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Recommended: Stories of Christian persecution today

The Apostle John wrote letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor found in the book of Revelation. Two of those churches were Ephesus and Smyrna, which will be the two discussed in this paper. In the letter to Ephesus, Jesus talks about seven stars and seven lamp stands which refers to the seven churches and the seven leaders (Revelation 2:1). To the church of Smyrna, Jesus states that he is the first and the last, the Alpha and Omega (Revelation 2:8). These are the key points Jesus gives to Ephesus and Smyrna along with many other teachings and instructions that will be discussed in this paper.
The city Ephesus was founded in about 1044 B.C. It was considered to be a wealthy city due to the fact that it was a commercial center of trade. Ephesus was the most important city in the Roman province of Asia. It was a center of great commercial life and a crossroads of the empire. "The city was known throughout the Roman world as the center for the worship of the goddess Artemis, and the great temple of Artemis was located there. This great temple was larger than two football fields in length, and was one of the seven wonders of the world. (1)" Due to this, the city had a powerful influence in the Roman community. The church was began by Paul (Acts 19). Paul preached Jesus to some disciples who had been led to some knowledge of truth by Apollos, they believed and were baptized by the Spirit and so the church in Ephesus came into existence.
The church of Ephesus was a very spiritual church and was certainly a church that was very active in the work of God. They endured for the Lord and suffered from persecution. But they were guilty of a sin that is sometimes hard to detect. But the Lord, who knows our hearts as well as our...

... middle of paper ...

...and ignore how great God is! In the letter to Smyrna, Jesus lets them know that they will suffer and it will not be easy. But He lets them know that there is no need to be afraid, the reward for their endurance will be worth it (Revelation 2:10). In our lives, we don't know what all will have to suffer through for the Word of God, but we do know that our reward will be greater than anything imaginable and we should have faith in God that he will walk with us in the right direction.

Works Cited

http://www.raystedman.org/new-testament/revelation/the-church-that-lost-its-love
#1

https://bible.org/seriespage/message-ephesus-rev-21-7
#2

http://www.raystedman.org/new-testament/revelation/smyrna-and-pergamum--the-pressured-church
#3

https://bible.org/seriespage/message-smyrna-rev-28-11
#4

http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/66-7/Smyrna-The-Suffering-Church
#5

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