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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 )
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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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