who's that writin? john the revelator!

I had my first opportunity to share the message at one of Woodvale's services last week when I was able to speak at the Sunday evening service. It was a small crowd, as it usually is at that service, which allowed me to be a little more discussion oriented and engage the congregation in ways that one couldn't do so well on Sunday morning. I spoke on Revelation 1:9 through 2:7. This passage was given to me by Margaret, the minister at Woodvale, since the Sunday evening group is working through Revelation. Alright, first time up and I get to run with Revelation. My initial thought was, hope I fair better than Robin Ventura when he went up against a legend. (The first 30 seconds of the video below might clear up any confusion on that one for you.)

The first part of the passage I dealt with, verses 1:9 through the end of chapter 1, dealt with a lot of imagery. I worked through this passage explaining some of the imagery. The combination of some notes from Margaret and my Disciple Bible study class last year made this a much less daunting task than it would've been before. Then, in 2:1 through 2:7, I took the group into a deeper look at the address to the church at Ephesus. I'll take you through some of my notes now.

•  Ephesus was a pagan city and the majority of people worshipped the goddesses Diane and Artemis. It would've been quite difficult to be a Christian in this setting.
• In verses 2 and 3 the church is commended for what they've done well. For hard work and perseverance, not being led astray by false prophets and testing those prophets claim to leadership, and not growing weary despite hardships. What are your church's strengths?
• In verse 4 the church is then condemned for their failures, mostly that they have forgotten their first love. That is, they've lost their passion for Christ. The same church that was commended by Paul in Ephesians 1:15 for their loving attitudes as now lost touch with that.
• The church at Ephesus would've been a busy church. It is likely that they were doing much to benefit the community around them but at this time their mission and programming was of the wrong motive. The work of the church must be motivated by our love of God and the desire to bring equality and a heaven like attitude to this earth. It must be our response to God's love in our lives. Mission and programming for the wrong reasons will not result in sustainable ministry. After looking at this condemnation of the church, are there ways in which our church would be condemned? Have we lost touch with our first love? In light of this criticism, how can we go about reclaiming this first love?  
• In verse 5 the church is counseled. They've been condemned but now they're given some useful pointers. They're told to repent. First and foremost, we must repent. By acknowledging what we've done wrong we recognize our fault and can make changes. On an individual level, repentance is necessary to find Christ within ourselves. If He dwells in us, then we have to work through all the muck within us to get to Him. Much of our relationship with Christ is dealing with the stuff we don't want to deal with but it is that mess that separates us from God and the person He intends us to be. 
• In verse 7 we get the age old advice to listen to the Spirit. God is always working but almost never in the same way. We must be tuned in with the Spirit to know how God wants to reinvent and direct us both as individuals but even more importantly as the Church. What's the consequence of tuning out the Spirit? How's God challenging our church and the wider Church right now? 

You probably weren't looking for a lesson on Revelation or a video of Nolan Ryan beating up a young Robin Ventura. You got both. I would definitely call this post a twofer. But in all honesty, the book of Revelation holds some great advice for churches that is, in fact, relevant in today's society, even when we take it in the correct context and seek to understand what the imagery meant for early Christians. So thanks to Margaret for giving me the opportunity to do a little preaching and to Woodvale for encouraging me in my doing so! It was a great experience to try preaching to a church with a different background than what I've been in before and set in a much different community than I've been in before.

leading the revival!