From: "Phil Rembleski" <PHIl@rescuechurchofchrist.org>

To: "1111RESCUEMEMBERS"

Cc:

Sent: Tue, Jul 19, 2022 at 5:43 AM

Subject: 7-19-22 THOUGHTS

7-19-22   THOUGHTS

As I read the description of the Church at Ephesus, I see a group of people who seem to be serious in some ways but have missed the MOST IMPORTANT!  They cannot “tolerate evil men”, yet they have LOST THEIR FIRST LOVE!  The Spirit refers to this as a FALL THAT NEEDS CORRECTING!  I am troubled that there are good deeds and toil and perseverance and endurance for Christ’s sake, yet  SOMETHING VITAL WAS MISSING!   Were they “GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS without proper LOVE?  Were they holding to doctrine and failing in loving service?  We read Matt 5:8 in the auditorium class last Sunday morning... "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”  Had they stopped  “SEEING GOD”  because their motives were mixed and not pure?   One thing is perfectly clear, they needed to repent and go back to the time of  “THE FIRST”!  

Rev 2:1-7    "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:  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; 3  and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary  4  ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.  5  ‘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. 6  ‘Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.  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.’

Php 3:8-10   More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9    and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,  10  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

My Prayer:
O Lord, teach us to see ourselves rightly and often, as we examine ourselves.  Give us vision and zeal as we strive diligently to know you.  Keep us in our first love.  Help us to actively love others with compassion.  May we see clearly the lost souls of our present and local world.   May we speak your awesome name in loving words and deeds.  Give us hearts so full of your love that they spillover into this world.  Please teach us to be fishers of men.  In the precious name of our Savior,     Amen.