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Revelation 2:8-11 - The Church at Smyrna · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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I ask you to turn, please, in your Bibles to chapter 2 of the
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Book of Revelation. And today we are going to start
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with verse 8. We're going to talk about the
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church at Smyrna. It's a lot of information to
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give about Smyrna. It's a lot of history to give
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about Smyrna. So we're going to go ahead and
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just pray and we're going to get into the Word.
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OK, Father, we do thank you for once again you give us this
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opportunity, Lord, to come and gather together as a one
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assembly in you. Father, we thank you that your
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promise to us is that you will be with us, Lord, where two or
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three are gathered together in your midst.
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You promise that you will be with us, Father, and we believe
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that. We know that you're here with
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us. We just ask that there be a
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manifestation of your spirit today, Father, not just your
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presence, Lord, but that you would be manifested today.
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We pray that you would have the that you would get the glory for
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everything that is done and said today in this place.
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I pray for your wisdom. I pray for your knowledge.
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I pray, Father, for your anointing.
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Lord, I cannot do this without you.
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I need you to teach this lesson today, Lord.
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So I pray that you would open your mouth and speak in Jesus
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name. We pray, Amen.
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So we're at the persecuted church here.
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I'm going to just I'm going to read this because it's really
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like only four verses, but this is probably four of the most
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important and most significant verses that I have ever read in
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the word of God. It's so, so impactful when we
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dig into this. So let's read it and then we'll
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go back and we'll make our comments.
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It says into the church, to the Angel of the church in Smyrna.
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Write these things, says the 1st and the last who was dead and
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came to life. I know your works, tribulation
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and poverty, but you are rich, and I know the blasphemy of
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those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of
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Satan. Do not fear any of those things
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which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil was about to
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throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you
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will have tribulation 10 days. Be faithful unto death and I
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will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear
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what the Spirit says to the churches.
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He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.
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Amen. So as we go back, we look at
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this history and we and we see that this is a suffering church.
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Now Smyrna today is a current day Izmir, which is over in
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Turkey. But just to give you a little
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background about Smyrna, the name Smyrna actually means myrrh
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and it's main and myrrh is actually its main commodity.
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Myrrh is an herb that has a bitter taste if you were to bite
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into it, but it, it, it diffuses a, a, a sweet smelling aroma.
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The city of Smyrna was located 35 miles north of Ephesus.
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So as John was sick, excuse me, sitting in the congregation of
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Ephesus and he reads his letter when he walks out of there, he
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walks 35 miles north and he goes into Smyrna.
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Now it's, it's one of the large, it is the largest city in Asia
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Minor, major seaport and commercial center, just like
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Ephesus was. It's a, it's a very strong
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political center of the region. Smyrna has been invaded like
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several times, it's been destroyed.
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But later it was restored and brought back to life by
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Alexander the Great and it became a major metropolis,
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metropolis coming, you know, coming under the rule of the
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Roman government. It was made of free city.
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Now it was made of free city because it was loyal to the
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Roman government or to the Roman Empire, and it was.
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And it wasn't a political threat because they were so loyal and
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there was a lot of advantages for them to come under the Roman
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rule. One of the things is that with
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their trade and commerce, if they did anything over the seas,
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there was a time when the seas were very dangerous and trying
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to ship things by sea, there would be a lot of piracy and
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things of that nature. But once they came under the
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Roman rule, they didn't have to worry about that.
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Rome cleaned up those those seas and they get rid of the piracy
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and made them safer. And the same thing with inland
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travel. If they were traveling on the
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inland, a lot of times people would be robbed and it wasn't
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safe to travel. But after Rome became a ruler of
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Smyrna, those roads became a lot more safe because of the Roman
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rule that they that they had. People did not want to cross
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Rome. They were, Rome was coming into
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its strength as a as a nation, as an empire, and they were and
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they were mighty and no one really wanted to cross them.
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So Smyrna thought it was a good idea for them to connect with
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Rome. So coming under that, that
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umbrella, like I said, they became a free city.
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And that free city basically means that they were, they had a
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lot of autonomy there in Smyrna. They were able to kind of govern
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themselves. They didn't have a Garrison that
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was constantly patrolling the streets and watching and seeing
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what they were doing. They, they kind of took care of
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their own business. They made a lot of their own
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laws there in Smyrna because they had that kind of autonomy.
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It was also Smyrna was also a legal asylum city.
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It, it was offering protection for runaway slaves and people
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who were debtors and running away from, from their
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responsibilities and criminals could come to the region of
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Smyrna and they would be protected.
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And the reason why Smyrna did this is because they wanted to
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build up their population so they could have people come
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there and they would build up their population.
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They'd become even a larger cities.
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Smyrna was a very wealthy city, but it was also a very Pagan
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city, Very Pagan. And we're about to find out just
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why it is that it was such a, a, a, a city that persecuted the
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Jew, the, the Christian so much. And it's because of the fact
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that it is a Pagan city and it was a major Center for Pagan
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worship and emperor and imperial cults, which is basically an
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emperor worship. So they wanted to, whatever
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emperor was in was in place. They wanted the city, they
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wanted the people to worship them.
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That was their God. Smyrna had many gods, it had
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many temples, and it had temples to all of these gods, like, and
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then just to name a few, you know, Sabelli, Zeus, Athena,
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Apollo, but also Aphroditus. And there was a number of
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others, you know, that's just some of the gods that they
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worship and some of the temples, it was lined with temples.
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So Smyrna was one of the a polytheistic city, but the
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people willingly, even though they weren't all, you know,
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worshipping the same gods, but they all willingly participated
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in the mandatory Roman emperor worship as well.
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So you can go and worship any God that you say that you want
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to believe in, but it was mandated that you would come and
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worship the Roman emperor. Now the people Smyrna was free
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to go to any those those gods. But there was one day out of the
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year where every citizen in Rome had to come to the temple of
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Caesar, and they had to burn a pinch of incense.
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And while they burn that pinch of incense, they had to say
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Caesar is Lord. And in order for them to be
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justified that they did it, they actually received a certificate
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before leaving certifying that they did that.
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They indeed did do so. But now, now we see what the
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problem is with the Christians, because there's no Christian
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that's going to say Caesar is Lord.
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So here comes the opposition. And because the Christians would
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not agree to say that Caesar is Lord, they started to, they
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started to experience a lot of opposition.
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They started to experience a lot of resistance.
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And eventually that went into being full out persecution,
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torture, everything to try to get them to come in line because
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they could not allow themselves, they, they, Rome would not allow
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them to not worship Caesar. So because Smyrna was such a
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prominent Sinner for these things, the people who would
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acknowledge themselves as being Christians, they knew it was
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becoming more and more dangerous to worship Christ there in
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Smyrna. But remember Jesus who walks in
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the midst of the churches and sees what the churches were
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going through at this time. He sent a letter to Smyrna
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because he wanted to remind them that he is the eternal God and
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that He is with them. And he wanted to encourage them
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to continue to be steadfast in their faith even in the midst of
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all the persecution, in the midst of all of the trials that
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they're going through. And they were going through very
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heavy trial. What a comfort it is, What a
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comfort it is to know that our Lord and Savior is always in the
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midst of us and sees and knows what we're going through.
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What a comfort that is. It's awesome to be able to know
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that we serve a God who knows everything about everything.
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And not only does He see it, but He gets in that struggle with
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us. I'm reminded of the three Hebrew
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boys back in Daniel. They were going through heavy
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persecution. They were going through heavy
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threats and eventually, because they refused to worship
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Nebuchadnezzar, they were thrown in the fiery furnace.
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But like I said, Jesus is he. He's a God that not only sees
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what we go through, but he gets in the struggle with us.
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Because when they threw the three Hebrews boys in the the
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fiery furnace for not worshiping Nebuchadnezzar, the Bible says
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that Nebuchadnezzar looked in the furnace and he saw not just
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the three images that he put in. He said, yeah, there's Shadrach,
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there's Meshach, and there's Abednego.
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But wait a minute, who was this fourth image that I see in the
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fire and he acknowledged that it had the form as of the son of
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God. So we go to verse 8 verse 8 now
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so that we go to get into this we see that there's this is what
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a struggle has come in Rome wanted is one of the the
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Christians to worship Caesar. The church is saying they will
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not call anybody Lord except Jesus Christ and I pray that we
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as the church would have that same mindset that we don't
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worship anybody except Jesus Christ, Amen.
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We don't call anybody Lord except Jesus Christ.
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So in verse 8, he says into the Angel to the Church of Smyrna
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write these things, says the first, the last, and he who was
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dead and who came to life. So Jesus once again identifies
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himself using a description mentioned in chapter 1.
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Actually, you can. It's over in chat.
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In verse 8 of chapter 1, he says he identified himself as being
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the 1st and the last. That means that he's letting us
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know that he is eternal. He's letting the children that
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the people of Smyrna know that he is eternal.
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He's the eternal God. You know, I can't wrap my mind.
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I was telling Ted this morning as we were praying every now and
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then when I when I tried to think about the fact that Jesus
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is eternal and that he is infinite and that I am finite,
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it's so hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that in his
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existence there was no beginning.
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He is the beginning and in his in this world, there is no end.
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He is the end and He controls everything in between.
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And it's so hard for me to wrap my mind around because we are
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always looking at how things start and how things end.
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When someone invites you to something, the first thing he
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says, what time does it start? When does it start?
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What time is it over? Because in our infinite minds
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that's how we process things. But He's the 1st and He's the
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last. There's nothing before him,
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there's no existence, there's no power, there's nothing before
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him and definitely nothing greater than him.
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And he is the last. So he's letting them know that
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this God that you're that you're sacrificing yourself for this
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God that you, that you love so much that you're willing to
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endure this persecution, this tribulation, know that he is
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God. He is God and he's able to do
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exceeding abundantly and with all that we may ask or think.
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And he also says that he is he who was dead.
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So this is this is Jesus now saying that I have power not
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only over death, but also over my over resurrection.
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I have power over death and resurrection.
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So I have, you don't have to worry about death because I have
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already defeated death. Martha and Mary.
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He had to tell them, he said, listen, I am the resurrection
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and the life. If you believe in me, though you
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were dead, yet you will live. And if you live and believe in
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me, you shall never die. He is the resurrection and the
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life. And it was important for them to
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know that because of the things that they're about to embark
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upon, the things that they're about to experience.
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So he says here in verse 9, he says, I know your works, I know
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your works. He said, I know your works, your
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tribulation and your poverty, but you were rich.
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And and I just want to talk about these two things because
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it's really important, tribulation and poverty.
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Now, first of all, the tribulation that you know, that
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we usually talk about in, in the context of the way that we
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experience tribulation. I mean it, it, it deals with
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hardships and distresses, persecutions even deals with
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some affliction. And of course the persecution is
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that we deal with that we call tribulation.
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It, it's usually something that probably makes us more, makes it
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more inconvenient for us or, or or or deals with us in a way
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where we may have to be diseased more than anything else.
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But that's not the persecution they were dealing with.
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That's not the, the, the, the, the tribulation they were
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dealing with. They were dealing with the
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context of the Greek word philipsis, philipsis, and what
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this ellipsis was. It was a persecution or a
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tribulation, meaning crush or to press or pressure.
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It's it's like, it's like the crushing or the pressing of
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grapes to get the juice to bust forward.
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So these people in their life was being pressed and crushed
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every day under the weight of persecution.
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And actually in those in that time, the Roman government would
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use Philipsis or use this literal crushing or this
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pressing was used when they had a criminal and they were trying
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to get a confession out of that criminal or they were trying to
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punish the criminal. They would use this crushing.
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They would lay him down on his back and they would put a large
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rock or stone on his chest. And, and, and the, and the more
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he would try to breathe, inhale and exhale, the more difficult
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it got. The he would just be pressed
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under the weight of this rock and eventually he would die of
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suffocation. It was a slow death.
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It was an agonizing death. It was a painful death.
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And this is was the, the, the experience that these, that
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these Christians had. It was a it was a crushing, they
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were being crushed by this persecution.
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But even Jesus himself understands the, the weight
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you're being crushed under the weight of, of, of, of, of, of
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sin and, and to be crushed under the weight of persecution for he
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was persecuted. You know, Jesus was, you know, a
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man of many sorrows and he was acquainted with grief.
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So he understood this, this whole thing of, of, of being
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pressed and pressured. But when he was in the Garden of
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Gethsemane, which was actually means pressing or oil press,
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when he was there, the Bible says that he was being, he felt
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such a weight of the pressing of the things that he knew he had
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to go through. If you can imagine that the
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things that he knew he was about to experience this, this, this
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crushing that he was going to have to be dealing with of going
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to the cross. Bible says that he actually
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sweated and his sweat was, it was like the drops of blood to
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the ground. It's the kind of pressure that
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he was dealing with. What also finds out when we
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talked about, we talked about Smyrna being meaning myrrh.
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Myrrh has to be crushed in order to defuse the sweet smelling
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scent. It had to be crushed.
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So like Jesus, the life of these Christians were being crushed
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under the weight of persecution and was diffusing a sweet
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smelling aroma of the gospel of the true life.
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If you imagine Jesus when he was being crushed, we could you know
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he diffused the aroma of love, of humility.
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He diffused the aroma of the gospel.
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But then us when we are being crushed, now we too we diffuse a
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sweet smelling aroma which lets people know and brings glory to
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God our lives when we. Stand under the pressure of
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persecution or any kind of trials.
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It's a sweet smelling aroma to those people who are watching
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what we go through. Our steadfast obedient life is a
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sweet smelling fragrance and it brings glory to God, Paul said
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in 2nd Corinthians 214 and 15. Paul says now thanks be to God
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who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and though and and
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through US diffuses the fragrance of his knowledge in
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every place. For we are to God the fragrance
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of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who
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are perishing. So we're not just talking about
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pressure of losing jobs or being shunned by family or friends or
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even being arrested for our faith, but we're talking about
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this, this, this crushing, this heavy persecution happening to
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Christians. And it's actually happening to
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Christians even now in other in other places.
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I was reading something recently and I wanted to share it with
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you. This is according to Open Doors
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of 2026. So it's a recent world watch
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list. And it said that over 388
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million Christians face high levels of persecution and
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discrimination, with roughly 4849 killed annually.
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The most dangerous countries include North Korea, Somalia,
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Yemen, Sudan and Eritrea, which is in West East Africa, I
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believe continent off of East Africa, Syria, Nigeria.
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And these are all places where Christians face extreme
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violence. That's not an exhausted list,
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but it's a face where they it's a place where they, they, they
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experience this extreme violence, imprisonment, forced
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displacement. They experienced this
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particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
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So the Church of Samaran was facing these this heavy
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persecution and yet Jesus himself was with them and they
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were doing it for their faith in Jesus Christ.
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Now we look at poverty, they use the way he said use the word
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poverty, said you also going through poverty, but you were
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rich. Now this isn't the poverty that
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we know here in this country where you just don't have enough
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resources. You know, you have money, you
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have things, but you may not just have enough resources.
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We have people in our country that are considered not
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unemployed, but underemployed. So it's not that they're not
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making anything or don't have anything, but it might just be
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insufficient for what it is that they may want to do or even what
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it is that they may need to do. But this isn't the kind of
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poverty that we were talking about with the Christians and
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Smyrna and Smyrna. They were dealing with what is
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called object, abject poverty, abject poverty.
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And what that simply means is that they have nothing, nothing
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at all. Not just not sufficient means or
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resources, they have nothing at all, nothing at all.
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Because of the persecution that they were dealing with.
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If they had employment, they were let go from their jobs.
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If they were identified as being a Christian, if they were
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self-employed, they were boycotted and no one would buy
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from them. Their property was confiscated,
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robbed and vandalized. If they had money on their own,
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it wouldn't matter because they couldn't go and buy anything
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because nobody would do business with them.
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They were being crushed. The pressure was coming in from
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every different way. So they were not only going
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through tribulation, but they were dealing with this abject
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poverty. Today there is persecution in
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the in the job force. We know that we have people that
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I'm sure is in the job force that was dealing with some
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persecution because you won't use pronouns or because you
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won't participate. And if you're working in the
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medical field because you won't participate in an abortion or or
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or or something of that manner or give or give some distribute
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some drugs for abortion where any of those kind of things
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because it goes against your belief.
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You know Baker's we we heard about the Baker that's over in
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Oregon. I believe it was that would not
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bake a cake for an LBGTQ. It's L GB TQI get those.
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I'm sorry, I get those letters mixed up wedding.
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They would not bake a cake for the wedding.
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So they ended a lot of heavy fines and actually almost run
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them out of business. And a lot of those kind of
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things are happening. I mean, you know, what about if
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if people get to the point where pastors have to perform these
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ceremonies or they go to jail, it might get to that point at
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some point. But that's not what we're
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talking about here. We're talking about people who
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are destitute. These, these, these are people
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who have lost everything because they follow Jesus Christ.
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They follow Jesus Christ. But we also have to remember
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that Jesus puts a different definition on the word rich and
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poor because by the world standard they were poor, even
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destitute. But Jesus said they were rich.
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Jesus said they were rich. And in Revelations interest,
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because in Revelations 317, I'm going to go there.
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That's the that's the layer of the Church of Laodicea.
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Look at what he says in verse 17.
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He says, because you say I am rich, have become wealthy and
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have need of nothing and do not know that you are wretched,
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miserable, poor, blind and naked.
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They don't know that they're poor.
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They think that they have everything because of the
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possessions that they have. They think they have everything
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because of the money that they may have.
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But Jesus says you're poor. You're poor because you don't
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have the spiritual riches. You don't have the riches that
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really, really matter. You see, a man's life does not
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consist of the things he possess.
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The the true riches are the riches that we have in glory.
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We have riches in faith, we have riches in in favor with God.
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We have riches in his grace. We have riches.
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We have an inheritance that's waiting for us that's undefiled
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and that's incorruptible. All of their riches in this
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world is corruptible. It will fade, it will corrupt.
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It can even be stolen or taken, but our riches cannot be stolen
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nor taken. We have it that aren't rich.
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They are forever. It's everlasting.
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And we have it now. We have it now.
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I remember a couple weeks ago, so I was working through this, I
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was thinking about the songs that our praise and worship team
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was singing. And a couple weeks ago they,
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they, they sang the song. Give thanks with a grateful
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heart. Give thanks to the Holy One
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because he has given Jesus Christ his Son.
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And now let the weak say I am strong, and let the poor say I
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am rich. Not because of what we have, not
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because of what we've done, but because of what the Lord has
28:32
done for us. Amen.
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So we are rich and this is what Jesus was saying to this church.
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Naturally and through the natural resources or through the
28:46
worldly eyes, you may be poor, but you are rich.
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Then he goes on and he says, and I know the blasphemy of those
28:56
who say that they are Jews and are not, but our, our, our
29:02
synagogue of Satan. Wow, a synagogue of Satan, you
29:08
know, as I was thinking about that rich thing as we move into
29:12
talking about the, the, the Jews, but this thinking about
29:15
the whole thing about rich, you know, that we, we have this
29:18
prosperity gospel that is still running rampant even here today,
29:23
prosperity gospel. And, and, and when you hear
29:26
somebody say that if you're, if you have enough faith, then you
29:31
will have health and you will have wealth and you will have
29:35
Wellness if you have enough faith.
29:38
And if you don't have those things, it's because you don't
29:40
have enough faith. But yet Jesus said they are
29:47
rich. He never once said, you know,
29:50
he, he, he didn't, he didn't rebuke them because they didn't
29:53
have wealth. He didn't rebuke them because
29:56
they didn't have wealth and say you are are you don't have
30:00
enough faith. He didn't do that.
30:02
But that's what the prosperity preachers would say that he
30:04
would do because they say that you have to have riches in order
30:08
to to have faith. But no, he said you are rich.
30:14
You are rich. You're rich because you're rich
30:18
because you have the riches of glory.
30:21
So it flies in the face of that. But when you think about the
30:25
missionaries that we have that are living in remote places and
30:30
the only thing they have or the that they can depend on are the
30:33
donations that people send them. That's all they can can live on.
30:37
Or the people that they minister to who have even less than that.
30:42
But yet these people are rich in faith.
30:46
Even though they don't have a lot of things, they still rich
30:50
in faith. They have such a love for Jesus
30:54
Christ and they look forward to his return because they know
30:57
that everything that they have comes from him.
31:02
Every, every need that is met is met by him.
31:12
It's an indictment to even have a a message that talks about
31:17
someone not having faith because they don't have the money when
31:23
there's so many times when Jesus, even Jesus himself was
31:26
poor, He didn't even have a place to lay his head, but he
31:30
has riches and glory. He made himself, he came and
31:34
made himself poor that we would be rich and have the gospel to
31:39
look forward to. So he says here, he says that
31:46
the Jews, he said that they are, you know, I know the blasphemy
31:50
of those who say they are Jews and are not but a synagogue of
31:54
Satan. They say they're Jews, but
31:57
they're not. Now this is not a statement that
32:00
they're saying that all Jews are wrong or all synagogues are a
32:05
synagogue of Satan. This is not what this is saying.
32:08
This is, this is saying that, you know, these particular Jews
32:13
here in Smyrna, he was saying that they were calling
32:18
themselves Jews. And those Jews really, when you
32:20
say you're a Jew, that means that you're of the people of
32:23
God. You're calling yourself a,
32:26
you're calling yourself a, a, a, a, a child of God being a Jew,
32:31
but yet you hate Jesus, you hate his church.
32:37
So you're not really a Jew. And Jesus is saying that, you
32:42
know, we were over in Romans, Paul said that you're not Jew.
32:46
Those who are call themselves Jews outwardly.
32:52
It's a circumcision of the heart that makes 1A Jew a true Jew.
32:57
And then what Jesus is saying here is that if, listen, if you
33:01
are hating Christians, you're persecuting the Christians, then
33:06
you're calling yourself a Jew and you really are not but a
33:09
synagogue of Satan. Why?
33:11
Because if you're destroying the church, then you're doing the
33:14
work of Satan. That's why he calls them a
33:19
synagogue of Satan. It's, it's, it's, it's a, it's
33:25
amazing when you, you think about how these Jews were
33:31
treating the Christians, because now they were exempt, I should
33:34
say this, they were exempt from having to do the, the worship of
33:41
Caesar. They were exempt from that
33:43
because they they have, they're loyal, they're loyal to the
33:46
Roman government and they have this agreement that what what
33:50
they would do instead of worshipping Caesar because they
33:53
are a monotheistic religion. If they're worshipping Caesar,
33:58
but instead of worshipping Caesar, they get to just maybe
34:01
light a incense on Caesar's behalf or pray for Caesar and
34:10
they were fine with that. But the Christians were not
34:14
accepted at all by the Roman government.
34:17
And because they weren't accepted by the Roman government
34:19
because the Jews hated them. So not only were the Christians
34:22
being persecuted by the Roman government, but they're also
34:26
being persecuted by the the Jews.
34:30
And Jesus said, look, I understand, I know what you're
34:33
going through. I know that you're dealing with
34:35
these Jews who and the persecution and the blasphemy of
34:39
the persecution of these Jews who say that they're Jewish and
34:42
they're not but a synagogue of Satan.
34:44
They're doing the work of Satan, doing the work of Satan.
34:52
And then we also go over here now to the verse 10.
34:56
It says do not fear any of those things which are about what you
35:02
are about to suffer. Don't fear any of these things
35:07
that you are about to suffer. Wouldn't it be nice if at that
35:11
point that Jesus was said, don't fear any of these things because
35:15
I'm about to deliver you from that and you won't have to go
35:17
through any of that. I'm sure that's what they would
35:20
have wanted to hear. You know, don't fear these
35:23
things. You don't have to worry about it
35:25
because I'm coming and, and I'm going to take care of it all.
35:29
So don't worry about it. But that's not what he said.
35:32
Look at what he says next. He says indeed, the devil was
35:37
about to throw some of you into prison.
35:39
He went on to talk about what is actually going to happen.
35:43
He's prophesying the future. He said this is what's going to
35:45
happen in the future. The devil was going to throw
35:48
some of you into prison that you may be tested and you will have
35:53
tribulation 10 days, 10 days, but be faithful unto death.
35:59
So he goes on and he prophesized about what's coming.
36:03
He doesn't say that you're not going to have to go through
36:06
that. It would be wonderful if they
36:08
didn't have to go through it, but they will.
36:11
And Jesus is saying, because you're going to be tested,
36:13
you're going to be tested. A faith that's not tested, can
36:16
it truly be called a true faith? And, and, and, and, and, and the
36:20
hotter we are in the furnace, the furnace of life, the hotter
36:25
we are. And our and our, our faith is
36:27
being tested. That's what proves who we are.
36:30
That's what really proves where we are with our faith.
36:35
And in this country, we've been very fortunate to not have to go
36:38
through the kind of trial and tribulation and the testing that
36:45
this particular church has had to go through.
36:48
But there are still things in our life that will really test
36:51
our faith that we may have to deal with on a regular basis.
36:55
There's things that test our faith.
36:56
We, we, we can still find ourselves in the furnace of life
37:01
hardships, whether it's financial, whether it's family,
37:07
whether it's employment wise. We can find ourselves in a
37:12
furnace in a place where it's real hot and our faith is truly
37:18
being tested. Get a diagnosis, look at my bank
37:24
statement and there's some money that I thought was there and
37:26
it's not. There's some things that can put
37:31
us in the furnace. But he's saying in this be
37:36
faithful unto death. Let's talk about this ten days
37:40
because he he mentions this 10 days.
37:42
Now some people think that this 10 days is the actual 10 days.
37:45
Some people think that this 10 days was a a symbolic of the
37:50
fact that there are there were there were 10 emperors who
37:54
really delved out like really harsh punishment or persecution
38:04
over a period of the years 606364AD pretty much through one
38:11
O 5 AAD and and and you know, there was 10 emperors and it
38:16
starts with Nero and it ends with the akletion.
38:20
But now when we talk about that now that's not necessarily
38:25
etched in stone. I mean, because there's nowhere
38:27
really in the word of God that really says that this is what he
38:29
means by the 10 days. But what we can say, what the
38:33
point of this is, is that he's saying that there is a period, a
38:37
definite period where there will be heavy persecution.
38:43
There will be. And they experienced this.
38:46
They experienced it. So he says, be faithful unto
38:53
death. How do we respond in this
38:58
persecution? How do we, how do we behave
39:02
ourselves in this persecution? I think about Job when he was
39:07
going through his suffering, the Bible constantly said, but even
39:13
though he was going through these things, he behaved himself
39:15
wisely. He never cursed God.
39:19
He never gave up on God, questioned God, but never cursed
39:25
him, never gave up on him. God is not, you know, in the 1st
39:31
chapter we saw that he was looking, I'm starting the
39:34
earlier chapter early in the part of chapter 2 when he was
39:37
dealing with the, the Church of Ephesus, he wanted that church
39:41
to return to their first love. He wanted them to return to the
39:45
first love. But in this section he's saying
39:48
he's looking for them to be faithful in the midst of all the
39:52
persecution. Be faithful, understand that
39:55
it's, it's going to happen, but be faithful and be faithful unto
39:59
death. And I will give you the crown of
40:02
life. And that is the reward of those
40:04
who endure. The crown of life is the reward
40:07
for those who endure. Who go through tribute, who go
40:11
through temptations or who go through tribulations, but they
40:16
endure to the end. They remain faithful.
40:20
They don't turn back, do not as those who turn back to
40:24
perdition, but who believe into the saving of the soul.
40:28
And that's who. And that's what he is saying
40:30
here. Be faithful, Remain faithful.
40:33
Yes, you're going to have it and it's going to be tough, but I
40:36
want you to be faithful, remain faithful as you go through this.
40:41
You know, one of the things that we have to understand is that
40:46
there is going to be a time when being a Christian will cost you
40:53
something. It will cost you something.
40:58
That's why Jesus said count the cost.
41:01
You know, could you imagine being a Christian?
41:03
You can't. You can't be a wimp Christian
41:06
and living in Smyrna. You can't be a weak Christian
41:10
and live in Smyrna. But one thing that the Word of
41:15
God tells us is that at the time when we need it the most, God
41:22
will give us the strength that we need to endure.
41:26
At the time that we need it the most, the power of Christ will
41:32
rest upon us at the time that we need it to most now.
41:36
Now one of the people who were going through this persecution,
41:39
heavy persecution, and was actually martyred was Polycarp,
41:44
who was the actually the Bishop of of the Church of Smyrna at
41:49
one point. He was an older man, Polycarp
41:52
was in his 90s. He was actually a mentee of the
41:58
Apostle John. So he actually knew the Apostle
42:00
John and he had gone through heavy persecution until
42:05
eventually they decided they were just going to execute him
42:09
because he would not renounce Jesus.
42:13
So the saying goes, The saying goes that he continued to
42:20
denounce. So they had set a time when they
42:23
were going to execute him and they gave him another
42:28
opportunity to renounce Jesus. And Polycarp said he said I have
42:34
served. I've served them for 86 years
42:41
and he's never wronged me. How can I blasphemy my king who
42:49
saved me? And as they continue to threaten
42:53
him with the threat of burning them to the stake, he says,
42:56
you're coming to me and threatening me with fire that's
43:01
going to only last for about an hour.
43:03
But you're forgetting. You're forgetting the fire that
43:08
will last for eternity in hell. What a perspective.
43:18
This is going to last for a while.
43:21
Yeah, I might. I might feel a pinch.
43:25
OK, maybe a little bit more in the pinch, but after a while,
43:28
this is going to be over. I'll have eternity with my Lord.
43:32
But you on the other hand, you're going to be an eternity
43:36
in hell. You're going to feel this fire
43:38
forever and ever and ever and ever and ever, which also gives
43:43
us an opportunity for them to have an opportunity to repent.
43:51
Polycarp, what a perspective. So then in verse 11 here about
43:55
to come in here for clothes, he says he who has an ear, let him
44:01
hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
44:05
He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death, shall
44:11
not be hurt by the second death. He says he who has an ear, he
44:17
who has that spiritual understanding, who actually has
44:21
a heart to receive what it is that the Spirit is saying to
44:25
you, you have an ear to hear it. And that's opposed to those who
44:31
don't want to hear what the word of God says, what the word of
44:34
God is sharing. You ever think about how
44:40
difficult, how, how crazy it is. And sometimes you can sit in a,
44:44
a church session and one person can be sitting right next to
44:47
somebody else in the one is hearing everything and it's
44:50
touching their hearts and they're responding to it
44:54
spiritually. But the other person just
44:57
doesn't receive it at all, doesn't hear it at all.
45:00
Their hearts are just closed to what it is that the Spirit is
45:03
trying to say. But he says here, him who has an
45:08
ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
45:11
He who overcomes, listen to this last section here.
45:15
He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death, shall
45:22
not be hurt by the second death. You know, for me, this makes me
45:32
ponder about what Jesus is really saying.
45:37
That's really important. Unless Jesus raptures us before
45:43
we die, we're all going to experience death.
45:46
The first death. We're going to experience
45:47
physical death unless he, unless the church, unless he comes back
45:51
and raptures us, we're going to experience that.
45:57
But that's all we'll experience because for those of us who were
46:02
believers, for those of us who have not rejected Jesus Christ
46:06
but received him as Lord and Savior, we will not be hurt by
46:13
the second death, by the second death.
46:19
That's the judgment that will send those who have rejected
46:24
Jesus Christ and have not received him.
46:27
That's the judgment that will send them to the lake of fire.
46:33
Let's look at a couple verses that tell you that this is about
46:36
judgment in the lake of fire. Go to Revelations chapter 20 and
46:41
we about to come in for a close here.
46:43
Revelations chapter 20, verse 6. He says blessed and holy is He
46:51
who has part in the first resurrection over such the
46:56
second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and
47:02
of Christ, and shall reign with him. 1000 years.
47:07
Those of us who are living when Christ comes back, we will be
47:12
raptured to go back with Him. But those of us who have died in
47:16
Christ before he comes back, we will be resurrected in that
47:21
first resurrection to go to be with them.
47:23
And the Bible says we'll all be with him in the air.
47:26
We'll all be with him in the air, but we will not have to
47:29
deal with the second death drop down in that same chapter to
47:35
verse 14. Actually verse 12 it says and I
47:41
and I saw the dead small and grave standing before God and
47:45
books were open and another book was opened, which is the book of
47:49
life and the dead were judged according to their works.
47:53
But the things which which were written in the books by the
47:56
things that are written in the books, the sea gave up the dead
48:00
who were in it and the and death in Hades delivered up the dead
48:06
who were in them and they were judged each one according to his
48:10
works. Then death in Hades were cast
48:14
into the lake of fire. This is the second death and
48:19
just one more. We're going to go over to
48:21
chapter 21 and I'll start right there, verse 7.
48:30
He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his
48:34
God, and he shall be my son. But the cowardly, unbelieving,
48:39
abominable murderers, sexually immoral sorcerers, idolaters and
48:44
all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with
48:49
fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
48:55
So we as believers, we are those who have overcome.
49:00
The Bible says that in first John.
49:07
Bible says over in first John chapter 5, four and five that
49:11
whatever is born of God overcomes the world and this is
49:15
the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.
49:19
Who is he who overcomes the world?
49:21
But he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
49:26
The churches in Smyrna was willing to give their very lives
49:31
for the truth. He who overcomes will not be
49:35
hurt by the second death. So Jesus is saying to us, yes,
49:41
you're going to go through some tribulations while you're here.
49:44
You say everyone who live holy will suffer persecution.
49:48
If you desire to live holy and with through many tribulations,
49:52
we're going to enter into the the Kingdom of God.
49:56
But be faithful until the end. Hold on.
50:01
Don't turn back to perdition. Don't think that what you're
50:04
leaving is better than what's ahead of you.
50:09
Hold on to what he's saying because He is the life, He is
50:12
the resurrection, and He is the life.
50:16
There is no life apart from Him. And we have eternal life in
50:22
Christ Jesus. We have it.
50:26
So yes, the second death will not, will not hurt those of us
50:35
who have overcome. So I pray today that whoever is
50:39
listening, that something resonated.
50:43
If you're someone who have not received Jesus Christ, I pray
50:48
that you will today give your heart to him, give your life to
50:55
him. Allow him to come in and help
51:00
you to live the Christian life. He's already washed you of your
51:05
sins. He's already washed.
51:08
He's already done the work. All we had to do is receive it,
51:13
accept what He has done, and we can go from the the Kingdom of
51:19
darkness to the Kingdom of light.
51:24
I pray that someone would do that today.
51:26
Praise and worship team, you can come forth.
51:34
So it was Jesus who sacrificed it all that we would have this
51:39
eternal life. He gave up his natural, his life
51:43
and humanity that we would have spiritual life.
51:50
I heard someone say not too long ago that when Jesus died on the
51:54
cross, his, his divinity, the divine Jesus did not die.
52:01
It was the human Jesus that died on that cross.
52:05
It was, it was, it was, it was, it was his humanity.
52:11
But the fact of the matter is, is that Jesus died on that cross
52:17
and it was Jesus in all fullness, in all fullness who
52:22
came out of the grave. It was Jesus.
52:27
It wasn't just like it was just some spirit that died.
52:30
It wasn't that. It wasn't just like it was just
52:33
some, some, some. He separated from earth and all
52:36
that. No, that's not what happened.
52:38
Jesus died on the cross, and because of his resurrection
52:43
power, he got up out of the grave in three days because he's
52:48
God. But he came that we might have
52:53
life and that we would have it more abundantly.
52:58
So we thank him today. Lord, I thank you for the life
53:02
that you have given us. I thank You that we will not be
53:04
touched. Those of us who believe and
53:07
trust in You, we will not be touched by the second death.
53:11
We will not be hurt by the second death.
53:15
I thank You, Father, that You give us hope and that we can
53:19
believe and that we can be faithful to You even unto death.
53:24
Death is not the worst thing to happen.
53:28
The worst thing that happens, Lord, is that we die without
53:33
Your salvation. The worst thing that happens,
53:36
that we die without being an overcomer, that's the worst
53:41
thing that can happen because we'd have to deal with the
53:44
physical and the spiritual death, the judgement of death,
53:51
that that that puts us into the lake of fire that burns forever
53:56
and ever. So I pray, Father, I pray that
54:01
someone would hear this today and that they will receive you
54:05
as Lord and Savior, trust in you for their salvation.
54:11
Believe on you, Lord, that we will count up the costs and all
54:17
those things that we lose, all the things, Lord, that we find
54:23
to be so precious in this world, that we will come to see that it
54:30
means nothing in comparison to what we have in heaven.
54:37
So on a night in which Jesus was betrayed, he took the bread.
54:42
And when he gave thanks, he after he gave thanks, he broke
54:45
in and said, this is my body which is broken for you.
54:50
Eat this in remembrance of me. In the same way He also took the
54:58
cup, and he said, This cup is a new covenant in my blood, and it
55:04
was shed for the sins of many, shed for the sins of many.
55:15
Drink this as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me.
55:22
As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, we do show
55:26
the Lord's death till we come. Amen, anyone?