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Revelation Class Two - The Seven Churches

2/10/2021

 
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Revelation - The Seven Churches

The seven churches are seven _____ churches in Asia Minor (present day Turkey)
They can also be indicative of seven key churches _______ .
In them, we also see seven _______ of churches.
Many of these churches for various reasons, whether ________, military or pure hedonism were major cultural ______ throughout the ________ Empire.
The Letters:
Written to the ‘angel’ = angelos – meaning messenger or ______
Begins – “I know your _______”
Contains praise, rebuke or a _________ of the two
A Reminder of His ________

The Churches:
1) Ephesus –

The __________ church that left its first _________ (Rev. 2:1-7). Ephesus was the influential capital city of Asia Minor on the Aegean Sea.  It was known for its huge metropolis of ancient streets, arches and ruins.
Paul warned it that ________ would come in! (Acts 20:28-38)
They did great works, but lacked intimacy with God.
Nicolaitans = clergy over laity 
1 Pet 5:3

2) Smyrna –
The _________ church that suffered both poverty and martyrdom (Rev. 2:8-11). Located north of Ephesus in a powerful trading position on the Aegean Sea. It was known for its harbors, commerce and marketplaces.
Name from same word as the spice Myrrh
2 Timothy 3:12 – the Godly will __________ persecution …
I know your poverty, but you are rich.
The poor church is called ____ ___, and the rich church (Rev 3:17) is called ________.
Job 40:5
Ps 62:11

3) Pergamos –
The ________ (______________) Church that mixed it _____________ and needed to repent (Rev. 2:12-17).  Located on the plains and foothills of Caicus River in Western Turkey. Became a major city and Greek and Roman hub for temple worship. Name means: ‘elevation or exalted’
(Rev2:17) Hidden Manna.
They were simply ______________ bad teaching. 
2 John 9,10

4) Thyatira –
The Corrupt Church that followed a ___________ prophetess. (Rev. 2:18-29).  Textile and dye city
(1 Kings 16:29-33) Papacy?

5) Sardis –
The ______ Church that fell ____________ (Rev. 3:1-6) Sardis was on the banks of the Pactolus River in western Asia Minor, 60 miles inland from Ephesus and Smyrna. Known for temples and bathhouses.

6) Philadelphia –
The ___________ Church of brotherly love that _________ patiently (Rev. 3:7-13) Known also for temples and worship centers.
(Rev 3:10) Will be kept ‘from out of’ “ek” – the tribulation
Little strength-
Open door-
Hour of Temptation-

7) Laodicea –
The ___________ Church that is neither hot or cold           (Rev. 3:14-22).
Poor
Blind
Naked
I stand at the door and knock ( Christians )​



TRANSCRIPt Auto Generated from YouTube:
​okay good evening everybody we're ready
to begin here uh you'll see lori is uh
handing out notes if you've joined us
by zoom or you listen to this class
online
uh the notes for the class are available
online
underneath the audio recording of the
class or underneath the sermon
on flx.org sermon
or sermons and you'll be able to find
tonight's message uh audio video along
with
notes underneath it from the class
all right okay let's pray
father we want to thank you for this
time tonight thank you for the word
for a time to gather for the fellowship
of the saints i pray you'd minister to
our hearts here in jesus christ's name
amen okay
so there are three key parts
uh to the book of revelation is outlined
in revelation 1 19 where
the angel tells john you're going to
write about the things
which you've seen the things which are
and the things which are to come
so the things which you've seen
is the vision that peter got in the
first chapter
now we're going to move on to the second
part of that which are
the things which are the present tense
all right
and that's chapters two and three of the
book of revelation here which are
the letters to the seven churches
so the seven churches can be viewed
three different ways
and many scholars take this approach all
right
the first way that they view the seven
churches
is that they are seven literal churches
in asia minor
now uh i found a map showing the isle of
patmos right off
present-day turkey which is where asia
minor was
so the isle of patmos is right off
that's where john was when he received
the revelation
modern-day turkey was the home of these
seven churches
and the geographical distance
closest to john was ephesus and then it
went from
ephesus to smyrna and so on and that's
how the books are written in order
so many scholars believe because of that
these were seven
literal churches in asia minor or in
what we would call modern day turkey
second they can be indicative of seven
key church ages and the church has gone
through many
transformations since its beginning
much has become of the church
universal since
pentecost and so this could also be
viewed as
different stages or ages of the church
and
in this we also see
seven types of churches so you've got
seven literal churches actual churches
now when we say actual churches
we don't mean you know in a church
building one one church family
the church may have been in a locale
with many little churches in that
location so
paul writes to the church of ephesus
he's writing to the
angel of the church of ephesus and we're
going to tell you what that means
and you'll understand why ephesus may
have had
five or six or seven different groups
which would be considered in our
vocabulary the church but may have been
a group of churches in ephesus
many of these churches for various
reasons whether trade
military or
worldliness or hedonism were major
cultural hubs
throughout the roman empire so in asia
minor
each of these churches had something
very
significant about them in terms of their
geography
whether they were as i said along a
trade route
they may have had retired and active
military personnel living there
there may have been places of extreme
hedonism where there were
all kinds of cults or uh they may have
been just hubs in the roman empire
so the letters are written to
the angel of each of these church now
the word
angel or angelos means
messenger or pastor it could be
messenger or
it could be the pastor it could also be
the bishop
or someone who is in charge uh someone
who is leading
a large group of churches each one of
them begins with this little phrase
i know your works i know
your works
they contain praise rebuke
or a combination of the two and they all
serve as a reminder of his return
now what i gather from that is no matter
what church you're part of
what age of the church you're in or
where your church might be located
god has an eye on the work of the church
god understands the work of the church
and what the church is doing
sometimes you and i wonder does god
ever see our work
well the work of the church is really
the work of everyone in the church
the work of the church is the work of
each individual
in the church there are many works that
no one sees
in the church that god sees from heaven
in the church god sees the work
of the church the works of the church
also it's plural works in our case we
have many works in this church
we have the work of cleaning we have the
work of
mowing we have the work of the sound
board we have the work of the music
group we have the work of the sunday
school teachers
we have the work of the deacons and the
leaders we have the work of the pastor
we have the work of the wives and the
moms who are raising their children we
have all these different kinds of works
it is plural it is works and god sees
every single one of them
i see and i know your works and the word
for know there
is epignosis it doesn't mean a casual
understanding of the work it's actually
a
intimate full knowledge epignosis
full knowledge of your works
it'd be one thing if you know god read
the church pamphlet
oh they have a missions program isn't
that nice but god knows
the intimate the god intimately knows
the full details
of the work of the church
isn't that great that's the phrase he
uses that's the word he uses words
matter
epignosis is the word for i know your
works
so when annika
is sitting at home and she's thinking
about the song service
and every now and then annika or katie
or maria
will pick out songs and they may be
thinking about it at home
god sees them thinking about that god
says look
they're working for me they're
doing something and then they get to
church a little bit early
they pull out the songs they get them on
they get out the
songs and they put them on the music
stands
they go over and they polish the
pastor's guitar
they get his water out and they get that
ready for him and they pour him a cup of
coffee and they have that out there
which they never do but if they were to
do that
boy the pastor would also see their
works
no i'm not asking but god sees
the works of the church
see and god sees all that stuff so never
go like or think that god doesn't see
your works
you know when god when joe dimaggio's
accosting people
out in a parking lot and harassing them
and stealing their cans
and bottles out of their car see god
sees that work
and and we think you know boy i hope one
day he gets arrested and goes to jail
for that one
see god sees god knows the work there
and
i'm just teasing i appreciate joe so
much and the work he's done
for safe water ghana and so but god sees
the works
see what i say everybody get the point
here god knows our works
all these books and all these letters
have a salutation most of them have a
commendation
of some type and some of them have a
complaint
some of them have a warning some of them
have a promise
but god knows the works of the church
and god knows what's happening
in each of these churches so
they also have a reminder of his return
now i find that significant because
in every church there's a necessity
to remember the lord is going to return
now why is that important
it's not just important because we are
excited about getting out of here
it's not just exciting because
the world is crumbling in many different
places and ways with the wars that are
happening and all kinds of things going
on around us
and praise the lord we're going to go
home and be with jesus soon
but the coming of the lord
should serve as a reminder to you and i
that we're going to be held accountable
for what we do on earth that there's
going to be an evaluation
of my life and your life based on the
word of god
so as much as i enjoy saying hey the
lord is going to come back
soon i'm also thinking oh boy the lord
is going to come back soon
you know what i'm saying everybody
understand what i mean by that it's like
my kids they may say
hey dad's going to come home soon but
paul may think to himself oh no
dad's going to come home soon i'm going
to have to fix what i broke
it's like i remember when we were kids
in my house
it's very often uh we would i don't know
this is probably hard for you to believe
this but
we would get a little bit of trouble
yeah
and uh there was one afternoon where we
were happened to be playing a little
game called up the middle in the living
room
and if this was the living room wall we
had our couch
against that wall and two of us would
stand in front of the couch and one of
us would grab a pillow
and try to run up the middle like a
football player and try to
break the line and you know we crush one
another and kill it
i mean it was painful uh especially for
me because i was the smallest
yeah so no i'm i'm i'm providing a
warning
for the martin fan so you know we play
up the middle
one day my brother teddy uh got the
pillow
and maybe paul will see this but we got
the pillow and
paul and i huddled before the play and
we both said when he starts running up
the middle let's just step out of the
way and throw him into the wall
so he started running towards us so he
both stepped aside and grabbed him
and chucked him against the wall and he
hit that couch full force
all 180 pounds of him and it slid
against the wall
and bang hit the wall and we heard the
clock on the other side of the wall
crashed to the ground it was my mother's
antique clock that she got from her
mother
and we busted it in about 40 pieces
so quickly thinking very quickly my
brother ted said
let's go where are we going we're gonna
go buy mom a new clock
so he we went out and he picked her out
this beautiful clock with
like little arms coming out of it it
just was really nice wooden clock
and he put it we put it up and get you
know
battery no cable no no cord anymore it
was battery operated
and we were so proud of that and we
bagged up that clock and just got rid of
it
the broken one and my mom came home that
day
mom mom came home that day
and the first thing she said through the
door hey mom how you doing what happened
to my clock
and then she said the famous words wait
until your father gets home
the lord is coming home soon
you know so there's these are it serves
as a reminder
that the things that we have done and do
there's going to be
some uh consequence and and not that we
need to uh
not that we need to be excessively
fearful and fretful
and anxious about the lord's return but
we ought to be very sober minded
and remember the fact that all of us
will stand before the judgment seat of
jesus christ in first
uh corinthians 3 and our works which
will be
tested by fire will prove to either be
gold silver precious stones or wood hay
or stubble
and that'll be a very uh sobering
time so let's get to the first church
here
uh this is the the church at ephesus
john to the seven churches which are in
asia chapter four grace and peace
to you who was and who is
and from the seven spirits before
australia i'm sorry that's the wrong
chapter
am i in the right chapter no chapter two
i'm sorry
for some reason i'm over there all right
chapter two the angel of the church to
the angel of the church of ephesus right
now by the way remember in the previous
chapter the lord is walking among the
candlesticks which
are the churches right and he's got the
seven
stars in his hand and so
to the angel of the church of ephesus
right these things say he who holds the
seven stars
in his right hand who walks in the midst
of the seven lamp stands i know your
works
your labor your patience and the word
for patience there is actually
perseverance and that
you cannot bear those who are evil
and you have tested those who say they
are apostles and
are not and have found them liars
so this church right off the bat
is being described as a church that has
tested the message and messengers that
have come before it
and found flaws rightly so
you've persevered and have patience and
have labored for my name's sake
and have not become weary nevertheless
i have this against you you have left
your first
love remember therefore from
where you have fallen repent
and do first works
or else i will come quickly and remove
your lampstand from its place
unless you repent so this is a complaint
that christ makes against this church
has left his first love
the character of the book of ephesus is
really seen in its name
which means to let go or to relax
what seems to has happened here is that
the church
has backslidden a little bit in a
particular area
remember paul gathered a group from the
leaders of this church
years earlier and said to them in acts
chapter 20
verses 29 28 to 29 to 30 and so forth
i know this that after my departing
savage wolves will enter in among you
not sparing the flock also
your own selves out of from your own
selves are from among you
shall rise men speaking perverse things
and drawing away disciples after them
it seems that this has happened here
that maybe that was a prophetic on
paul's part
and they
they heeded that warning from paul and
they defined
this group uh which later we'll see is
known as the nicolaitans
and they say
they are apostles but they are not
they have been tested in verse 6 it says
but this you have that you hate the
deeds of the
nicolaitans which i also
hate you say lord what in the world is a
nicolaitan
well the nicolaitan comes from two words
and one of them is where we get the word
laity nico
above the laity in other words this
means
they have established a hierarchy
an unspiritual hierarchy
in the church that has affected their
ability to love
now if you read this carefully
and paul warned that works would come in
and they did great works by the way they
they did great works but paul warns that
these wolves are going to come in
but something has happened here
something's happened to this church
and you can see it in
in in some instances in churches
that focus on a hierarchy
and that's the spiritual component of
the church
now for example uh in the church i was
brought up in
we weren't allowed really to do much
along the lines
of spiritual things the spirituality was
done by the hierarchy
uh they were in my church it was very
seldom you got communion
but the hierarchy had communion they
were the priests here we are considered
kings and priests we're called that
earlier in chapter 1.
so when a church becomes more of an
organization than an organism
you can bet it will lose its love
it will lose the love it has among one
another
it will lose the love it has for the
world see
jesus gave a great commandment he says
this is
my commandment to you that you love one
another as i have loved you
and that is a great command and to think
that
all other things don't really matter
if i'm not loving
the brethren so he says to this church
you've lost you've left your first love
that you've left that first primary love
that primary commandment
of loving one another because the church
has become more
of an organization than it has than the
organism that it actually is that makes
sense how do you follow this
so that's what i think has happened here
in ephesus
the church here ephesus the obedient
church
it was at one time an obedient church
left its first love
ephesus was an influential capital city
an asia minor
on the asian sea it was also known
as a huge metropolis ancient streets
all kinds of uh statues and arches
and and so forth and in first peter 5
verse 3.
it says that the shepherds
in verse 2 not being lords over those
entrusted to you
but being an example to the flock
the example of the nicolaitans that was
lost
they were being lords over the flock and
not
examples and in the early church
we saw that quite quickly where
after the first couple generations of
the church we saw this hierarchy develop
and it became corrupt and even uh in
recent years
churches that have that kind of
hierarchy there can be a level of
corruption in them where can where uh
different things are bought
and so forth so enough on the book of
ephesus the church of ephesus
but that's the first church and so you
can see
boy that's interesting that god has said
these things about this particular
church now remember this was a literal
church
it can be viewed as a church during the
ages of the church
can also be viewed as a type of church
so the next church that he deals with is
smyrna
or smyrna and to the messenger
of the church of smyrna write these
things says the first and the last who
is dead
and came to life
i know your works tribulation and
poverty
but you are rich and i know the
blasphemy
of those who say that the jews that they
are jews
and are not but are a synagogue of satan
a synagogue of satan
do not fear any of those things which
you are about to suffer
indeed the devil is about to throw some
of you in prison
that you may be tested and you will have
tribulation
10 days be faithful until death
and i will give you the crown of life he
who has an ear
let him hear what the spirit says to the
churches he who overcomes
shall not be hurt by the second death so
this is the one church
that has no complaint or warning
salutation
is from the one who was first and last
who is dead
and is alive there is a persecution
happening this is also known
as the persecuted church they suffer
both poverty and martin martyrdom
they're located north of ephesus in a
powerful trading position
on the agency known for harbors
commerce and marketplaces the the name
smyrna comes from the spice myrrh
and that's interesting in isaiah 60
verse 6.
systems
wise that's ridiculous
all right well forget that reference
because it's the wrong reference boy
i've been doing this a lot lately
well there's a there's a reference in uh
isaiah
to myrrh and its relationship to
suffering
but in second timothy 3 12 the godly
will suffer persecution
he says here i know you're poverty but
you're rich
and this is really a church that needs
the encouragement of perspective
how many have ever needed the
encouragement of the right perspective
you know uh putting your life in context
putting your work in the right context
understanding that you know
he says that i was dead but i'm alive
and that's how he starts
this book and the perspective being
the resurrection is really the most
hopeful event
and gives the most hope even to the
persecuted
the church of the ephesian period having
lost its first love
the lord is now
about to chastise that church so if you
see this in ages
right you see this now we're moving into
a new phase
now the church that lost his first love
is going to go through persecution
so you can follow this through i may not
do this with all the churches but
you can see what a progression of how
god deals
with the church it gets a little lazy
it gets away from its first love it has
a more emphasis on hierarchy what does
god do god allows there to be a test
so you can see that as a little
progression here
we're told that the author of the
suffering of this church
is the devil and that its duration will
be
uh 10 days and this was
actually what some of the scholars
called the prophetic
reference to the 10 great persecutions
under the roman empire
beginning with nero and 68 a.d and
ending with diocletian in a.d
30 a.d 310 i think
and seven of those great persecutions
occurred during the smyrna period of
church history
or in order to refer to the 10 years of
the last and fiercest persecutions under
diocletian
which would be from 170 a.d to
constantine and 310.
the seven great persecutions of
uh of the church that the ten of them
then there were seven which were called
the seventh great but the ten great
persecutions of the church
probably being referred to here by john
in prophecy
fascinating stuff but i love this the
the church the poor church is called
rich
later on what's the rich church called
poor laodicea right
so the poor church the persecuted church
is called rich
why are they rich
because they possess something valuable
that's what makes you rich right
god gets us to that place through
trouble
god gets us to spiritual riches through
difficulty
here god is going to get this church
through persecution
to spiritual riches because
when the unimportant
is stripped away when the unnecessary
is burned off when the distractions
are identified and exposed
then we get down to the most important
things in life
that's when we become rich
when friendship is more important than
socializing
when intimacy is more important than
pleasure
when evangelism is more important than
programs
the church becomes rich
the next church is pergamos and uh
so we get here verse 12 is where it
starts
oh one last thing let him who has an ear
let him hear
you know it's almost like we hear things
twice
we hear it audibly and then we hear it
spiritually you know
uh there's i can't remember where the
verse is maybe somebody can look this up
once i've said it twice uh
there's a verse once i once i've said it
and twice
i've said it again or something like
that and what god is saying there is
you hear something and then you hear
something
you know and i can tell you there's many
things i've heard that i didn't hear
and there are some things i've heard and
then something happens and then you hear
it
what's it say once i have spoken but i
will not answer
yes twice but i will proceed no further
yeah and then
psalm 62 god has spoken once twice i
have heard
yeah it's just like there's a there's a
hearing and then there's a hearing
and here uh let him who has an ear
let him hear
so we go to uh pergamos
verse 12 to the angel of the church of
pergamos
say these things
these things says he who has a sharp
two-edged sword now we talked about that
before the two-edged sword
so beware when the lord is coming at you
with a sword
uh it's either a scalpel or it's a
weapon to deal with something
right sometimes a sharp word is
necessary
jesus says to peter get behind me satan
you know you of little faith could you
imagine
one of your friends saying to you you
have no faith you have little faith why
do you have such little faith
but jesus said those kind of things you
know
he had an investment of love in people's
lives and
and people understood his heart
sometimes
you know people who really love you uh
they've
they've kind of invested a right to be
able to speak into your life
and you need to give them the ability to
do that
after a while you should trust the
motive of the person
you know loves you enough to say to you
hey what are you doing knock it off
right so here the lord who has invested
the years of love is now about to say
something with a two-edged sword
i know your works and where you dwell
where satan's throne is
yeah that's a problem you can tell this
is going to be a problem
i know your works and where you dwell
even where satan's seed is
and then it says and you hold fat and
this is kind of interesting
then then it says here
and you hold fast to my name and did not
deny my faith
even in the days which antipas was my
faithful martyr
who was killed among you where satan
dwells
they are literally in a spot here
this is absolutely amazing i have a few
things against you
a few things because you have
there are those who hold the doctrine of
balaam
who taught balak to put a stumbling
block before the children of israel
to eat things sacrificed to idols and to
commit sexual
immorality thus also you have those who
hold the doctrine of the nicolaitans the
thing i hate here's those nicolaitans
again
repent or else i'll come to you quickly
and will fight against you with the
sword of my mouth
he who has an ear let him hear what the
spirit says to the churches
to him who overcomes i will give some of
the hidden manna to eat
and i will give him a white stone and on
the white stone a new name
written which no one knows except him
who receives it
this is the the worldly church
the compromising church this church
mixed its doctrines and needed to repent
this is located in the foothills of the
caicas river
western turkey major city
greek roman hub for temple worship
the word pergamos means elevation or
exalted
and they were simply tolerating bad
teaching
the message of bergamos has spoken as
satan's seat
where this uh ateles iii a priest king
of the chaldeans
hierarchy fled before conquering the
persians and pergamos
uh he's uh uh
basically there was a union between the
church and constantine at this time
when the government and the church
gather together that
the time period being referred to here
and um that's a that's a problem
everybody understand that would be a
problem right
you know i i i like when the when the
government
says to me i can worship and no one
should hinder my worship i like when i
have the freedom
from government interference with my
worship
but some christians want the government
to say things about their rights
and do things for the church and when
they do that that comes with a
some strings attached and there's a very
slippery slope to that so
the doctrine of balaam is then mentioned
this is disclosed in a story of balaam
found in
the chapters in exodus 22 to 25.
children of israel are on their way to
canaan they reach the land of moab
and uh balak this other king wants to
invade israel and he asks balaam you
know the story
should i go and balaam says you know
what god has blessed you're not
gonna you're not gonna stop him and then
he
asked him again he's yeah don't do it
well god is blessed you're not gonna
stop him
but then he offered baleb some scooch
and when he could reward balaam a little
but balaam changed his message
here's a church that's leaders
are changing their message now i just
want to say this
there's never a good reason to
compromise doctrine
there's never a good reason to
compromise it
uh clarence larkin said this the balaam
method
constantine employed was to give the
bishops of the church
a number of imposing buildings called
basilicas
for conversion into churches
for whose decoration he was lavish and a
gift of money
he also supplied superb vestments for
the clergy
and soon the bishop found himself clad
in costly vestments
seated on a lofty throne in the asp
of the basilica with a marble altar
adorned with gold and gems on a lower
level in front of him
a basilica with a marble
on a marble altar below him
a sensuous form of worship was
introduced the character of the
preaching was changed
and the great pagan festivals were
adopted
but with little alteration to please the
pagan members of the church
and to attract pagans to the church
so you know you can get into this is in
the winter solstice was introduced and
all that stuff so
now we've gone into this new period of
time
constantine has basically become the
great influence of the church
and this is uh quite problematic
but it all started with a toleration of
bad teaching
so then we go from pergamos to thyatira
verse 18.
oh before we do that verse 17 probably
one of the most intriguing passages
to him who overcomes i will give some of
the hidden manna to eat
now i like to think of this as you know
when we talk about manna
we talk about food from heaven israel
right wilderness
need god supplies
manna the word manna means what is it
they even know what it was
it's food probably highly nutritious
and very delicious but it was manna
and you know the israelites got sick of
it began to complain about it
but this hidden manna is really
a supply in a dark place
in a difficult time and god says you
know what
if you're gonna if you persevere you're
gonna have a supply in the dark places
of your life
that supply may be people that supply
maybe
friendships that supply maybe the word
of god but somehow or another you're
going to get this hidden manner from god
why is it hidden
because not everybody gets it
not everybody finds this supply because
not everybody
is overcoming not everyone not everyone
overcomes some people succumb
some people compromise you know
i was thinking about it this morning i'm
on my way to work
and every now and then i get a reminder
i don't know what reminded me of this
but
the number of friends that were
following christ at one point or another
and have compromised and are no longer
following christ
and i think many of them would be here
with us now in this season of our life
you know there were years ago when we
dreamed together
about a place like this to worship god
and serve there are many years when we
dreamed about reaching nations like we
are now
i was on a call last night with anila z
and a group of people from florida there
were probably 20 people in a zoom
meeting
listening to anila talk about the school
for young girls that she started
talk about this she's they're also doing
a private school i didn't know that
they have over 100 students and then
they have this program for little girls
called a beauty school where they take
these homeless girls
and they bring them in and they feed
them they teach them how to dress
and they teach them how to comb their
hair and wash their face
and it's amazing and then she's got this
sewing school that she does
and these are people very select women
who are
widows or single women who have some
stigma involved with her life
she takes them so that they don't become
prostitutes they don't become street
women or whatever
she takes them provides them a sewing
machine we've bought a few of them
provides them a sewing machine they
start a business they make clothes they
get out of that situation
she's also going into the brickyards
these brick kilns
and helping families with food and
clothing some of them live out in the
elements they don't even have a tent to
live under
and she's providing them with these
things iegm has been helping her now
and her husband who passed away for over
uh
12 years and now we're part of that this
church is part of that what's going on
in pakistan through neil z because
when we support josephus a portion of
that goes to iagm
and i think right now it's close to five
hundred dollars a quarter
so two thousand dollars a year going to
these other missionaries
the kincaids who are ministering to
people in italy
muslims coming from all over the place
they're hearing the gospel pastor
kincaid's ministry
you've got to kneel in pakistan we've
got pastor joe up in cambodia doing a
great work in cambodia
and then we have our pastor josephus and
pastor bessman
you know it's amazing to think about
this
and and there are people that were with
us at one point or another
who are no longer following christ they
unfortunately they do not get
the the joy of this hidden manner
of being able to celebrate what god has
done is that a sad thing
but you aren't you get to celebrate
you're munching away on this hidden
manner right now
all right then it says here the stone
with the new name written on it i love
this you know
this is you know this is like
it's not like a pet name but we could
liken it to that
like maybe you have a pet name for your
wife or your wife has a pet name for you
you don't say that out in public i mean
you don't go into tops
and call her you know honey munchkins or
whatever your
silly little pet names are you know
that's all i could think of
no we know that's not us we're not honey
munchkins
but you know here's a name that only god
knows and only you know and it's just
it's a private thing between you and god
and you know as much as we are a big
family and god loves the church
he loves you individually and has a
special name for you
and uh pretty amazing
so we go from from this church here
pergamos now we go to thyatira
verse 18. to the messenger of the church
of thyatira
these things says son of god who has
eyes like a flame of fire and feet like
fine brass now that was mentioned in 114
right i know your works
love service faith and your patience
and as for your works the last are more
than the first
in other words they've been growing in
their works
but then there's always however
nevertheless i got a few things against
you
because you allow that woman
jezebel yep here she is
who calls herself a prophetess
to teach and seduce
my servants to commit sexual immorality
and eat things sacrificed to idols
you wonder you think yourself how is he
commending this church the way he did
just now and he's saying there's this
kind of thing going on in the church
it's because not everyone was doing what
he's saying here he's saying it's
it's in the church it's being tolerated
you know it's being allowed remember
paul when he wrote to corinthians he
said
he called him saints he opens it up and
then he says but you're carnal
what the problem in corinth they got all
these gifts going on
all this teaching happening but they
were allowing
some particular things to go on and paul
said you cannot allow that when you
gather together you got to grab this guy
who's doing what he's doing
and by the power of the spirit of god
address the issue
they were they were this is the corrupt
church
and it's following a seductive
prophetess
this woman is a pretender she's calling
herself a prophetess
she probably had some
lineage that allowed her to be in that
position
as the real jezebel earlier in the bible
she had a commanding influence
uh my my my sense here from the
from the reading of this is that the
adultery being talked about is
is idolatry uh it's called
frankly sexual immorality
but uh it's it's uh
it probably involves other things as
well
i love verse 21. i gave her time to
repent
and she didn't repent
indeed i will cast her into a sick bed
and those who commit adultery with her
into great tribulation unless they
repent of their deeds
i will kill her children with death and
all the churches shall know that i am he
who searches the minds and hearts
and i will give to each one of you
according to your works now those works
aren't the good
that's not the good kind of works
now i say to you and to the rest of
thyatira and as many as do not have this
doctrine
who have not known the depths of satan
as they say
i will put on you no other burden
but hold fast what you have till i come
and he overcomes and keeps my works
until the end to him i will give power
over the nations wow
power over the nations
this textile and die
city is a very uh wealthy area
it's quite possible that this could be
about the papacy
as some authors have said
but thyatira
thyatira has some issues there's a 11 in
this church
that is just being allowed to fester
and i think what we gain from this
is that we have to address things as
they occur
and not let them fester and i think
that's important for
families to do i think that's important
for husbands and wives
keep short accounts don't let things
fester
you remember uncle fester and the adams
family
you know you don't want you don't want
things to fester
like a festering sore getting all
infected and gross you don't want don't
let things fester
because that's what happens when
something is allowed when something bad
is just allowed to remain
it doesn't get pretty it doesn't get
it doesn't smell better with time if you
put on a block of cheese
on your counter and you let it fester
it's not going to look any better
it's not going to smell better later
right
so there are very few things in life
that smell better with time
the things that i can't think offhand
i'm sure there are some maybe you can
think of some that
smell better with time but for the most
part
most things don't smell or look better
with time
so don't allow things to fester okay
that's the lesson i think from thyatira
then this moves on as we should
to the church in sardis
there's a lot that we're not covering
here because this is a review
if we were going to go verse by verse uh
through revelation probably take us a
year it'd be longer than the book of
romans
okay did that was that
yes it was nice nice for the rest of us
seriously man i get heat for romans
menzo how long has he been in how long
was he in philippians
10 years how long was he in there man
i had a full head of hair when he
started that book
revelation 3 to the angel of the church
in sardis these things says he
who has the seven spirits of god and the
seven stars
now we we talked about the seven spirits
of god already right we know what that
is
isaiah 11 right
it's seven aspects of the holy spirit
i know your works that you have a name
that you are alive but you are dead
this is the dead church
this is the dead church
i know your works that you have a name
you know the biggest work of the church
was they their name
you know that's it it says you're dead
be watchful and strengthen the things
which remain
that are ready to die for i have not
found your works perfect before god
therefore remember therefore how you
have received and heard
hold fast and repent therefore if you
will not
watch i will come upon you as a thief
and you will not know what hour i will
come upon you
you have a few names even in sardis who
have not defiled their garments
and shall walk with me in white for they
are worthy and i think it's amazing in
every church there's a remnant
of godly people uh that he addresses
the good works of the church those are
coming from the godly people
here he says you know even in your
church there's a few godly
people
huh
somewhat they've kept the faith some
have kept the faith
thank you harry for bringing that to my
attention
they're worthy he who overcome shall be
clothed in white garments
and i believe these are degrees of glory
much like the morning star mentioned
earlier one of the other churches
everyone's going to be clothed in white
in heaven we've already established that
but he points us out and says these will
be clothed in white garments
and it's implied here that these are
going to be garments that are different
than the other garments
so just like there i believe there's
degrees of suffering in hell i think
there's degrees of glory in heaven
it doesn't mean one will have more
happiness than another
but i mean if you've been investing in
the word of god and you've been serving
god
your soul will be shining
in daniel it says that those that
convert many to righteousness will shine
as the stars of the firmament there's
there's something special about that in
first corinthians chapter
15 it says that there'll be degrees of
glory there'll be
various types of shine one will be like
the moon one will be like the sun want
to be like a one star
difference from another is going to be
degrees of glory in heaven
this is probably the church during the
reformation period
the history with martin luther and a
number of other reformers
protested against false teaching tyranny
and the claims of the papal church
a period began probably around 1500 a.d
conditions of the that were called the
papal church here became
intolerable
and came to a crisis when luther in 1517
nailed his 95 theses
on the church store at wittenberg
germany
and the reformers brought a life
they strengthened the things that
remained
sardis we then moved to
verse 7 the angel of the church of
philadelphia
these things say he who is holy who is
true
who has the key of david who opens and
no one shuts
and who shuts and no one opens i see
your works
see i have set before you an open door
and no one can shut it
if you have little strength have kept my
word
and have not denied my name indeed i
will make those
of the synagogue of satan who say they
are jews and are not but lie
indeed i will make them come and worship
before your feet
and to know that i have loved you
because you have kept my command to
persevere
i will keep you from the hour of trial
which is to come upon the whole
world and test those who dwell on the
earth
behold i am coming quickly hold fast
that you have
hold fast what you have that no end no
one might take your crown he who
overcomes i will make him a pillar in
the temple of my god
and he will go out no more
and i will write on him the name of my
god and the name of the city of my god
the new jerusalem which comes down from
heaven from my god
and i will write on him a new name let
him who has an ear let him hear
now this is a period of time
this is the church of philadelphia the
church of brotherly love
and he's saying prepare this
time of coming
which i'm going to keep you from
this is the faithful church the church
of brotherly love is what philadelphia
means
it endured patiently
in philadelphia there were temples and
worship centers
and here it says they will be kept from
out of the tribulation eck
the word ek from out of the tribulation
there's another word en means you'll be
kept
by him in the tribulation this is eck
you'll be
removed or kept out of the tribulation
ek
little word big meaning
there's an overlap between laodicea and
philadelphia there are two churches i
believe during the same time period
it had little strength it's like a
person coming back to life is
very weak
the dead charter search the dead sardis
church revived
coming alive and you know what it's
interesting the number of revivals that
happened when
from everywhere from george whitefield
1739 those revivals
wesley finney moody
all those revivals in the next time
period following that time of the
reformation
when the church began to breathe again
the church began to
have conversions again the church began
to do world missions again
that's the church of philadelphia little
strength
open door the hour of temptation are
mentioned the open door i believe is
world missions
philadelphia church uh likely covers a
time period between 1750 and 1900
maybe even beyond that some overlap
and you can't forget characteristics of
each of these churches carries over
until the very end
so i don't want to make it hard and fast
that these are
just time periods remember these are
specific churches that were there at the
time
as well as representation of church ages
which makes the book of revelation a
fascinating book
that john would write the churches in
this order
and it follows the characteristic almost
prophetically
of what would happen over time in church
ages
and he did it by the order of the
closest chur
city to him as he wrote
amazing
then we move on uh verse 14 laodicea
the most notorious this church gets no
commendation
just as a complaint how sad
there's nothing good
even its name at least the at least a
dead church got a
commendation for having the right name
laodicea means the people rule
god is no longer in control and
henceforth
you've got a lukewarm church that's
neither hot nor
cold nothing is
more disgusting or nauseating
than tepid water
nothing more repugnant to christ than a
tepid church
he'd rather have it frozen or boiling
you know i think like
we've kind of talked about this a little
bit and i'll use this illustration again
i before the class started this coffee
was incredibly hot
how come it's not hot anymore why did it
cool off
because i didn't drink it in time
why did it cool off it was 140 degrees
when i poured it
the only way it's going to stay 140
degrees is if the room is
140 degrees but the temperature of the
room
brought the temperature of my coffee
down now if i had a block of ice there
it may have started to melt by now why
because for it to stay
a block of ice the room has to be 32
degrees but it's not
it's warmer than that right so
god says i wish the room was either hot
or cold i wish you were either hot or
cold
because you know you're not going to
warm anybody up and you're not going to
cool anybody off
if you're just room temperature
and room temperature means the
atmosphere has affected the temperature
of the church
the world has affected the temperature
of the church i'm watching christians
right now
get so affected by the temperature in
the world it's sad
they completely lost focus they're not
talking about the gospel anymore to
anybody
i had a great time last week i met
somebody who's associated with iegm
out in rochester shared the gospel with
her it was amazing
you know it's like you do things like
that and you're just reminded this is
why we're here we're
here because there's still work to do
there are still lost people who need
christ that's why we're here
and when we're room temperature we just
become part
of the environment and and and
we do what they do we talk like they
talk we act like they act their
priorities become our priorities the
advertising effects as we start lusting
after all kinds of things
we become room temperature this is a big
big big
big problem now this is happening
and this church as we read verse 14
these things says the amen faithful and
true witness
the beginning of the creation of god
that is none other than jesus christ
so then because you are i know your
works that you are neither a cold
nor hot i could wish you were cold or
hot
so then because you are lukewarm and
neither cold nor hot i will vomit you
out of my mouth
because you say i am rich and have
become wealthy and have need of nothing
and do not know that you are wretched
miserable poor
blind and naked
one of the most important things
that you can do at some point is get out
of the united states
leave the country go
to another country go to a place
where people wonder where they're going
to eat go to a place
where people don't live in the same
types of places we live in go to a place
where the grocery stores aren't like our
grocery stores go to a place
and see where people have to struggle to
live day to day
and still have tremendous joy and faith
if you ever get the chance to
plan to go
go
because
the church that's just has it all a
person that has it all
never thinks about not having it all or
what it's like to not have what you need
that person is not going to be very
useful to god
you know i know people that make a lot
of money
i know a lot of them and i know some
that have been on the mission field and
i know some
that haven't and there's a marked
difference between the way they think
they don't even know they're thinking
about it even the one that's the ones
that have gone and
understand what it's like to be in
another country
but it affects them it affects the way
you walk over and hit a light switch
when you've been in a country that has
no power like we were
six months it affects you
every morning i've told you this every
morning when i get in the shower
i get soaked i shut the shower off and i
pray
for josephus and joyce theodora
and for safe water ghana then i soap up
and put the water back on
why why would i do that because i've
been affected by what i've seen
what i've seen matters i don't want to
be
lukewarm i don't want to forget
what i've seen and where i've been i
don't want you to forget
what you've seen and where you've been
because if you do you'll become lukewarm
the temperature of the world is powerful
the atmosphere of the world is powerful
the prince and power of the air
controls the the thoughts
and the wavelengths and everything else
john said the whole world lies
under the sway of the wicked one
and if we're not careful we
become overwhelmed
in our thought life we start to think we
have rights
that we really don't have well i have a
right
for people to recognize me i i have a
right
for people to give me attention i have a
right for this and a right for that and
we start thinking like that
and then we start thinking nobody loves
me
everybody hates me i guess i'll go eat
some worms
you know we start thinking like that and
the world starts to affect us and you
wonder where is this thinking coming
from the prince and power of the air
the rulers of darkness put on the armor
of light
put on the breastplate the belt
and the shoes and the helmet and the
sword
put them on and fight
because the atmosphere
will affect the way you think
it's one thing to be warm-hearted it's
quite another thing to be lukewarm
they thought they were rich and
outwardly they are
but people don't understand the poverty
of the human heart
and the poverty of a heart that assumes
that gain is godliness
there's a whole movement in christianity
that teaches that
god wants you to be wealthy god wants
you to have everything you need
god doesn't want you to go without if
you do this god will do that
there's a whole movement of that
you know the trouble with the church
today is that everyone thinks that
nothing can be done without money you
know
i remember hearing one guy say
the water of life is free but it takes
money to pipe it in
you know it's like who said that
where is that in the word when you see
the
korean churches gathering out in fields
and you see one church i saw a picture
of a church today
a a group of people made a church out of
snow and were gathering outside in this
snow building i know where it was maybe
it's siberia who knows
you know
but don't be deceived and thinking that
the only
way we're going to do what we need to do
and the only way we're going to get done
what we need to get done is with money
money secondary money takes a back seat
to prayer
money takes a back seat to faith money
takes a back seat to obedience
money takes a back seat to prayer money
takes a back seat to faith
and money takes a back seat to obedience
we'll do what god wants us to do if we
stay faithful
and do what we're supposed to do finally
in closing tonight
i want to just uh close with this
picture that christ leaves them
i counsel you to buy from me
gold refined in the fire
that you may be rich white garments that
you may be clothed
and that the shame of your nakedness may
not be revealed
and anoint your eyes with eye salve that
you may see
this is the nature of real repentance
that important things tried by fire
would be remembered
that that righteousness would be
embraced
and that you'll be able to see again
because you're hearing the sound of the
word of god
your perspective is challenged
as many as i love i rebuke
and chasten therefore be zealous
and repent get a little fire in your
belly
and repent i always find it fascinating
when someone says
i just can't get out of this funk no you
it's not you can't get out of the funk
you won't get out of the funk
you can do all things through christ who
strengthens you you can get out of the
funk
you've just decided you like your funk
you like that rut you're in it's
comfortable you know what a rut is by
the way
it's just a grave with the ends kicked
out of it
so you're just laying in this grave
comfy and cozy
it's not that you can't change that you
won't
you've dug your feet and you're stubborn
like all of us
behold i stand at the door knock and i
love this
hello anybody home
lights around but nobody's home you know
what right
not paul the lights are on but nobody's
home
jesus is knocking he never quits on a
saint
if anyone hears my voice and opens the
door
i will come in and dine with him and he
with me
isn't that awesome it's really as simple
as that
he's knocking if you can hear him
knocking
answer the door you hear him dealing
with an area of your life you've been
stubborn and answered the door
and he's certainly knocking today on the
door of the churches
in america and really around the world
and boy is it so important for the
church to hear the lord now
to him who overcomes i will grant to sit
with me on my throne
and i also overcame and sat down with my
father on his throne
he who has an ear let him hear what the
spirit says to the churches that's how
the chapter closes
father we thank you for this time
tonight just a quick overview of these
churches
um i pray lord you would give us the
practical from this not just the
historical and the theological but
challenge us with the practical of
what's happening as we read this
and i pray you bless our church here in
jesus christ's name amen
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