Thank you for joining pastor and author of the new book, God's Final Call, for a brand new episode of Leading the Way Audio. Up next, Dr. Yusef takes you to the words of Jesus as he spoke to the faithful church in Ephesus. This church was serving well, working hard, living the Christian life with zeal, but they had lost their love for Jesus. Today, a challenge to never allow life's daily trials or victories to lessen your love for Christ.
Please do remember that leading the way is listener supported. That means that Dr. Yusef and his leadership team rely on the prayers and the generosity of those blessed by and encouraged through the teaching and the ministry of leading the way. Learn ways that you can stand with Dr. Yusef when you visit ltw.org or the number to call to reach out by phone at 866-626-4356. Listen now as Dr. Michael Yusef continues his audio series, God's Final Call. The first letter that our glorified Jesus, our glorified Lord sends, he sends to the church in the city of Ephesus. Remember John, the apostle, the revelator, was given the revelation, it was privileged to be lifted up and to see not only the glorified Jesus, the magnified. Remember John is the man who put his head on Jesus' shoulder, but he hardly recognized him in his glory, in his magnificence, in his splendor.
And so he was given the revelation of the glorified Jesus, is given the revelation of what's going to happen in the future. And I explain to you that Ephesus is the first stop if you are sailing from Potomac, the island of Potomac and going to go to the mainland of Asia Minor. The first stop is Ephesus, the city of Ephesus.
But there is other reason why, it's not just because it's the first stop. Ephesus was very important city, that's why I got the first letter. Ephesus was the capital city of that region at the time, but more importantly, Ephesus was a free city. In fact, it was one of the very few cities in that all of these cities in Asia Minor was under the Roman occupation that did not have Roman soldiers in it. It was a free city.
All the others had Roman soldiers in them controlling the cities, but not Ephesus. But only that, but it was the center of pagan worship, it was the center of the god Artemis or Diana's worship. And which made it of course to be a very prosperous city, very powerful city, very influential city. It was a destination of all the pilgrims who were worshiping the god Artemis. And it was a tourist destination.
It had the most iconic temple for the gods Artemis or Diana, which considered to be one of the seven wonders of the world at that time. And that is why the apostle Paul himself, while he literally in Thessalonika, he spent three years in Ephesus. It probably the longest he's ever spent, other than in confinement in Rome, the longest he ever spent in one city. He was in Ephesus for three years, why?
Because of its strategic importance. And also because it was probably, and I say probably, the hardest place for the gospel seed to be planted. Oh, but when they got it, they really got it.
I mean, they got it. And we know from the book of Acts that Paul appointed Timothy, his disciple, to be the pastor of the church in Ephesus. In fact, you see that from the letters that he wrote to him. 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy.
But history tells us that after Timothy departed to go elsewhere, it was John, the apostle, who became the pastor of the church of Ephesus. I love the description of our risen, ascended, glorified Lord Jesus. He holds the seven stars in his hands. Now, I could be referring to those seven churches, but remember I told you the seven, the reason was just seven. There were probably many other churches at the time, but the seven is a number of completion in the Bible. It's a perfect number. A number of perfection. It's a totality. If you're seven, then that's done.
That is the perfect number. And that tells us that our Lord Jesus Christ is supreme, sovereign over all of his creation. It tells us that our Lord is supremely in control of the lives of his children. That tells us that our Lord is in total control of the lives of those who are his. Our Lord holds the security of the believers, of all those who love him in his very hands. What comfort. What joy. What peace.
So let's look at this letter very quickly here. The wonderful things about our precious Lord is that he does not overlook or ignore or take for granted the smallest. He does not ignore, overlook, or take for granted their virtue. And he starts with that. He commends them for the good things that they were doing.
Our risen Lord often commends before he condemns. And I love the fact that in every letter he says, I know. I know. I know.
I know. Of course he knows. And he knows with accuracy, perfect accuracy, our condition, our plans, our thoughts.
And yes, above all things, he knows our motives. Let's divide this letter very quickly. Three sections here for those of you taking notes. I want to give you three things that you will notice about this letter to the church in Ephesus. First of all, there are three praiseworthy merits. Three praiseworthy merits. Secondly, there is a heartfelt disappointment.
Disappointment on the part of Jesus. Secondly, there is a three-step recovery program. It's a three-step.
Not ten, eleven, nine, or whatever. Three-step. First of all, the glorified Jesus points to those three things in that church of Ephesus that they were doing. They were alert. They were biblically sound. They were discerning.
This is something that is really missing from most churches in the 21st century. They were discerning. But they were active. They had a good program for every age group. They were busy believers.
They tested the false teachers and rejected their false teaching. In other words, they were good Presbyterians. They were doing everything in decent order.
But I'm not going to leave anybody out. They were also good Baptists. They had a program for every ministry. They were good Reformed. They fought the liberals.
But not only that. They did not moan or complain all the time like other churches were. They did all of their good works with a sense of endurance.
With a sense of perseverance. They faced tribulations. They faced insult. They faced discrimination. They faced persecution and they faced it with courage. They did not give in to the immorality that was invading the Roman world at the time. They did not give in to the immorality that is invading our churches even at this time. They held to biblical ground of fending off the barbarians and the heretics. They were not only biblically sound.
They were not only persevering. But they would not tolerate evil. They refused to allow sin to fester like cancer in the body of Christ. They smelled the heresy a mile away. They would not put up with the Nickelodeons.
Not the television station that you watch. Actually, I'm going to tell you a whole lot more about them when we get to the church of Pergamum. For the time being, I'm going to skip it.
I'm going to come back to it. Tell you about that group. Nobody really knows exactly everything about them. But there are certain characteristics about these folks who are going into churches and causing trouble. But here, we look with it again to the letter to Ephesians. This first church of Ephesians, they were serving well. They were working hard.
They were doing everything with zeal. We say, what else you got left? Except, except the most important thing.
And that's a disappointment, secondly. In their eagerness to serve, they have allowed the most important thing to get away from them. What is it? The love for Jesus. The love for Jesus.
Let me put it in a practical everyday life because the truth is, no illustration, you've heard me say this, I keep saying, no human illustration ever perfect or even close. It would be like a husband who sends his wife flowers all the time and expensive gifts. But he's hardly home. It would be like a wife who keeps immaculate home and cooks food and household details are all taken care of.
Never sits down to revel and delight herself in his company. We often do the right things and let the most important thing go by the wayside. Now most of you, I know not all of you know my testimony. It's in books, I've written it out and talked about it especially when I speak to pastors. There was a time in my ministry where I have placed the ministry, I have placed ministering above my love for Jesus. And Jesus in his gracious way, woke me up in time for which I'll always be grateful. And from that time on I'm continuously and constantly. I'm not only grateful that God woke me up in time, but now I'm on my guard.
I know when that happens. I know when other things crowd my love for Jesus and I stop. As much as I love preaching, as much as I love writing, as much as I love ministering and doing, the moment I recognize anything, I'm talking about anything that competes with my love for him, I stop. If this letter from Jesus is saying anything to his faithful children, he is saying that if you are doing and serving and ministering is not stemming out of love for Jesus. If you're doing, you're serving, and you're ministering is undermining your love for Jesus.
If you're doing and serving and ministering replaces intimacy with Jesus, please, please stop. Love for Jesus is spelled T-I-M-E. Did you get that? Our Lord is heartbroken when we love his blessings, more we love him the blessing. You cannot go through the Bible every year like I do, and many of you are doing this, without feeling the depth of God's pain over Israel's unloving heart toward him. And in the same way in the New Testament, our God is saying to the Ephesians, our Lord Jesus is saying to the Ephesians, I love all that you do for me, but you're leaving out the most important thing. Listen to what the Apostle Paul said to another church that love for Jesus cooled off and got replaced by other things, the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 2 and 3. Here's what he said, I promised you to one husband to Christ so that I might present you as pure virgin to him, but I'm afraid that as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds will be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
Christ the person. The great news about those who have forsaken their first love is this, the divine lover wants you back, the divine lover is wooing you back, the divine lover longs for you to come back. Which brings me to the third thing that Jesus says to the church here, and he gives them the three-step recovery program. Listen to me, I'm a grateful dude for that three-step program. I've used it many times, listen this is the most marvelous, the most wonderful three-step program. I am blessed by the three-step program. Used it many times and I testify to you, it is the greatest recovery program in the universe.
Nothing like it. Three R's, recall, reverse, recapture. Recall, reverse, recapture. Can you say that with me?
Recall, reverse, recapture. God bless you. Recall the time when you were so overwhelmed with your love for Jesus. Recall the time when you were so overwhelmed by his forgiveness of your sins. Recall the time when you were so overwhelmed with knowing the gift of eternal life, and when you were so overwhelmed you loved him with all of your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your mind.
I mean you could not thank him enough, you could not praise him enough, you could not adore him enough, you could not obey him enough, you could not get enough of his word into you by spending time with him. Then recall, what caused the flame to die down? What caused that flame to die down? You know sometimes the good things that caused the flame to die down, not always a bad thing, but sometimes a sin. What sin entered in? What person has come and replaced that love for Jesus? What blessing that distracted you from loving Jesus? What suffering and disappointment in life that caused you to cool your love toward Jesus? What illness that caused you to become so cold toward Jesus? What virus has caused you to live in fear instead of faith? What trials has distracted and taken your attention of loving Jesus? What or who stole your devotion? Only you can answer that. Only you can answer that.
My beloved friends, I've tested this many times. The Scripture tells us that the place of failure is the place of recovery. If I lost my wallet over there, it's no use looking for it over here. The place of failure is the place of recovery. And that is why he said, repent, reverse course. Turn around, go back. Don't just feel remorse. Remorse won't help you one bit. Staying in remorse won't help you.
In fact, it's the worst thing you can do to yourself. Turn around, get up, recapture the time when you used to love Jesus so much that you loved being in the presence of Jesus. Recapture the time when you used to love to worship and adore him alone. Recapture the time when your love for Jesus occupied your thoughts and your desire and your longing. Am I preaching the truth?
Why is this so important? Because of what Jesus said next. Jesus said, if you persist, if you persist, he's going to remove your lampstand.
What is that? The light of Christ is going to be extinguished in your life and the life of the church. The life of the church. I cannot think of anything worse for me personally. I'm telling you. I tell you the truth. I would rather die before Christ removes his lampstand. Listen to me. To me, the most terrifying thing is that he removes the lampstand. It is so terrifying, I don't want even to contemplate it. Neither should you.
Neither should you. Adam and Eve grabbed from the tree of life. They believed Satan's lie. But when your love for Jesus is rekindled and stay alive, he's going to serve you from the tree of life.
He's personally going to serve you from the tree of life. I want to tell you this as I conclude. In the 19th century, there was a very famous lecturer. Some of you probably read about him by the name of Wendell Phillips.
Phillips was so deeply devoted and adoring to his invalid wife, Anne. At the close of his lecture one night in a town many miles away from his home in Boston, he wanted to go home that night and Phillips' friends and even those who were traveling with him said, please, don't attempt to go home tonight, please spend the night, go in the morning. They said to him, the last train has left and you will have to hire some special transportation to the city. And furthermore, it is cold and sleeting outside. You will face several miles of rough riding before you get home.
His reply was very simple, very simple. Ah, yes, but on the other end of those miles, I shall find my beloved Anne. Now my beloved friends, listen to me. Loving Jesus will not only make life's journey easy and joyful, but also it will make your long journey by looking forward to seeing him face to face a thing of excitement and joyful. Listen, I know and you know there are many problems on the journey. There are many difficulties in the journey. There are many challenges in the journey. There are many painful experiences in the journey. There are many hard aches in the journey. There are many trials in the journey.
There are many hard bumps on the journey. Ah, but remember that at the end of the journey, you're going to both see your beloved Jesus. A reminder from Dr. Michael Youssef to keep first things first, especially when it comes to Jesus, on this episode of Leading the Way. And if you'd like to speak with a Leading the Way pastor or counselor about spiritual things, then just fill out a short contact form at ltw.org slash Jesus. And by the way, Dr. Youssef will return in just a moment to conclude today's Leading the Way with prayer.
Don't miss that. You'll be encouraged. And allow me to quickly remind you that Leading the Way is much more than audio messages on the radio or programs queued up in your podcast playlist. With your prayers and financial support, Leading the Way is able to reach into North Africa, Australia, and all over the Arabic-speaking world through the KingdomSat. Here's a testimony that we've received, and I believe it will encourage you as it has encouraged us.
Suwaeib from Morocco writes, Out of fear of my family and society, I chose to connect you by using a pseudonym. I have been watching all the programs on the KingdomSat channel, especially the ones by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. I learned amazing things about who Jesus is. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Your channel led me to believe in Christ as my personal savior.
I wanted to know more about Christianity. I connected with the field team to help me connect to an underground church that would help me in my walk in my new faith. The field team is now engaging with him in a discipleship course until he's ready to join a house church in his area. Please pray for the field team as they minister and as they help him to grow deeper in his faith. In addition to praying, I hope that you'll consider partnering through your generosity today. It is such a great joy to join God in what he's doing all around the world through Leading the Way. Here's how to get in touch with us.
Give us a call at 866-626-4356 or ltw.org. Well, as promised, let's join Dr. Youssef now as he closes this episode. Lord Jesus, it's so impossible to add to your own words except I for one and on behalf of all those who are in agreement with me today, we come to you in repentance. Forgive us for allowing things and others to steal our devotion, to steal our love, to steal our desire to be in your presence, to adore you and worship you, to express our love for you back. Forgive us and Holy Spirit, you're the only one who can truly renew us, renew us, renew us today. For we pray this in Jesus' name and all of God's people said, praise the Lord. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth.
