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Revelation chapter 3 · Scripture Unscripted

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Revelation chapter 3. Let us pray.
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Father, we thank you, Lord, for another day to come and to
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worship you in spirit and truth. God, we thank you for the
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ministry of prayer. We thank you for access to the
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Holy Scriptures. Lord, continue to teach us.
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Teach us your paths. Teach us your ways.
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Take us to new heights with you. God, allow us to feel the depths
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of your love for creation. God, I pray that you'll continue
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to draw more and more and more sons and daughters unto
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yourself. God, give us the mental
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fortitude and the wherewithal to respond.
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Father, I pray that we will be those that are marked by your
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grace and mercy and love. Lord, I pray that we'll be your
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hands and feet. God, your voice for this
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generation. Hide me and hide my words.
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Hide my thoughts. God, I pray that it'll be you,
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King Jesus, that gets all the glory forever and ever.
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I pray that you'll continue to push everything along according
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to the prophecies contained in this book.
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Lord, I pray that we will see you, Lord, high and lifted up
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above it all, the name that is above all names.
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God, we exalt your holy name. You are El Shaddai, El Eleon,
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you are Jehovah Rapha and Jehovah Nisi.
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You are our everything and we love you.
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Heal our bodies and heal our marriages.
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God, bring the prodigals home. Father, I pray that you'll
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continue to form a hedge of protection around us.
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We pray for the peace of Jerusalem, Father, and it's in
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Jesus Christ, holy and precious name that I pray.
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Amen. Let's start in verse 1.
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And unto the Angel of the church in Sardis, right these things,
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says he that has the seven spirits of God and the seven
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stars. I know your works, that you have
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a name, that you live and are dead.
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So he's writing unto Sardis, which is the church as dead, but
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it has a believing remnant. And we can go and look at these
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seven churches and we can look at church history all the way
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from the apostles all the way to the apostate church.
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And we can surmise which church we are in if we're looking at it
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in a fashion of time frames. But they all kind of
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intermingle. That's what you need to
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understand. But there is this Church of
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Sardis which a lot of scholars believe is the time of the
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Reformation. And you can see here that Jesus
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Christ is saying unto them. He's saying, listen, you have a
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reputation for being alive, but you are dead, but you need to
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strengthen that which remains. And he's talking about the seven
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stars that are in his hand. These are the pastors, the
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church leaders, the messengers that are shining like stars upon
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the lampstands was the lampstands are the church.
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And then you can see these seven spirits of God.
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And this is a reference again to Isaiah 11, verse 2.
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And he's talking about the Spirit of the Lord and the
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spirit of fear, the spirit of knowledge and understanding and
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wisdom. Friends, you can find all that
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back in Isaiah, and this is what is referenced.
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First to be watchful, strengthen the things which remain and are
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ready to die. For I have not found your works
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perfect before God. So he's counseling us as the
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church to strengthen ourselves in the Lord like David did.
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We need to return back to our first love.
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We need to return back to God, return back to the things that
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we were doing, return back to reading the scriptures, return
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back to being more of Mary than we are of Martha, sitting at his
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feet and being loved on and loving him, allowing him to wash
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our feet. We need to return back to the
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things that we were doing and strengthen those things.
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We cannot just be all program. We cannot just be those that go
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through the robotic motions of church.
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It has to be a place of this agape love, the phileo love.
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We have to be a place of the one another and one another, This
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Koinonia, this communion, this fellowship that God so
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desperately desires to see manifested within the church.
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Friends three, remember therefore how you have received
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and heard, and hold fast and repent.
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If, therefore, you shall not watch, I will come on you as a
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thief, and you shall not know what hour I will come on you.
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Of course he's talking about the return of Jesus Christ.
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He's talking about two people standing in the field and one
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taken 1 left behind. He's talking about the rapture
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of the church. He's talking about how quickly
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it will come. And then even for those who are
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left here in the seven-year tribulation, he will come for
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them at the end, friends. He'll come back and He's going
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to judge them. And there will be this
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apocalyptic Armageddon that happens at the end of the
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seven-year period. And people are just going to be
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believing that everything just keeps on going and that God is
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dead, or God is slack or that God is not going to hold to his
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promises. But he's telling the Church of
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Sardis, and he's telling us as well that we need to watch and
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we need to pray and we need to be ready so that we can escape
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the things that are coming upon the world.
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Friends, he's going to come like a thief in the night.
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And the irony of this passage is that this geographical land,
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this ancient city of Sardis had been overtaken twice by
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surprise. They were up on a high Cliff,
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thought that they were above any kind of attack.
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And the attackers found the secret way in the secret trail
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and they scaled the cliffs and they took them by surprise
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because they were lazy and didn't post watch.
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So this is not only applicable to them as a literal
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geographical place, but it is. Of course it's the irony that
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Jesus is coming back like a thief in the night.
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And if the strongman knew when his house would be broken into,
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he would not allow it. For you have a few names even in
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Sardis, which have not defiled their garments, And they shall
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walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
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So he's going to give them this white raiment, which is the pure
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innocence of Jesus Christ covering them.
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And they're going to stand before holy God, innocent and
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pure, because of the righteousness imputed to them
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from Jesus Christ in the perfect life that he lived.
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And there's a remnant, and God always has a remnant, friends.
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He always saves the remnant friends.
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That's what you need to understand is that there's never
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a time in the history of mankind that God does not have sold out,
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born again, blood bought believers that are going to bust
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heaven wide open. We're carrying the torch, the
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ecclesia. He told us that the gates of
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hell will not prevail against the Church.
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Five He that overcomes the same shall be clothed in white
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raiment. And I will not blot out his name
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out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before my
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Father and before his angels. So you need to understand a
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couple things here. And this is a really deep
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passage that we could spend a lot of time digesting and we
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could spend a lot of time studying.
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But suffice to say, friends, is that there is this passage and
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you can't do anything with it. And it's been mentioned many
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times throughout the Bible of this blotting out of the name
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from the book of life. And this stands in stark
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contrast to those who would say once saved, always saved.
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And this is where you get your theology that you can lose your
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salvation. We saw that all the way back in
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the book of Hebrews. Many times we've seen it
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mentioned this losing of salvation passage.
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And you need to understand that if you truly know the Lord, you
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will not want to do the things that break His heart.
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It is those that are abusing grace who don't truly know Him.
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And we could debate until the cows come home if it's once
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saved, always saved, or if you can lose your salvation.
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And there is enough proof for both sides of the coin a lot of
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times in the same fashion that we talk about pre tribulation,
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if we're going to be raptured before the seven-year
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tribulation or if we're mid tribulation, which means we're
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going to have to go through the 3 1/2 years before we're taken
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up and out. Or if you're post tribulation,
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which means that you believe we're going to have to go
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through the seven-year tribulation before we're taken
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up and out. And there is enough passages for
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any scholar to make his stand and to die on that hill and say
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that this is what the Bible says.
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And they're very dogmatic about things that God is somewhat
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mysterious about. And we need to keep ourselves
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open minded. We need to keep ourselves rooted
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and grounded in God's Word. We don't need to be closed off
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from what our brothers or sisters believe unless it goes
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against the plain teaching that is congruent throughout the
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entire Bible, which is Jesus Christ is the only way unto the
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Father. We need to agree upon that.
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That is the basis for everything that we believe that He is the
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only way unto the Father. You need to know that Jesus
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Christ came all man and all God. We did not give any ground on
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this doctrine, but when it comes to can you be blotted out from
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the book of life, it's as plain as reading it right here in this
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passage and many other passages throughout the Bible.
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But you need to understand that if you truly know the Lord, you
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will have conviction. And that is the sheer marker of
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someone who knows Him and who's walking with Him and who is in
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fellowship with Him and who abides in Him and He in them.
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We don't need to have a loss of assurance when it comes to
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following after the Lord. We don't need to be emotionally
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manipulated into doubting our salvation.
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Friends. It is just as toxic in that camp
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as well as the ones who constantly want you to doubt it.
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Friends, we work out our salvation with fear and
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trembling. Friends before a holy and and
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reverent God, that is who we give an account to friends and
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there are many who are well meaning who are trying to scare
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people in to heaven and they don't want to love them in to
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hell. And you need to understand that
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the motives in the heart behind both camps can be pure.
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They can be from a genuine place of care and compassion for
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souls, and they don't want you to have to go to hell and they
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don't want you to treat the grace of God as something to be
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trampled upon. But then you also have those
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from impure motives who are just trying to check a box and all
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they care about is numbers. And that is from a very, very
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debased mindset, friends. And you need to understand that
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we get rooted and grounded in God's Word.
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We believe what it says, we stand on what it says.
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We don't doubt any single part of it.
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It all makes sense. That all lines up, every single
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bit of it. And I do not believe that Satan
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can pluck you out of God's hand. Once the Lord has you, you need
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to remain in him and He in you. And do not renounce your faith
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and do not walk away from the faith.
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But if you have breath in your lungs, friends, it's not too
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late. You can come back to the Father.
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The only time that our fate is completely sealed is whenever
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you take your last breath. There's no purgatory, there's no
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praying people out of hell, and there's no baptism for the dead
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to get people out of hell. Friends, it is set.
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That is it. And as long as you have breath,
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it's not too late. Six, He that has an ear, let him
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hear what the Spirit says unto the churches, 7 and to the Angel
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of the church in Philadelphia, right these things, says He that
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is holy, he that is true, he that has the key of David, he
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that opens, and no man shuts and shuts, and no man opens.
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These are all the attributes of Jesus Christ.
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Every single time you see an introduction to a new church,
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you see a new facet of who he is.
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You see all of these beautiful attributes of our Lord Jesus
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Christ. He holds the keys, He opens the
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doors that no man can shut. He shuts doors that no man can
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open. Friends, He is the Alpha, the
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Omega. He is our everything.
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He's holy, He's true. He is the antithesis of
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everything that is worldly and carnal.
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He is our everything. He is Yahweh. 8 I know your
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works. Behold, I have set before you an
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open door, and no man can shut it, for you have a little
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strength and have kept my word and have not denied my name.
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So this is evangelism worldwide. Planes, trains and automobiles,
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missionaries getting out into the world.
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He opened the door for evangelism, friends, right
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before the apostate church. Now I'm behold, I will make them
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of the synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews and they're
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not, but do lie. Behold I will make them to come
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and worship before your feet and to know that I have loved you.
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So these are the Jews that are persecuting the early church and
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God here has a lot to say to him.
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And if you look in the Old Testament, you're going to see
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the Gentiles coming and worshiping before the Jews feet.
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And then here you see how God flips the script and he calls
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them the synagogue of Satan because they're a tool in
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Satan's hand, friends, to persecute the early church.
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And the Jews must come in the same way that you and I do.
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They must come in through the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Their lineage to Abraham does not guarantee their salvation,
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even though God has a very special plan for the ethnic
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Jews. You need to understand that they
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are not going to be saved just because of their position in
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Abraham. It doesn't work that way ever
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since Jesus came as the Messiah. But it is their blindness,
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friends, this leading many Gentiles into the fold.
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But then you go back and you read Romans Chapter 11 and
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you're going to find out that God has a very special plan for
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the ethnic Jews. And they're going to see the
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jealousy of all the Gentiles coming in.
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That's going to provoke them into realizing that they have
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murdered their Messiah. And they're going to come and
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they're going to believe in Jesus Christ, which is the
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entire purpose of the seven-year Tribulation, friends.
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And because you have kept the word of my patience, I also will
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keep you from the hour of temptation which shall come upon
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all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth.
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That is the seven-year tribulation.
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The church is gone up and out before the seven-year
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tribulation. You're not even going to see the
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church mentioned throughout the rest of the Book of Revelation
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after he addresses them in these first 3 chapters because of this
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very verse that you're reading right here.
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Revelation chapter 3, verse 10. He's going to keep the church
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from the hour that is coming to test all the inhabitants of the
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earth for seven years. 11 Behold, I come quickly.
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Hold that fast. Which you have that no man take
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your crown. So think about it, friends,
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these crowns that we're going to receive and we're going to throw
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them at the feet of Jesus because it's not about the
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rewards. It's all about him.
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It's all about worshipping King Jesus.
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Everything that we do is for him.
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He loved us first and now we get to know what love is. 12 him
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that overcomes. I will make a pillar in the
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temple of my God, and he shall go no more out, and I will write
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upon him the name of my God, in the name of the city of my God,
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which is New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my
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God, and I will write upon him my new name.
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So here in Philadelphia, they suffered many seismic
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earthquakes and they had to go out of the city to avoid being
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rained down the rocks and the stones from the buildings.
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And so he's saying that he's going to make them pillars in
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the Lords House and they would have the context of what he was
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saying and he makes it so personal unto them.
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But also this is for all time sake.
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This is for us. He's giving us a brief snapshot,
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which he's going to talk about more in depth at the end of
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Revelation of the New Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven,
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2000 miles long and 2000 miles wide, 2000 miles high, friends.
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And you can see this beautiful cube coming down out of heaven
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and sitting on literal geographical.
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Planet Earth and He's going to make everything new.
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New heaven and new earth and the gates are never shut, friends,
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and it'll be nothing but Koinonia and fellowship forever
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and ever and ever. And there's no need for light
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because God is there. There's no need for a temple
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because Jesus is there. And it'll be everything that
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we've ever desired. Paradise, friends, forever and
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ever and ever. No more satanic revolt.
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No more of the temptation, friends, it will be paradise.
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It will be everything that our souls, our bodies, our spirits
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yearn for. Friends, he's telling us he's
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going to write a new name on us and he's talking about the city
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of God and it's coming down. What a beautiful verse 13.
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He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the
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churches. 14 And unto the Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans.
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Right these things, says the Amen, the faithful and true
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witness, and the beginning of the creation of God.
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This is Jesus Christ, friends, dial it in.
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It says He's the Amen, He's the yes.
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He is faithful, friends, even when we are not.
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He is the true witness. He came and He gave us the good
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news, friends, and He is the beginning of creation of God.
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He was there with God before the beginning of any creation.
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They were fellowshipping God Almighty, God the Son and God
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the Holy Ghost, three and one in fellowship. 15 I know your
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works, that you're neither hot or cold.
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I wish that you were hot or cold.
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So here he is saying that he wishes they were refreshing as a
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cold drink, or he wishes that they were on fire and had the
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zeal of the Lord. But they are neither.
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They are tepid. They are lukewarm, and the irony
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of this is that the water that got piped into Laodicea came
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from a hot spring and by the time that it reached there 6
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miles later, it was just lukewarm.
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So you can see here that these are literal geographical
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churches on planet earth that had all of their own issues and
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Jesus Christ is making it personal to them.
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And then he's applying it for all time sake for us, friends.
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16 So then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor
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hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.
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So he's saying I will vomit you out of my mouth if you were just
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lukewarm. This is a call for us to be on
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fire for the Lord, friends, to be refreshing to our neighbors,
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our brothers and sisters. This is a call for us not to
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become complacent, not to grow weary of doing good, not to just
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check boxes, friends. This is a call for us to
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actually engage in the ministry, to actually be those who are
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edifying each other and who are speaking words of encouragement
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over each other. Friends. 17 Because you say I am
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rich and increased with goods. I have need of nothing.
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And know not that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind
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and naked. So here they are thinking that
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they got it all together, that they have no need for anything,
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that they're good to go. And Jesus says, listen, in my
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sight, you are poor even though you call yourself rich.
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You are wretched even though you think of yourself as pious.
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You are naked, even though you think of yourself as clothed in
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fine raiments. He's saying you were miserable,
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You were poor and blind. 18I counsel you to buy of me gold
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tried in the fire, that you may be rich, and white clothing that
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you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness do not
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appear, and anoint your eyes with eyesalve that you may see.
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So here in Laodicea they were famous for the black wool that
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they produced. They were famous for the eye
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salve that they produced there in their medical community
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friends, they were a rich hub of industry.
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And here Jesus is saying none of that even matters in the end
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when you take your last breath. He counsels us to store up for
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ourselves treasure in heaven, where moth and rust and thieves
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cannot break in and destroy. Friends, we cannot take anything
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with you, but you can send it ahead.
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Friends, you sell the entire field to buy it, so that you can
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get the buried treasure, this Pearl of great price that Jesus
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paid for. Friends. 19 As many as I love, I
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rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and
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repent. He gives us the remedy, friends,
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He tells us to not shrink back, to not murmur and grumble.
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In the chastening and in the discipline.
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He disciplines those that He loves.
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The discipline means that he loves you.
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If he hated you he would take his hands off of you and allow
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you to self destruct. But he would does not do that.
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He continues to chasten us and it proves his love for us.
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He tells us to be zealous and repent.
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Go back to the top. Go back to your rightful
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standing as the Son of the Most High God, as the daughter of the
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King of Kings. Friends, repent, go back, do the
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first things that you once did. Fan the flame, allow it to burn
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bright. Friends, become zealous for his
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house. Let it eat you up. 20 Behold, I
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stand at the door and knock. If any man hears my voice and
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opens the door, I will come into him, and will Sup with him, and
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he with me. Jesus Christ stands at the door
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of His own church and asks to come in.
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He is a gentleman, friends. He never forces himself upon
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you. He asks to come in and to dine,
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and to Sup into fellowship, and to have Koinonia with you.
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Friends. And we must hear the knock.
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We must open the door. We cannot harden our hearts.
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We cannot sear our conscience. We can't afford to.
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Friends, the time is short. 21 To him that overcomes I will
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grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame
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and am set down with my Father in his throne.
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Do you not know that you will judge the nation's?
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Do you not know that you will judge the angels?
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And do you not know that you are the temple of God and He is
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going to allow us to be seated with Him in heavenly places in
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Christ? Friends, what a beautiful
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thought. We are the royal priesthood, and
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he told us that the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than
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anyone who was born of woman, and you must be born again. 22
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He either has an ear. Let him hear what the Spirit
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says unto the churches. Well in there friends, what an
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amazing chapter in God's Word. I hope that you've been blessed
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by it. It's all for you, every bit of
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it. Apply it to your life.
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Don't gloss over when you read it.
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Interpret it as God speaking directly to you.
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It's His voice for you. Every day you get to have a
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conversation with God Almighty. You pray and you're speaking to
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him, and then you read and he's speaking to you and then you
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have a choice if you're going to obey or not.
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What an amazing book that we hold in our hands.
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It's alive and active. It's the only piece of
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literature known to mankind that has the track record to be able
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to predict itself to the exact letter, to the exact degree.
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What an amazing, amazing book that we hold in our hands.
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It's reading you and it's interpreting you, friend.
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Don't put it down. Don't put it on a shelf.
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Just continue to get into it. And if you don't understand it,
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just keep reading. It's OK Eventually, as you
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continue to read it and read it and read it and read it again,
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eventually whatever passage that you don't understand, it will
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click and become crystal clear and it will be as if you've
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never read it before. And it never gets old and never
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gets boring. I look forward to studying the
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rest of Revelation with you. I hope that you have a
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wonderful, amazing day. God bless you.
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See you back here tomorrow.