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Pergamum: A Church in Satanic Territory | Revelation 2:12-17 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Revelation Bible Study Series) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  I wanted to keep going, but here we are, God's Word.
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  We're still worshiping in the Word.
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  So turn your Bibles with me to Revelation chapter 2 and place
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  your eyes there at verse 12 of Revelation chapter 2.
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  Let's read together into the Angel, the church, and Pergamum.
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  Write the words of Him who has the 2, has the sharp 2 edged
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  sword. I know where you dwell, where
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  Satan's throne is, and you hold fast my name.
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  And you did not deny my faith, even though the days of Antipas,
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  my faithful witness who was killed among you, where Satan
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  dwells. But I have a few things against
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  you. You have some there who hold to
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  the teaching of Balaam, who taught Bailek to put a stumbling
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  block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food
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  sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.
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  So also you have some who hold to the teaching of the
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  Nicolaitans. Therefore repent.
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  If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the
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  sword of my mouth. He has an ear.
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  Let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
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  To the one who conquers. I will give some of the hidden
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  mana, and I will give him a whitestone with a new name
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  written on the stone that no one knows except the one who
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  receives it. Lord, we ask that you help us
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  with this passage. Help us see your heart, help us
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  know your mind, and help us be conformed to your will.
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  Help us be the church that you want us to be.
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  And so even now, provide us the ears that can hear what the
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  Spirit says to the churches. We wait upon you, O Lord, in
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  Jesus name we pray. Amen.
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  I want you to use your sanctified imagination for a
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  brief moment. Imagine that the resurrected
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  Christ wrote a personalized letter to us here at Maranatha
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  Bible Church and in his introduction he writes the one
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  who has the two edged sword. Would that comfort you?
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  Would that concern you? Perhaps your immediate response
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  would be, well, it depends what he does with the sword, and that
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  would be an appropriate reaction.
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  Thankfully, if we honor the context of the Book of
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  Revelation, we know what this sword is all about.
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  It's mentioned a total of three times in this book.
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  And interestingly, each time it is brought up in connection with
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  Christ, it is associated with his mouth.
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  And so in Revelation 116, we've already covered that chapter.
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  We saw how Christ in his manifest glory before John the
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  Apostle reveals a sword protruding out of his mouth.
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  It's not until we go to Revelation 19, verse 15, where
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  we have the account of the return of Christ, the bodily
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  return of Christ, where we see that sword in operation, where
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  we see it functioning and what was its purpose.
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  We're told they're in that verse that Christ will strike the
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  nations with the sword of his mouth.
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  And so we can conclude that the sword represents it represents
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  something obvious, the swift and sudden power of Christ's word
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  when he executes judgment and how his judgment is based upon
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  his Word. So with that understanding, you
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  might be impressed to see that this introduction to the Church
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  in Pergamum is Christ conveying that He is the final judge and
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  that He will bring vindication. He will ultimately put all
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  things right by just the word of His mouth.
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  However, that's not the purpose of Christ revealing this about
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  Himself to this church. No, no, no.
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  Instead, when you keep reading carefully, you'll discover that
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  the unstoppable authority of Jesus Christ, when He wants to
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  execute judgement, is not confined solely to his fiercest
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  foes. It also applies to those within
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  His church. Let's go down to verse 16 again,
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  Revelation 2, just to confirm that he writes to this church.
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  He's not speaking to the world, to this congregation.
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  Therefore, repent. If not, I will come to you soon
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  and war against them with the sword of my mouth.
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  This should lead us to ask something very important.
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  What did this church do to warrant such a serious threat?
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  And that's what this message is about.
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  We're going to discover together.
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  We're going to uncover what it is that these believers were
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  doing for Christ to say to them. If you don't change, I'm going
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  to go to war with your church. But before we go there, let's
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  consider his commendation in verse 13.
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  Look what he says here. I know where you dwell at all
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  the things that Jesus could say that He knew about this group of
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  believers, He tells them, I know you and I know where you live.
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  Now, many of us in here know that choosing where we live is
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  one of the most important decisions that you will make
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  throughout your life. But what I find here is that it
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  is not just crucial for us to figure out and pray about and
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  plan about. It is also something that the
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  Lord considers and cares about. When I was reflecting on those
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  first few words of verse 13, my mind went to Paul's sermon in
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  Athens when he was preaching there to all those pagans and
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  those Epicureans and those Stoic philosophers heard this new
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  thing. And so they grabbed Paul and
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  they said, tell us more about what you're preaching about.
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  And he took the time to introduce to them in a very
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  unique way who God is in his nature.
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  And there's a part there in that evangelistic message that I'm
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  sure will bless you. And you're welcome to turn there
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  with me in Acts 17. Look at this little section of
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  Paul's sermon, verse 26 of Acts 17.
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  He says, and he speaking about God, and he made from one man
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  every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth,
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  having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of
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  their dwelling place. Again, he's introducing to these
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  unbelievers who the true God is, and he highlights two major
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  areas of God's providential work.
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  It can be summarized with two words, time and place.
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  Look again. He has determined allotted
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  periods that speaks of duration and then he goes on to say the
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  boundaries of their dwelling place that speaks of location.
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  What is Paul trying to teach here?
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  Essentially that the Lord is continually arranging the timing
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  and the location of our living and this is not reserved just
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  for His orchestration of nations and governments.
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  No, no, it applies to your individual journey and mine.
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  If you have difficulty believing that, I think of a Psalm where
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  the Lord recounts the history of Israel and He reminds His people
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  through the psalmist of how their journey and Egypt came
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  about. Let me quote this to you from
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  Psalm one O 5 and verse 16. When he summoned a famine on the
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  land and broke all supply of bread, he had sent a man ahead
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  of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
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  Who was the one that sent Joseph to live in Egypt?
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  God, from the human understanding, when you read the
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  story in Genesis, it looked like he was a victim carried as a
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  captive into a foreign land. It looked like a despicable
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  eviction, if you will. But as you continue in your
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  Bible and you come to one passage here, at least one, you
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  are granted the lens of Providence and you realize that
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  God was behind the scenes all along, leading Joseph in
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  unlikely circumstances and through unlikely means to plant
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  him in a place for a greater purpose.
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  He sent Joseph to Egypt because He determines the boundaries of
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  our dwelling place. You know, when Joel and I were
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  planning for a wedding and we were at the same time looking
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  for a place to live, I frequently borrowed the words of
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  the apostle Paul in Acts 17. When I came before the Lord, I
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  would tell the Lord, You have determined the boundaries of my
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  dwelling place. You know where we're supposed to
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  live. You know what city, you know
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  what neighborhood. I trust in you, but you got to
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  guide me there. And through a grueling searching
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  process, the Lord came through, and I can say on behalf of our
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  household that we can see how God LED us perfectly.
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  I encourage you. Many young families here praying
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  and looking and wondering. He determines the boundaries of
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  our dwelling place. Trust in Him, rely on Him,
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  believe in Him, and He will lead you wonderfully.
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  Now, as we come to this church, the Lord tells this group of
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  believers that He knows where they live.
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  And shockingly, He confirms to them that it's where Satan
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  lives. What language does he use?
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  Again, in verse 13, I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne
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  is. We're looking for a church
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  building, are we not? I haven't heard from one person
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  that they're interested in looking for the place where
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  Satan has its headquarters. But God the Holy Spirit raised
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  up a church in this kind of a neighborhood.
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  And that is significant for many reasons.
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  And we won't get there just yet. I have to give you a brief
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  reminder of the ontology of Satan.
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  He is He is not omniscient, though he is incredibly
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  knowledgeable. He is not omnipotent, though he
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  is fiercely powerful. And he is indeed not
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  omnipresent, though he has a vast Kingdom with his age and
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  spread throughout the earth. And at this particular time in
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  history, Satan the Strategist thought it would be most
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  beneficial to set up his headquarters in a place called
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  Pergamum. Why?
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  But you can imagine the range of speculations.
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  But I think if you just peek into history a little bit, you
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  might have some kind of an answer.
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  Though the Bible doesn't tell us explicitly, Pergamum was one of
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  the most influential cities in Asia Minor at the time.
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  In fact, it served as the capital for a great period and
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  it was innovative in many, many ways.
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  Many believe that it was the place that started imperial cult
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  worship, where they really were the ones who were pioneers in
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  honoring emperors as divine. And it spread, they flourish and
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  they influenced others. You can you can say that this
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  was a trend setting city. More than that, it was a
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  Learning Center, a major one. It boasts of a library that
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  hosted around 200,000 scrolls and it came only second to the
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  Great Library of Alexandria in terms of size and significance.
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  And when I learned that, I thought to myself, is it
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  possible that Satan chose to concentrate his efforts here
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  knowing that it would be more effective and spreading his
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  corruption? Being that this was a prominent
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  cultural place, being that this was an intellectual hub that
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  Satan know, if I really focus here, I can reach many other
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  places. We think of our own kind of
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  areas in America that influence not only the nation, but the
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  world. Think about Hollywood and what
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  they pump out. Makes you wonder who's really
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  behind it. I don't think really, it's a
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  guess. And so we see here that the
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  enemy was very, very mindful of where to go, where to be.
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  And whatever the reason may be, Jesus makes it clear that
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  Satan's presence and Satan's influence was especially potent
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  in this place. It wasn't difficult to see with
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  the natural eye, the crime, the violence, the Antichrist
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  communities. And I've mentioned this in the
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  past that it blesses me to know that the Lord built a church
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  here. But I don't want to focus on
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  that because we mentioned it before.
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  I want to applaud these Christians.
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  Assuming they had the choice, they chose to remain here, to
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  minister here, to gather here, to sing here, to hear sermons
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  here, to evangelize here. You know there are many
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  Christians who desire to be a part of a church where things
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  are most comfortable thinking. You know, the less political and
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  societal pollution and corruption there is, the easier
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  it will be to plant and grow something for God.
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  That's not true because you have to remember the purpose of the
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  church is not to be safe, it's to be salt.
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  And over the years I've heard some people even ask why we have
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  a ministry in Chicago given all the violence and corruption in
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  our government. And my answer is always the
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  same. Why not?
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  What, should all the Christians just pack up and move somewhere
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  just because there's a warmer state with less property taxes?
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  Is that really the goal of Christianity, to be as snugly as
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  possible in America? No, we're on a rescue mission.
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  That's why we're here. And I consider a great honor and
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  privilege to be in this city. And God's Providence that his
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  Spirit worked in the hearts of people to make Maranatha Bible
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  Church possible. If the Holy Spirit is doing
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  something here, it means he wants us to do something here.
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  And so we're we're looking for the heavenly mission.
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  That's our perspective when it comes to our dwelling place,
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  when it comes to where we're going to park ourselves, where
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  we're going to raise a family. Yes, we should be wise.
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  Yes, we should be stewards of different resources.
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  But consider your calling ultimately, as a follower of
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  Jesus Christ. We're all getting out of here
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  very soon. We're not trying to make this as
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  comfortable as possible. We're trying to rescue as many
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  people as possible. And I love this church for that
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  reason. And Jesus praises this church.
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  They stay here. They saw the opportunity to be a
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  light in a uniquely dark place. How dark was it?
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  So dark that this community threatened the believers with
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  death from time to time. We've been threatened before as
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  a church never received death threats.
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  Yet I say yet on purpose. And this assembly was never
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  deterred, even when faced with potential martyrdom.
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  They never denied the faith. They never were ashamed of the
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  name of Jesus Christ, and interestingly, the Lord wants
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  them to know that He was aware of an intense period of
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  persecution. Come back to Revelation 213
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  again. I know where you dwell, where
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  Satan's throne is, yet you hold fast my name, and you did not
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  deny my faith even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness.
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  Who is Antipas? I don't know, because this is
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  all we have about him in the Bible.
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  You can look at some church fathers who give us a little bit
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  more understanding, and that might be helpful.
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  But when it comes to biblical data, all we have is this man's
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  name. Some believe he was an elder,
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  some believe he was just a faithful member.
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  But what I find interesting is that the Lord names him.
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  He could have been general about the martyrdom of this church,
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  but he actually highlights this individual by name.
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  And I believe there's a purpose because when you understand the
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  meaning of the name Antipus, there is profound insight.
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  Some believe Antipus is just an abbreviation of the name
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  Antipater, which could mean like the father or instead of the
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  father. But if you were to just derive
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  your definition with a name as it is, it's quite simple.
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  Anti. We commonly know that we're to
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  be opposed or against something anti.
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  And the Greek pass pause. Forgive me, Greek speaking
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  people simply means all or every or the whole of something.
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  So bringing this together, we could say that the name Antipas
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  means against everything, against all.
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  Do you see the significance of that?
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  I do, because if we go with that definition, then I believe we're
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  given a clue as to what it takes to be a faithful witness unto
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  Jesus. A willingness to stand against
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  everything he attempts or threaten us to disown Him.
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  In other words, if you and I want to be a faithful witness
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  unto Jesus Christ, be ready to stand alone if you have to.
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  And that is not even super Christianity.
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  That's entry level discipleship. Do you remember the words of
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  Jesus in Luke 1426? If anyone would come after me
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  and does not hate his own Father and mother and wife and children
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  and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be
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  my disciple. Antipast is not a superhero
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  Christian. He's level 1 discipleship, yes.
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  Was he faithful to death? Yes.
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  Is it something to to applaud and to command?
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  Absolutely. But based on Jesus teaching, if
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  any one of us want to be considered a follower of his,
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  then you must consider him more important than any of your
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  closest relationships. You must consider more valuable
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  than your personal ambitions. That if your father or your
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  mother discourages you from following Christ, your siblings,
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  your cousins, your aunt, your uncle, whoever it may be, you
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  say no. I will stand against anyone who
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  stands in the way of me following my Lord.
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  This is what it means to be a faithful witness.
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  Antipus models that for us here, in a very brief way, just by his
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  name, we get an understanding, a reminder at the end of the Bible
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  what it means to follow Christ. This church didn't flinch in the
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  face of demonic intimidation. Even when one of their members
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  was killed for their faith. They did not give in.
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  They were never moved. But tragically, they lacked one
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  thing. They lacked the one fear that
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  they should have had, and that was the fear of God.
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  That's why Jesus introduces himself in the way that he does.
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  It's as if to say, you stood firm when Rome drew its sword
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  against you, but you forgot that I have a sword.
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  And you might be wondering, how can you say, preacher, that this
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  church did not honor the Lord Jesus Christ?
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  They were willing to die for him.
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  Yes, without a doubt. But I'm here to tell you that
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  there aren't. Honor as a church was partial.
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  It was not total. What do I mean by that?
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  Well, let's come now to the criticism in verse 14.
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  But I have a few things against you.
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  Now pause there. The Church of Smyrna that we
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  heard about last week, Jesus had nothing against him.
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  He just encouraged him. Do not fear the church in
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  Ephesus the first time around He said this very specifically.
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  The Lord said I have this against you.
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  It was one thing you walked away from your first love, but with
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  the church in Pergamum, he says I have a few things against you.
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  What are those few things? Well, it can be summarized with
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  a number of the people in this church who are adhering to false
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  teaching. Let's finish here to see what it
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  is that they were believing. But I have a few things against
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  you. You have some there who hold the
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  teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block
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  before the sons of Israel so that they might eat food,
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  sacrifice to idols, and practice sexual immorality.
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  Verse 15. So also you have some who hold
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  the teaching of the Nicolaitans. So in this church you had
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  different pockets of people who are believing things contrary to
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  the Bible. And the Lord says, this is what
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  I have against you. Now, when we come to this
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  passage, we have to understand something that Jesus, as we, as
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  we heard when we started the series in Revelation, relies
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  heavily on the Old Testament. And so he makes it up.
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  He makes a commentary, He makes an allusion back to the story of
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  the character Balaam. You remember Balaam, do you not?
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  He was essentially a sorcerer. And when Israel was delivered
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  out of Egypt and was traveling through the wilderness leading
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  to the Promised land, there was a king of Moab, modern day
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  Jordan, by the name of Balak. Balak, like other kings, was
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  very fearful hearing the reports of what the God of Israel was
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  doing on behalf of his people. And Balak understood that they
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  are approaching his territory, his land.
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  And so in desperation, instead of submitting himself to the
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  true God, he wants to try to overthrow them.
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  And so he hires a witch, a warlock if you will, and he
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  hopes that he can defeat the people of Israel in the
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  supernatural. So the price was right for
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  Balaam, though initially he refused, he was recruited.
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  And we know there are numbers 22 to numbers 24 that Balaam over
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  and over tries to pronounce a curse upon the people of Israel
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  without their knowledge. And each time it failed, every
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  time he uttered a curse, God was right there and turned it into a
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  blessing. He gave up.
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  You come to the end of Numbers 24.
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  He gives his final Oracle, and you just read the simple ending
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  to that chapter. Balaam packed his bags.
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  He goes his own way. Balak does the same.
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  But then something incredibly strange happens in the opening
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  of Numbers chapter 25. You have to go there with me to
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  see it. Numbers 25, verse one.
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  This is immediately after we learned that Balaam failed to
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  hatch the people of God. What do we find in this chapter?
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  They experienced great defeat. Numbers 25, verse one.
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  While Israel lived in Shitham, the people began to whore with
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  the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the
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  sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to
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  their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal
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  Peor, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.
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  What was the consequence of that?
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  Verse 9? Nevertheless, those who died by
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  the plague were 24,000. So God in his discipline
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  unleashes A plague and it destroyed 24,000.
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  And if it wasn't for a righteous man named Phineas who stood in
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  the gap, it would have been much more.
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  This is strange. And if you don't finish books of
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  the Bible, if you don't honor beginning to end of a book that
• 24:05
  you start, then you might miss the insight because it comes
• 24:07
  later. Numbers 31.
• 24:09
  Is there an explanation for this?
• 24:11
  Yes, there is. Look at what Moses says in
• 24:14
  review of what happened here in Numbers 25.
• 24:18
  Numbers 31, verse 16. Behold, these, on Balaam's
• 24:27
  advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously
• 24:32
  against the Lord in the instant of Peor, and so the plague came
• 24:35
  among the congregation of the Lord.
• 24:40
  Here's the main take away from this.
• 24:43
  When Balaam learned that he could not curse the people of
• 24:46
  God, he taught Bailek, the king of Moab, how to corrupt them.
• 24:53
  And this was his advice to the king of Moab.
• 24:55
  Listen, I've tried over and over.
• 24:57
  You saw it with your own eyes. You heard it with your own ears.
• 24:59
  I cannot pronounce a curse upon these people.
• 25:03
  They are blessed. But I'll give you a different
• 25:06
  strategy. Find the most beautiful woman
• 25:08
  you have in your Kingdom, send them off into the camp of
• 25:12
  Israel. Let them seduce the men sexually
• 25:15
  and they will be seduced to spiritual adultery.
• 25:21
  Guess what? It worked.
• 25:24
  You see, Balaam had enough knowledge of the character of
• 25:27
  God that if he can get the people of God to embrace sin,
• 25:31
  then they would invite God's judgement.
• 25:37
  So what's the strategy if I can't get him from the external,
• 25:41
  If I can't get him from the outside, I'm going to work
• 25:43
  within. And that is what Balaam did.
• 25:49
  And now we come to the final book of the Bible and we read
• 25:51
  Jesus drawing from this very account to speak to a local New
• 25:54
  Covenant church, saying some of you in there are believing the
• 25:58
  teaching of Balaam. Meaning what?
• 26:03
  It's very simple. Just as Balaam's seduction LED
• 26:07
  Israel back into worldliness, there was a group of people in
• 26:11
  this church who are embracing A doctrine that encourage
• 26:15
  compromise as well. Does that make sense?
• 26:19
  How did that look like for these Christians?
• 26:21
  It looked like this perhaps, that they would go to temples,
• 26:25
  they would indulge in their feast to false gods, they would
• 26:28
  engage in sexual activities, and they would come every Sunday to
• 26:32
  worship Jesus Christ. They were persuaded that this
• 26:38
  was OK. They were told that they could
• 26:41
  relax. They were convinced that they
• 26:44
  can enjoy the world and still serve God.
• 26:51
  There's so many things that we can say about this, but let me
• 26:53
  make one thing clear. If Satan can't frighten a
• 26:56
  church, if he can't intimidate them, if he can't pressure them
• 26:59
  from the outside, he will try to weaken a group of believers from
• 27:04
  the inside. His strategies have always been
• 27:07
  the same. Think about it.
• 27:09
  Back in Numbers, we find that the curses did not work against
• 27:13
  Israel, and we come to Revelation.
• 27:15
  We realize that threats from the government did not move this
• 27:19
  church and Pergamum. So what does the enemy do?
• 27:23
  Something that proves to be more effective than anything else.
• 27:26
  He sends his agents to mingle with the people of God to
• 27:30
  corrupt them. In the former case, he sent
• 27:34
  unbelieving women. Listen here young men, be
• 27:37
  careful of the women that are introduced to you.
• 27:41
  Be careful of the women that walk into your life.
• 27:43
  Same thing for you ladies. Be careful of the men that show
• 27:47
  up in your DMS. Satan has won many of the people
• 27:55
  of God. Lure them away by sending a girl
• 27:59
  with pretty eyes and a nice voice, sending a guy that seems
• 28:04
  promising and reassuring and comforting.
• 28:09
  In the former case, he sends beautiful woman.
• 28:12
  In the latter case, he sends in false teachers.
• 28:17
  That's how he works. Which brings us to another
• 28:20
  crucial point. Notice back in Revelation 2 that
• 28:24
  he also mentions the teaching of the Nicolaidans.
• 28:26
  We don't know exactly what the Nicolaidans taught.
• 28:28
  It might have been very similar to what these Balemites
• 28:31
  believed. But the mention of the
• 28:34
  Nicolaidans in Revelation 2 verse 15 does show us what false
• 28:39
  teaching promotes. Is this the first time in our
• 28:42
  study of Revelation that we heard about these Nicolaidans?
• 28:46
  Good. No, we heard about them in the
• 28:48
  letter to the Ephesians. Go back to Ephesians, or rather
• 28:51
  Revelation 26. Notice what the Lord says.
• 28:54
  This, better yet, this you have. You hate the works of the
• 28:58
  Nicolaitans, which I also hate. So in the first part he mentions
• 29:02
  their works. In this letter, he mentions
• 29:06
  their teaching. This was a movement.
• 29:10
  This was a sect. And here's what we learned
• 29:13
  putting this together. Bad doctrine will always lead to
• 29:17
  bad behavior. Wherever there is corrupted
• 29:21
  teaching, it will in one way or another, corrupt character.
• 29:27
  Always. And that is one of the reasons
• 29:30
  why Jesus values what a church teaches.
• 29:40
  You know, we're coming here week after week.
• 29:42
  We're trying to understand what Christ desires from his church.
• 29:44
  Yes, the universal church, ultimately the local church.
• 29:47
  And here's what we learned at this point, doctrine is up, is
• 29:50
  not up for negotiation. Doctrine is incredibly important
• 29:55
  to the heart of our God, and it should be equally important to
• 29:58
  us. What a church teaches, Christ
• 30:05
  considers carefully, and the purity of doctrine of what's
• 30:10
  being taught, of what's being believed by the people in the
• 30:13
  church is not the only thing that Christ considers.
• 30:18
  In the unique cases where you have a mixed group, Jesus,
• 30:23
  according to this letter, also holds responsible those who know
• 30:27
  the truth yet refuse to confront error in the church.
• 30:33
  Who does he call to repent here? Who does he ask to turn?
• 30:38
  Look again here in verse 16. Therefore repent.
• 30:40
  If not, I will come to you soon and war against Him with the
• 30:43
  sword of my mouth. We might assume that Jesus is
• 30:46
  threatening those who are believing the lies of Balaam's
• 30:49
  teaching or the Nicolaitans. That's not who He is primarily
• 30:53
  addressing. Say, what are you talking about?
• 30:56
  Look at verse 14 again. But I have a few things.
• 31:00
  Against who? You.
• 31:02
  Who's the you? The church, the entire church.
• 31:07
  So do you know what this teaches?
• 31:09
  That not only did you have people believing different
• 31:11
  things, the people who knew the truth, who were faithful to his
• 31:14
  name, who were faithful to the faith, refused to confront the
• 31:19
  error in the church. And Jesus says, I'm looking at
• 31:23
  you. I'm looking at you leaders who
• 31:26
  refused to address this issue, You elders, you know, some in
• 31:31
  your church are not believing, are not upholding the Bible, and
• 31:35
  you're not doing anything about it.
• 31:37
  You members of the church, you refuse to in love, according to
• 31:41
  Matthew 18, approach the one who is in sin and call them to
• 31:44
  repent. And instead you fellowship with
• 31:46
  these ones who are unashamed of their compromise.
• 31:50
  And so he's calling the entire church into account, not just
• 31:54
  those who are following false teaching, even those who are in
• 31:57
  the truth and know about their false teaching and don't do
• 31:59
  anything about it. This is profound.
• 32:04
  This is very important for us to hear because again, it
• 32:08
  reinstates what the church is about.
• 32:10
  We're supposed to look out for one another.
• 32:14
  You know, an elder is not just here to just preach sermons and
• 32:17
  do weddings and funerals. That's not what a pastor is
• 32:19
  about. He watches over your soul.
• 32:23
  And this idea of false teachers creeping in the church is more
• 32:26
  complicated than ever in church history.
• 32:28
  You know why? Because at this time, it would
• 32:30
  be people physically walking through those doors, sitting at
• 32:33
  the Love Feast and talking to people, inviting to their home
• 32:36
  and teaching them and lead them astray.
• 32:38
  You know how false teachers work in many times, in many ways
• 32:40
  today. They don't need to show up here.
• 32:42
  They're in your pocket. They're in your YouTube history.
• 32:50
  They're on your social media, they're on your podcast, they're
• 32:53
  on those one minute reels and people build their theology in
• 32:55
  60 seconds. TikTok.
• 32:59
  I know people that are getting their theology from TikTok.
• 33:01
  God help us, but it doesn't lessen the responsibility.
• 33:09
  The Lord wants His church to be pure, not just morally but
• 33:13
  doctrinally. Yes.
• 33:16
  Is there room for differing opinions with secondary and
• 33:19
  tertiary matters? You better believe it.
• 33:20
  We have to be compassionate and understanding.
• 33:22
  But with these clear things, these non negotiables or
• 33:28
  anything that is so obvious in the word of God that's not up
• 33:31
  for debate. I am personally worried about
• 33:38
  any minister that refuses to talk about sin from the pulpit,
• 33:45
  and you should be worried about them too.
• 33:48
  I don't believe a church should every week be a time where
• 33:51
  people are rebuked and are called to repentance.
• 33:54
  Ultimately, we should all know greater encouragement.
• 33:56
  And if repentance is preached rightly, it will encourage
• 33:59
  people. It'll bring life to them.
• 34:03
  But for somebody to never mention sin, for somebody to
• 34:06
  never warn about false teaching, from time to time to warn
• 34:09
  people, hey, be careful what you're hearing out there.
• 34:13
  They're in danger. I'm worried about any church
• 34:17
  that doesn't have church discipline, that doesn't have
• 34:21
  membership, that calls people accountable, that if they live
• 34:25
  in unrepentant sin, then there's going to be concept.
• 34:27
  I worry about that. That's what the Church of
• 34:29
  Pergamum is teaching us. So yes, they were faithful in
• 34:33
  many ways, but they just let people do their own thing.
• 34:36
  Let people believe what they wanted to believe.
• 34:38
  Let people live how they wanted to live.
• 34:39
  And the Lord says, I'm calling you all to repent because the
• 34:44
  church has a responsibility in wisdom and love to approach
• 34:49
  those who are not in the right and to invite them back into the
• 34:51
  truth. Now we come to the last verse
• 34:56
  because the Lord ends on a good note, on an encouraging note in
• 34:59
  verse 17. Let's revisit it again, shall
• 35:00
  we? He who has an ear, let him hear
• 35:04
  what the Spirit says to the churches, to the one who
• 35:07
  conquers. I will give some of the hidden
• 35:09
  mana and I will give him a whitestone with a new name
• 35:12
  written on the stone that no one knows except the one who
• 35:15
  receives it. You can imagine the countless
• 35:20
  theories that have circulated over the centuries about this
• 35:23
  verse. Hidden mana, a whitestone with a
• 35:27
  name on it. It can get quite complicated,
• 35:31
  and people try to go to the culture of this time to make
• 35:34
  reference of what these things could mean.
• 35:37
  I think the hidden mana is more obvious to us as people who
• 35:39
  understand the totality of Scripture.
• 35:41
  But what's this Whitestone all about?
• 35:42
  Let's look at these things separately.
• 35:43
  In fact, let me just start here. This is not as complicated as
• 35:46
  people make it out to be, because when you look at this
• 35:49
  letter, you'll learn that what Jesus is offering here counters
• 35:55
  the evil substitutes that some of these Christians were tempted
• 35:58
  by. What were they condemned for?
• 36:02
  Going to these feasts that were dedicated to false gods and
• 36:09
  engaging in sexual immorality. What the Lord is saying, Hey,
• 36:14
  instead of indulging in those feasts, why don't you eat some
• 36:17
  of the manna that I have? And instead of finding your
• 36:22
  trust and finding your thrill and illicit behavior, why don't
• 36:27
  we deepen our relationship? I have hidden manna, remember?
• 36:34
  What manna was right? The name actually means what is
• 36:37
  it? Back in Exodus, they didn't know
• 36:41
  what it was. It was a flake like thing that
• 36:42
  would show up in the dew every morning.
• 36:44
  What is it? And had like a honey flavor to
• 36:49
  it. But more importantly, it was
• 36:52
  supernaturally provided. It was something that God gave
• 36:56
  every single day. And interestingly, the Lord is
• 36:59
  so precise. He says I have hidden manna.
• 37:03
  He didn't just say, manna, I have hidden mana.
• 37:06
  Oh, how do we make sense of that?
• 37:07
  Well, we learned that when this mana first arrived on the scene,
• 37:11
  the Israelites were instructed to take a jar of that mana and
• 37:14
  to put it where in the Ark of the Covenant to be preserved.
• 37:19
  And that mana never rotted. If you had mana one day and you
• 37:24
  try to, because of your unbelief, puts them in your
• 37:26
  pocket or in your cupboards because you didn't know if God
• 37:28
  was going to provide the next day, it would turn into worms.
• 37:32
  But this one little jar of mana was kept in the presence of God
• 37:35
  in that little compartment and it would serve as a memorial for
• 37:39
  the rest of their time, signifying I am faithful to
• 37:42
  provide for you. Jesus says to the church, I have
• 37:48
  hidden mana for you. In other words, I have spiritual
• 37:53
  nourishment because that mana points to another substance.
• 37:57
  Jesus made it clear in John chapter 6 when he made bread
• 38:01
  multiply in the wilderness. They said this is this is the
• 38:03
  prophet that Moses spoke about. He goes, no, I'm here to tell
• 38:07
  you that I'm not offering physical bread, the bread of
• 38:10
  heaven, me. So when he says I have this
• 38:13
  hidden mana, it's a symbolic way of saying I have spiritual
• 38:17
  nourishment. It will never waste, it will
• 38:20
  never rot, it will never dissatisfy.
• 38:22
  And it's it's able to sustain you, it's able to satisfy you.
• 38:30
  So think about it. Why go to those feasts?
• 38:34
  Why fellowship with unbelievers? Why go to those places that
• 38:37
  dishonor my name when I have something more permanent, more
• 38:41
  lasting, more pure for you? And then he follows it with
• 38:46
  this. I have a whitestone with a new
• 38:49
  name written on the stone. Again, there's no biblical cross
• 38:55
  reference that can help us understand this.
• 38:57
  And there's many, many, many ideas out there that in Roman
• 39:00
  times, a whitestone would be used as an admission ticket into
• 39:04
  a feast if you successfully won an athletic competition, or it
• 39:09
  was used in a judicial setting to say you're innocent.
• 39:12
  And so they would extend away. There's all these ideas, but I
• 39:14
  believe the mystery is intentional.
• 39:18
  So imagine we never preached on this and you read Revelation.
• 39:21
  You came up to me and you said, hey, what's this Whitestone
• 39:24
  about with a name written on it? You know what the right answer
• 39:26
  would be? I don't know, and you won't know
• 39:30
  either. That's the point.
• 39:36
  Christ is making an invitation to each individual believer that
• 39:40
  if they overcome worldly Christianity then He will give
• 39:44
  them something that will be a secret.
• 39:50
  The name that is written on it. Is that a name for me?
• 39:55
  I don't know. Is it a name about him that no
• 39:58
  one's ever heard about? Quite possibly.
• 40:02
  Either way, this depicts intimacy because what defines a
• 40:08
  rich deep bond is 2 people who share an experience, who have
• 40:14
  knowledge about something. That no one else does.
• 40:19
  Some of your husbands and wives, you have names for each other
• 40:23
  that no one else knows about. And that's good because you
• 40:27
  don't want somebody else calling your husband what you call them
• 40:30
  and vice versa. Here's the Lord saying, I want
• 40:34
  to share a unique name between you and me.
• 40:38
  So instead of going to these women and sleeping with them,
• 40:42
  justifying it with this false doctrine of grace, instead of
• 40:47
  you ladies throwing yourself at one guy to another from
• 40:50
  relationship to relationship, even if it's in this, in this
• 40:52
  case, even if it's in the context of spiritual practice,
• 40:56
  false spiritual practice. Instead of doing that, I'm
• 41:00
  inviting you closer to my heart. I want to exchange something
• 41:05
  with you that will be more meaningful than anything else
• 41:08
  outside. Are these things ultimately
• 41:12
  realize in heaven? You can make a case for that,
• 41:14
  yes. Can you say that it's going to
• 41:16
  be a physical stone, a Pearl of some sorts, a gem that he'll
• 41:19
  give to you? Sure.
• 41:21
  But I also believe that in both cases, the hidden men and this
• 41:24
  whitestone, the idea behind it is available.
• 41:26
  Now you know what the secret is to overcoming the seductions of
• 41:30
  this world? Satisfaction in Jesus Christ.
• 41:35
  You will never listen to me. You will never overcome
• 41:38
  temptation unless you first taste the sweetness of Jesus.
• 41:42
  Never. And this is what he is reminding
• 41:46
  this church. He who has an ear, let him hear
• 41:51
  what the Spirit says to the churches.
• 41:53
  So I must do my duty, my brethren, I must do my job, my
• 41:59
  family. This church is growing.
• 42:04
  It's exciting. I think we see new faces every
• 42:07
  single week and I'm thrilled about it.
• 42:11
  Not because of numbers, but because I hope that what God is
• 42:14
  doing in this place is he's raising up people who are
• 42:16
  craving the Bible, the word of God being taught.
• 42:22
  But it's also very possible that there can be an esteem for the
• 42:25
  truth. There can be passionate about
• 42:27
  the faith, there can be a level of faithfulness to the name of
• 42:30
  Jesus, while there's also compromise somewhere else.
• 42:40
  Does your life align with what Jesus says it means to be a
• 42:43
  disciple of His? Are you with some people doing
• 42:49
  some things, believing ideas that contradict His word?
• 42:57
  How much does His word govern your life?
• 43:01
  Let me say it this way. Are you an Antipus?
• 43:07
  Have you determined that I'm willing to stand against
• 43:09
  anything and everything? Think about how fascinating this
• 43:13
  man was. He refused to continue to live
• 43:16
  if it meant denying Jesus. Death was something that he was
• 43:23
  willing to accept if it meant that he would end faithfully.
• 43:28
  Life was not life if he had to disown his Savior.
• 43:34
  Is that the level of conviction that you have and it's not
• 43:38
  proven? Ultimately, with your head on a
• 43:40
  chomping block and terrorists threatening you.
• 43:47
  Deny Christ or you lose your head.
• 43:51
  It's also proven in you looking out into the world, hearing all
• 43:54
  the seductions even within Christendom and you saying
• 43:56
  that's false because I know my word.
• 43:58
  That's something that Christ does not want.
• 44:00
  I will not accept it. Jesus said this and you're
• 44:02
  saying something else. I refuse it.
• 44:03
  No matter how much it benefits my flesh, no matter how much it
• 44:06
  helps me in society, I will deny it.
• 44:11
  That's an antipas for those here who have determined that.
• 44:15
  Be fortified in your faith because Christ promised that
• 44:19
  when you overcome, you will know a level of satisfaction now, and
• 44:23
  there will be a depth of your knowledge of Christ that awaits
• 44:26
  that will make anything that you resist now so worth it.
• 44:31
  May the Lord Jesus Christ help us.
• 44:33
  Let's pray. Lord, we trust that we have ears
• 45:05
  to hear what Your Spirit says to this church.
• 45:11
  Thank You that You know where we dwell, and thank You that You
• 45:15
  know the condition of our hearts.
• 45:17
  We ask, Lord, that You would probe and that You would examine
• 45:21
  every person here and highlight anything that goes against what
• 45:26
  You asked of us. Lord, may this church be a
• 45:31
  church that is pure in its teaching, that will never
• 45:35
  deviate from the word of God, that will never be ashamed of
• 45:38
  the Scriptures, that we'll be able to say confidently thus
• 45:42
  says the Lord, and never shy away from it.
• 45:45
  We pray that every member of this church would also have that
• 45:48
  same conviction, that we would not have a mixed crowd here, but
• 45:52
  that every person would uphold the truth, that in love and
• 45:56
  gentleness and compassion we would help each other stay in
• 46:00
  the truth. And so, Lord, give us eyes to
• 46:03
  see and ears to hear all the falsehood that's being promoted
• 46:06
  around us, all the teaching that seems to be Christianity, but
• 46:10
  it's distorted. Give us discernment.
• 46:14
  And thank You that you've given us the tools to be discerning
• 46:17
  your Word, Your Spirit, your people.
• 46:22
  Lord, if there's one person in this place who knows that
• 46:24
  they're living in compromise, perhaps they're being seduced by
• 46:27
  the doctrine of Balaam, unequally yoked with others, but
• 46:32
  justifying it. Rescue them today.
• 46:36
  Rescue them today, Lord, for anybody else here who knows that
• 46:42
  they are turning their back on some component of your Word.
• 46:47
  Lord, may your conviction be louder than ever.
• 46:50
  Louder than ever, even now. We want to please you.
• 46:54
  So Lord, we pray that you sanctify the pulpit.
• 46:57
  Keep it holy. Sanctify our hearts and our
• 47:00
  minds. Keep us near you.
• 47:03
  We celebrate now because you love us enough to speak the
• 47:06
  truth to our hearts. In Jesus name we pray.
• 47:09
  Amen. Amen.
• 47:12
  Let's sing to the Lord, shall we?
• 47:14
  Let's stand.