In a video titled “Dear Megachurch,” Mike Bickle challenges today’s church to repent of not loving God enough, do fewer things and focus on cultivating a responsive heart to the Holy Spirit. Bickle, director of the International House of Prayer (IHOPKC) in Kansas City, Missouri, and Pastor Elijah Choi explain the significance of John’s letter to the church of Ephesus (Rev. 2:1-7) for today’s church. Bickle says this letter has particular relevance for the generation that will see Jesus return.
Bickle notes that Ephesus was the center of the greatest revival in Acts (Acts 19-20) and the third-largest city in the Roman Empire. For an American context, Choi and Bickle compare Ephesus to a combination of New York City and Las Vegas. But the church had lost its original love for the Lord.
“You’ve got to turn off some things and skip some things in order to have time to cultivate a responsive heart in love,” Bickle says. “Our heart is not automatically responsive in love. We think it would be, but you know what, the weeds of our heart grow naturally because of our fallenness. We have to realign up. I don’t mean work harder. We need to … just sit before him and to talk to him, to remember the narrative.”
Bickle says John calls the Ephesian church to three vital steps: remember, repent and do what you used to do. Watch the video to learn how to walk that out. {eoa}
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