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The Book of Revelation - Part 5

08 Mar 2026 · this lesson on the church site

Taught by Dr. Keith Palmer, Grace Bible Church, Granbury, Texas — from the church’s Sunday School series on Revelation. These are lightly edited transcripts of the audio, posted for personal study; the teaching and its content belong to Dr. Palmer and Grace Bible Church. Listen to the originals and find his notes on the church website. Transcribed from the audio by AI. Edited only where the audio was unclear (all edits marked with *). Errors are possible — the recording is the authority.

Overview of Revelation (00:00)

Revelation chapter 2. We're coming back to our study of Revelation. Hopefully we'll have a nice, smooth series of Sundays here to get some momentum back, now that we've just opened the book: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ."

Just to remind you, I'm your tour guide today. We're going to get through this book first by remembering the big picture in terms of the outline. We're in the section on the letters to the seven churches. We'll look at the first letter today, the letter to the church at Ephesus. Then we'll see six more in the remainder of chapters 2 and 3. Then we move into chapter 4, which takes us really to the end of the book, to what John says are the things that will take place next, the things to come.

We have so much ahead of us. It is going to be awesome and weird and wonderful and intriguing. As we try to get our arms around this book, we may not be able to get every detail down or know what it means for certainty. But what we will understand will be glorious as we think about what the Lord is doing now in His church, what He's doing in the future, and how we prepare for that in light of those days.

This is the overview. I've given you copies. You've seen it. It lays out the book. We haven't gotten into the super weird stuff yet. We're in the first couple of chapters, looking at the letters to the seven churches.

To remind you, those seven churches are on the western side of what is today Turkey. In the time of the Bible, it was known as Asia Minor. The seven churches are the red dots there. "I can't read that, Keith." I'll take your word for it. Anyway, those are our churches. We're going to look at the one all the way on the west coast there. One of the most significant port cities of the day was Ephesus, and the church there. Let's look at this first letter.

By the way, did you do your homework assignment? We had a homework assignment. I know it was a few weeks ago, but I don't forget. Do you remember what your homework assignment was? Read through it, yes. And what was the interpretive issue you had to think about? Uh-huh, gotcha. See?

Homework Review: The Angel of the Church (02:06)

Okay, let's look back at the text. Chapter 2, verse 1: "To the angel of the church in Ephesus." I know it's been a couple of weeks, and I know all of us are operating on one less hour of sleep, so I will be benevolent and gracious. But remember, we need to figure out what that word angel is referring to.

The Greek is angelos. Typically, we think of the word angel. We bring that word from Greek right into English, and we think of some sort of heavenly being. At its root, angelos just means messenger. So it can be used in the typical sense, a divine or spiritual being. Or it can be used in its more ordinary sense as just a messenger, perhaps a human messenger.

The challenge is here. John is relaying the message from Jesus to this first church, and the letter is addressed, according to chapter 2, verse 1, to the angel of the church in Ephesus. We have several options:

  1. A heavenly being assigned to the church at Ephesus, who sort of represents the church. That would make sense, although the challenge is that John is writing to an angel and calling the angel to repentance as the representative of the church. It's not that it's bad or wrong. It's just an odd way to do that. (Yes, there is an angel involved in giving the message as well, since the revelation came through an angel.)
  2. A pastor or elder over the church. In that case, angelos is used in its more ordinary way, referring to a human messenger who represents the church.
  3. A human messenger who hand-carries the letter to the actual church. Someone who would carry the letter would typically be the one who reads it to the church. That would be the typical pattern.

Apparently none of you did your homework, so I was going to ask what you thought. Just wing it. What do you think is the better view? A human? Pastor, elder? Yes. Lane, what do you think? I thought it was interesting that Jesus says, "I know your deeds and your toil and your perseverance." Those are human qualities. I'm not aware of any that could be said of a heavenly being, but there could be some.

Yes, Lane is right. That's one of the challenges with taking it as a heavenly being: we're talking about these qualities. And remember, the word you there is singular, which might point toward a single person. So that's one idea. What's another? John, you had something?

That's a third option: a human messenger who hand-carries the letter to the church. That makes sense.

So you see the challenges. There's some data suggesting a heavenly messenger representing the church, and that makes sense, since angelos in the rest of Revelation refers to heavenly beings. It could mean a human messenger here, but it would be one of the few examples in the book where it means that. On the other hand, there are problems with taking it as a human messenger as well. So it's one of those things where you kind of go, "I don't know." There's good evidence on both sides.

What we do know for sure is this: whether the letter is coming through a human messenger, is written to the pastor representing the church, or is addressed to an angelic being representing the church, the message is for this church. Jesus is writing directly to this particular church at Ephesus.

The Letter to Ephesus (07:20)

Let's look at it and then dive in and talk about Ephesus. Jesus is the one "who holds the seven stars in His right hand," which we saw in the previous verses, and "who walks among the seven golden lampstands." Remember what the lampstands represent? The churches. So what is Jesus saying here? He's there among the churches, isn't He? He's ascended to heaven, but He's among the churches, He's with them, He's aware of what's going on. As we see here, it's His gaze that demonstrates areas of commendation and also areas for repentance.

2:2 "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.

2:4 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; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent.

2:6 Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."

Background on Ephesus (09:27)

All right, let's jump in. We're going to look at each of these churches in context. We might have some Sundays where we can do two in one, but Ephesus is one, and there's enough here that we want to slow down.

Some background on Ephesus. You guys know this, but by way of review, Ephesus was a significant port city on the west coast of Asia Minor, which is modern-day Turkey. It was important for trade. If you look at our picture, you're looking at this west coast, and Ephesus is right on the water. There's a trade route that runs through here, and you can imagine the ships coming in and going out, trading from the west coast of Asia Minor over to Greece and also to Rome. So this becomes a really important place for God to plant a church. There's lots of commerce, lots of people, lots of growth, people coming and going. It was a great opportunity for the gospel.

Several things stand out about the church's history:

That's interesting, because we have the letter to the Ephesians, which gives us context for what John is saying here in Revelation, and we have what First and Second Timothy teach us as well. Carl and I were talking about this earlier. We have more biblical data about Ephesus than about most of the other seven churches, because we know a lot about it from those letters.

It was also the home of the temple of the Greek goddess Diana, or Artemis. You read about that in Acts 19:27. Let me show you this, and before we get there, there's an amphitheater that could hold 25,000 people, which is pretty significant for the day. This is modern-day Ephesus. My friend and colleague Todd Bolen*, at The Master's University, has developed and runs the biblePlaces.com website. He's photographed all sorts of biblically significant places, and you can go online and find them. So thanks to Todd. This is modern Ephesus, and this is that amphitheater, which at its peak held up to 25,000 people. So it was a very significant city in terms of the games and other public events.*

The temple of Artemis (Diana) was one of the seven wonders of the world. Again, not much is left of it today, but in its day it was incredible, and people were drawn to it. I was reading on this recently, and this temple was one of the most significant locations in the Roman Empire. If you were in Rome or in this part of the world, it would have been on your bucket list. This was the place to go. Of course, in the Greco-Roman mythology and religion of the day, great power was associated with Artemis, because of* what they believed about her role in life and in society. Ephesus was a very significant city in terms of trade and commerce, and it was also significant in the Greco-Roman world because of that temple.

We need to go back and do this sometime. I'm not going to do it right now, but you can read about Paul's journey through the city. We think of him particularly on Mars Hill in Athens and his conversation with the Athenian philosophers there, but you have to put yourself in Paul's sandals as you think about his time in Ephesus and the ministry he had there for over three years.

The Letter to Ephesus (13:41)

With that background in mind, let's look at the actual content of the letter. Jesus writes through this messenger:

I know your deeds and your toil and your 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.

Stop right there. Do you remember, especially from 1 and 2 Timothy, what Paul was eager to share with Timothy about his leadership over this church?

Anything that connects to what we just read here?

You don't need to turn back, but just listen and remember the warning. Second Timothy is literally the last letter Paul wrote that found its way into the New Testament, and he writes about this. In 2 Timothy 3:1 he says, "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come." Then he talks about what to expect: men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable. He goes on to talk about false teachers who captivate weak women, who are always learning and never come to the knowledge of the truth. Then he calls some of them out. He names Jannes and Jambres, who opposed Moses, and uses that as a comparison for people like that. He also talks about his own persecutions. Then, in 2 Timothy 3:13, he says, "But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived."

So one of the messages Paul gives Timothy is this. This predates what Jesus says to the church in 95 A.D., when Revelation was written, but you can put it together: in Paul's day, false teachers had arisen and were affecting the church. Paul picks up his pen, writes to Timothy, one of the pastor-elders, and says, be careful, warn your people, be on guard against these false teachers. Then, a couple of decades later, we look at the letter Jesus writes. How is the church of Ephesus doing with these false teachers according to the letter?

Commended for Discernment (16:52)

They're doing well. That was one of the commendations. Remember, this church starts probably during the reign of Claudius, and then Nero comes to power and the Neronian persecution begins. Then you have a series of Roman emperor changes, and the persecution continues all the way into the 90s. Jesus, writing to this church, says you're doing a good job. You're being faithful in your deeds. You're persevering in the faith. You're discerning and intolerant of evil men and false apostles.

When you read through your Bible, especially those New Testament letters, you will find that false teaching is one of the perennial threats to the church, and it's still going on today. You look at a Christian book on Amazon, or a blog, and think, this looks really helpful, and then you find out there's some false teaching coming in. False teaching has always been a threat and always will be, so it's encouraging to see a church that was discerning. Discernment is one of the things we need.

Why do you guys keep coming, week after week, and sit under the teaching of the Word?

I know you love the Bible, but why is that so important?

We have to know the truth, because if you don't know the truth, what are you more susceptible to believing? Anything?

That's what the New Testament is showing us: false teaching is a regular threat, and it's very easy for a little bit of it to come into the church, and then corruption begins. Remember, we live out of our theology. Why do we love theology and biblical teaching? Because we live out of that theology. If the god of this world wants to get you off track in your living, he does it by introducing false teaching, because we live out of that teaching.

Yes, that reminder that we even have built in, that response. That's right. In 2 Timothy, Paul reminds Timothy to remember what he learned from his mom and grandmother and to hold fast to those things, to become convinced of them and persevere in them. That's a good reminder for us today: we get to hold fast to those things, remember them ourselves, and pass them on to the next generation.

So these Ephesian believers were doing well. They were discerning. They were spotting false teachers and responding accordingly.

Testing Those Who Claim to Be Apostles (20:03)

Jesus says, "you put to the test those who call themselves apostles." Christianity was the new cool thing, and people wanted to jump on that bandwagon. They'd say, "I'm an apostle, I'm a teacher, I was with Jesus." So the church needed to say, is this a legitimate apostle or not? That's why, in 2 Corinthians, Paul had to deal with the Corinthians wrestling through this. You've got to evaluate these people calling themselves apostles. False apostles had nearly upset the whole Corinthian church. They had convinced a good percentage of the people that Paul was actually a false apostle, and he had to defend himself. He said the signs of a true apostle were performed among them. So the Ephesians were looking out for false teachers and false apostles in an age when that was very prominent, and according to Jesus, they were successful.

It's a good reminder for us to remember what we've learned, to become convinced of it, and to be mindful and discerning. I hope you don't just get on any blog, listen to any podcast, or get any book that so-and-so recommended and say, I'm just going to read this and take it all in. You always have to have your theological radar up and ask, is this lining up with Scripture or not? That's not just true of what's out there. It's true of what's in here too. We don't believe all the pastors are inerrant, authoritative, and infallible. We're all susceptible to error and to getting off track, so we need one another to test one another and keep ourselves in the truth.

Preach the Word. That's right. We are most easily deceived and led astray when we are not in the Word and anchored in the truth. This is the message that asks, are you reading your Bible? Because the more you drift, the easier a target you are.

Persevering for the Name (23:09)

We can learn from the Ephesians in something they did well: they persevered. Notice Jesus says this twice. The word is hupomonē, which means to keep on pressing on, to keep on being faithful when you're opposed, to persevere. Think about the context: the Roman emperors were persecuting, and this was the first generation of Christians. They had lost houses, families, and jobs, and in some cases had to relocate. Jesus* commends them and says, you're doing well, you're continuing in these things, and you're not being led astray. Those are good reminders to keep on, to persevere.

Revelation 2:3 gives a little of the secret to why they could persevere: "you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake and have not grown weary." That's interesting in light of what Jesus says in the next verses. They were pressing on, persevering, faithful, calling out false teachers, and why? For the Lord's name. They had the right motive and the right goal. They were doing this in Jesus' name, for His glory, His name, and His reputation, and they were not growing weary in the work, even though it was difficult.

The Nicolaitans (24:10)

Jesus also mentions something else, so let's jump down to verse 6: "But this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate." Who are the Nicolaitans? There are two options. They could have been followers of Nicholas, mentioned in Acts 6:5 as one of the faithful men who were chosen. If the Nicholas of Acts 6:5 was faithful and later became the leader of the so-called Nicolaitans, then he started as a professing believer, strayed into error and false teaching, and ended up forming his own band of heretics. If that's the case, Jesus is telling the Ephes

You say, where do you get that? Just look down at verses 14–15.* He circles back to the Nicolaitans in the letter to Pergamum: "But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans." So he connects the eating of food sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality to the teaching of the Nicolaitans, and then he makes this reference back to Balaam, which we'll talk about here in a couple of weeks.

The point is that one option for the so-called Nicolaitans is that they were followers of Nicholas. Again, if that's the reference in Acts 6:5, they abandoned Christianity and got into false teaching. The other option is that they were just a group of false Christians who ate meat sacrificed to idols. If you take Nicolaitans from the Greek words nikaō and laos, meaning "conquer the people,"* then maybe it's not a specific reference to a man named Nicholas, and maybe it's just a general reference. But in either case, whoever these Nicolaitans were, they were engaging in sin and teaching others to engage in sin.

So Jesus, writing to the Ephesians, says it's good that you hate their deeds. Notice what Jesus is saying there. You're not hating the people. He's saying you're hating these sinful deeds that they're engaged in and teaching others to do. Okay, so far so good. This is a church that is doing well. They're persevering. They're spotting false teachers and turning away from them. They're calling out evil men and the deeds of evil men, and guarding the church. They're not growing weary. They're enduring for the sake of his name. Right? Great. Awesome.

"You Have Left Your First Love" (27:21)

There's just one small and incredibly significant problem. Jesus only has one critique for the church at Ephesus. Look back at the text. Verse 4: "But I have this against you, that you have left your first love."

Wow. Just imagine, for those of you that are married, let's do an analogy. Imagine Jesus saying, you're doing great. You're being faithful. You're great with your family, great on your job, great in your church, and this and that, but you don't love your spouse. That's an indicting, horrible, personal critique, isn't it? You've left your first love.

This is important, guys. What we're going to see here is that it's possible to be faithful as a Christian. It's possible to be faithful as a discerning church, but to not love Christ like we ought to. We can do right things, but not from a motive of love for him. You already said, "They endured for the sake of his name." So it's not that they weren't thinking about Christ. It's that they're not loving him like they used to.

Love in Ephesians (29:30)

Hold your place here. It's interesting that if we turn back to the letter to the Ephesians, love is one of the themes. Just hold your place in Revelation, go back to Ephesians, and look at this. It's really interesting to compare the two.

In chapter 2, verse 4, you remember this, right? Paul is writing to the Ephesians: "You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked... among them we too all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)." So love is part of the motive of God to show mercy and grace to sinners, including the Ephesians.

Look at chapter 3, verse 14. He circles back to it again here, when he prays. "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father... that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God."

So as he prays for the Ephesians, what is he saying? He's praying that they would be grounded in that love, anchored in that love, growing in that love, and representative of that love. When we are founded on God's love for us in Christ, and we are growing in seeing that love, embracing that love, and experiencing that love, what does it do? It has two wonderful outworkings, doesn't it? Two motivations. It generates a love for God, back to him, and a love for others. Both of these are mentioned in the book of Ephesians.

Those Who Love Our Lord (31:35)

Flip the page to chapter 6 as we get toward the end of the letter. This is the last thing Paul says to the Ephesians. Chapter 6, verse 23: "Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love." Look at how he describes the Ephesians. Literally the last thing he says to them is commendation: blessing to you because you love him.

That's why in all those other passages, we didn't look up, they* were loving one another, right? You understand how love works? God loves us. He sets his love on us, and that love transforms us and changes us, so that we love him vertically and we love others horizontally. Grace be with those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an incorruptible love.

And just like us, just like all believers, there's always a temptation to do what? To drift. No Christian wakes up in the morning and says, "Huh, I want to turn away from love for Jesus today." But what happens? We get busy. We get involved in serving. We get involved in life. And that love, that pure, central, motivating, focused fire that says this is my God and I want to follow him today, wanes. It gets redirected. That love gets pointed at other things, and it's diluted and lessened.

Again, everything in your life is great except you don't love your spouse anymore. We go, what? That's the point. You're doing well. You're persevering. You're enduring. You're kicking out false teachers. You're keeping the church pure. You're being faithful. You're not growing weary, but you don't love him like you used to.

That word first, when it says "first love," can be translated "chief love," your main love. He's not saying there aren't other loves. I've got to love my neighbor and love my family. But your chief love, your main love, your first love, you left it.

Taking the Critique Seriously (34:57)

In each of these letters where he has a critique, he uses this phrase, "I have this against you." I don't want to skip over that. Go back into Deuteronomy, the blessings of obedience, and then the curses if they disobey, when they don't keep his commands. That's the strength of the critique. As some of you* were just saying, we ought not skip over the language of Jesus saying, "But I have this against you." To hear the Savior who died for us say, "I have this against you," should have massive impact, shouldn't it?

What does he say? Remember, repent, and do the deeds you did at first. This goes right back to what Brenda was saying about the admonition to Timothy: remember.

Can we hit pause for a moment and ask, how is our love for Christ? Do you remember a time in your life when that fire of love for him burned brighter and stronger than it does today? Maybe it was that moment when Jesus drew you to himself. Maybe, like a lot of us, it was gradual. I grew up in it and I've always known it. For some of you, it was more dramatic: I was living like this, and God just rescued me. But do you remember that moment when you were young in the faith? You were eager. There was a newness to it, a freshness, and that focused you. It brought energy and perspective, and it consumed your life. I know our stories are different, and maybe that's not hitting exactly right. But I bet there was a time in your life when you said, my love was strong. And maybe it is today. Praise the Lord. We want it to grow in all of that.

But if it's weak, if that flame has dwindled to just a little glowing ember, then we need to hear this and say something is wrong, and we need to remember the gospel. We need to remember what life is about. We need to remember his rescue of us.

Remember, Repent, Do (38:19)

He doesn't leave the text there. He says, "Therefore remember from where you have fallen." What is he saying? Where did you used to be, and where are you now? And then:

  1. Remember from where you have fallen.
  2. Repent.
  3. Do the deeds you did at first.

Repent is a spiritual U-turn, isn't it? It's saying, I'm here, and I need to be there. I'm going to turn away, through confession and faith, back to that.

Sheila, you said something about repentance? Repentance says, that is God's mercy. He hasn't given up. Isn't that true? The opportunity for repentance is an example of mercy. That's well said, because to hear what Carl reminded us of, "I have this against you," but it's not that you don't... you did this. It's "you did this," and "I have this against you," but here's an opportunity to change that. Repentance is a doorway to mercy, isn't it? It's an opportunity for mercy.

So remember where you have fallen. Remember where you were. Remember when that fire of love burned strong and bright, when it was motivating and clarifying and significant, when Christ was more central. We know life gets busy and complicated, and we have all this stuff we have to do that is good stewardship God gives us. But repent and come back. And notice what he says to you. He helps us here: remember from where you have fallen, repent, turn, and do the things you did at first. I love the practicality of that. How much were you in your Bible when Christianity was fresh?

Remembering Our First Love (40:29)

What did your prayers sound like when they were fueled by a newly discovered love for him? Do you have those? I have memories from college. I have memories from seminary. And you can think back and say, what did I do to feed the fire that I'm not doing now? That's a very personal thing. Jesus doesn't give us a description here. He says, you know what you used to be like. Here's your opportunity to change, to go back and reintroduce some of those things that have fallen by the wayside and fueled your love for Christ. That might be a good afternoon exercise: write out some things. What are some things that I used to do that I'm not doing anymore? Or things that I know will help me, but for some reason I've gotten distracted from them?

Deeds, Motives, and the Threat of Removal (41:38)

Now he's saying, the deeds you did at first. So the point there is the motivation behind doing deeds. Maybe I'm reading my Bible every day, but am I reading it for the right reason? He's commending their deeds, Carl's pointing out, but were they from the right motive? So the instruction is to remember those deeds and repeat them, but with the right motive.

Then comes the threat: or else I'm coming to you and I will remove your lampstand. Notice the "you" is singular there. He's speaking to the church collectively, and he's saying this is a big deal. "I have this against you, and while you're doing some things right, this needs to change." And if it doesn't change, what's the threat? "I'm taking down your church." The lampstand is representative of the church. We're going to talk about the history of some of these churches. Where did they go? What did they end up doing? But this is the warning: if you don't repent, I will remove your lampstand, that is, the influence you have as a local church.

Hear What the Spirit Says (42:40)

He gives this conclusion, and we're going to see it repeated: "He who has an ear to hear, let him hear." What does that sound like? Who does that sound like? It sounds like Jesus in the Gospels, doesn't it? That gives authenticity to the fact that this is really Jesus communicating his message via the angel to John.

Notice what he says: "What the Spirit, singular, says to the churches." Remember the seven spirits? What are the seven spirits? There's one Holy Spirit. How could that be seven? Another interesting part of this is that the seven spirits represent the one Holy Spirit. Each of the seven letters gets this conclusion, "Hear what the Spirit says to the churches." So there are seven messages, so to speak, from the Spirit to the church, pointing back to those seven spirits that are sent out, as we learned earlier.

The Tree of Life (43:44)

Then he says, "To him who overcomes, I will grant him to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God." We'll see this again in Revelation 22. Of course, that echoes back to Genesis, to the garden where God made Adam and Eve, and there was a tree in the middle of the garden called the Tree of Life. You'll recall that once Adam and Eve sinned, they were sent out of the garden, lest they eat from the Tree of Life in their fallen condition and live forever in that condition. We'll see that circle back here in Revelation.

One of the reasons we know that Genesis 1 and 2 is not mythology is that it gets referenced literally in other places of the Bible, including the book of Revelation. Even when we get to chapter 22, there is a Tree of Life in the new heavens and the new earth. So there it is: "To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the paradise of God." Wow!

So we walk away today with this thought: how is our love for Christ? We can do many things in his name, but if we don't love him, that is of first importance, isn't it?

Closing Prayer (44:46)

Father, thanks for these reminders that we need to hear. I pray that if we look back into our past and see a time when our love for Christ and our faith was stronger, more passionate, more intense, and more motivating, we would take a moment to remember those things, to repent, and to start reintroducing the things we did that fed our love for you. Father, it's so easy to be distracted. We thank you that there are many good things we can do, but if they don't arise from love for you, then nothing else really matters. So we ask for your work in our hearts. Thank you for this letter to Ephesus that we can learn from. And I pray that as we reset our clocks today, we will reset our hearts as well, in a love for you and a reestablishing of what fuels that love. Give us wisdom as we evaluate. Give us wisdom and grace. Thank you for the mercy of repentance. Will you work in us? We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

* = the audio was unclear here and the words were reconstructed from context. Scripture read aloud is in red.

Taught by Dr. Keith Palmer, Grace Bible Church, Granbury, Texas — from the church’s Sunday School series on Revelation. These are lightly edited transcripts of the audio, posted for personal study; the teaching and its content belong to Dr. Palmer and Grace Bible Church. Listen to the originals and find his notes on the church website. Transcribed from the audio by AI. Edited only where the audio was unclear (all edits marked with *). Errors are possible — the recording is the authority.

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