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“The Corrupt Church” Revelation 2:18-29 · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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Good morning, Calvary Chapel. Hey, man, Sister, thank you for
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the delivery of that very eloquent delivery of the
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announcements this morning. Thank you so much.
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Praise and worship team. Thank you so much for that very
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anointed time of praise and worship.
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What a blessing that was between that and the and the prayer.
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Wow, it was hard to move. It was a blessing.
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I'm going to ask you to turn in your Bibles with me this morning
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to the second chapter of the book of Revelations.
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And we're going to look at we're going to start at verse 18.
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And while you're doing that, I would like to just send out a
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warm welcome to those who are watching on the different
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platforms, whether it's on Facebook or if you're watching
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on Grace FM or any platform that you may be watching on.
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We, we want to welcome you. Also, those of you who are with
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us this morning from behind prison walls, we want to welcome
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you as well. We thank you for your choosing
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to worship with us this morning. Why don't we pray that we can go
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into the word of Godfather? We thank you for your
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Providence. We thank you for Your grace and
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Your mercy that You extend to us every single day.
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We thank You, Father, that You are so gracious that You give us
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Your Word, that You love us that much, that You give us Your word
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that we may know You, that we may know Your ways, we may know
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Your heart. We asked this morning, Father,
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that You would make Your word real for us.
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Lord, open up our hearts, open up our minds that we may
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understand Your Word and give us that.
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Will Lord, give us that desire to want to live out Your word,
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that we won't be hearers only, but that we would be doers, nor
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will we be forgetful hearers, but that we will be doers of
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Your Word. Lord, every day may we endeavor
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to be led by your Holy Spirit to do Your will.
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I pray this morning, Lord, that someone is set free, that you
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would take the shackles off of someone's minds and hearts this
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morning, and may someone be set free.
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May someone leave here today as a believer in the recipient of
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your salvation. Father, we ask all these things
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in the name of our Savior and our Lord in Jesus name we pray,
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Amen. Well, as we take a short look
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back at the the churches that we've already talked about.
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Now we're in the in the process of the Book of Revelation.
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We're in that portion where we are now looking at the things
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that he that are now. The things that are happening
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now, this is the church age. And in doing so, he talked to
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the Church of Ephesus. He wrote a letter to the Church
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of Ephesus. He wrote a letter to the Church
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of Smyrna, and of course, the Church of Pergamus.
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And now we're going to be looking at the letter that he's
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written to the Church of Thyatira.
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But what I want to point out initially is that there is a
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progression. If you look at the things that
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he's saying to these churches in his condemnation, these
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churches, or his warnings to these churches, there is a
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progression. For example, in the book of the
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letter to Ephesus, he warned them about them leaving their
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first love. In the book of Smyrna, there was
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a persecuted church and there was no warning for them.
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It was just a blessing and encouragement for them to
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continue even in the midst of their persecution and the
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suffering that they were going through.
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But in Pergamus there was a warning of their comp, of their
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compromising. And here in the Church of
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Thyatire, you will see this morning that he's going to warn
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them about corruption in the church.
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So what I like to do is go ahead and read this whole letter and
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then we'll go back. And we want to take a look at
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the different parts that the Lord is saying to us that we
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should heed. So in the 2nd chapter of
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Revelations, beginning at verse 18, the word of God says this.
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And to the Angel of the church in Thyatira write these things,
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says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire in his
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feet like fine brass. I know your works love, service,
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faith and your patience. And As for your works, the last
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are more than the first, nevertheless.
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I have a few. Things against you because you
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allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to
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teach and seduce my servants, to commit sexual immorality and to
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eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of
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her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.
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Indeed, I will cast her into a sick bed and those who commit
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adultery with her into great tribulation unless they repent
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of their deeds. I will kill her children with
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death and all the churches. She'll know that I am he who
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searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of
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you according to your works. Now to you I say, and to the
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rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine who have
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not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put you, I
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will put on you no other burden, but hold fast what you have till
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I come. And he who overcomes and keeps
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my works until the end, to him I will give power over the
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nations. 27 He shall rule them with a rod of iron.
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They shall be dashed to pieces like the Potter's vessels.
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And as I also have received from my father, and I will give him
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the morning star, He who has an ear, let him hear what the
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Spirit says to the churches. Amen.
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So what we see here is a city. That's a little.
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Bit different than the other three that we've already
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studied. This is a.
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Smallest city, actually. Actually, it's one of the
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smallest of the seven cities that we will be looking at here
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in the Book of Revelation. In fact, it's one of the
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smallest cities in Asia Minor, but Jesus addresses them and,
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and, and they're not a distinguished.
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They're not as distinguished as the the Church of Ephesus or the
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Church of Smyrna or Pergamus. In fact, they're actually
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considered to be pretty much insignificant.
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There was a author, Roman author by the name of Elder Plenty and
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he stated the this phrase he refers to Thyatira and he says
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in one of his writings Thyatira and other unimportant cities.
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That's how he refers to Thyr Tyre as an unimportant city.
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So it isn't underwhelming. It is underwhelming compared to
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the other cities. It's located about 30 to 40
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miles South of Pergamus. It's an inland city.
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So we, the other was most of the others that we looked at were
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coastal cities. And that's where they receive
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most of their, their trade or that's where they receive most
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of their, their, their, their money, their wealth from the
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coast. But this was an inland city.
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And it's known for its manufacturing and also for its
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trade guilds or guilds. Now this is important, their
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trade guilds. We're going to talk a lot about
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that and how that impacts the Christians that live in that
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area. This trade guilds or like a
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union, OK would be like a union today or the you know when you
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have a a plumbers union, you may have a carpenters union, you may
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have a. A doctor, I don't even know if
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doctors have a union I don't know but there's different
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trades that we know that have unions and in in in this city
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just about every trade had a union the other interesting
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thing about this city is that this is where Lydia came from
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now most. Of the the the.
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Unions that they had were things like wool, Baker's leather.
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They had unions for cloth and linen and purple dyes.
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And that's where you may remember the name Lydia out of
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the book of Acts chapter 16. She, you know, she was the the
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the worker of dye, the seller of dyes, and she was actually one
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of the first converts. In the city of Thyatira, when,
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when Paul was there on one of his missionary journeys, don't
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know if whether or not she was the one, It's not clear whether
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or not she was the one who helped to start that church, but
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we do know that she was one of the first converts that was
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there. So this, these guiles, these
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guilds rather these, these trade guilds that were there in in
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Thyatira, they were very influential.
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They had a lot of strength, a lot of.
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Pull and if you weren't a part of these guilds, it was very
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difficult to make a good living. I didn't rather jobs obviously
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their authoritarian. There's other things you could
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do, but you wouldn't make as much money doing those things as
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you would being a part of the Guild.
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They they, they were, they made it so that it was only those
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that were part of their group that would truly benefit
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financially from the trades. Now these no, no, no.
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And you may say, well, why was it difficult for Christians?
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And it was it was a very difficult area for Christians to
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be a part of because most of the Christians weren't a part of
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this Guild. Most of them were not a part of
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this Guild now. And you would say, well, wait a
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minute, if you want to make money and you concerned about
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not making enough money to take care of your family, why
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wouldn't you just join the Guild, right?
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I mean, you know, couldn't you just do that?
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Couldn't they just go ahead and join the Guild?
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They they could, but it would be a compromise.
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And the reason why is because these guilds were centered
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around Pagan worship. They were centered around Pagan
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wars. Each Guild had a a warship had a
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God that they worshipped and they all had their own gods and
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these and then the meetings that they had with these guilds were
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all centered around idolatry and sexual immorality.
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They may begin the meeting with a a meal and they would eat
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meats that were sacrificed to idols.
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Afterwards they would throw wine into the into the fire and that
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would represent prayers to these Pagan gods.
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Then of course, after that they would become drunken from the
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excessive intake of alcohol, which then would then
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deteriorate. Things would deteriorate into
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the worship of these gods, which was sexual immorality and
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attendance and participation in these, in these meetings were
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required. If you were going to be in these
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guilds, you had to attend these meetings.
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And if you attended the meetings, obviously you would
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want to participate in these festivities that they considered
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to be worship. But no true Christian, obviously
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no true Christian was going to put themselves in that position
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to defile themselves with this idolatry and sexual immorality.
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Therefore, it was very difficult for them to have jobs that would
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pay enough to take care of their families.
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You know many of us. Have had to make that decision,
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you know, from time to time a job versus our Christian values.
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Making a decision to do something that will compromise
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our beliefs. Maybe a job put pressure on you
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to embrace LGBTQ, put pressure on you to embrace abortion, put
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pressure on you to embrace genderism or transgenderism, put
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pressure on you to do things that are that are dishonorable
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or things that are or that are less less than honest on a job
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in order to keep a job. But they put those kind of.
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Pressures on you in order to get you to conform, and that's.
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Exactly what was happening here in, in Thyatira, these, these
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people were put in this position between making a good living and
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keeping their Christian values. So This is why this letter was
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written to those who were holding on to their Christian
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values. They were persevering.
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They were allowing themselves to stay in the path of, of, of, of
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representing the Christianity in a way that was true.
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They were faithful to Jesus. They were faithful to the Word
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of God. But then there were those who
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were not. So Jesus sends this letter.
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He sends this letter to the church and he acknowledged the
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good and the bad of the church. And we should always consider
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the source whenever we hear anything concerning the word of
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God. You know, I, I, I, I, I always
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love when kids and you know, your parents can probably relate
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to this, but you know, kids when.
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One of their siblings tell them to do something.
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The first thing the kid asks is who said you Ever notice that?
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You know, it's no. You got to get up.
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Who said you got to go wash the dishes?
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Who said time to come in? Who said so?
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The source is always important. If Mom and Dad said it, yeah,
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they'll do it. But if they said it themselves,
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then you got to fight. You got to battle.
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Well, if you look at verse 18 here, it says, it says to the
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Angel of the church in Thyatira, these things says the Son of
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God. This is what the Son of God is
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saying. He introduces himself as the Son
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of God. It's important that they knew
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that this letter that they're reading now comes from the one
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who have created all things, the one who has the authority over
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all things, power over all things, the son of God.
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The people in in Thyatira, they worship a false God.
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They worship an idol. They worship a God named Apollo,
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you know, surname Tyrannus. And, and he was the son of Zeus,
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which was the son, which was the son God.
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He was an idol. He was an idol figment of their
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imagination. But Jesus asserts his deity by
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saying I am the Son of God. And that's who's writing this
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letter. Now over in Revelations chapter
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1 and 13, he refers to himself as the Son of man, and that's in
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his, that's in his humanity. He is the Son of man, the Son of
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David, but in his deity he is the Son of God with all the
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nature of God, with all the qualities of God, with all the
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authority of God, with all the power and sovereignty of God,
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all the divine attributes dwell in him.
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So Jesus has the power of sovereign authority over all
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things, and he's greater than the influences of the trade
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guilds. He's greater than those
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influences. He's.
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Greater than the influences of these false prophets and false
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gods. He's able and he's more, He has
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more authority than all of those things, and he's worthy of our
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trust. So he identifies him first as
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being the Son of God. Also, he identifies himself as
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being or having eyes as a flame of fire.
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In Revelations 1 and 14, that's one of the descriptions that was
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given that that John had concerning the resurrected Jesus
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when he saw him. See, Jesus sees.
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Everything with piercing eyes and penetrating judgement.
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Everything. Nothing is hidden from his gaze.
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Nothing at all. None of our actions, none of our
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motives. And he is righteous.
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He's a righteous judge. He is the righteous judge.
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I'd rather be judged. By Jesus than to be judged by
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any man, by any man. He's a righteous judge.
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But you know, sometimes we forget that he sees everything
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and we tend to sometimes be overly concerned with what we
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see in each other. What others see in us.
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We, we get to be concerned about what others see.
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We, we may watch our behavior if we're around certain people,
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certain things we may not do around other people that we may
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normally do certain things we may say around other people that
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we may normally say because we want to be mindful of what
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people say. We're more concerned about their
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opinion of us and, and, and, and, and the way that they see
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us then we are anything else. But we forget.
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We forget that he sees all, regardless of whether they see
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it or not, regardless of whether it's done behind closed doors or
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not, whether it's said behind closed doors or not, whether
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it's thought in secret or in private.
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He sees all. And we should live our lives
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with that, with that acknowledgement, to know that no
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matter where we are, because we are his, he sees us, He sees
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everything. And even by even to this, this
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small church that was in Thyatira who was considered to
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be insignificant, was considered to be unimportant.
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But yet Jesus sees him. You know, to us, for a lot of
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people, we may be insignificant. We may not be important to some
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people, to some organizations, we may not be significant at
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all, may not be important. But he sees us, He sees you, He
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sees me. He sees not only on that what's
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on the outside. But he sees the.
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Deepest things on the inside, the deepest things he sees in
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US. It also says here that he had
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feet like fine brass. Fine brass.
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He had that description. That was over in Revelations 1
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and 15. Brass is is can be represented
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as divine purity, strength, judgement and steadfastness.
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And that is the way that the resurrected Christ is.
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He's pure, He is almighty and he has he is the one who judges and
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he's steadfast. He doesn't change.
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He continues to be the same Jesus Christ yesterday, today,
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and evermore. In the Old Testament, it was a
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bronze order where sins were judged and where sacrifices for
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sins were made daily. The bronze order.
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So Jesus sees sin, He judges sin, He even punishes sin, but
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he also forgives sin. And that's great news for all of
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us. Over in verse 19, he says, I
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know your works, your love, service, faith, and your
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patience. As for your works, the last are
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more than the first. So he knows it works.
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He sees the things that they do. He sees their love, their love
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toward one another, and their love toward the Lord.
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He recognizes their service, their kindness, their goodness
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toward others. It was kind of well noted that
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this particular church intentionally and
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compassionately would reach out to the poor and to those who
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have need. Psalm 41 would say that blessed
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are those who consider the poor. So they were well looked at
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because of the fact that they considered the poor.
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They were also a faithful church.
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They had faith. They showed loyalty, trust, and
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fidelity towards Jesus Christ, and they were patient.
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Even in the midst of all the things that they were going
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through, even in the midst of all the temptation, in the midst
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of everything that was happening in Thyatira, they were patient.
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They continued to persevere, even join all that temptation.
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It's interesting that the church authoritarian possessed 4 of the
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fruit of the Spirit. And even in their trial and
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temptation, they continue to grow in those things.
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As it says here, the last is even more than the first.
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So this is a church that continued to progress in
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righteousness. They continue to progress in
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those qualities that Jesus had also mentioned concerning them.
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But then in verse 20 says, nevertheless, I have a few
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things against you. Because you allow that woman
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Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce
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my servants, to commit sexual immorality and to eat things
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sacrificed to idols. So despite of all those good
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things that this church was doing, in spite of all these
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great qualities that they have, Jesus has something against them
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because he saw everything. And he said, you have this woman
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there named Jezebel. Now, we don't know if that was
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her actual name. In fact, many believe that it
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wasn't her actual name, but it's more like symbolic because of
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her character, because of her ungodliness and the way that she
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handled herself. She was like the Jezebel of the
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Old Testament. I just want to just remind you
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we won't go back and read it, but Jezebel in the Old
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Testament. She was called Queen Jezebel.
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Actually, she was Ahab's wife and you can read about that over
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in First Kings. But, but she was a Pagan
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Princess. She was the daughter of a king
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of the king of Sidonia, a Sidonian king.
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Rather she was the daughter of a Sidonian king.
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His name was ETH Baal. So they were worshippers of Baal
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even in their homeland. So she grew up in a home that
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was worshipping Baal. They even had a temple of Baal
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back at the place where she was from.
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Now she married Ahab for political reasons and she tried
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to mix the worship of Baal with the worship of the God of
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Israel. And eventually she tried to wipe
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it out all together. So she tried to kill off all the
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prophets, all the old prophets that were the prophets of, of
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the Lord. She tried to burn them all out,
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kill them all so she would get rid of them.
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If you remember, Obadiah was the the prophet who ended up hiding
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the prophets of the Lord so that Jezebel wouldn't kill them all
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because she was on that race. She wanted to get rid of it.
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She wanted Belle Worship to be the state religion in Israel.
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That's what she wanted. She was trying to take that
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over. This woman was just
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unsubmissive. She was violent.
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She was rebellious. She, I mean, she just exuded
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ungodliness in just about every way you possibly could.
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And she met with judgement and the judgement she met with was
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death. So I don't, I don't think that
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there's going to be any other women that would be named
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Jezebel. I mean, I don't know anybody
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that named their daughter as Jezebel.
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I don't even know another Jezebel, to be honest with you.
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I don't, I don't even know if that's a name that people would
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use anymore. I mean, she, I think she ruined
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that name. I would.
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I'd be safe to say that she ruined that name for all girls
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going forward. I don't know anybody know
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anybody named Jezebel? Yeah.
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See, I didn't think so. We could probably do this
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anywhere and everybody would. It was still had the same
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result. And I'm just like for guys, you
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know? I mean, I don't know anybody
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named Judas. I've never run into another
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person named Judas. Never ran into another person
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named Jeroboam. Never ran into another person
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named Adolf. You know, I mean, those are just
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names that people don't name their kids anymore because of
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the the connotation. It's a negative connotation.
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So no one names your kids those things anymore.
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So this woman, Jezebel, apparently with this, whoever
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she was, she was apparently very influential and persuasive and,
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and she. Called herself a prophet and as
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you see here in the scripture, it says that woman Jezebel who
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called herself, calls herself a prophetess.
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OK, she called herself that means that she was a
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self-proclaimed prophetess. She was she wasn't sent by the
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Lord. She just went and to do whatever
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it is that she wanted to do. A prophet is one who is is a
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spokesperson for God, one who brings the message of God.
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A prophet speaks truth, not their own, not their own truth,
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not their own understanding. It's a mouthpiece for God.
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This woman was a false prophet, and she brought in a
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destructive, seductive doctrine that seduced the servants of
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Jesus to commit idolatry and sexual immorality.
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And that's the danger with people who bring in these, these
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false ideologies or these these false doctrines, when those
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things are allowed to come into the church, it destroys the
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church and it leads people into a path of sin, into a life of
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sin. And this doctrine was really
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dangerous, you know, but Jesus, Jesus did warn all of us about
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these these doctrines, these seducted these false prophets
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who would come in and bring these ungodly doctrines over.
27:37
In Matthew Chapter 7, verses 15 and 16, he says beware of false
27:41
prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing.
27:44
This is a woman. So they probably thought that
27:46
she would be harmless and she was probably a very friendly
27:50
woman. But meanwhile she was, she came
27:53
in sheep's clothing. But inwardly they are ravenous
27:56
wolves. This woman was a wolf.
27:59
She was a wolf. She was dangerous.
28:02
All she wanted to do was to tear up and to, to, to, you know, to
28:05
shred the, the sheep. You will know them by their
28:08
fruits. And I wanted to just mention to
28:12
you when it says by their fruits, it's not just what they
28:15
say, but it's what they teach and what they live.
28:19
That's their fruit, what they teach and what they live.
28:24
That's how you know a false prophet.
28:27
She, this false prophet, she taught to people that it's OK to
28:31
participate in these guilds and to attend their meetings and to
28:35
participate in all the festivities that go along with
28:38
it. It's OK to do it, to engage in
28:41
these sins because sins of the body, This is what she was
28:44
teaching. The sins of the body has no
28:46
impact on the spirit, no impact on the spirit.
28:50
It's a, it's a Gnostic theology, you know, you know, you know,
28:55
they have so much knowledge that they have reasoned away God's
28:58
word of sin. And, and, and it's, you know,
29:01
whatever you do with your body has no bearing on your salvation
29:06
because it's your spirit or your soul to get saved and not your,
29:12
your body. So they, they teach these people
29:15
this thing. And so they start to go out and
29:17
think that they can sin freely and it has no consequence.
29:21
It has no bearing on your salvation.
29:24
And if they're convincing enough and they they tap into someone's
29:29
lust, so they tap into someone's desires or they tap into what
29:33
people want to do, they'll follow it if they're not rooted
29:37
and grounded in the word of God. And that's what it and that's
29:41
what it comes down to. But the whole thing is that you
29:45
know, you know, they'll, they'll, they made it sound like
29:48
it's fine to commit these sins in order to get a good paying
29:52
job. I mean, everybody got to work,
29:54
right? So does it matter if your job
29:58
would want you to do something that's ungodly?
30:01
Isn't it just important to have a job and take care of your
30:04
family? I mean, why would you go against
30:08
that and end up losing your income?
30:12
Why would you do that? I am so disappointed in some of
30:19
the responses that I've heard recently concerning Jalen or
30:24
Jaden Ivy. Just to give you a quick
30:29
understanding of this, Jaden Ivy is a basketball player,
30:31
professional basketball player, plays for NBA.
30:34
His mother actually coaches for Notre Dame.
30:38
They've always been godly people.
30:40
Jalen is always, even when Jalen was in college, he was very,
30:45
very aware of his Christianity and his faith and very outspoken
30:51
about it. A lot of interviews that he's
30:53
done where he ends his interviews with basically giving
30:56
the gospel to reporters. Well, recently, Jalen Jaden
31:01
decided that he was going to. I think he had an experience
31:05
where he had, you know, kind of restored his faith, strengthened
31:08
his faith in some way. And he had a a moment where he
31:13
did a video where he talked about his faith, but also talked
31:18
about the NBA's position on the LGBTQ celebrations.
31:26
He talked about that. And he says, yeah, they, they,
31:28
you know, they say come celebrate with us celebrating
31:31
Pride Week and Pride month or whatever.
31:35
And he spoke out about it. He's a Christian.
31:39
He's getting a lot more NBA support from other players that
31:44
are backing up his assertions with with scripture.
31:48
With Scripture. That is very impressive to me
31:52
and very encouraging. But there's a lot of other
31:55
people who are saying, oh, why don't you just be quiet?
31:59
He has an opportunity to make so much money in the NBA now.
32:02
He ended up losing his job because he had to open his mouth
32:06
and say something about what he believes when what he believes
32:11
is against what his employer represents.
32:17
So now we have to be quiet as believers and not be able to
32:23
share our faith or to stand on our faith because of what
32:29
someone else believes. So that was just, I mean, it
32:32
just reminded me of this situation.
32:34
Look, just be quiet and just go along to get along.
32:37
It's OK. You'll get a job out of this.
32:41
You'll get more money out of this, but if you don't do it,
32:45
you won't get the good job. So in other words, there's a
32:47
sacrifice. But Jesus told us at the
32:49
beginning of this, I'm the Son of God.
32:53
I'm the Son of God. I have power over all these
32:56
things. I'm worthy for you to put your
33:00
trust in. I'm worthy for you to be loyal
33:04
to. I'm worthy for you to be
33:05
committed. I can take care of you.
33:11
So some of these people obviously followed after this,
33:19
this prophet, this false prophet.
33:21
And then this is really just a deception from Satan to corrupt
33:25
a professing A professing believer.
33:27
Anyone who lives a life practicing sin, and this is
33:30
important. Anyone that lives a life
33:32
practicing sin does not know God.
33:37
First, John three and six, he says very clearly, whoever
33:43
abides in him does not sin, does not practice sin.
33:51
Whoever sins has neither seen him nor known him.
33:59
So we know God, we won't practice sin.
34:02
We all sin, we all blow it, and we say this about every week
34:07
that we have these. And that's why it's so important
34:09
for us to repent, to repent, to come to God and repent when we
34:14
blow it, but not to practice sin, to live a life of sin.
34:19
If our lives are categorized as sin, then we have the question,
34:23
do we know God? Do we know God?
34:27
Why is it OK for one person to sin and someone else not to?
34:30
It's not. If we're Christians, then we
34:35
follow the word of God. We don't follow our lust, our
34:40
passions. We follow the word of God.
34:48
And then he says, my servants, you know, you, you, you
34:51
basically had had had, you know, you seduced my servants.
34:57
In other words, what? Gives you the right to come in
35:01
with some false doctrine to feed my servants.
35:06
These are my servants. These are the sheep of my
35:08
pastures. What gives you the right to be
35:12
able to come in here and teach something that doesn't come from
35:17
me? And we all need to remember that
35:21
we can't stand up here and just preach my ideas.
35:25
If I ever come up here and say, hey, you know what I wrote?
35:27
I just wrote something recently and these are my ideas about and
35:29
I just want you to hear it. And this is where we're going to
35:31
go. This is the route we're going to
35:32
go. Phenology, man, get out and run.
35:35
Run, don't walk out of here, run out of here.
35:40
We are God's people. We're the sheep of his pastures.
35:44
He gives us the food that we feed his flock with and it's his
35:51
word. We have no right to feed the
35:55
people of God anything other than the word of God.
36:03
So he, he, he, he goes on in here and I just want to get down
36:07
here to verse. Go down here.
36:11
To verse the end of verse 20 here he says that this woman
36:16
judgment who calls herself a prophetess to teach and seduce
36:20
my servants to commit sexual immorality and to think and to
36:23
eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent.
36:28
Listen to the I love this, I love this.
36:36
Even with all these things that she did, he says I gave her time
36:39
to repent. I didn't just judge her.
36:43
I didn't just you know, he was patient with her.
36:47
Even though she was leading astray his people.
36:53
Whatever sins that she was doing, he was patient with her.
36:58
It was not just a knee jerk reaction for him to punish her.
37:01
He was patient just like he is with all of us.
37:05
He's patient with us. But there is a time when that
37:11
door closes on that particular grace, and there does come a
37:16
judgment, he says. I gave her time to repent from
37:21
her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.
37:25
Verse 22 says, indeed, I will cast her into a sick bed, that
37:29
very same bed that she looked for for pleasure, that very same
37:34
bed that she used to satisfy her own lust.
37:38
He said. I'm going to turn that bed into
37:40
a bed of pain and affliction and suffering for her.
37:46
I'm going to put her in a sick bed and to those who commit
37:49
adultery with her means her followers, I'm going to put into
37:53
great tribulation. Now this unless they repent of
37:57
their deeds. Now this isn't talking about the
37:59
great tribulation as in the the great tribulation that will come
38:03
at the end times when Jesus Christ, right before Jesus
38:06
Christ comes back. You know, this is not that great
38:09
tribulation, the one that we poured out upon the earth.
38:12
You know, he's not talking about this is tribulation.
38:15
This is Philipsis. This is that tribulation that
38:18
brings a crushing, A pressing affliction, a distress among the
38:24
people. It's that tribulation.
38:30
Verse 23 says I will, I will kill her children with death and
38:35
all the churches will shall know that I am he.
38:39
I'm the one that searches the minds and the hearts I will
38:42
bring a you know, when he says I will kill her children with with
38:46
death, he's talking. He's not talking about her
38:47
natural children. He's talking about her spiritual
38:49
children, those children that have been like an offspring to
38:53
her because they have followed her doctrine.
38:55
They've followed her way of doing things.
38:57
They've followed her down this path of sin.
39:03
They have walked with her and they have believed what she says
39:06
and they have responded to that. Those are the children he's
39:09
talking about. So I'll kill him with death.
39:11
I'll bring a plague, I'll bring a, a pestilence that will bring
39:15
death. And there's been other times in
39:18
history where there's been those who have, you know, fallen into
39:22
sickness and, and some have even died because of their sins.
39:26
You know, Sapphira and Ananias, they were, they were, they were
39:30
dealt with with death. And then you have the, the man
39:33
by the, the pool of Bethesda who was healed when Jesus told him,
39:37
he said, look, now you've been healed, but now you know, don't
39:41
go and do this again because you'll have a worse, you know,
39:45
there'll be a worse thing come upon you.
39:49
Something worse will come upon you.
39:51
So there's that threat of sick of, of sin that can bring
39:55
sickness. And then of course, even with
39:58
the table, you know, you know what Jesus talked about in First
40:01
Corinthians Chapter 11, Paul talked about in first
40:04
Corinthians Chapter 11 when he said that if you, you know,
40:07
those who take the cup of the Lord unworthily say because some
40:14
have, some have fallen sick, some have fallen weak, and some
40:19
have even slept death. So there can be a severe, deadly
40:26
consequence. To sin.
40:31
So he said all the churches will know that I am he.
40:33
So he's going to make this thing public so that the churches know
40:37
that you don't follow along this path because the same thing can
40:40
happen to you. The same thing can happen to
40:43
you. Using them as an example, using
40:47
them as an example. And then he goes on.
40:49
He says that I'm the one that searches the minds and the
40:51
hearts, and I will give to each one according to their works 24.
40:57
24 says, He says that I, you know, now I say to the rest of
41:01
Thyro terror. Now he's talking about the
41:03
people who did not walk down that aisle with them, who did
41:06
not go down to sin with them, who did not stand in a way of
41:09
sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful.
41:12
He's talking to these people, OK.
41:14
And he says here you know to as many of you, and the rest of you
41:18
in Thyro terror as many has, do not have this doctrine.
41:23
That she was teaching have not known the depths of Satan, this
41:28
depths of Satan, because you know, these, these false
41:33
prophets were telling the people that it is the depth of Satan
41:38
that you can, you know, they're just deep things of God that you
41:41
can go in and do all these things.
41:43
You know, you know, other people don't understand, you know, we
41:47
have a deeper knowledge of God and a deeper knowledge of his
41:50
doctrine and we can go and do thing.
41:52
We understand that you can do these things even though the
41:55
rest of them may teach something different.
41:57
We got a deeper, I mean, that's what Gnosticism is really about.
42:00
Like they think of they thought they were really deep people.
42:03
You know, they were deeper than what the Scriptures even said
42:07
and they convinced other people that, you know, it's a deep
42:10
thing to be able to, you know, to live this kind of life, to
42:13
understand that my body and my soul has nothing to do with when
42:16
I can sin with my body, but as long as long as my spirit deep.
42:24
But that is nothing. But that's why Jesus said it's
42:27
the depths of Satan. You know, there, you know,
42:30
there's a scripture that says that we can know the deep things
42:32
of God. This is the depths of Satan
42:35
because this is a deception. This is a deception to corrupt
42:41
the people of God. And he exposed it.
42:46
He exposed it as they say. He said I will put on you no
42:50
other burden. You know, in other words, you
42:52
know, you have already been acknowledged for your love, your
43:00
service, your faith, your patience.
43:04
You've been acknowledged for that.
43:06
I'm not putting anything else on you.
43:08
I'm not putting any other burden on you.
43:09
I'm, I'm, I'm not slowing down your walk by putting other
43:13
things on you and putting more responsibilities on you.
43:16
No, that's it. Just keep doing what you're
43:19
doing, but hold fast to what you have.
43:22
Till I come, How long? Till I come.
43:26
And that's what we're waiting for.
43:27
We're waiting for his blessed return, and because we're
43:30
waiting for his blessed return, we have the hope.
43:32
Of his return. Which helps us to stay in his
43:36
word, to stay in prayer, helps us to watch out for destructive
43:41
things that will cause us to go astray from God's ways and God's
43:46
word. And then he says here as we
43:49
finish up in here, he says and he who overcomes.
43:54
And keeps my works until the end.
43:57
Praise and worship, teen, you can come forward.
43:59
And keeps my work until the end. To Him I will give power over
44:03
the nations. You know, we know that in the
44:06
Scriptures. Jesus has said that to those who
44:12
endure. If we endure, you know, there's
44:15
the scriptures that tell us in the epistles.
44:17
In fact, over in Second Timothy, he tells us that those who
44:20
endure shall reign with him. If we endure with Him, we shall
44:26
reign with him. In Romans chapter 8 tells us
44:30
that if we suffer with him, we shall be glorified together with
44:35
Him. So we will, we will, we will
44:38
reign with Christ. And will reign the nations, as
44:42
he says over here in verse. 27 He says he shall rule them with
44:46
a rod of iron. They shall be dashed to pieces
44:48
like the Potter's vessels, you know, the nations, those who are
44:53
against God's Word, His word is going to crush them and they
44:57
will be, you know, almost like drawn into pieces, because he'll
45:01
rule with a, with a, with a rod of iron.
45:04
This rod of iron is a it's a shepherd's.
45:07
It's also like a shepherd's rod, but it's a rod of iron against
45:11
those who have rejected him, against those who have come up
45:14
against him. Psalm 2 tells us about how the
45:17
kings of the earth will come together and try to attack or
45:21
dethrone God. But it's the you know, but he's
45:24
going to overcome them and Jesus Christ is going to sit on the
45:26
throne. And when he sits on the throne,
45:29
we the. Church.
45:31
Will reign with him in the Kingdom.
45:34
Glory to God. That's what we have to look
45:36
forward to. That's what we have to look
45:39
forward to. He says, as I received from my
45:42
father, you know, so we know that he received that, that,
45:45
that, that the, the right to rule and to judge from his
45:49
father. And then he will also share that
45:52
with us in the Kingdom. And I will give him the morning
45:56
star. The morning star is Jesus.
45:59
The morning star is Jesus. You know the, the star that we
46:03
see, right? It's the last star that we may
46:06
see in the sky right before dawn comes, right before the light of
46:12
dawn comes, there's a star that shines brighter than any other.
46:16
It's called the morning star. And Jesus Christ is the morning
46:20
star because he is going to be the star that shines the
46:22
brightest. And he will.
46:24
When he comes in, He's going to usher in the end of all darkness
46:29
and all unrighteousness, and he's going to bring in light.
46:33
And righteousness in the new Kingdom, in the new Kingdom.
46:39
Then he says here in 29 and we close he who has an ear, let him
46:44
hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
46:48
You know, there's a lot of things that the church has to
46:51
deal with and temptation of, of falling into false doctrine is
46:56
one of those things. We see a lot of things in the
46:59
church today, a lot of things that are not godly.
47:02
A lot of very ungodly and people were making decisions all the
47:06
time about which direction they're going to take.
47:09
It's the word. The only truth is the word of
47:11
God. The only truth is the word of
47:14
God. And that's why Paul told the
47:16
Bereans, listen, don't just stand here and take everything
47:20
that I said. Paul is saying this.
47:23
Don't just listen to everything that I take as the absolute
47:28
truth. Go in your scriptures and study
47:30
it out for yourself. The Bereans, he said they were
47:34
more honorable than anybody else than the Thessalonians.
47:37
The Thessalonians, they were more honorable because they
47:40
searched the scriptures daily. They checked on Paul.
47:48
So we should do that with each other.
47:50
Don't just take everything that I say.
47:51
Go back and look at this, study it out.
47:54
Make sure what I said was true, it was accurate that it lined
47:57
up. And if it didn't?
48:00
It's your right to let us know, to let me know It's your right.
48:06
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the
48:10
churches. So the Lord searches our minds
48:13
and He searches our hearts, but He gives us the opportunity to
48:17
repent, just like He gave this Jezebel the opportunity to
48:21
repent. So what is it?
48:24
Is there anything in your heart that the Lord is prompting, that
48:27
the Lord is letting you know that's there, that's contrary to
48:31
who He is, or contrary to His word?
48:35
Is there anything that's there that we should repent for?
48:38
Is there a pride that keeps us pursuing sin more than we pursue
48:45
Jesus? If it's there and it's prompting
48:48
you, letting you know that, repent.
48:52
He's a loving, gracious God and He wants to forgive us more than
48:57
we want to be forgiven. So as we ready for communion,
49:10
you know, if I could talk to that church, to people from that
49:14
Church of Thyatira, I would ask that church to pray for me.
49:18
Pray for us that my heart and that my mind would be able to be
49:26
strengthened so that I would not fall into.
49:32
The temptation of compromise or corruption.
49:41
I pray that for all of you, I pray for myself, that we will
49:48
not fall into anything, we will not be tempted to compromise for
49:53
anything, but that we would hold on, hold fast to the Word of
50:01
God. To the promises of God, I pray
50:05
that we can do that and that we encourage each other to stay the
50:11
path. Lord Jesus, we thank you for
50:15
your word, and we thank you for your sacrifice.
50:20
We thank you, Lord, that you gave yourself, that we would
50:24
have this salvation, this great salvation, eternal life.
50:32
The disciples said to you when you asked if they would turn
50:36
away with the others, they said, where will we go?
50:39
You have the words of life, and we thank you for that, Lord.
50:48
So, Father, on this day, as we remember your sacrifice, we
50:53
remember your death, we remember your burial, and we remember
50:57
your resurrection. Your sacrifice, Lord, is would
51:02
pay the debt for all of our sins.
51:06
And it's because of that Lord that we have eternal life.
51:13
So on a night in which Jesus was betrayed, he took the bread.
51:16
And then when he gave thanks, he broke it.
51:20
And he said, take, eat. This is my body which is broken
51:23
for you. Eat this in remembrance of me.
51:31
Same manner he also took the cup, and after supper he said,
51:36
This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
51:43
Drink this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
51:56
As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we do show
51:59
the Lord's death till he come. If anybody would like to come up
52:04
and come before the Lord in prayer, or you can do it right
52:07
where you are, we all have the given the invitation to repent.
52:14
Lord bless you.