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[Music] good morning connect Church Happy Father’s Day to all the uh all the dads that are here it’s going to be a great day to be together in God’s house and I’m so glad that you’re all here with us if you are new or you’re new joining us online uh we definitely want to say welcome and we want to give you an opportunity to connect with us and to maybe answer any questions that you might have you can text the word new to 833 24569 uh or you can scan the QR code that is on the screen uh here behind me or maybe coming up uh below if you’re watching online you can certainly do that uh we have an exciting day today uh not only with it being Father’s Day and we do have a little something for the dads at the end of the service today but we’ll get to that at the end of the service um but we have Eric and Stephanie Chapman that are here uh our missionaries to mova Malawi and Central Asia and I know that you’re going to be blessed and Blown Away by what God has done and is continuing to do uh through their Ministry um and so that’s that’s going to be coming up here in just a few minutes um as we get started today and I think about Father’s Day and I think about the power of PR we believe in the power of prayer amen and I think about how when the disciples asked Jesus how should we pray I think about the two words that Jesus started with our father Our Father how important that is those two words right off the bat he’s saying we’re not addressing God as some as something other then our father he cares about each and every one of us he cares about the most intricate things and the fact that we are to approach the creator of the universe the creator of all as our father how humbling how amazing how thankful we should all be let’s pray as we get started today Father I thank you so much that you are our father that we can come to you as our heavenly father and that you love us in that way father I’m so grateful that we can come together as a church family that we can come together as your body a Believers we can worship we can learn we can be challenged and changed and I pray that you would move through this place today in all of those ways and and more Lord I pray that you would be with Eric as he’s going to be speaking and bringing your word today and Lord I pray that as As we sing and we lift our voices and we lift our hearts to you Lord that that you’re pleased with the worship that we bring you in Jesus name we pray amen would you stand with us thank you Pastor Jay and the Lord is faithful the father is faithful every morning his mercies are new and all through our life he’s with us so let’s sing This Together bless the Lord oh my soul oh my soul worship His holy name sing like never before Oh My Soul I’ll worship your holy name the sun comes up it’s a New Day Dawning it’s time to sing your song again whatever may pass and whatever goes before me let me be singing when the evening comes come on Church let’s bless him bless the Lord my soul oh my soul worship His holy name sing like never before oh my soul I worship your holy name this is our father sing of him you’re rich in love and you’re slow to anger your name is great and your heart is kind for all your goodness I will keep on singing 10,000 reasons for my heart to find oh bless the Lord oh my soul oh my soul worship His holy name yes sing like never before oh my soul I worship your whole name [Music] and on that day when the strength anybody there the end draws near and my time has come still my soul will sing your praise unending 10,000 years and and forever more we’ll sing forever more so bless the Lord oh my soul oh my soul worship His Hoy name sing like never before oh my soul I worship your holy name yes bless the Lord oh my soul oh my soul worship His holy name sing like never before oh my soul I worship your holy name I worship your holy name name yes I worship your Holy Name come on Soul sing like never before oh my soul I worship your lord [Music] anybody faithful or or thankful for a faithful God Amen no matter what we’ve committed to him he’s taken care of it and not just for us but for his glory because he’s always true he’s all faithful let’s sing it I know not why God’s wonderous Grace to me he have made known nor one unworthy Christ in love redeem before his own but I know whom I have belied and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto him against that day I know oh not how this saving Faith to me he did imp part nor how believing in his word brought peace within my heart but I know whom I have believe it and I’m persuaded that he is able to to keep that which I committed unto him against that day I know not what a good or ill may be reserve for me of wey days or golden before his face I see but I know who I have belied and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I committed unto him against that day yes I know whom I have belied and am persuaded that he is able to to keep that which I’ve committed unto him against that day we have such a great father a great God and and today we’re focusing on not only his greatness as a father but also sharing his love and so together we’re going to continue to sing and this is our call to be his children and to share his love the Father’s Love with the whole world that’s what we’re all about about church continuing to make disciples let’s sing it the call of the kingom lift your eyes to the king let his song Rise within you as a fragrant offering of how God rich in Mercy came in Christ to redeem all who trust in his unfailing Gra [Music] so hear the call of the Kingdom to be children of light with the mercy of Heaven the humility of Christ walking justly before him loving all that is right that the Life of Christ May shine through us so King Of Heaven we will answer the call we will follow bringing hope to the world filled with passion filled with power to Proclaim salvation in Jesus name so hear the call of the kingom to reach out to the Lost filled with Father’s compassion in The Wonder of the Cross bringing peace and forgiveness and a hope yet to come let the Nations put their trust in him King Of Heaven we will answer the call we will follow bringing home to the world filled with passion fill his power to Proclaim salvation in Jesus name King Of Heaven yes we will answer that call we will follow bringing hope to the world filled with passion filled with power to Proclaim salvation in Jesus name salvation in Jesus name salvation in Jesus name we have a great savior a great father would you just say thank you Jesus for all he’s done for us we want to be his children today amen thank you you can be seated Stephanie and I began our our missionary career in 1992 after a brief deputation we left for the field in 1993 we arrived in teraso mova a city of over 220,000 people near the Ukrainian border after more than 50 years of communist atheist rule mova was in desperate need of the gospel and church planting our family of six quickly settled into living and surviving in this Soviet Society and started learning the Russian language by November of 1993 we started an evangelization in a large Cinema building with over 100 in the first meeting the crowd grew and we moved to a larger Auditorium with crowds as many as a thousand in the spring of the next year we saw hundreds baptized after receiving Christ as Savior that first church is still reaching The Souls of taspo after 30 years during that first term in mov four churches were started in the surrounding Villages the fields were truly wide under Harvest we ran several youth camps during our first term and over the course of time raised money to buy our own camps the Lord blessed with the purchase of a large Camp property in the village of vage this facility has 25 acres and buildings that can accommodate over 300 campers and staff a year later we purchased and ran a smaller camp in the northern part of mdova through the years we’ve had a tremendous camp and seen multitudes come to Christ we have plenty of fun and activities throughout the camp week but the primary focus is on preaching and teaching the gospel we have seen a great moving of the spirit of God In The Souls of many young people throughout the years the camp has also been a great place for discipleship in 2009 we opened a Bible Institute at the camp for deeper discipleship and biblical training this is a three-year program and a large number of our graduates have started churches and are serving their local churches throughout mova and Beyond as the camp and the Bible Institute grew the Nationals of mova began to take over the work at that time God began to open another door for us to reach a very needy country in South Africa Malawi after several years of short-term mission trips where we held open evangelization and started several churches I saw the need for us to be there full-time so Stephanie and I moved to Malawi in 2013 we started to hold modular schools for Village pastors where we gave them solid Biblical training we started bicycle teams of evangelists who went out originally to reach youth but found that they were reaching entire Villages and and church planting was was going on for many years we we ran mobile medical clinics in the villages to offer physical Aid and at every mobile clinic we preach the gospel sometimes to hundreds if not thousands of people God blessed in many ways in our ministry in maloi in 2019 God opened the doors for Eurasian Baptist Mission to again extend the Great Commission into a new region Central Asia these countries of the former Soviet Union speak mostly Russian but are ethnic and religiously Muslim which brings a new Dynamic to sharing the gospel of Christ so in 2020 we moved to Central Asia unfortunately Co put a a damper on the efforts there we were able to work with several Bible school graduates from Central Asia and got them grounded in gospel work especially in the areas of youth camps and church planting those Ministries are now working independent of our support as Stephanie and I go into our Twilight years we are mostly focused on the work in Africa there is still much to do before the national leaders will be able to take the ministry there without missionary help and direction we ask you to pray for us as we return to Malawi in early 25 to continue evangelism training pastors and church leaders [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] okay all right well I wish everyone a Happy Father’s Day who is a father I have four girls as you saw in the video eight grandchildren uh a lot of time has passed a lot of water under the bridge since those old days when I was at the AC Baptist Temple I’ve already seen many friends here today the greatest influence on my life were some of you your brothers your fathers your your sisters and your some of your friends I grew up through the Sunday school I was in the Baptist Temple since the 60s and the greatest influence of my life was there in at Ohio Baptist Acres as you saw from the camp Ministry uh I took many of the things that I learned at Ohio Baptist Acres when I was on staff there for four or five years and I Incorporated that into our ministry in mdova and um I just want to tell you it’s a privilege to stand at connect church I saw the church last night brother Jason took us through I’m just amazed at what I’ve seen here and as saddened as I am of what’s happening over on Manchester Road I I lived right across the street from Rhymer school about five houses down on Lockwood Street so as dismayed as I am with that I am amazed at what I’m seeing here and from now on when I talk about my people in Aran I’m going to be talking about the folks at connect church is that okay with you you are my people and um I am a son of uh of the acon Baptist Temple now for therefore now I’m a son of connect church and um I have a few more years of ministry left pray for our my health I’ve had some heart issues because I had pericarditis back four years ago right before the pandemic that affected the heart lining uh around my heart um we don’t know exactly what’s causing the heart arhythmia that I have now but I’ll be seeing doctors beginning on the 16th of July we are in the states until um the end of the year we plan to go back on um January 4th to Africa we will probably be finishing our missionary career in Malawi Africa so I left some cards with some of you there cards out on the table take one pray for us look at our website um if we’re not friends on Facebook I’m under Eric V Chapman V and you can find me there and I put videos out from time to time if you want to be on our mailing list just send me an email and I’ll put you on my mailing list all right but it’s a privilege as I said to be here and I’m thankful for all the experiences I’ve had through the years now you need to understand something about me today I’m an evangelist I’m not a pastor all my work has been under in evangelism uh my whole missionary career I came out of Bible College in uh in 1980 knowing that God had called me to evangelism I tried to Pastor for a while but when an evangelist pastors a church he just makes a mess so I never would try to Pastor a church but I’ve started a lot of churches in Africa we’re sending out six Bible uh Bible Camp teams we call them Day Camp teams those teams are going out next week we have started 170 churches and we train pastors there in Malawi I have personally been involved in church planting in the United States and I’ll tell you what connect Church feels like to me I told I told Brother Jason last night this feels the excitement of it and the look of it feels like a church plant this feels like something something new that God is going to put his hand on and that God is going to bless now the message that God has given me for the American Church uh is is similar to the message that I preached in Malawi I was preaching in the Book of Revelation Chapter 2 in Malawi on the Church of thyra I don’t know how familiar you are but the Church of thota Tyra is a church that had a lot of problems I would say the most problems of the seven churches that that the Lord addresses through John was the Church of thot Tyra we saw the beginnings of Revival in Malawi I believe we’re going to see Revival there but I thought about that and I thought should I preach on any of the seven churches while I’m in the United States and about a year ago the Lord revealed to me that perhaps I should but I got to thinking about it and if you’ll turn to Revelation chapter 1 where I’m going to speak today um the Church of the Church of Ephesus is the church that I believe believe is the church that I should speak on to my people here in the United States I don’t cheat think that I think the Church of thot Tyra is in America now I’m not here to preach today on any kind of dispensationalism I’m not here to preach out of the Book of Revelation to preach on eschatology or end times because you know when I was 25 years old brother Larry I knew everything about the end times except the date I had seen the movies you know late great planet Earth you know I had read the books I thought I knew everything but I will be honest with you today as I approach 70 years old I have no idea what’s going to happen in the future you know and I don’t even a date I wouldn’t even I wouldn’t even begin I don’t know if the Lord’s coming back today or if he’s coming back a hundred years from now so I’m not going to preach on eschatology I stopped doing that a long time ago but I think we have something to learn here from John and what John has to say in the Book of Revelation and what I’m here to tell you today is and one thing I want you to understand I’m a Street Preacher I preach in the open air so sometimes to a thousand or 2,000 people and also I’m hard of hearing therefore my wife says I should wear my hearing aids she’s always on me wear your hearing aids but when I wear my hearing aids all I hear is an echo and I can’t preach when I hear an echo and also when I preach with hearing aids I kind of preach like this because I’m too loud you know and people say what’s wrong with you Eric you used to preach what happened to you well I’m wearing hearing aids I can’t preach anymore so I don’t wear them when I preach all right and sometimes if I’m standing there and you hear my I look over at my wife she’ll interpret what you’re saying cuz I don’t always hear everything I also have cataracts so these lights are killing me but I’m going to stand under them because I think there’s somebody on the put pointing a camera at me so I need to stand under the lights okay but if I come down here it’s it’s more to get out of the lights than anything else because I’m used to a different situation I’ve only been in the states for two weeks I’ve only preached in a couple churches on Sunday and and but I I I’m really excited to share this message with you here I’m going to start inap chap one of the Book of Revelation um John is told here and I’m going to summarize the first chapter so we can get right into uh the second chapter but but but John is told here that he is to write to these seven churches The Book of Revelation was written to the churches and like I said I think all seven churches you will find in the United States today or some type of these churches you will find a type of the seven churches of Revelation in Africa you will find a type of the seven churches in Asia you will find this in Europe and you will find this in the United States but I think my people the baptistic people that I know the Church of Ephesus fits us the best but let’s look at the beginning and let’s set the stage for what we’re going to look at when we look at the church of Ephesus we’re going to find that Jesus calls himself two times the Alpha and Omega and the Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end Jesus Christ is Yahweh the son he is one of the members of the Trinity he is God Almighty he is the creator he is Yahweh he is Yahweh the son and all power is given unto him it’s we’re told he is the first and the last and he tells John in verse 11 the things that you see in the book write and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia under Ephesus and samna and pergamus and thyra and under uh Sardis and Philadelphia and leoda and I will turn to see and I turn to see The Voice John says that spake unto me and began to turn and I saw seven golden candlesticks all right we’re going to see at the last verse what the interpretation of this is seven golden candlesticks and in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks one unlike the son of man clothed with the garments down to his foot and girded among the paps with a golden girdle now I’m reading out of the old Bible the King James Bible most of you probably have a different version but I don’t have that version with me so this is what I’m reading out of you read from your version but I see Jesus walking among the candlesticks this is very important and we’ll talk about that in a second and it talks about his hair uh White like wool all right um his eyes were like flame of fire his feet were like like fine brass burning in a furnace and his voice like the sound of many Waters in other words I think he’s speaking loudly to John all right and verse 16 and he had in his right hand the right hand is the hand of power Seven Stars and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword and his count countenance was as the sun shineth uh in in in in his strength so it was very bright when I saw him John says I fell down like I was dead and he laid his hand upon me and said fear not I am the first and the last he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive Evermore amen and I have the keys of hell and death this is the Jesus who went to the Cross this is the Jesus who died on the cross for our sins this is the Jesus who said to all men he who comes to me I will no wise cast out I am the way the truth and the life this is who we’re talking about here but this is the Jesus who sits on the throne of God after the cross after after the Ascension write these things which thou Hast seen and these things which are and the things which shall be thereafter so these are things that have happened during John’s day and the things that will happen after John’s day all right and then verse 20 and I said all that to get to verse 20 The Mystery of the Seven Stars I like it when the Lord says mystery I prepared several sermons for this Furlow and most of the sermons I’m preparing for this Furlow talk about a revealed mystery all right another sermon that I have is over uh Romans chapter 11 and it talks about a mystery is revealed I think it’s important when a mystery is revealed here is the mystery of what John what what John is is being being told here uh by the Lord the Seven Stars which thou sawest and thy right hand and the Seven golden candlesticks the Seven Stars are the Angels of the seven churches and the Seven candlesticks which thou sth are the seven churches and the Bible said that Jesus walked among the churches I don’t think I have to tell you today that Jesus loves his church Jesus loves the church he walks immense amongst his people right this is very important for us to understand as we go into this this this next few verses right and he has put his protection over the church by putting Angels over the church and five of the seven churches though the Lord Jesus Christ is telling John to warn them lest they lose their Angel and lose their Candlestick we’re living in perilous days in America today I could say across the world but I will say the difference between other places I’m at and the United States and other places I am at in the world people are hungry for the gospel people want to hear the word of God now I will tell you what I believe here maybe I’m wrong maybe you’ll disagree but I think there are people all across America that are looking for something else I believe our young people in America are saying I don’t agree with the churches that I’ve been in and I don’t understand the churches that I’ve seen I’m looking for something better and they are trying everything and they’re going everywhere looking for something better and Satan is capturing our young people and it’s important that the church in America wake up to that but when I preach in Africa young people want the gopel El and many are saved and many churches are started when I preach in Eastern Europe and you know you hear in the news how bad Russia is well I’ll tell you something about Russia we made a mistake not sending 10,000 missionaries to Russia when the doors were open we should have sent 10,000 missionaries not just to go in and preach for a week but to stay there and live amongst these people and preach the gospel we’ve seen a tremendous change in movan society because of the camp Ministry we’ve seen over 100,000 young people except the Lord Jesus Christ and it’s made an impact on society I cannot go to a Russian Church in America and I do go to some Russian churches I do speak Russian yusi anybody here speak Russian k no okay I go into Russian churches and I always meet people most of the time they’re leading the service and they come running up to me after the service say oh brother Eric I got saved in your camp and I still believe we could have the same influence in America I really believe that and after talking to Jason I believe he believes that too but let’s look at this first church this church that the lord loves so much unto the angel of the Church of Ephesus write these things saith he that hold the Seven Stars in his right hand who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks I Know Thy works and thy labor and thy patience and how thou can not bear them which are evil and thou Hast tried them which saith they are Apostles and are not and has found them Liars thou Hast borne and Hast patience for my name’s sake hasth labored and hath not fainted now I believe this is my people God knows our works he knows the works of connect church he knows who you are he knows what you’re doing he’s watching everything I know you’re about to go out in a couple of weeks right and you’re going to labor amongst the people in akan on a Sunday morning I was excited to see that I don’t think I’ve seen that in a church in a long long time if ever you know what an idea instead of coming coming together for a morning service we’re going to go out and we’re going to labor and we’re going to work for God then we’re going to come back together and share what God is doing what a magnificent thing I almost feel like canceling a few meetings and just being here myself to see it how exciting God knows what you’re doing God knows your labor he knows your patience he knows that you’re waiting for his return he knows that you’re looking to the Lord to come back how many of us are looking for the Lord to come back back soon I know I am amen oh I like that you said amen back you know what we say in Africa this is what we do in Africa let’s see if we got any Africans here today maybe I’ll get up and I’ll be preaching I’ll say hallelujah and you know what everybody says they say Amen well they don’t say hallelujah back they say Amen didn’t you you were in my service last week weren’t you brother so what did I say I said hallelujah amen hallelujah amen he was there last week see see he’s a malaan already that guy back there and so this is what we do so let’s try it again hallelujah hallelujah see I get louder as I go Hallelujah now I can introduce 20 pastors on a stage in Africa and every single one of them will stand up and do that and we have to we have to listen to that but you only have to listen to me but yes you guys just about have it but the Lord knows your Works he knows who you are he knows everything about you but you know I noticed here that he also says nevertheless in verse four I have somewhat against thee because thou has left thy First Love Now if I were to talk to most people who know Jesus Christ and I would said you know the Lord says he’s got something against you you’ve left your first love and I’m sure when John wrote this to the Church of Ephesus they said we didn’t we didn’t forsake our first love we love Jesus right if I were to say here connect church I think some of you have left your first love he say that preacher is wacky we don’t agree with that Pastor Jason why you having a preacher come in and tell us tell us that well you see John is getting this from Jesus right he’s getting this from Jesus the Church of Ephesus they love the Lord they say they will not tolerate false Apostles they will not allow false Doctrine in their church amen oh I’m sorry Hallelujah okay there we go I’m almost becoming Americanized in just two weeks you know yeah we’re not going to tolerate false Doctrine we’re not allowing false people in their our church we work for God we’re helping the poor we’re doing things that we can do this was a persecuted church folks I know folks we’re just beginning to go through the persecution we don’t even feel the effects of the persecution yet for the most part but we’re just beginning to go through persecution in this country unless God sends Revival that’s what’s going to happen all right when I went to mdova I began my work with a people who were just coming out of persecution and they behaved like people who were still in persecution I’ve been to the house churches I’ve been to the 4-Hour Services I’ve been to the mourning and the Wailing as they sing in the minor keys and you know um song about prayer oh my oh my leful I mean they’re singing about prayer but they’re singing like people who are who who who are in persecution tion and dire need of God and took somebody like me to stand up and say guys the veil’s been lifted the Soviet Union is gone we are free we can go out into society now we can baptize in the river again and don’t have to do it at night you know I didn’t understand their society and they didn’t understand me but they finally got it you know but we’re heading into this persecution unless God intervenes and sends Revival and it have to be a Revival or it’s inevitable listen I know that you’re not going to understand me till I get to the next verse when it says we’ve left the first love but in verse five it tells us why two times in verse 5 it says repent Eric Chapman is not telling anyone to repent today God is saying if this is true of you or any way shape or form your church God is saying repent not Eric Chapman after listening to Jason yesterday I almost thought I should change my message Jason I thought this may not apply here but I think it does God wouldn’t let me change it this morning but he says here in verse 5 remember therefore from when when thou art fallen and repent and do here it is here it is and do the first Works do the first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy Candlestick out of his place except thou repent the first work I think you’ll find the first work of the church found in Matthew chapter 28 go into all world and share the good news of Jesus you’ll find it in Acts Chapter 1 what does Acts chapter 1 say you know they wanted to know when Jesus was coming back you know he’s about to ascend when you’re coming back and he said don’t worry about that but I want you to go into all the world I want you to preach the good news where in Jerusalem which is what you’re going to do in a few weeks Judea that’s your community your your your your state or your your your area that would be Ohio uh Samaria your enemies maybe the Russians need the gospel and the uttermost parts of the earth oh that you’re sending me as missionary so you’ve got that covered okay but Jesus is saying you’ve left your first love because you’ve left your first work what does the Lord say if you love me you will keep my Commandments isn’t that it isn’t it that simple this is why churches are faltering all across the United States we have retrieve we have we retreated into our churches we’ve shut the door and we said well if people want to hear the gospel they can come in here that’s never how it’s worked in history if people need to hear the gospel we need to take it to them out there I have time I don’t know if you remember one of the first stories I used to tell I told this on my first Furlow my very first Furlow I umum maybe probably you don’t remember you know my wife doesn’t remember what I preached on my last Furlow but this was my my first one she remembers the story because I told it a 100 times but we had an auditorium that seated 600 people and the first two rows will this mix up his camera if I come down here I need to move around a little this this messes up your camera I apologize but the first two rows were what I call Babushka allei all grandmothers Babushka you know the word remember that story and I mean there was a little lady that sat here on the third seat over middle aisle she was about this tall and you know was Winter and she’s all wrapped in clothes and every time I would come down the the the grandmothers wouldn’t leave me alone now I was only 35 36 at the time so you know would probably be more awkward today if that happened but these all these grandmothers had to give me a big kiss and they’re thanking me and this one grandmother she couldn’t reach my face so she’d grab my ears and pull me down and give me the the three kisses you know and she’s crying every time thanking me for coming thank you for coming you know you know it it means the world that you came we had our first baptism in 300 were baptized and the little lady was one of them and and you know lots of grandmothers and and they’re still there and the funny thing is I’ve gotten older and they haven’t I don’t know why that is you know I I went back for our 35th anniv our 30th anniversary of our church just last year and and I saw some of those grandmothers and I thought well they were grandmothers back then you know and and now I look older than them my wife doesn’t but I do and so you know um this little grandmother invited me one time to come to her house she lived in what we call opii just one little room you know and they had a common toy toilet common cooking area uh in her building the toilet was stopped up for years and the pipes were broken so they dug something out in the back we’re talking in the middle of a city this is Russia back when I went there you know and it was a bref Arab room and she had gotten this room and and and she lived there with her husband and her two daughters and her daughters had moved away CU they got married and her husband had passed away and I was sitting at a little table just this small room and we had a discussion with her and I don’t know why she inv invited me I just came and she offered tea and we drank tea and we talked and we talked about everything going on and and our coming there and everything and I thought we were finished I was getting ready to leave and the little babushka said no no I have a question I have a question can you answer my question she said before you came the year before actually before you came to our city my husband passed away he died he was an atheist like all of us he was a communist like all of us he never heard about Jesus none of us had where is my husband today she meant is he in heaven or is he in hell that’s what she meant and I knew that and I couldn’t help but shed a few tears at that moment little lady got up from the table and came over and started hugging me and comforting me cuz I didn’t know what to say I said I wish I wish he would have heard the gospel and she said brother Eric the only thing I wish now is that you had come a year earlier oh I couldn’t have I didn’t know I came when when God told me but it always Rings through my mind what that little lady said to me my husband didn’t hear the gospel I wish you’d have come earlier and I thought to myself there are people all over the city of teraso and I think that everywhere I’m at there are people all over the place who haven’t heard the gospel and we’ve got to do everything we can to get the gospel out I told the men as we left that day we have to do everything we can to get the gospel to all these elderly people in our town we have to start programs I need to go to the schools we rented a gymnasium so we could rent we could we could reach young people and we brought them to the gymnasium hundreds came some time so many we couldn’t even play sports there were so many young people in our gymnasium and we preached the gospel I said well if we got this many young people wanting to come to G gymnasium why don’t we start camps so we rented camps and they came by the hundreds we finally bought camps anything we can do to reach people whether it’s Africa Asia or or mdova we have to reach people with the gospel and we have to take it to them outside of the walls of the church and I’ve always put my men on Mission when we were in mdova I said men we have to get up and we have to go and we went out and we witnessed and we passed out tracks and we talked to people we did whatever we could to get the word of the Gospel out we have to be on Mission and the Lord says if you don’t repent if you’re not getting the word out if you’re not taking the gospel out and you don’t repent I will take away your Candlestick I’ve already preached in churches in two weeks I’ve already preached in churches it is obvious more obvious here it’s not obvious that at all for me I’m going to say your Candlestick is bright here but I’ve already preached in churches I would tell you their Candlestick is out their light is out the angel is removed they have no protection and you know what the pastors know it and some of you I will not say another word about this but some of you know what it’s like to be in a church where the Candlestick has been removed and the protection of the angels are gone I said this feels like a new church God is here right now there’s one other verse there though that I want us to look at and I I don’t have time to maybe finish everything because I told such a long story but the next verse the Lord says to the Church of Ephesus I know you hate the doctrine of the nicians I know you hate it just as I hate it but if you go back if you go and look at this and that’s a good thing that they hate that and I think that we hate it as well we we don’t even know what the doctrine of the nicians is if this was the only verse we have we don’t know where it’s come from you will not find in a commentary except theories but we will find the description of this down with the the Church of Church of pergamus and the Church of thyra in the Church of Perma the the doctrine of the nicolan is described like the doctrine of balum balum was called when the children of Israel went back into the holy land a king in in in that area of what we call you know modern Palestine called um uh balam because he knew balam was somewhat of a prophet and he says come I want you to curse Israel well God wouldn’t let him do that’ but he gave some well good advice for Barack and bad advice for Israel however you want to look at it and he said if you will give your daughters to the Israelis and they will marry them they will also worship their gods all right and we’re told down in verse 15 that that is the doctrine of the nians then we find over in um the next church over here the the the Church of thyra uh we can look around verse 20 I have a few things against thee because thou has suffered that woman Jezebel which call herself a prophetess to teach and to seduce my servants to get fornication and eat things sacrificed to idols and I will give her space to repent of her fornication and she repenteth not behold I will I will cast her into a bed and them that commit adultery with her and Great Tribulation except they repent of their of their deeds and then verse 23 says I will kill her children with death now this is Jezebel is symbolic of demon worship worship of false gods which always goes hand inand with sexual perversion folks if you don’t see that in America today you don’t have your eyes open I’m in Africa we have Witch Doctors if I had more time if I had another hour I could tell you stories about witch doctors that would make your hair stand up and maybe you don’t even want to hear it but some of those stories are mild compared to what I’m seeing on our news stations in the United States since the covid pandemic the Demonic forces have come out of the closet in America and the sexual perversion is all over our young people it is a mess in this country that’s why we need to pray that’s why we need a strong church that’s why that’s why we need Revival in this country now I preached this a couple weeks ago and some guy comes up to me he said did you know this this was pride month I said oh no I I forgot about that we don’t have pride month where I’m from doesn’t matter what you’re seeing in America today is Extreme demonic activity and the worship of the false gods that you saw from the Old Testament days permeating our society in different ways than they did their society but still there and folks the only solution to this is repentance and the gos taking the gospel I believe that if we will take the gospel we will see the power of God and people turning to Christ who we would have never thought would have turned to Christ we were talking about Greg Lions last night this has been in Filipino Society particularly in the city of Manila for 20 years what we’re seeing in America they are seeing a tremendous turning around of young people because they are getting the gospel out I think it’s so important the Lord says if we do that the very last verse he speaks to the Church of Ephesus he that have an ear to hear Let Him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God so what is it today folks are we going to withdraw within the church not face the cultural issues out here not take the gospel out or are we going to do what God has commanded and do the first work in the love of God and take the gospel to a lost and dying world and if we will do that the Lord says the tree of life is your reward every single church that repents and does something for God he mentions something about reward and it all has to do not just with heaven but with life this will either be a church of life and I believe it is right now or it’ll be a church that stops Retreats and dies the choice is ours I’m thankful for brother Jason I’m thankful for this church I’m thankful for the new beginning that you’ve been given and I pray to the Lord Jesus Christ and I will pray for you every day that you will take this message of the Gospel to akan the surrounding area to the neighborhoods back here I got lost and I drove through the neighborhoods back here my GPS took me the wrong way there’s all kinds of poor people back here I can tell from their houses we have to take the gospel to them we have to get it down on Arlington Street we have to get it up here downtown we have been given the light and the protection of God through his Holy Angels Supernatural language Supernatural protection hallelujah hallelujah amen hallelujah amen let’s pray as I pray I’m going to ask the pastor to come up if God has spoken to your heart today I pray that from your seat or wherever you are you’ll make a decision to follow the go Lord and to make a commitment in your heart that you will get the gospel out in the best way you can whether it be tracks or spoken word our heavenly father bless this church father we love this church this is this is a place father where where where the gospel is going from out from this is a place that has a vision for people and I pray father that you would just bless the pastor bless his staff bless the leadership bless the men bless the women that they will go and stand behind this and all work together for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Jesus name we pray amen amen what a challenge what a challenge will you will you thank Eric so thankful listen as as he’s as he’s talking as he’s challenging us as I as I think about who we are our DNA where we’ve come from where where the Lord’s taken us I’m I’m I look at our core values that we have on the walls to to keep us focused God’s word has the power to change and transform lives we believe that that we believe that all people matter all people matter to God and therefore matter to us and we believe that and we are doing our best to follow the lord in those things but as as he’s mentioned and as the word of God tells us boy do we need to keep our radar up do we need to keep carefully carefully looking at ourselves and looking at the mission and making sure that the mission is at the Forefront of all that we’re doing that’s what mission akran serves Sunday as about it’s what we’re all about but all of those things are a means are a means to an end all of those things are a means to get the gospel out to those that need it and I’m not going to assume that everyone here has put their trust in Jesus and and given their life over to the Lord whether you’re watching online whether you’re here with us and so if if if you’ve never heard the gospel if you’ve never taken that step maybe you have heard it a thousand times but for whatever reason today is the day where it just clicks and makes more sense to you that God created you to be with him that it’s our sin that he talked about that we need to repent from that that is what separates us from God and it’s only because of what Jesus did for us on the cross hallelujah amen we’re we’re going to use that it’s only what Jesus did for us and that he paid the price for you and for me and he rose again on the the third day and putting our trust in him and him alone that we can have eternal life and if you’ve never made that decision if you’ve never given your life to Jesus I would love nothing more than for that to happen right here right now for you I know that Eric would love to pray with you I would love to pray with you I know we have some people in yellow lanyards that are sprinkled throughout that would love to pray with you and so if you want to make that decision you can certainly you could come forward right now you could talk to us after the service as we’re going to dismiss here in just a minute and so I hope that I hope that the the holy spirit’s stirring in your heart stirring in in your heart and your mind for that let me just give you a few things to just a few reminders before before we pray and dismiss today uh that we do have uh the mission akine serve Sunday that is coming up in July and what an amazing thing for us to be a part of uh and last week we started the Salvation Army food drive and good grief we’ve got a grocery store out by the orange wall now praise God and we’ve got one more week yeah we’ve got one more week to continue collecting things for that uh but let me say if you haven’t signed up for a project for Mission akran surve Sunday there’s still plenty of open spaces available I will say the Haven of Rest is one place that we still need some more people to uh to sign up for but we’ve got some tremendous projects that uh are available for you to jump in on there um we’ve also got VBS that’s coming up uh here in uh the week after uh or I’m sorry the week before Mission akran serve Sunday and we’ve got VBS where we’re um making this amazing Jurassic uh place that we actually started building yesterday that’s going to that’s going to happen that I know our kids are going to love and it’s a great vehicle to get the gospel out to our young people and so if you haven’t signed up your kids grandkids or you haven’t signed up to be a part of it to to help we would love to have you to be a part of that so you can jump on our website for that um and then today uh the third Sunday of the month uh we always is have our one ATA time offering and so our one ATA time offering is something that is uh stewarded by our deacons and we use the the extra money that we give over and above to what we give our first to the Lord for and we use that to help somebody within the church family and so it’s just this onetime special offering that we do once a month uh and it has been used to to bless some people in amazing ways we’ve helped with car repairs we’ve helped with uh medical bills we’ve helped with uh people with all all kinds of of different needs um there so thank you for continuing to give to that and you can give to that in the uh in the box that’s right by the convenience box where we uh give our first to the Lord in all things and so thank you for continuing to give to support your church to support your missionaries uh because I I hope that you’ve been inspired to see exactly what it is and the kinds of of things that our resources that we’re putting towards missions boy is God using it to bless amen amen so thanks for continuing uh to give give there uh and you can give online you can give in the convenience boxes uh and you can give by uh snail mail as well um I’d like to do something uh if if we could before we dismiss I think it’d be great as a church family to just pray over Eric and Stephanie um for a minute would you stand with me and guys would you join me on stage here for just a minute I’m so thankful and I’m so honored and blessed to to be a small part of of what God is doing in and through them and we believe in the power of prayer and so I would love to just pray over them together as a church family if you will if you if you feel led to to raise a hand uh toward toward Heaven as as we pray for them let’s pray Jesus I thank you so much for what you’re doing in and through the Chapman and their Ministries All Over The World God I pray for just continued blessing for what they’re doing I pray for continued uh Health uh Lord I do just pray for ER health issues that he’s got going on Lord we we know that you can heal we know that you are the great physician and we know that you can do a miracle and and and Lord we’re praying for that if that Be Your Will Lord that you would just put your hand over him and and you would heal him from from this heart condition that is going on and God we’re going to just continue to be faithful to pray for him in that way God I pray that you would continue to Resource them in every way shape or form that money wouldn’t be an issue for anything that they’ve got going on Lord we know money is not an issue for you you own the cattle on a thousand hills and we pray I pray that you would just continue to provide for them in just amazing and exceptional ways as as they’re continuing to inspire and to share the gospel with those that they come in contact with all over the place so God I pray that they would just have a blessed Furlow the rest of the time that they’re in the states Lord that you would give them safety as as they travel um father help us to take this challenge that he’s given to us that you’ve given to us through through his through your word Lord that that we would look at ourselves that we would repent where we need to repent that we would keep the mission the main thing and then we would continue to spread the gospel to a city to a state to a country to a world that needs it more than ever we love you we thank you we praise you in Jesus name amen amen thank you guys thank you guys so much dads we got donuts for you it’s donuts for dads today and they are out I saw a few people who just got really excited about that uh yeah so out in the uh out in the lobby our our young people our students uh are out there to give Donuts uh to any of the dads that are here so go grab a donnut before I do see you next Sunday