made you beautiful."

And sometimes we forget that as believers. David said, "Who am I and who is my family that the Lord should be so good to me?" And when we forget what the Lord has done for us, it's easy for us to not extend grace toward other people. It's easy for us to hate one another and hold bitterness and do all these other things because we've forgotten what the Lord has done for us. And that's exactly what Israel did as we read on.

"But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it." Spiritual whoredom. "You took some of your garments and adorned multi-colored high places for yourself and played the harlot on them." Multi-colored high places. He's talking about how they adorned these high places, these hills where Israel would worship other gods on the top of those hills.

They had forgotten God. "Such things should not happen nor be. You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from my gold and my silver which I had given you, and made yourselves male images and played the harlot with them. You took your embroidered garments and covered them. You set my oil and my incense before them, the things that I've given to you, you've given to other gods."

"Also my food which I gave you, the pastry of fine flour and oil and honey which I fed you, you set it before them as sweet incense, and so it was," says the Lord God. "Moreover you took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter that you have slain my children and offered them up to them by causing them to pass through the fire?"

What is he talking about? He's talking about the worship of Molech. If you go to Israel with us, we'll drive past the valley right outside the walls of the old walls in Jerusalem, there was a valley called the Valley of Hinnom. And there they had erected Molech, this god. And the children of Israel—that's how far gone they had become. They had forsaken the love of God that they were offering their children, infants, to the fire of Molech in worship.

God said, "They're not your children." Notice he says here, "They're my children." As we dedicated these two babies today to the Lord, they belong to the Lord. They're his, and we need to be careful how we raise them. Amen. And then he said in verse 22, "And in all your abominations and acts of harlotry, you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, struggling in your blood."

My friend, let us never forget what Jesus Christ has done for us. You see, the children of Israel did not remember. They forgot, they purposely forgot, and they pursued their gods and all of this. They had forgotten where God found them. Remember where you were when Jesus found you? That's what he says: "Remember from where you've fallen. Remember what God has done for you. Never forget it." Lest we become puffed up full of ourselves or begin to worship other gods and find ourselves doing horrific things, things we thought we'd never do.

Remember. When we fail to remember, we are destined to return. Oh, not me, Pastor. Oh, yeah. Been a lot of people over the years that have said, "Oh, not me," and condemn other people. "I can't believe they did that," and then end up doing the same thing. When we fail to remember, we are destined to return to our old carnal life apart from God.

Here's the Lord's second remedy. He says, "If you've left your first love, number one, remember. And number two," he says, "repent." I love it. Sometimes we say, "Oh, I wish I was there to sit at the feet of Jesus and just hear him teach." He's teaching now. This is his counsel. This is what he says. He says, "You know what? If you've left your first love, sign up for therapy." No. "Remember and repent."

That's the counsel of the Lord. Just that simple. And we want to make excuses and do all these other things. He says, "Remember and repent." That's the Lord Jesus Christ, glorified, his remedy for us if we have left our first love. Repent. He says, "Do the first works." What's the first works? Seek first the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all the other things will be added.

Get your priority right. Seek God first, the first works of loving him. First you remember. Remember when you first came to him and how seeking him and praying and coming to church and all that was such a great joy. The first works—it was about Jesus. It was about loving him. That's the only thing that mattered. Remember that and repent and go back to those first works of loving the Lord.

And you know, true repentance prioritizes your life. Amen? True repentance sets things right in your life. Worldly repentance excuses only produce death. As long as you are blaming somebody else for being jacked up, you haven't repented.

You are my dwelling place. Dwelling place, dwelling place, dwelling place.

Guest (Male): Learn more about Pastor Al and his ministry by visiting AlPittmanMinistries.com. Also, consider supporting us financially. You can send a check to Al Pittman Ministries at PO Box 5058, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80949 or visit us online.

Thank you for your prayers and your support. Your generosity keeps this radio ministry going. Lastly, we would love to hear from you. You can contact us by emailing info@AlPittmanMinistries.com. That's info@AlPittmanMinistries.com. We look forward to hearing from you. Again, thank you for joining us, and we'll see you next time on the Dwelling Place. God bless.