“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

In the letter which was written in chapter two and three by John there is a story of seven churches which were in Asia Minor, currently Turkey. More specifically, it's a letter of Jesus Christ's love for His church. In Revelation there is not just a story of the seven churches but also other stories about the seven golden lamp stands, animals, women, and horses, all with an interesting message about the future. Among those stories I like the seven churches stories from chapter 2 and 3. Even though these churches were in close proximity of each other, they had significantly different culture and church styles, likely because they didn’t have easy means of communication, such as TV, internet, or telephone as we have now. For example, even though they lived in the same period, these churches dealt with circumstances differently, and when they had problems, their reactions to them differed. So many historical theologians believe that these seven churches in chapters 2 and 3 represent different periods in time from John’s days to today.

today's verses we read in the Bible are concerning about what the Lord said to the church of Ephesus. If we see these verses carefully on the one hand the Lord is encouraging the church, on the other hand the Lord is scolding the church about what they were doing wrong. The Lord could encourage and scold the church because He knew everything about the church. He knew the situation of the church. He knew the ability of the church. He knew the people in the church. So in 2 verse of chapter 2 the Lord said

",,, I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false."

So in today’s sermon, I want to emphasize the words “I Know” which was spoken by the One who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lamp stands. When we read each verse carefully, we can find that Jesus not only knows about the problems they faced and their past actions and reactions, but He also knows what they are capable of doing, becoming, and achieving. The Lord knew what the church had done. The Lord knew how hard the church did it's ministries. The Lord knew how is the church patient in everything. How wonderful is the church! It is really a good church. But not only the Lord knew good things about that church but also the Lord knew that the church was forsaking the love it had at first. Actually the Ephesian church was changing in no good way. So the Lord warned about that. The Lord knew everything about that church. If you see carefully verse 2-3... you can find several times " I know.." Jesus know everything about the church. This fact is very important.

The church in Ephesus was a big church at that time. The church might have many members. It seemed to be very strong financially. The church could have a beautiful worship performance. The church could have good educational programs. These days we will say the kind of this church is good and the pastor working in this church is a good pastor. But can we say this church is a good church because it is big? Now you see big churches around the world. Now in my country many big churches have problems. I got many bad rumors from those big churches. So if we say a big church is a good church we don't have a knowledge. But the Lord could estimate the church in Ephesus very correctly because he knew the church. So he could encourage and scold very properly at the same time. 

The Lord who pointed the 7 churches and said “I Know” is calling each one of our names and says “I Know”. Even your family does not know, even your friends do not know, even co-workers do not know and even you do not know about yourself, but the Lord knows each one of us in details. The apostle John said Jesus does not need any testimony about men because He knows about men. In the book of John 2:25 he said like this...

He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.

When we meet troubles we will pray. But if God does not answer to our prayer emediately we are disappointed and sometimes we think the Lord is not interest in my situation or the Lord does not know my situation and then we stop our prayer. But after several years later when we survey our situation we are in better situation than what we prayed to the lord. And we say like this..... the Lord knows me more than myself, so God made my situation like this. I also experienced these things several times. I met trouble in my church from two years ago and I decided to stop my ministry. But including my wife many members of the church suggested me to pray to God about my situation and the church instead of stopping my ministry. So I started to pray to God. Every night I went to the church and I kneed on the pulpit and prayed to God. Sometimes 1 hour, but mostly 2 hours I prayed. I continued my prayer for more than 6 months but in my thought God did not answer to my prayer. Still I don't know this situation I stand on now is the answer from God or not. But what I believe is that some day after 1 year or 2 years past away from me the situation I will meet will be better than what I hoped in my prayer. I am sure about that.

So if you meet troubles in your life God give you those troubles because you need them. So if you overcome those troubles God will bless you more than what you hope now. And if you meet good things in your life it's because you need to be encouraged... so God gives you those things. So apostle James in his book of newtestament 5: 13 said like this... "Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise."

I want to say you again. People do not know all about you. Even your family does not know, even your friends do not know, even co-workers do not know and even you do not know about yourself, but the Lord knows each one of us in details. Even God can count number each one of your hair. So we can count on him.

[Prayer]

Heavenly God, our Father we thank you for your reminding us that you know us in everything, so we can trust on you. Even if we are in trouble now help us to realize that the trouble itself also is given to us because it is really needed to us. So we may accept the trouble as God's blessing. And this time we repent our sin that we didn't trust on you in everything. Forgive us and give us a strong faith to put our trust on you. I pray in Jesus' name.