Ron Bailey - Part 5

They were designed to have a relationship, one with another, interdependency, network, whatever you want to call it, and you could see people moving from church to church in the New Testament, but what you don't see is some kind of like organisational charge, with a clock around, and then going back and forth, and somebody else will have this all messed up. Each one of these was designed to stand on its own two feet, in God, as long as the High Priest kept on visiting, bringing His Word, making sure that they knew what was saying, and all that these churches have to do, they're actually not responsible even for all the work of God in nation, all they have to do is just do and think, back to the Virgin Mary telling them, whatever He says to you, do. So to each one of these churches, the Lord comes, and He speaks a word, and to this church of Ephesus, of course, He brings His amazing Word, He brings it to you, to the message of the church of Ephesus, these things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden hosts, I know your works, just listen to this protestant in the church, I know your works, your labour, your patience and endurance, that you cannot bear with those that are evil, and you have tested those who say they're apostles and not, and have hammered lions, and you have persevered, and have patience, and have blamed them for my insignia, and have not become weary, isn't this that? You say, well, if I was part of a church like this, this is my annual assessment, that you have bled your first blood, remember, therefore, from where you fall, repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lapsed blood from its place, unless you repent. The mystery you have that you're here to be is of the Nicolaitans, which I will survey. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says in the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give you the promise, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. I'm going to interpret this very much as the tree of life in the paradise of God. This is, it's a symbol of pristine beginnings, when everything's clean and fresh, and when God walked to the garden in the pool of the dead. Well, the fellowship between God and man, that's not even one of them, but paradise was one, when the tree was there. God was at home there. He could visit regularly, they could talk, everything in the way he ought to do. The Lord says in this church of Ephesus, what you have done, you've done something, you've abandoned something, and the possible consequences are unbearable. But, if you hear what I'm saying to you, if you repent and do the first works, if you listen to what the Spirit is saying in the churches, if you open your mouth, I'll give him to eat from the tree of life. I will restore things as they were right at the very beginning. Isn't that what the Bible is about? Isn't that what the Bible is about? Isn't it a restoration to what was at the very beginnings? What is born right at the very beginnings. When the Bible uses this kind of language, when it talks about the first love, it's linked with a whole series of ideas back through the scriptures. Very often in the Bible, Bible words don't have definitions, they have histories. As to say, you need to read the Bible to see how the words are used, and you'll begin to build up a complacent picture and understand the significance of these kind of things. It speaks here about your first termination, briefly placed at Jeremiah.