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If you will turn in your Bible's friends

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to the first epistle of John We will

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be reading from chapter 2 in verses 15

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through 17 Here now is the Word of

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God and made the Spirit of the Lord

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attend the reading of his Holy Word Love

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not the world Neither the things that are

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in the world if any man loved the

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world The love of the father is not

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in him for all That is in the

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world The lust to the flesh and the

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lust of the eyes and the pride of

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life It's not of the father But it's

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of the world.

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I will pause here friends to say When

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the apostle John lived in Ephesus It was

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a populous city of five hundred thousand people

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Of the walls of the city were five

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miles in length Enclosing an area of more

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than a thousand acres Ephesus was beautifully situated

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With mountains on one side and the sea

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that washed up to the temple of diana

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on the other Kind of like the geography

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of los angeles today It was a big

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city crawling with life and commerce fun and

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excitement Ephesus Was a prominent city in asia

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minor People came from all over to enjoy

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the wonders of ephesus It was like a

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big las vegas It was sin city the

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temple of diana Was the most magnificent building

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ever constructed in the greek world And it

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was one of the seven wonders of the

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ancient world Ephesus was also a prosperous city

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with luxurious houses wide streets lined with columns

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and marble its buildings had Mosaic floors painted

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walls in running water the public lavatory That

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sat in the center of town had musicians

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playing reeds and harps Ephesus Was a pleasurable

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city full of tourists and fun seekers It

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boasted of a large greek amphitheater that seated

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25 000 spectators That theater was the scene

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of the mob riot against the apostle paul

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led by Demetrius the silversmith who incited the

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citizens to cry out for the space of

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two hours Great as diana of the ephesians

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Ephesus Was a bustling city not with a

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church on every corner like we have today

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But with a pagan temple at the very

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heart of it for the city was given

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over to pagan idolatry Ephesus was a perverted

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city of sexual immorality for over 1 000

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temple prostitutes engaged in orgies and the worship

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of a pagan fertility god in the temple

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on one side of a column street But

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there stood a well-stocked library And directly

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across the mid was the city-sponsored brothel

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that was so large it had 48 rooms

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every day John walked those busy streets.

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He saw that his fellow ephesians were people

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who lived for this world They were slaves

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to their government.

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They were slaves to idolatry They were slaves

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to their lusts they were slaves to their

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worship of the greek fertility goddess diana John

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was very familiar with the popularity and prominence

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That ephesus held among the cities of asia

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minor as it was a bustling center of

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political economic and religious commerce Daily he saw

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the ships in the harbor unloading their rich

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cargos of cedars from lebanon copper from cyprus

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silver from spain tin from britain marble from

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the greek islands and luxurious cloth and spices

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from syria and palestine John would see money

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exchanging hands at the agora for goods bought

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and sold He saw the best inlaid chariots

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ride through the center of town He witnessed

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people building the most impressive houses And he

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warns in his epistle not to love the

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world or to be fascinated by it For

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his city was just a few generations away

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of being reduced to runes and rubble Through

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earthquake fire and military conquests It would all

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pass away The glitz and the glamour the

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beauty and the boasting all would be gone

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for in verse 17 He writes and the

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world passeth away and the lust thereof But

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he that doeth the will of god abideth

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forever All the wealthy merchants in that city

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are gone into eternity All the philosophers and

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intellects of that city are gone into eternity

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The temple prostitutes and priests have gone into

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eternity The powerful government officials that ran the

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city and held it in the reins of

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their hands Have all gone into eternity They've

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all vanished with no remembrance of them Can

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you name the richest and most powerful person

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in ephesus in john's day?

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No He is forgotten But we know who

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john is We have the gospel of john

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We have the epistles of john We have

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the book of revelation John's life counted for

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something it counted for eternity Because he didn't

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live for this world.

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He knew better He spent his life on

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the things of eternal worth He poured his

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energy into the little groups of new christians

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there in ephesus He labored for christ and

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the spread of the gospel He and the

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apostle paul were the real titans of that

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city He tells us not to love the

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world.

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He tells us to live for eternity We

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must ask ourselves friends Are we consumed with

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the things of this world or do we

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awake in the morning with the judgment seat

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of christ?

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burning fresh in our soul and minds only

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one life It will soon be past Only

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what's done for christ will last