What Would God Have For You This Year?

Well, it is a new year for us coming up with just a few days away. The Mayans were wrong and that gives us an opportunity as a as a church family, just to pause within our own lives, reflect on a former year and look forward to a new year. Now, if you if you're like my dad when it comes to New Year's tradition, he is the Scrooge of New Year's. Okay, because I can remember as a kid, everyone always wants to come up with these resolutions. Something to do with losing weight, something to do with making more money and being happy. Right? Just the American Dream resolution. My dad would always just think that's just so goofy because there's nothing magical that happens on January 1st, right? January 1st is just another day in our lives. But the important thing to recognize when we come to days like today and a new year and a new beginning for our lives is it's important for us as people to always be reevaluating, to look at where we've been and ask questions about where we're going. We shouldn't just do it. On January first or the end of December. We should we should look at our lives and examine it on a periodic basis to determine if the path that we're on is one we're just allowing to happen in our lives, or we're just seeking after God's will and direction for our lives, the reason for which we exist.

It's healthy to do. And this year gives us an opportunity. The coming of the new year gives us an opportunity to examine that within ourselves. And I recognize as people that a lot of times we begin to visualize dreams for our lives, especially when you're young, right? Everyone wants to be the president of the United States and an astronaut that works on a fire truck. Right? Or at least the boys. Right. That was or a cop. You know, you just have these high aspirations of life, these things that you want to do that make a difference and matter and your dreams so large as a child. And then as an adult, you tend to live in reality of crushed dreams. And after a while you lose the desire to dream within your life because of disappointment. And disappointment can sometimes serve us up difficult platters or meals to eat within our lives. but I believe when we come to know the Lord and understand his purposes in our lives, it gives us the freedom and opportunity as people to dream and the joy. It's not because of anything within our own capabilities. It has to do with everything that he's doing within us to understand what God desires for us, and to dream and to plan. If I were to ask you this morning if you could dream in your life right now, there's one thing that you would just want answered.

What would it be? Thinking about 2013. What prayer or desire from your heart would you desire for God to intervene and answer within your life? I'll encourage you, as we think about that question, not to think so much positionally as about things that we can acquire, because we'll begin to start treating God like a pinata. You know, I could use a Ferrari, Lord, and I could and I could use a big bank account that I'm necessarily going to spend. I could use it all, but when I ask that question, when we think about God the way that we want to gear that question is not to think so much possession as we do relationally. Now, sometimes when we talk about the way that we would desire for God to work in our lives, we say the word. We want God to do that relationally. When we talk about that, it can be positionally. For instance, you think about your family as a as a father. You may feel stress within your life to make provision for your family. And so in order to enhance the relationship of your family and to get a certain amount of stress with within your family off of your shoulders, maybe a certain a growth and income would help support that, or maybe a better handling of the income in which you possess. Maybe some of us need relational work all the way around in our lives.

Maybe some of us. We think about what we desire for God, and we talk about relationally. Maybe some of us could think about that in terms of personally, rather than seek to watch God change other people. Maybe rather, we should ask God to begin to work on our hearts to handle situations. God, how can you work on me and my individual character? Or maybe, maybe you're just throwing the book at this God idea and you're just saying, you know what? I just need a total life change. I need a new perspective, a new way of thinking, a new attitude, a new approach. Because everything that I've been on in my journey so far hasn't been working for me. And that's good. Any place that you are, it's good. Figuring out the answer to that question. If I could have one dream answer in life, God used to intervene in one way. This is where I would desire it to be as good. Maybe we should ask the question more specifically and say, rather than what is it you desire to see accomplished in 2013? What is it you think God desires to accomplish in you in 2013? What would God have for you this year? What does God desire to work in you and through you and do for you as an individual? We're going to use today as an introduction to help us answer those questions.

A new perspective, a new idea, a new focus on what God desires for us in this world. And the way that we're going to do this is we're going to begin a new study together on the book of Ephesians. Now, if you've been to Alpine Bible Church for from the beginning since our existence, in the early stages, the first few months as a church family, we've gone through this book together. And the reason is because this book in the New Testament, I have to say, if I gave it an award, would probably be my favorite book in the New Testament. It's a close second with the book of John. And the reason is the way that this book is broken down. This book begins in the first three chapters, explaining to us as people theology of all things, who is God and who are we in light of him? We begin to set the premise of the way we should operate within our lives. We set a foundation for the way we should set our trajectory for 2013. This is who I am. This is who God is. The first three chapters. And the last three chapters. In light of understanding that this is the way God desires to work in our lives, to live for him. It's a beautiful book for us to examine together, and the reason we're going through it again is one. Four years ago, we went through this as a church as we began together.

We are not the same people as what we were four years ago. Second, we've grown significantly from eight people, right? So when we think about everything that our church wants to be and we think about this book of Ephesians, it's a beautiful place for us to go because we know as a church family, what we've got coming down the road for us is a new home and a new opportunity. It's going to give us potential and a place in which God's kingdom can continue to grow, as church family will continue to expand, and we can reach out for generations to come here in Lehigh, as we get ready to move into that bar in the near future. And so what it does for us as a church family is we study this book of Ephesians together. It takes us, gives us an opportunity to step back, to look at who God is, look at who we are, look at the way God desires to work in our lives, to live out this life that God has called us to. A new plan, a new dream. A new vision. If you're here this morning. And you feel a little weak. And your ability to dream. You feel a little weak in the faith to trust. And the one who. Gives you the opportunity to dream big within him. I'm going to try to encourage us with this morning, and then I'm going to encourage you to, as we go throughout this series.

This series should take us between 8 to 10 weeks to go through. I want to encourage you just to come be a part of his for as much as you can. Allow the Lords is to work in your life and to accomplish what it is that he desires. And to answer this question. God, what is it that you have for me in 2013? God. What is it you desire to do within me? The way we're going to do this morning is we are going to talk about an incredible circumstance and the impossibility of how we can reach that in our lives. Right. So you get that for a minute. We're going to talk about an incredible circumstance, and then we're going to be shocked and think within our hearts. That seems almost impossible. And then we're going to talk about how we can see that happen within our lives. In order to begin that, I'm going to open this up in a word of prayer. So let's pray. God. We are just simply taking our lives. We're looking at this book and God. We're just throwing ourselves on our knees before you. Lord, wherever we are in our walk with you in these moments, God, we're asking you to intervene and strengthen us and give us the ability to see what it is that you've called us to give us the ability to see you as you are and identify ourselves as we've been created in you, and for what purpose we exist.

God, give us hope. Give us the joy of experiencing this relationship with you. God help us just to throw our vision and our dreams on you, God, to see this world as you see it and to live in this world as you've called us to live. So, God, I pray that as our hearts are here this morning, that you, God, allow our hearts to become tender to your will and desire for us. Speak to us and it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Since we're beginning the book of Ephesians together, I almost thought, we're not even going to talk about the book of Ephesians for the first introduction, the book of Ephesians. And that would have been weird. So to open up the book, let me let me just show you how Paul introduces this, because the audience to which he's writing this book helps us to understand how we can accomplish or see happen in our lives what the content of the book possesses. And so he says to us in chapter one and verse one, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse two should look familiar to you as a church, because we say this every Sunday when we leave grace and peace with you are dismissed, right? It's biblical. Did you even know that? It's amazing. But in verse one he says, as he's writing this book, look who he addresses it to those who are at Ephesus, but he more specifically says, and who are faithful in Christ Jesus. Paul starts his book with those that are seeking after God in his life or in their lives. And I got to say to us, as we think about the contents of everything that's about to be possessed, if I could just take one slogan from my life and be content with it, it's got to be those last few words of verse one. If someone could say to me when I die, he was faithful in Christ Jesus. And what a beautiful thought to carry in this world. It doesn't say that you guys, we accomplished these wonderful things, or that we were really good people and morally we lived up to this certain expectation. All it simply says about the Apostle Paul writing these people is that they were just faithful to Jesus. I got to think, as we look at the contents of everything that's about to be possessed in this book together, if we keep one thought just overarching within our mind, recurring over and over, just say to ourselves, be faithful in Christ Jesus.

Everything that we discuss today becomes a possibility. Vision and fulfillment of God's plan, and especially in the book of Ephesians, rests on the back of God's people. As they are faithful in Christ Jesus. It's often been said that God created plan A, which is his church and there is no plan B. God chooses and desires to reveal his glory primarily through us as individuals. Think about all the ways God desires to work in this world, and tells us in the Bible that God has breathed His Spirit into you. And the way that God chooses to magnify himself first and foremost is through you as individuals. I believe one of the beautiful reasons why is because he's given the ability to then proclaim where your desire to live for him comes from, to share with this world. When we go out into this world and we shine as lights for him, this is the reason why. And we can proclaim that declaring the beauty of who Christ is. And faithful is what we should seek for the year. And Paul begins this journey. I want to talk about this together, talking about an impossible circumstance. The city of Ephesus. If you know anything about the city of Ephesus, it is an enormous city in which Paul has visited and the church has been established. Today, I think more than any other city that lives in ancient biblical times, this city has been excavated and archaeologically dug up more than all others.

10 to 15% of the city of Ephesus has been uncovered. The reason is this city. Most of the city has no inhabitants laying upon it today. And so the houses that you don't have to knock any houses down to dig the earth underneath of it, and so you can uncover what exists there. Ephesus today lives in the area or is located in the area of modern day Turkey. At the time that the Apostle Paul was writing this letter to the church of Ephesus, it's estimated that the population of the city was somewhere around 250,000 people. That's more than five times the city of Lehi. Ephesus was the capital of a region called Asia. Ephesus was located on the far western seashore of Turkey, and if you were to visit the city during ancient times, there were two ways in which you would enter the city. From the east there were massive trade routes, and from the west there was a large seaport. In order to enter into Asia with all of the goods that the individuals may have been carrying to sell in order to provide for their families, they would come one of two ways the route into Ephesus by road or the port into Ephesus by sea. It was the central focus of the region of Asia. And life in Ephesus was big. I have to think that people being packed in that city often felt very small.

It was built so elaborate and so well that if you were to go there today, the very streets in which they built over 2000 years ago still exist. They were made of marble. And what we do with our streets out here, because within a few years, potholes take it over and it needs fixed over and over. Could you imagine they built a street that lasts for thousands of years. We need to take notes. The cool thing about studying the city of Ephesus. When you go in and you visit the town, they didn't have billboards on the sides of the streets like we have today, the way that people advertise for their businesses. When you went into this enormous city, was they etched into the marble stone as you were traveling along locations of places for which you could visit? So when you were walking together, it would be interesting. You would just be looking on the ground for different places that you might want to go and enjoy. As you went into the city and people got around that way. The spiritual condition of Ephesus. I got to say, for the life of the Apostle Paul would be one that I would describe difficult. The majority of people that existed within the city did not follow Jesus by any stretch of the imagination. In fact the customs and times of the individuals they followed the goddess called Artemis, or as some refer to as Diana.

It says in verse 35, just to give a description of the worship that's existing within the city. After quieting the crowd, the town clerk said, Men of Ephesus, what man is there, after all, who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis, and of the image which fell down from heaven, she whom all of Asia and the world worship. This guy is beginning to describe for us the town clerks, describing for us the spiritual condition for which Ephesus is founded. If you do a little history on the goddess Diana and you begin to study the city of Ephesus, you actually find out that the temple in which this man is referring to was the original one of the original Seven Wonders of the world. Everyone knew about this goddess. Everyone knew about the structure in which they went and worshipped. And if you belonged to Ephesus, you belonged to Diana. People worshipped this Greek goddess. While we think about what God desires for us as an individual. You think about what God desires for us as a church family, and when you feel like the minority, it doesn't always seem easy to dream, right? What God? What does God have for us in 2013? I don't know. What can he possibly do in a city of Lehigh where we feel as a church family, like a minority.

I think when the Apostle Paul got into the city of Ephesus and they're worshipping the goddess of Diana, and how faithful this was, how well spoken of this monument and this pillar to Diana was throughout the whole known world, and how everyone belonged to her. Could you think about the overwhelming thoughts of the Apostle Paul as he says, stepping into the city, seeing this glorious thing, having no building for himself to go to worship and saying, yeah, but I love Jesus. Tells us in chapter 19 and verse one, Paul describes for us the perspective he gathers of the church when he shows up. He says, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and he found some disciples. And he said to them. Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said to him, no, we have not heard whether there is a Holy Spirit. These guys are theologically messed up. If you didn't catch that. And he said into what were you baptized? And they said, into John's baptism. In verse four. And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in him who was coming after him that is in Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And look at this. The massive church they were in, all about 12 men. Wow. 250,000 people. And Paul steps into this city and now they've got 12, right? This is just like exponential increase here.

Mega church in the making. You think about the dreams that you could have and the possibilities that would exist in the city with 12 people. I mean, it's like throwing stones at someone who's coming at you with an army tank, isn't it? Paul says something interesting about these guys, if just to explain this passage of Scripture to us. They said to them that we don't know anything about this Holy Spirit. And when he asked them what they were baptized in, he says, we are baptized in John's baptism, which says this about these individuals. They were around Jerusalem and heard the message about the coming of the Messiah from John the Baptist before Jesus ever showed up. And so they listened to John's message. They repented to the message that John proclaimed, left for the city of Ephesus and never knew anything about the ministry that Jesus conducted on the world. For the next three and a half years, they just took the message of John with them and began to proclaim that in the city of Ephesus. Interesting thought, isn't it? And they asked him, what were you baptized in? And he says, John's baptism. Now, today when we get baptized, there's a symbolism to the baptism in which we express as believers, you put your faith in Jesus, you put your trust in him for salvation, and then you get baptized to reflect the salvation that Jesus brought.

Jesus cleanses us from all our sins. Jesus makes us whole. Jesus restores us. He takes the old man and he buries it. He resurrects us to a new man in relationship with him, by faith in him alone. The baptism that we celebrate today symbolizes that go into the water. We go in a dirty man or woman. We come out clean in Christ, being forgiven. We've gone in an old man and died and come out a new man in Christ. The baptism which these guys are talking about have nothing to do with that, because Jesus hasn't even come and Jesus hasn't died. In the early traditions, when an individual would begin to teach his people any religious teaching. They would, in order to symbolize that they were going to follow what that teacher was stating, would go and be baptized on behalf of the teachings of that teacher to say to the world, I'm following what this teacher is teaching. Same for us in Jesus. We're following what Jesus is teaching in baptism. We're saying, Jesus, you are my Lord and I am pursuing you. And what these individuals are saying in this passage of Scripture to the Apostle Paul is, listen, Paul, we know this. Jesus was about to come. We never heard anything about him, didn't even know the Holy Spirit came. We were just following this.

John who was telling us about this, Jesus who was coming. And so we were baptized to say to this world, we're following the teachings of John. And so Paul shares with them about the coming of Jesus. They accept what Jesus has stated to them, and their lives are changed for the sake of Christ. And then the church just explodes. 12 people start attending. I got to tell you, this isn't all the believers that came and worshiped in Ephesus. If you read in chapter 18, you'll see there's a little resemblance of somewhat of a church that began to gather in chapter 18, but in chapter 19, it puts for us a number on there and helps us understand that this church, by all aspects and understanding, was very small. But here's the interesting thing that happens. Paul as a as a missionary, pastor, church planter, whatever you want to call him. We know that as we study about the Apostle Paul, he went on four missionary journeys. Three of those are recorded in the book of acts. On his missionary journey in which he went to Ephesus. He stayed in Ephesus for almost up to three years. Paul stayed in the city of Ephesus longer than he stayed in any other city in which he proclaimed the gospel. The Bible tells us something interesting happens with these people. Because as they thought about their city and they thought about the glory of this goddess Diana, which people worship 250,000 people.

These 12 people began to dream. They begin to dream about what God would do in them and through them. If they, as it says in verse one, were just faithful to Jesus. Bible tells us in acts chapter 19 and verse ten. That as they dreamed in the Lord. This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. I got to tell you, when you hear the word Asia, you might instantly think about the continent Asia. If you think about the continent of Asia, you're thinking way too big. According to this text of scripture, Asia wasn't Asia as we know it today. It wasn't one of the seven continents of the world. Asia was roughly. It was a region that was roughly the size of the country, of Turkey. You think about what Paul's saying here, these individuals and I want us to understand this morning. I'm not saying we're going to go out and change the world, okay? What I want us to understand this morning is all we have to get within our minds as we seek what God desires for our lives is just be faithful, and God takes care of the rest. The results are up to him. But God goes in. Or these guys go into the city and they begin to dream for what the Lord. Just 12 of them gathering together, thinking and asking the question, God, what do you have for us? This is a new phase in my life, a new transition for me.

I've come to understand you. I want you to paint the picture for which I could step foot into this world, and how I should live my life. God, I just want to be faithful. It says within two years, all of the country of Turkey heard the message about Jesus. You consider the effects of this when you study the archaeology of the city, the transformation that took place. Tells us as you uncover the earth of Ephesus and you see the stones, remember I told you in the beginning they would carve billboards of direction people needed to go in order to discover things within the city that they wanted to provide for themselves. Or do. Those billboards begin to be replaced with a picture of the Ichthus, the symbol of the Christian church? The markings of that started to scatter itself all over the city. People like Luke and Paul and Timothy and John and Mary begin to gather at the city to proclaim the name of Christ. Interesting thing about the city of Ephesus is this was a predominantly a city that belonged to the slaves. And the Bible tells us that for the first time in the lives of these slaves, Jesus gave them an identity. He made them feel like a person, like their life mattered and counted.

And these slaves coming to this new identity in Christ, some of them in the city of Ephesus, begin to rise in prominence and significance. And they held to this Jesus who gave them value and purpose in life. So much so that the early history of the church tells us that the city of Ephesus became a primary supporting point for the church, as it spread throughout the entire known world. These slaves supported the cause of Christ. And as you read early history, it even tells us that eventually. Related to the goddess of Diana. And eventually the city became so overrun with those who pursued after Jesus that seventh wonder of the world was destroyed so that Jesus could be proclaimed. There was even within the city of Ephesus, this monument that was celebrated to a lady who ran the local most popular brothel of the town. You can imagine, in order to run anything and be so popular that they erect a statue of you, you've got to be pretty important and significant in life, right? You go to the jazz Stadium today. You see 1 or 2 guys that were really important to the jazz, and they felt that they were so significant that they put a statue of those guys on the outside of the building, how important they must have been to the jazz and to all of Utah. Right? That we could gather around the side of that and see this guy who could bounce the ball really well.

The same thing happened with the city. This lady was so prominent and owning this brothel, and thought to be so important in the lives of the people, that they placed a statue of her. As you read about history in This Lady and the Power of Jesus as it came into the city of Ephesus and influenced the town, history tells us this lady eventually became a follower of Jesus. Going to think about my own perspective and seeing what happens in Ephesus, and it causes me to pause within a moment of life and seeing the transformation that takes place here and ask myself, do I really have a faith that big? To look at something so large. And to see God's perspective over the town. To begin to dream, not just dreams for myself, because I've been so beat up on dreams, but to just begin to dream dreams that are so enormous and impossible that they can only be answered by the power of God. And that's very. Can I tell you in our lives the things that we pursue or the things that we're really burdened for? We talk about dreaming dreams for the Lord, or dreaming dreams that all the things that you're going to pursue as dreams in your life are the things that you carry burdens or desires for. When we talk about doing that for Jesus or doing it for the Lord.

If we're if we carry a burden for what Christ desires to accomplish, we can begin to dream dreams large enough, as the Apostle Paul did. And this little church of 12 people in the city of Ephesus. Verse ten tells us within two years, this is not just the city of Ephesus, but the entire region was changed for the Lord. As a matter of fact, when you read the book of Revelation, the first few chapters of the Book of Revelation is written to the seven churches. All seven of those churches exist within the region of Asia that started through the church of Ephesus, as it began to proclaim the name of the Lord. The impact that happened on Ephesus was so large. Look what the passage says here for us in acts 19. These, Demetrius, this is talking about one of the temple workers of the goddess Diana. His name is Demetrius, gathered together with the workmen of similar trades and said, men, you know that our prosperity depends upon this business. You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia. This Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods at all. It's good advice. And so he says in verse 27, not only is there a danger that this trade of ours fall in disrepute, but also that the temple of the great Goddess Artemis be regarded as worthless, and that she whom all of Asia and the world worship will even be dethroned from her magnificent.

Mm. He saw the writing on the wall, didn't he? Jesus is doing something so powerful here now that we can't even think of stopping it. This is so enormous and what God desires to accomplish. When you think about 250,000 people and the impact of Jesus becoming so prominent here that the known church at the time begins to be supported through the slaves of the city as they go around the world and begin to proclaim the name of Christ that all of Asia is changed for the sake of the Lord. And it starts with just a dozen individuals who have enough faith within our lives to begin to dream in Christ and answer the question. God, what would you desire? And it starts with this. People who are faithful in Christ. I gotta say, when we talk about seeing a world change through us and in us because of what Jesus wants to accomplish. You know that dream could start. Too large could. Maybe within ourselves. All that we're thinking right now is, man, that's great that God may want to change the lives of other people, but. But what I really want is I just want to focus on me right now. I know that there's things in my life that before I even begin to think about what God could accomplish through me, that I just want God to get right with me.

You know, I think that's an okay place to be. That's completely fine. That's where everybody starts. As a matter of fact, when I wake up tomorrow, that's where I'm going to start with my life. God, here I am. Work on me. God. Use me, teach me, equip me, show me. And now, God, may I just go out in this world and just shine. It's not about going into the world and just shoving Jesus down people's throats. Really, being faithful in Christ is about taking the time to allow yourself to come before the presence of the Lord. And as you enjoy his presence, just make that known in the world around you. We make time for the things that are important to us, and as we spend time with Christ, he begins to transform us. And the beauty of who Jesus is will naturally get reflected in this world. If we're just faithful. And so I'm going to give us this crazy thought and talking about that. How can we see what happens in Ephesus to happen in our world? How can it happen to me? How can it happen in my family? How can it happen in my relationships around me? And how can God use that to transform the city and the area in which I live? Lehigh, Saratoga, alpine, Highland, wherever it is? How can God do that? Seems like a crazy dream, but let me just tell you this morning, God's doing it, not you.

And when God does it, you can dream whatever you want in him as he moves through your life. He's capable. Bible tells us this in Romans chapter or excuse me, Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 28. Just to grab the idea for us that it's not up to us, it says, therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and all. For our God is a consuming fire. So we talk about doing things for God's kingdom in this world. Notice it's everything to do with his kingdom, and everything that he's done with his Kingdom has nothing to do with us. I love the way that he describes it here for us. He talks about this kingdom as unshakable. You know, God never promised to us that this world would be perfect. God never promised this world would go easy. God never promised that if you follow him, everything's going to go well. But what he did promise is, as this world does fall apart, because it will, and eventually it will fade away. You can be part of a kingdom that will last for all of eternity and cannot be shaken. And when you read in Romans chapter eight and verse 37, it says this about us, about us as people.

We are more than conquerors in Christ. You think about the thought of an unshakable kingdom and becoming conquerors in Christ. We aren't conquerors because we conquered anything at all. We aren't conquerors because we did anything at all. We're conquerors because he conquered everything. He is the conqueror. We get to enjoy the presence of a kingdom that will not shake. And as everything falls apart as God said that it would, his kingdom endures forever. Meaning. If God says it happens. Faith that moves mountains. Do you see what Jesus wants to accomplish in our lives? To let go of a world that's fading away and to give us a hope that with peace passes all understanding in him. And you become a conqueror in Christ, not because we conquered, but because he has already come and conquered. So when we talk about dreaming in Christ, we can dream whatever we want as he leads us in our lives and whatever difficulty we think might be arising before us, we can seek his faith and just be faithful and God will have it under control. His kingdom is unshakable. When you think about that kingdom. And you step into a situation like Ephesus. It helps us to get little or great peace within our lives to recognize whatever happens here, who cares? I'm a part of something far greater in this kingdom than anything. This kingdom, other kingdom that's falling apart will present.

And I'm spending time with the king of this unshakable kingdom. I am just faithful to him in that I just seek his face and whatever he desires to do. From there, I allow him just to work it out. We talk about the life of Ephesus and the promises of Ephesus. It helps us as individuals to begin to dream those dreams and understand what God desires to accomplish by putting our focus off of the kingdom of this world, and on the kingdom to come. There's a saying that says, eventually this too shall pass. But what's done for Jesus is what will last. His kingdom. You think about the possibilities of Ephesus. The Bible also gives us a warning for this church. Interesting thought about about this warning. You look at this. This group of people. Paul stayed there longer than anywhere. This place was turned upside down. All of Asia was conquered. If anyone got it together. It was this group of the church in Ephesus. But you read within about 30 years time, John writes in the book of Revelation to this people of Ephesus. He carries this thought in verse two I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not. And you found them to be false. And you have perseverance, and have endured for my name's sake, and have not grown weary.

So far he says positive things about the church. Two things that we want to pull out of this in the positive. We'll just talk about. First, the focus of the people of Ephesus is the truth of God's Word. That's important. And I think within God's church, we kind of get two dynamics of individuals. Personality wise. We fit the gamut of spectrum in between that. But we have people that are very studious book knowledge how it is love the encyclopedia type people. Right. And then you got a group of people that are just like Bob Marley. I don't know whatever else, kind of let's just love, let's not talk about what divides. Let's don't talk about the specifics that make people stand against you. Let's just let's just love. And I think both of those can be important. And one left to itself is dangerous because the truth of who God is helps us to identify if we're even worshiping the right God. When you connect yourself spiritually, you want to connect yourself to the God who empowers you with the right spirit, right? You want to have a perspective of yourself that is godly and biblical, to understand who we are in light of who he is. If you get God right, you get yourself right. It's important God praises this church for that. It's so important for you to take the time to understand who God is.

So we want to connect to him. We ask questions about what's the best way for me to connect to you? God's given us all sorts of avenues to do that. One of the most powerful things we can do is just open up his word and understand it. Begin to read it. We don't understand it, begin to study it, research it. Grab within our mind who God is. His truth is important. That's we always want the freedom here as a church family to ask questions and grow. The truth is important. Jesus said the truth sets you free. You get God right, you get him right. The second thing that the church did in failure was this. But I have this against you that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first reset the timer. I'm coming. I'm going to remove your lamps and all the way for this to go away. I'll tell you what the end of it says. Jesus says he's coming to the world. He's going to tell. He's telling the people that he's going to remove their lampstand as a church. What they're literally saying to us as people, what they're literally Jesus saying in this passage because they've left their first love. Jesus is removing the lampstand. He's saying to the people, I'm shutting down the church.

I am closing this church. And you imagine within our minds what this might look like as individuals. I do not think God showed up with a chain lock in hand. Okay, God didn't come in and all of a sudden he's standing at the door. One Sunday they were gathering to worship Jesus. What are you doing? Blocking the door. Church is closed, I locked it, you know that's not how it happened. I think happened in this passage of Scripture is that Jesus is saying the presence of his spirit, which empowers the church to move forward in this world. It's being taken away. And the reason is not because they don't understand who he is, but because they're not taking the knowledge and understanding of who God is and making the traveling from their mind 18in to their heart. They're not connecting to their heart, their heart to the truth of who God is in their lives. They lack love. We don't learn about God just to know about God. We learn about God to know God. So there's a difference between knowing about him and knowing him. Little good it does for us on Sunday morning to gather together and listen to a message for him. If we don't leave on Monday and Tuesday and meditate on it and seek his face and desire to get near him to long to be with the Lord. So those individuals that were faithful in Christ, I have to think within our mind.

The reason that they desire to be faithful to God is because they just want to be with Jesus. And they came to know him. And the truth of them because of the desire to be with him. And they grew in love with him. But they forgot to continue in their love for him and then left it just about knowing about him but not knowing him. So we can even do that in our own lives as we encounter people who don't carry the same faith. You don't carry the same faith as me. So I'm just going to argue with you about truth because quite frankly, out of all beliefs in the world, Christianity makes so much plain sense that you can literally argue with someone and sound much more brilliant than they do. You know, you know about God. But do you know? Jesus is desiring to connect with us in that way, seeing his kingdom that's unshakable and just knowing him in our lives in truth and loving him with our lives. You know, when I think about the city of Ephesus, I look at the situation. I think, man, that is beautiful. You look down at the Apostle Paul, 250,000 people, all of them just praising Jesus. Could you imagine that worship service. Right. You gather together in the city of Ephesus. When you study it, there's an amphitheater that can hold up to about 25,000 people.

We know at least one time the Apostle Paul was there and the place was packed because there was a riot. Could you imagine going to church? 25,000 people? It would be like the angels singing, worshiping God. The city's just being transformed. How beautiful it is. If they sold a ticket, I would buy it and go and just be there at least once in my life, right? That would be a great worship service. I got to be a part of a worship service once in an auditorium that held 25,000 people. It was amazing. All those voices just singing together in harmony, praising the Lord. But if you were to ask the Apostle Paul about the beauty of the picture of the church that was built there. He described it for us in understanding the circumstance. He said in acts chapter 20 and verse 18, you yourselves know from the first day that I set foot in Asia how I was with you the whole time serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews. Verse 24, he says, but I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course. And the ministry which I received from the Lord, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that all of you among whom I went about preaching the kingdom will no longer see my face.

And Paul is about to leave. It tells us he left Ephesus and he and he went and traveled west into the other regions of the world. And he and eventually he came back to a southern portion of the area of Asia. But he didn't go back to the town of Ephesus. And when he came just below Asia. in Asia, just below Ephesus, he sent word to the church of Ephesus and just asked for the elders to come and visit him. These people, he spent three years with these people. He's loved, these people he's sacrificed with. And it tells us in verse 36, and when he had said these things, he's talking to these individuals. He knelt down and prayed with them, and they began to weep aloud and embraced Paul and repeatedly kissed him. I don't know what kind of smooch that was, but we don't do that here. Grieving, especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again, and they were accompanying him to the ship. You ask the Apostle Paul. Paul, what were your dreams like in Ephesus? I think based on these texts, Paul would come to us and say, I got into this city. And it looked impossible. And with men all things are. Situation looked difficult. These people worshiping this false god. And all we had was 12 people.

And I did what I did in every situation in which I couldn't trust to myself, I just I just turned to Jesus. And we were just faithful to him. And we saw God transform. Unbelievable. We could dream dreams that we never thought possible with us as men, but with God and His unshakable kingdom, everything is possible. But I got to be honest. It was sacrifice to be made. And I had to really get to a place in my life where I had a gut check and I had to say to myself. Is the burden for what God desires for this place more than my own life. Paul said. I didn't count my life as anything. It belonged to Jesus. If I want Jesus to accomplish things in my life, my life belongs to Jesus. And I got to a gut check in my life where the burden for what God desired to do, I knew was more glorious. But I had to answer for myself. Am I willing to lay my life down for what Jesus desires to accomplish in me? Is my burden for what Jesus wants more important than my own desires. Tells us that it brought Paul. In his life. The places where he wept. Places where it was difficult. Places where it may be even seemed impossible. But Paul loved Jesus. I think within our lives we ask the question. What is it you desire for 2013? Or what is it God desires to do within you for 2013? And we think about opening up this book of Ephesus together.

I want to say to us, we've got to begin with the understanding of knowing whatever Jesus wants to do in our lives. It's far better than any dream that we're ever going to come up with for ourselves. And whatever Jesus wants to do in our lives, the goodness of what Christ wants to bring is better than any dream that you could imagine within your own life. The question you have to answer. Am I willing to lay myself down? For what Jesus wants to accomplish. Am I going to allow God to have control of me, to speak to my heart, to allow these things to happen? Book of Ephesus starts this way. The reason the church was powerful. The reason the church saw this world turned upside down for the sake of Christ. It's because they took that gut check and they said, Jesus, it belongs to you. And so Paul begins the book this way. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. By the will of God. To the saints who were at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus. If we were to start with just that thought in our lives. The rest of the book that God will write for us will be glorious. It will be beautiful. It'll be life changing, not just for you, but for everyone around you as the glory of Christ is revealed.