Lead Worship

Background History of Ephesus:

Ephesus was a very rich and affluent town. It is the closest town to Patmon where John was writing Revelation. In Ephesus, they worshipped Artemis who was the goddess of fertility and financial blessing. Thousands of people who lived hundreds of miles away came to worship Artemis every year. And the people of Ephesus built a huge temple for her. In fact, this temple took over 120 years to build and became one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Ephesis’ whole financial structure was based around this goddess. So when Paul comes to town converting people away from Artemis, the rest of the town begins to riot (Acts 19).

The Christians of Ephesus definitely suffered for what they believed.

But Christ had one complaint. They left their first love. The church was doing all the right things. They were undergoing persecution for the things they were doing. But they got so wrapped up in doing the right thing that they forgot about to whom they were doing them for.

Ephesus, like many churches today, got their eyes off of the Provider and onto the possessions. You need music ministries, children’s ministries, and education ministries in today’s churches. But we must keep first things first. It becomes easy for today’s church leaders to worry more about the growth of these ministries more than the growth of the people in them.

Yes we need a pastor, but more than that, we need a Savior. Keep your eyes on the Provider.