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Revelation 2:1-17

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Live from Bremerton. It's Monday night. Welcome. We are studying in the book of Revelation tonight, chapter two, and, you could, read ahead of time or join us as we're gonna worship the Lord now. We, are gonna pray and and, spend this time together. We lift up Sally and we pray that God will heal her and God would heal Joe both of whom have cancer and so let's pray. Father we come before you and we lift up Sally and Joe and Lord we lift up their doctors and all the protocol everything that's going on with the cancer we pray that you heal their bodies Lord heal them totally and completely and Lord we thank you that you're the great physician we thank you Lord a very breath is in the palm of your hand there's no circumstance that come into our life Lord that doesn't first come through your providential filter and so Lord we intercede and we ask that you would do exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask or think according to your power that works in this Lord we commit this Bible study into your hands and we pray that you would be our teacher tonight we pray you bless time as we worship you and fellowship and thank you for the meal that we're able to have together. We lift these things up in Jesus holy and precious name. Come now is the Alright. Thanks, Rob. Alright. We are in Revelation chapter two, and those of you that are listening on Facebook, we welcome you. Vicky is working on another podcast in regard to an ecumenical movement of the church or a one world religious system we did last Friday. So she's editing and working on that, and we'll have that uploaded for you soon. And Sunday mornings, we're in the book of Galatians in chapter six for another couple weeks, and then we'll start the book of Ephesus on Sunday morning. And presently we're in the book of Revelation on Monday nights. And so a lot of fun studying prophecy. We're we're enjoying our time here. So father, thank you so much that we can study your word, and I personally thank you, Lord, for people that love your word that I can hang out with, and, Lord, that we collectively can seek to discover, Lord, the truth of your word, that you would illumine our hearts and minds that you would be our teacher tonight and Lord, I just thank you again. I thank you so much. So much of the present day church today is indifferent and lukewarm and could care less about your word, Lord. But, Lord, I get to hang out with people that love your word. They hang on your every word, and I'm just so blessed to be a part of this group, Lord. So bless and anoint, edify us, build us up, strengthen us, and give us a greater and greater hunger and thirst for righteousness, a hunger and a thirst to know who you are. Let us not be like the church of Ephesus where we leave our first love, Lord. So blessed, pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright. Chapter two. Now by way of review in chapter one verse 19 we got the outline for the book. So write the things which thou hast seen and we studied in chapter one in the past tense what John had seen and that was of the resurrected the Lord Jesus, know, in his glory and so vision of the Lord Jesus. So the book of Revelation is the apocalypse, the apocalypses, the unveiling of Jesus Christ, the revealing of Jesus Christ, and John the beloved, he's the last of the 12 disciples alive. Tradition has that they tried to boil him in oil and he's exiled to the island of Patmos, which was in present day Turkey is 10 miles long, six miles wide. He's approaching a 100 years of age. It's in AD ninety five that this is being written. And so write the things which thou hast seen, and we got that last week. And now we're entering into the second phase, which is in the things which are. The things which are is what we would call the church age. After chapter three verse 22, you don't see the word church mentioned. So the Lord Jesus is having John record write down a vision of seven churches that are in Asia Minor, which is in present day Turkey at the time, and that it was written. These are seven literal churches that's not exhaustive. There were other churches like Colossae and Antioch and church in Rome and other places. But these these seven churches that John's writing about, when this when this when the fullness of the Gentiles be come in during the church age, which started at Pentecost, and according to Romans eleven twenty five, the church age closes with the rapture. The 77 of Daniel begins with not with the rapture, but with Daniel nine twenty seven, the signing of the covenant that the Antichrist is gonna sign with the nation of Israel. So we're living with an expectancy, although we see some birth pangs birth pangs of the beast system developing, which we would say is a one world government, a one world economic system, and a one world religious system that's developing, we we know that our redemption is drawing nine, that's why we're looking up. And so as we study these two chapters, chapter two and three, which the things which are the church age, We also are reminded that after this we have the in chapter four verse one, we have the word metatata after these things, after what things, after the church age. Where's the church? The church is in heaven in chapter four and five. And then we see that the tribulation period begins in chapter six and it continues all the way to chapter 19 unto the second coming of Christ and when the Lord's coming back in chapter 19 he's coming back as Jude says with 10 thousands and thousands of his saints with the bride of Christ with the church that has been in heaven at the marriage ceremony and now we're coming back with Jesus as he's taking possession of the planet that he created and the planet that he redeemed and so he's coming for his the wife of Jehovah, he's coming for the nation of Israel and and he rescues them except those days be short no flesh should be saved but for the elect's sake in Matthew 24, the nation of Israel. Jesus intervenes and he subdues the devil who's taken by an angel and put into the abyss and the antichrist and the false prophet are destroyed according to second Thessalonians two with the brightness of his coming and the sword of his mouth. And then we see that in Psalm two that, oh, the heathen rage, imagine a vain thing against the Lord and against the anointed, and God laughs from heaven. The blood's as high as the horse's bridle as Jesus destroys all of the Antichrist armies, all their technology, everything that they're bringing to stop him from returning, and he comes across the Valley Of Armageddon, across the Valley Of Jehoshaphat near the Mount Of Olives, and he makes his victory ascent, a triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and and that's where he's going to rule and reign from for a thousand years. And you and I are gonna rule and reign with him in a kingdom of priests, kings and priests, and so a kingdom of priests and so we're gonna represent the Lord during that time, we in the church, and we're gonna have the 12 apostles sitting upon thrones. We're gonna see that the 144,000 who are marked and sealed by the Lord 12,000 from each tribe of the nation of Israel also with the nation of Israel all the nation of Israel are gonna be saved. That one third remnant is gonna be saved. The two thirds are gonna die according to Zechariah thirteen eight nine. But there's a remnant that's gonna be purified coming through that tribulation period, the time of Jacob's trouble, and they are gonna be like you and I in that they experience in Jeremiah thirty one thirty one God's unconditional covenant where he writes his word on their heart and they're born again. So they're in their new glorified spiritual bodies that rule and reign with Christ and the times of the Gentiles ceases, the nation of Israel is dominant with Jesus as king of kings and lord of lords. Some Gentile nations begin to repopulate planet and some of the nation of Israel come in also to repopulate during the messianic age. And at the end of that thousand years, we have another period of time, which is the eternal state in Revelation twenty one and twenty two. So the millennium in Revelation 20 and that which is a thousand year rule and reign of Jesus, and then after the millennium, the devil's loose for a small season and he tempts the people that are repopulating the planet and and they exercise their free will and rebellion against God and God destroys them with fire come down from heaven. And then we see that the planet is destroyed as Peter says with with fire and and then the Lord's going to come out of heaven with a new heaven, a new earth, the new Jerusalem coming down as a bride adorned. And you and I for all eternity in the eternal condition, eternal state are with the Lord with a new heaven and new earth, Revelation twenty one and twenty two. So that's the overview and as we talked about last week, Genesis is the book of beginnings, God wants us to know how it began and when he says in the beginning God created, created his bara out of nothing, but the pre the pre time, the pre creation time, we don't know about that, right? We don't know what went on pre creation of the earth, pre creation of man, but God's eternal. So the Godhead's eternal and Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever and so we are we are looking ahead and I told you Kathy, she likes to look up on her phone to find out the end of a movie and she likes to, you know, to know what's gonna happen. And it's very tragic today that many people in the church that call themselves Christians, they don't know, wanna know how things end. To many people it's doom and gloom. It's sad, you know, and they don't wanna miss out on their lifestyle here in this life, you know, as a world living on this planet. So when people talk about the end of this planet or the end of this age, for many people their minds are overwhelmed and it's too much for them to handle. So they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and a time of apostasy, which is a falling away from the truth or rebellion against God. And we beg to differ. We don't think that this life is our best life now. We believe that our best life is yet to come. And like the old lady that died and that was dying and she said, when I when you put me in the casket, you know, make sure you bury me with the the fork in my hand because as a Christian woman, I went to a lot of potlucks and after we ate dinner, they always said, save your fork. The best is yet to come. So so that's how we look at it. And and so nothing to fear. Nothing to fear. Why would you fear the Lord Jesus coming back? He's the one that died on the cross of Calvary for you. And he's not coming in judgment for you, in fact you're coming with him, you know. So the rapture of the church happens in the moment and the twinkling of an eye. We don't know the day or the hour but we're watching, we're ready, we're looking because he's coming for his bride and that'll consummate, that'll end the church age. So chapter two and three is a picture of the church age. Now when we interpret this section we're literalist, we're premillennial, predis you know, dispensational our our system of interpretation that God deals with man in dispensations. There's an old testament dispensation. We're in the new testament dispensation, which is called the church age, where God deals with us, by grace. There's another dispensation, the tribulation period, the 77 of Daniel, where God's gonna deal with the world from a standpoint of pouring out his wrath upon a Christ rejecting world and using the tribulation period as fire to purify the remnant that he's wanting to purify that of the nation of Israel. So God's not finished with the nation of Israel. The church starts out as Jewish and Gentiles begin to believe and so it's Jew, Gentile, barbarian, Scythian, bonder, female, female, the priority is to the Jew, and and so we recognize the church continues. Jesus said, upon this rock, I'll build my church and the gates of hell not prevail against it. So as we look at chapter two and three, the seven churches, letter to seven churches, number one, we're gonna interpret it as a existing local church. And so we're gonna take it literally that this is an church to Ephesus. We know that the apostle Paul in Acts chapter 20 spent three years in the city of Ephesus, is in Asia Minor. He spent three years planting that church. And then we know later that historically that Timothy took over that church as a pastor and tradition tells us that Timothy was beaten to death with clubs by a group that came out when he questioned the kind of Mardi Gras that the Ephesians would have when they'd throw a huge festival worshiping Aphrodite and great is Diana of the Ephesians. She's known as Diana Aphrodite, a fertility goddess. And so Timothy spoke up against it like John the Baptist spoke up against what King Herod did, and John lost his head. Well, Timothy lost his life there. And then John the beloved, the one that's writing this book, the book of Revelation, who also wrote the gospel of John, who also wrote first, second, and third epistles of John, he's the one that became the pastor of Ephesus after that. And he was a contemporary of the bishop of Smyrna, and we're gonna get to the church of Smyrna, who's a guy named Polycarp. You guys heard of Polycarp? And so Polycarp, we'll we'll get to that story in a little bit, but as far as John goes, John, they they the other 11 apostles were all died of violent martyrdom and deaths of martyrdom. And John the beloved, they tried to boil him in oil and he wouldn't boil, so he gets exiled on Patmos and he for the very reason God preserved him is to write this book, The Revelation of Jesus Christ. So God wants you and I to know how it ends. He wants you to know how things end. And as a Christian, they end very, very well for you and I. If you're not a Christian, it ends very, very bad for you. So I would encourage you, if you're listening, thinking about this, praying about it, that you would recognize the urgency that's upon you. The Bible says today is the day of salvation, for why will you die? And so it's appointed unto all men once to die and then the judgment. But the Christian has already passed from death to life and for us to be asked from the bodies to be present with the lord, we have no fearful looking to of judgment because our sins were placed upon Jesus and the father poured out his wrath upon him at the Cross Of Calvary and punished Jesus in our place. And so salvation is a free gift for you and I by grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ. So to the letter so the next way of interpretations we also will look at this from a personal standpoint. Jesus said he that has an ear to hear let him hear what the spirit is saying to the churches. So on a personal level, no matter what the condition is of the church, whether it's Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira, there's going to be, in five cases, there's going to be a rebuke of the progress report the Lord's given these churches. In five cases he's rebuking them for something. For instance, in Ephesus they were doing really well, he's commending them but they did something wrong and that they left their first love. And so he tells them to remember where you've fallen and repent and, you know, and and repeat your first works is his his diagnosis under them. Well, on a personal level, I could leave my first love. So as I'm reading this, I can personalize it and I can make an evaluation of where am I with the Lord. If I'm looking at the church of Pergamum which is in the area of 313 to 600, this is a church that went into tremendous idolatry. So have I allowed idols, you know, into my life? The church of Smyrna is from 100 to three thirteen, and that church is a church that was under tremendous persecution. So am I a church that's under tremendous persecution? When I get to the church of Philadelphia, it's a church in revival, but it's a church with very little strength. It's a church that is having a hard time, but the Lord says, I'm giving you an open door that no man can shut. So it represents an era of the gospel going out all over the world. So this is this is representative, the church of Ephesus of the first century and the first century apostolic church, they would call it. And and then the second church, Smyrna, is the era of 01/2013, and this is the area of of a persecution that came against the church. Some say with 10 different Roman emperors or for ten days, and over 6,000,000 Christians died during this time because they refused to pinch incense onto the Roman emperor and say Caesar is lord. Then the next era or epoch of time is from 03/13 when Constantine nationalized the church. This is a period where the church married the state, where they merged together and the church became incredibly corrupted in that they brought in all of the idolatry of the world, the world system and all. And then we have the message to Thyatira, the church in idolatry, and this is a period where we see the Roman Catholic Church of Thyatira, a picture of the Roman Catholic Church from June to 05/17 until the time of the Reformation, and all the different false dogma, false doctrine that was brought in to the church and 10 different false doctrines the Catholics brought in and polluted the church and so and then you're gonna see Sardis and and so this is the era of a believing remnant or yet having a believing remnant, a time the church was was dead in that period of time and I'll give you a overview of that. I I clicked on a AD thirty to one hundred is the apostolic church. 01/2013 is Smyrna, the Roman persecution, March is Pergamum, age of Constantine, June to 05/17 is Thyatira, the dark ages, and this would be the Roman Catholicism. Sardis from 1517 to 1648 is the reformation. 1649 to 1900 is the church of Philadelphia of brotherly love, and that's the missionary movement, little strength but a door open. And then 1900 to the present is where you and I are at as it telescoping, and this is the time of apostasy, the Laodicean church where the church becomes incredibly corrupted as we move away from from God's word. So back to the church of Ephesus. Father, please teach us. So under the angel of the church of Ephesus, write, these things saith he that holds the seven stars in his right hand who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. So down in verse 20 of chapter one, the mystery of the seven stars which thou saw in my right hand, the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands which thou saw are the seven churches. So he that walks the angel of the church of Ephesus which write these things saith he that holds the seven stars in his right hand who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. I know your works. So the Lord knows your works. He knows what you're doing. And they labor in thy patience. And so they're laboring to the point of exhaustion and they're patient, which means they're persevering. They're doing the best they can. And how thou cannot bear them who are evil and thou hast tried them who say they are apostles and are not and has found them liars. This church loves light. They love the truth. Now I would say that you and I are in a church that loves the light. We love the truth. I want the truth more than anything. Amen. I don't I don't care if the Democrats have the truth. I don't care if the Republicans have the truth. I want the truth. And I'm not a I'm not a club member. I'm not a cult member. I just want the truth. I don't want to it to be disguised. I don't want it to be under the radar. I want it right out in the open. I want to know where that jab came from. And if I read that it came from the Department of Defense and it was event October 2019, and it was sold by a president who said give us two weeks and boast of a warp speed jab. I want people to know the facts. I don't want to hide and make excuses for the evil that continues. I wanna shout from the rooftops and expose it. It means a lot to me to to not be deceived, to not follow that, and especially if false doctrine comes into the church. If the church starts to merge itself as we'll see later with government, and now I'm a Magna Christian, what's that mean? Am I a Constantine Christian? You know? Do you wanna really merge with the state? Do you really want the church to merge with government? You wanna Christianize, you know, the government? And that's that and we're gonna get to that. We're gonna see how it how it lent itself to the people who quit thinking and and how ungodly people took over the church and introduced all sorts of ungodly detestable doctrine. But the church of Ephesus was on its guard. Why? Because in chapter 20 of the book of Acts, the guy that planted the church, the apostle Paul, after three years, he warned them and he said, take heed because there's gonna be wolves that come in from the outside and from within. The wolves are the false prophets. So you guys are doing a really good job in identifying false doctrine and false prophets. And and so I I wanna commend you in that regard that you don't tolerate false doctrine. And Paul said the space of three years, night and day with tears, I gave you the full counsel of God. So that was their heritage. That was a church that was founded, grounded in the word of God. And you and I want to be grounded in the word of God. As a Christian, you need to be grounded. You need to learn the first principles of the faith. You need to learn the main doctrines of the faith and and then you continue to grow as the Lord adds adds to that foundation with Jesus being that foundation. And he says, so so you cannot bear with them who are evil, so you're not gonna allow a little leaven to leaven the lump. Somebody comes in the church and they're evil, they're trying to bring in ungodliness, this church at Ephesus, they're not gonna tolerate it. So then it goes from the Apostle Paul to Timothy who Paul had groomed. Timothy is not going to tolerate evil that's why he spoke up about the evil of what the people in Ephesus were doing. And you've tried them so now we come to John. John in the epistle said to prove all things, try the spirits, test the spirits, prove all things, hold fast to that which is good. You as a Christian, you need to be a Berean, Acts seventeen eleven, to search the scriptures to see whether those things be so. You've been doing a good job of that. You're you got a lot of light. You got the light. You're exposing the darkness and you're not allowing the darkness to overtake you. And say they are apostles and are not. So you're questioning, you recognize how many times we've used this verse to describe what's happening today. Vicky and Rob show there, be not deceived. We took it from Matthew 24 verse four where Jesus said, take heed that no man deceive you. And then he went on to describe how there would be false Christ, false messiahs, false prophets, you know, people parading as godly people, but he says in Matthew seven, they were wolves in sheep's clothing. Right? And how would you know who's what? By their fruit, you'll know them. And and so you you don't tolerate. You don't allow it to happen. And you've tried them who say they are apostles and are not. So we also recognize that Satan can deceive the church by bringing in angels that he can appear as an angel of light. He can look from the outside like he's an angel of light or a minister of righteousness. From the outside, they look they look legit. But, again, you have to you have to try it. You have to test it. You have to bring the testing. You have to ask them, oh, well, what's your doctrine? You know, what what do you believe is true? You know? And what do you believe about the trinity? What do you how does a person get to heaven? You know? What's the gospel? And and things like that. So the church of Galatia was told that if anybody comes along with a different gospel, even if it's an angel, let them be anathema. So church of Galatia, you need to test these guys. Test them. Because a lot of these prophets were self proclaimed YouTube prophets, and they were parading themselves trying to make money off everybody, and they would be itinerant. And they travel and they go visit these churches, you know? So you should have some sort of leadership, pastoral leadership that would check people at the door and make sure that they're not going to pollute or poison the flock that the Lord has entrusted to you. That's what Paul said, take heed over the flock. He's talking to the pastors, take heed over the flock which the Lord has purchased with his own blood. These are blood bonds, so you guys are responsible, and one day you're going to give account before God. So Paul said, I'm innocent in all your guys' blood because for the space of three years, night and day with tears, I gave you the full counsel of God, so the ball's in your court. But the leadership still needs to stand at the door and not allow heretical doctrine into the church. A big part of it is you don't want to stumble young believers. You don't want somebody to come in and stumble these young ones. And we've seen the devil just hit under the belt, you know, and just gotta stand up to it. The way I look at it is those that leave when we have to discipline, then they weren't supposed to be here because it's a no brainer, it's non negotiable, we're not gonna try to appease false doctrine for the sake of people, you know, the church growing. So it would be a little 11 eleven's the lump, so we'd rather the Lord use that as he says, these sects, these heresies are necessary for it manifests those that are approved. So one of the things I have confidence in the people that are supposed to be at Calvary Bremerton, they'll be there, they'll hear the Lord's voice, and if they're responding to the Lord's voice, know, he knows his sheep, his sheep know them, and they follow him. And so and our church isn't the perfect church or the right church for everybody, and we're just blessed when we see people find another church where they can flourish and grow, you know. And for some reason, you weren't able to flourish and grow here, and I've done everything I can to try and cause you to grow, but for some reason, you don't get my sense of humor, so you better move on, you know? Or there's something about me you don't like or whatever it may be, it may be a personal issue, well, go find a pastor and a ministry, a presentation, a way that they teach that that you're able to grow. That's the key issue. You gotta be able to grow. You gotta get your family to grow. Don't waste any time. Don't spend twenty years in an arrested state of development. Make sure that you're growing. And we can't grow without the teaching of God's word. So you have tried them who say they are apostles and are not. So Jesus said you'll know them by their fruits. We're gonna evaluate the fruit of their life which is love and truth and has found them liars. There's a whole lot of liars in the church. Their father Jesus said in John eight their father's the devil he's a murderer and the liar from the beginning. So part of protecting sheep being a shepherd is to protect the sheep from the wolves, from the liars. And so in Acts 20 Paul did that and Timothy was, you know, warned by the Lord in first Timothy one:three-four to, you know, beware and Paul mentored Timothy and let Timothy know that there would be a time of apostasy, Timothy, where men would not endure sound doctrine and they would heap themselves teachers having itching ears, itchy ears, and that's a frustrating thing for a pastor to watch people be seduced by false prophets. And it's it's a it's a sad thing. And Paul remember what Paul said to the church of Corinth in second Corinthians 11? He says, I'm jealous over you with a godly jealousy for I've espoused you to one husband even to Christ. But I worry lest as the serpent beguiled Eve, so you would be tricked or got beguiled from the simplicity that's in Christ. If somebody comes along and they bring and he's using the example of Eve, how she was beguiled by the serpent. Right? And she was seduced. Mhmm. So if somebody comes into your into your flock there with a different Jesus, if they come in with a different gospel, if they come in with a different spirit, and that's what John said early, test the spirit because the spirit of antichrist is around, you know, prove all things, hold fast to that which is good. So you gotta test it and we test it with the word of God, right? You gotta see if it's accurate and it's hard to deceive people that know their Bible. It's really really difficult to deceive, really easy to control people who are biblically illiterate and that's a sad indictment of many people within the church. And you've and you're born and has patience, and for my name's sake you've labored and you haven't fainted. So these people are laboring to the point of exhaustion and they're patient and enduring and they're not quitting. These aren't quitters. This church is really trying to keep going. Nevertheless, I was somewhat against thee because thou was left thy first love. And that that without love, we're nothing. Without love, a church is gonna just dry right up. Doesn't matter how much knowledge they have. They could be running around going, you know what? Our church was founded by the apostle Paul. And so a second generation group of people, in many cases, they don't have a a a first century relationship with with Jesus. For many of them, they're they're coming in in that second or third generation, and they they're only told stories. They're told stories about what it was like back in the Jesus movement, you know. And it's very sad to watch what's happening today, how many of the pastors, many of the ministries are living in the past, in their past glory days, and they're given these histories of all the things they did twenty, thirty years ago, you know, forty years ago. And it's just sad to me because there's so much more that we could be a part of today. And I have a prescription, and that prescription is if we could get all the big name pastors to shout from the rooftops the truth, I believe that would bring incredible persecution against the church in America. And as a result of that persecution, there would be a refining, there would be a sifting, there would be a radical move of God's spirit with a remnant of people that are sold out for Jesus. But if we're fat and happy, if we're the church of Laodicea and we're rich and increased with goods in need of nothing, we're never gonna say a word to jeopardize what we got. We're gonna always be living in the past. And in the past, you had nothing. You were going for it because you had nothing to lose. You were you went for broke. You risked it all. And the Lord blessed you. And then as you as you got blessed, you fell more in love with the blessings and you forgot the blesser. You've left your first love. And that's what's so sad today. And so it's a real clear indictment. It's a real clear rebuke. This rebuke's okay. We can personalize this ourselves. Have I left my first love? Am I as in love with Jesus tonight as I was when I first got saved? Am I in love with my wife Kathy as much as I was when I first met her? Is that love growing? Is it dissipated? Is it over? Is it we're just enduring? Where's the excitement? Where's the excitement? And I wanna grow in love because again without love we're nothing. So again we we might pride ourselves. We might say well you know what? We're teaching the whole bible. We teach verse by verse. We're expository teaching. Know, we teach prophecy. Why are you loving? Because if you're not loving you might as well just quit it all. Without love you're nothing. If you're not in love with Jesus you're not going be loving the people either. He's the very source. So I mean you've left your first love, the first priority. So love the Lord thy God with all your heart, all your mind, your soul, your strength, love your neighbor as yourself. So your number one priority, number one love is to love God, to love Jesus. And I've noticed that for many of us, Jesus gets the leftovers. As we grow, as we mature as Christians, pretty soon we're more in love with the world, we're more in love with our cars, our houses, our stuff, our our way of life, and Jesus gets the leftovers. I can't even get people to come to church. It's it's hard to get people just to attend church on a regular basis. I mean, that's that's that's the very basis ground zero starting point. You know? Neglect not the assembling yourself together as a manner is of some in in Hebrews ten thirty eight. You know? For we see the day approaching. We're in the last days. What are we doing during the week that we can't even attend church? I mean, we used to be a church that was so busy. And I asked Kathy the other day, I said, you know, if we still had the Roxy, do you think we could do today what we did back then? She goes, no way. She goes, I used to go to Costco twice a week. I used to fill up my car. And we went through all the concerts and all the stuff. I mean, we were like twenty four seven for so many years. I had a pastor call me up and say he was coming on vacation up here. And where should I go? I said, I have no idea. For nine straight years, all I've done is kept my head down digging, digging, digging, digging, digging for nine straight years. And then as we started to come up for air, we're adding to it, but it's enormous, enormous undertaking, enormous amount of work, and you're all in. You're risking everything. And and you do it because the love of Christ constrains you, because you're in love with Jesus. Why couldn't we do it today? Because it's physically exhausting. Don't know at our age that we could we could do all that anymore. I mean, some people are getting old. Not all of us, but some are getting old. So Britney told me tonight that today was Toby's birthday and we went over and gave him some presents, one year old, and we're excited. And then I said, I just love you guys. I just thank you so much for all these babies you're giving us. I said, do you have any more on the way? And she says, no. And she says, but you know, Judah's getting older and you could you might see one with him in the next few years. And I says, well, that would make me a great grandpa, wouldn't it? And I said, but I'd have to be old to be a great grandpa. I said, I don't I don't know if that can happen. That sounds old, doesn't it? Great grandpa. Yeah. So that different types of love. So you've got the storge love, which is family love, and a lot of people have replaced Jesus with family love. They call it family time. We're having family time. We're gonna go play baseball and soccer and fishing and in the mountains because it's family time. And we've got brotherly love, city of brotherly love. We've got eros and we've got agape which should cover all the others, right? Agapeos, so we've got the spiritual love And if I'm in love with the Lord, nobody has to tell me I need to be at church. I want to be at church. Amen. And I want to be at Monday night bible study because I'm in love with Jesus and I want to learn his word and I don't want to miss. And nobody needs to harangue me or guilt me or whatever. So it's a matter of priority. So if we're going to go through a hard time up ahead, I always like to prioritize with Matthew six thirty three, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things be added unto you. I like to put Jesus first. Mhmm. I like to put him first because I've discovered if I give him what's left over, there's nothing left over and he gets nothing. So remember therefore, so we're gonna have remember, repent, and repeat. Right? So remember therefore, here's the prescription. Remember, therefore, therefore, pointing back to all what he said prior to that, from where you've fallen. Do you remember when you first got saved? Do you remember your honeymoon? Remember how in love you were? The lord says, I'm not content to share the marital bed with with another person. I want you all to myself. I don't wanna play second fiddle to anybody. And husbands and wives, I need to love Jesus more than I love Kathy. I need to love Jesus more than I love my children and my grandchildren. And I discovered when Kathy and I were broken up before we the Lord brought us back together, before we got married, I had to learn that lesson. The Lord gave me nine months before Kathy got saved where I had to enter into a relationship with Jesus where he was more important to me than Kathy. He established himself in my heart as the number one love, and I knew no matter what, if if she didn't get saved, I knew I'd be okay and and that it wasn't God's will. I'd pray for her to get saved first and foremost, and then I'd pray Lord if it's your will, maybe we can get back together. He brought that to pass, but he first of all established himself in my heart as my first love. And if he's not your first love you're not ready to get married. If you're just using Jesus to get that girl, to get that guy, then you're putting him down the peg, down list and it's not going to work. So remember therefore from where you've fallen and I love my honeymoon with Kath, love my honeymoon with Jesus and I love discovering Sundays and Mondays and through the week I love discovering what's next. There's always that sense of wonderment of what's it gonna be like today. Now sometimes I think, oh, guys, somebody's gonna act up. Somebody's gonna get mad. Somebody's this, you know, so and and sometimes it's like, oh, gosh. I hope there's no problems today. And then on the other hand, it's exciting because, hey, maybe somebody will say, maybe somebody will respond to God's word today. But there's always that danger of the attack and the, you gotta work through this, and the provocation, because it's a battle. Warren Wisby said Christianity is not a playground, it's a battleground. And so the devil, as soon as you let your guard down, the devil will try and come in a sneaky way and to steal your joy and to get you in the flesh and ruin the sweetness, the sweetness as the holy spirit's quenched or grieved because we're not loving one another. So remember therefore from where you have fallen and repent. Can't use that word in the church growth movement today. Can't use that word. What do you mean repent? How do you get unbelievers to repent who don't think they're unbelievers? They think they're saved already. They got nothing to repent of because there is no sin. There's no sin in the church today. They don't use the word. They don't even talk about hell. Nobody's going to hell. We're all good people. We're all going to heaven. So repent, oh, that's an old word. That's all my grandparents. That's my grandparents' church. We don't use those kind of words, you know. We we just wanna give them time out. Let's reason together. So remember there from where you are fallen and repent so you're gonna turn from where you're at. Think of that indictment you're doing so many things good how would you ever know the Lord knows that you've left your first love? Does anybody around you know you've left your first love? Can anybody see? Hey, I'm serving at the church. I'm doing good. I'm doing all these good things. Even Jesus knows I'm doing a bunch of good things. He just listed all these good things I'm doing. But you left your first love. Does anybody know? I heard one guy say that these concert violinists, these super, super gifted musicians that they have to practice every day, hours and hours and hours every day to be able to stand up in front of people. And if they miss a day of practice, they miss another day of practice, the audience may not notice. And over time, after a while of missing, it becomes more and more evident that they've been missing, you know, that they've been missing practicing. But how essential it is to stay close to Jesus every day because backsliding can be imperceptible. It can be, as the Hebrew writer, it can be a drifting. You're drifting and you you don't know how far you've drifted from the dock. The rope came off and and you don't even feel it, but, man, you you when you lift your head up, man, I'm a mile offshore. What happened? You know? Like that would ever happen to me, but, you know. So remember there from where you've fallen and repent and do your first works. What's your first work? What's your first work? Repent. Do your first work. First work is believe. Yeah. Salvation. Believe. Believe. You left your first love because there's lack of faith. Faith is dependence and trust upon Jesus. You got it in cruise control. You think you can do it yourself now. You know? And so in John six, they came to a master. What are the works that we can do that we can enter into the kingdom of God? This is the work that you believe on him whom he has sent. Faith. Without faith, it's impossible to please God for they that come to must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. And so faith is active. Love is active. It's in the moment. And we we believe and love in the moment, moment by moment. It's not something we turn on on Sunday morning. You know the acronym. Right? No. Please tell me. Forsaking all, I trust him. Praise the Lord. That's a nice acronym. Faith forsaking all I trust him. Alright. Facebook just got it. Gonna get a lot of hits on that one, baby. It's a nice one. I like that. So do your first works. Or else so here's the or else. Is Jesus allowed to do an or else to me? Is he allowed to give me an ultimatum? Is he allowed to discipline me? Is a pastor allowed to rebuke, to bring correction, instruction in righteousness that the man of God would be thoroughly equipped for every good work? Pardon me? Isn't that called church discipline? It's instruction. Correction. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, Paul's telling Timothy, and is profitable for doctrine, for correction, for instruction, and righteousness the man of God be thoroughly furnished to every good work. For a doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. So this is a reproof. He's reproving them. And this most loving thing he could do is to reprove them. Otherwise, it's gonna get worse. Nip it in the bud. Let's get at this. Or else I will come unto you quickly and will remove thy lampstand of it from your place except thou repent. So what's that mean? It's your witness, the light, the brightness of the church of Ephesus. Oh, it's a bright shining light. It's a place of love. Have you ever had somebody we used to have people do this from time to time and we have the opposite side of it too. But it's nice when somebody shows up at church and they say something like, you know, I really sense the Holy Spirit here. I sense god's love here, his presence. Now gotta be careful because he's always there. Amen. But sometimes we can sense that Ichabod, the glory of the lord's departed. We can sense a dryness. We can sense tension. We can sense that the Holy Spirit's grieved or the Holy Spirit's been quenched. And then you look at the people and they're bitter and angry and fighting and bickering and, you know biting and devouring one another. It's such a blessing as a pastor to see people loving one another, to see them just caring and loving and building up and phone calls and rides and food and donuts and lots of donuts and cookies and ways they express their love for one another. And the potluck here and the way that you guys all love one another and care for one another and interact and pray, that that's a sweetness. That's where we know God's moving and working. And and so so I'll come into thee quickly and remove thy lampstand out of its place except thou repent. And the last thing I wanna do is to be a pastor of a church where the lampstand's been removed. What a bummer. What a bummer to be a pastor of a church that's dead. That's barely alive, barely hanging on. When we lost a bunch of people, I asked Christie, I used to say to her behind the the thing, do you think God's still here? Do you think God's still working? Because, man, my head was reeling. It was like, woah. What just happened? And how did this happen? But the Lord the Lord's still there. He's still there in that time of pruning when he prunes, when the storms come in and he's asking you all he's asking you is to trust him. Just be faithful. And so it's a blessing when you're a witness for Jesus. And but this thou hast that thou hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He that has an ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit saying unto the churches, to him that overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. And so I do like the fact that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. So we gotta we gotta define the Nicolaitans. The Nicolaitans, Nico is is conquer and Laotin is laity, the people. So there was developing a hierarchy, a hierarchy like you see in the Catholic church that can affect any church where there's those that want to lord over the other people and they develop a hierarchy. And so you got the hierarchy of the priests and then all the laity, the rest of the people. And that's why I like to diffuse all that all the time by making jokes that I'll sign your Bible for you if you want and you can kiss my ring and you you wanna come in and my confessional, I'll give you four Our Fathers, three Hail Marys and that sort of thing. So, but people fall into that, don't they? And they, for some reason, people that are very weak in the faith, they place their faith in a mega. They place their faith in a man. And it's indicative of people that have a very weak faith because if their faith is strong, they won't trust in man, they'll trust in Jesus. So if a guy wears a collar, it's much easier to trust in that guy because he's right there than it is to trust in Jesus who you haven't seen. You see what I mean? So we walk by faith not by sight. But this you have that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also hate. He that has an ear to hear do you have a spiritual ear to hear? The natural man understands not the things of God neither can he know them. They're spiritually discerned. But if you've got a spiritual ear, if you can hear what the Holy Spirit's saying through the teaching of the word, to him that overcomes you want you're a winner? You're an overcomer? Will I give to eat of the tree of life? So in chapter twenty and twenty one, we're gonna see the tree of life mentioned again. Adam and Eve got dispelled from the garden, pushed away from the garden, and didn't have fellowship with God in the sense of able to approach the tree of life and all. And angels, cherubim, were there guarding the tree of life lest they were to partake in their sinful fallen condition. These people have fallen, they've fallen from their first love, they've left their first love. But he that overcomes comes back to his first love, fellowship's gonna be restored. You're gonna have access to fellowship once again, the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. So that's the church of Ephesus, the message of the church of Ephesus. So what can we learn from that epistle, that letter to the church of Ephesus? What can we learn? What can we apply to our lives personally? Ask that question. Do we need to repent? Do we need to remember? Do we need to repeat? All above. All the above. Okay. Now we come to the message of the church of Smyrna. Now Ephesus, the name Ephesus means desired. God has a desire for her and she's left her first love. Jesus desires her. The church of Smyrna speaks of death. It speaks of embalmment. Myrrh. You see the myrrh there? Smyrna. And this would be the church of Christie. She's an embalmer now. She likes she likes dead stuff. Hope Christie's watching. And so message to Smyrna. And this is the church from the end of the first century church. It goes from January to 03/13. And this is a church that's for two hundred years is under persecution. The Romans and the Jews, the synagogue of Satan, they hate just as the Apostle Paul as a Jew was persecuting the church and just as the Judaizers were coming down to Galatia and just as the Judaizers, you know, killed Stephen, so too the Jews with the Romans are going to be antagonistic toward the church for two hundred years. Now there's going to be 10 waves of Roman emperors and during their time of being emperor, they're going to demand that people worship them. That everybody they're gonna deify the emperors and to show that allegiance in the tribulation period to show the allegiance to the antichrist, you're gonna take a mark on your right hand or your forehead. You're not gonna do it. And you're gonna worship the image of the beast. And if you don't, you're gonna be executed. In this case once a year you go into a pagan temple and you pinch incense and you're on record as saying Caesar is Lord not Jesus is Lord, Caesar is Lord. And so the church was very you know, unwilling to do that. 6,000,000 Christians were unwilling to do that. It'd be like in Nigeria right now. You could convert to Islam and say, Allah Akbar, and you could save your life. Right? But if you say no Jesus is Lord, then your life could be in jeopardy. Right? So the word Smyrna means death or or myrrh, it speaks of embalming. And so he says, under the angel of the church of Smyrna write, these things saith the first and the last, who is dead and is alive. Now one thing I didn't mention here in these epistles, in in these epistles or these letters to each church, there's a description of Jesus from chapter one. And in here when it's the seven stars who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands in chapter two verse one, you see in verse thirteen, sixteen and twenty the description in chapter one of Jesus. Here it's verse seventeen and eighteen of chapter one, And I saw him and I fell at his feet as dead and laid his hand upon me saying unto me, fear not for I am the first and I am the last. I'm he that lives and was dead and behold, I'm alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of of Hades and of death. So over here, the church of Smyrna, under the angel of the church in Smyrna write, these things say it the first and the last, who is dead and is alive. So the vision of Jesus in chapter one, I know your works. The Lord knows your works. Grow not weary in well doing for in due season you shall reap if you faint not. Other people may not see what you're doing in the name of the Lord, all the things you do in his name, all the giving, all the praying. He says I know your works, I know what you're doing and so I know your works and tribulation. Jesus promised us that we'd have tribulation. These people are under tribulation, they're under pressure from the world, the flesh, the devil are after them. And your poverty. In a time of persecution, you're gonna lose your job. You're gonna lose your job if you don't take the real ID. Mhmm. You'll lose your job. You're gonna lose your job if you go against the establishment and say, no. I'm not gonna pinch that incense. Not only you are gonna lose your job, you're eventually gonna lose your life with these people. But first, they're gonna threaten you with no food and and a life of poverty as you're as you are disowned by family and friends and everybody disowning you because because you're a Christian. That's your crime. You're a Christian. He says, I know your poverty. But he says, but you're rich. Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Jesus was poor. And though he was rich, we're told, yet for our sakes he became poor that we, through his poverty, that we might become rich. He says, I know your poverty, but you're rich. How is it we're rich? Spiritually. Spiritually? Faith. If the stock market crashes this week and you lose all your retirement, you lose everything you work for, it's all gone and you're impoverished because you're a Christian? Philippian four nineteen, God's gonna supply all my needs. Amen. How is it you're rich? Pardon me? In faith. In faith. You're rich in faith? So Rob's neighbor is being given a bunch of telescopes and stuff. The friend that he's getting from has cancer. Everything he has, he's gonna lose in this life. Everything you do for yourself is gonna pass. Only what you do for Jesus Christ can last. So Jesus said, store not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust can corrupt, where thieves can break through and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Jesus said, I know your works. So all the investment that you've made in the stock market and all this, it could go away. But all the investment you've made in heaven, you're rich. It's still there. Nobody's gonna steal it or take it away. It's waiting for you. You know? Amen. So you you you're rich. And as we study the book of Ephesians, there's a Greek word that we're gonna bring out called plutas, plutocrats, and and it's the word riches. And one of the themes in the book of Ephesians is the riches that are ours in Christ Jesus. You're a joint heir with Jesus everything he inherits you inherit with him. You're rich, you're not impoverished but in this life you might experience poverty and and that's okay those that are poor are rich in faith. I'd rather be rich in faith and have all the billions and have no faith. Faith is a gift. The Lord gifted me with faith it's it's effortless. I just believe because he gave me as a gift. He gave me a gift of faith, you know. And sometimes I think, Kai, what would it be like if you didn't believe? How would you cope? How would you function? How would you how would you process? It'd be so hard to not walk moment by moment dependent upon the Lord in fellowship with him and the riches that that lifestyle, the abundant life of the spirit. But thou art rich. Now the church of Laodicea, they're delusional. They think they're they're rich and increased with goods in need of nothing. And what did Jesus say in response? The true the true condition was what? Poor, blind, and miserable. Right? Right. And I told you in Sunday's sermon, you don't wanna see a 600 year old old man naked. That's something you can't you can't get out of your head. You know? You're naked, poor, blind, and miserable. Right? You picture that? Noah there? No. Alright. Laugh again. We're going to get that out of our head. The boys are walking in backwards. They don't have to see it. Yep. You think it was the first time it happened to old Noah? That's right. Got drunk and Alright. I'm a sick man. You're a sick man. But thou are rich and I know the blasphemy of them who say they are Jews. So blasphemy is the one sin that, you know, that you won't be forgiven. Paul said that he was once a blasphemer compelling people to blaspheme, you know, the lord, chiefest of sinners. And I know the blasphemy of them who say they are are Jews, the people of god and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. And you see the way Jesus talks to the religious leaders? He said you're a brood of vipers, you know? How are you going to escape the damnation of hell? Could there be any stronger language than that? I mean, he's just totally rebuking them. He told them in John eight that their father was the devil, that he was a murderer and a liar from the very beginning. And so I have to interject here and remind you that we as Christians, we we we do understand that God will bless those that bless Israel and curse those that'll curse Israel in Genesis 12 verse three. But we also know that the true Israel of God are those who believe. And so we know that God is going to give them the land from the Mediterranean to the Nile, the whole region is gonna be given to the nation of Israel. But the nation of Israel is gonna be a remnant. It's gonna be a remnant of people that believe, that are converted, that cry out blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. And so just because a person has a natural pedigree does not make them the true Israel of God. In Isaac shall thy seed be called, which means those who believe. It has to be mixed with faith. So the nation of Israel has been regathered in unbelief, and we still pray for the nation of Israel and recognize their their land covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, and their right to the land. But we also recognize that they can be very immoral because they're natural and they can be very religious with their temple and still yoke up with the Antichrist government to wipe out the saints, to wipe out the tribulation saints during the tribulation period. Do think they're going be favorable toward tribulation saints? No, they're not. And so the whole religious system is going to be against the true believers. They're gonna be Revelation 17, it talks about the apostate religious system, that isn't the Jews of the tribulation period who were just deceived and they have their temple and at the midpoint the abomination of desolation wakes them up that they've been tricked by the Antichrist. But the false apostate church in Daniel seven, you know, is devastating the saints and they're drunk with the blood of the saints, the amount of people in the name of religion that they execute and so the system there. So I know your blasphemy of them who say they are Jews and are not but are the synagogue of Satan. I know what these professionals are doing to you. He says fear none of those things which means we're afraid, we're destitute, we're poor, we're in Hebrews 11, we're in the caves, we're hiding, we're trying to survive another day. So fear none of those things which thou shall suffer. Look at look at that word shall. You mean God's telling me ahead of time I'm gonna suffer? Does that mean God wants me to suffer? Is that the reality? God's letting me know, hey, there's suffering up ahead for you guys. Well, a whole lot of us would quit. A whole lot of us would say, don't want to be in the church. I don't want to be a Christian. I didn't sign up for suffering. I thought it would make my life better. This is making my life worse. Fear none of those things which thou shall suffer. Behold the devil so God's gonna allow the devil because God's sovereign, God's in control, he's God. The devil's his hitman. I'm gonna let the hitman come after you and cast some of you into prison. And you don't know as a witness for Jesus the why, you don't know the why. You just know that you're supposed to trust him, the father knows best, that all things are working together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. As soon as you try to figure it out, you're gonna have a lapse of faith and and you're more susceptible to the devil's devil's lies and tactics and all. So God's ways aren't our ways, they're past finding out and we gotta walk by faith. We gotta continue to walk by faith. He'll cast some of you into prison, and you shall be tried, and you shall have tribulation ten days. And so you're gonna you're gonna go through persecution for ten days and so there could be a a short period of time. It's actually a short period of time ten days. Be thou faithful unto death and I'll give thee a crown of life. And so there's a man there named Bishop Polycarp. And Bishop Polycarp was the Bishop of Smyrna and he was a contemporary of John the beloved who wrote the book of Revelation. And you somebody else wanna tell the story? You're a Catholic, you should know the story. So Bishop Polycarp was to be executed, and he had a young soldier that was commissioned with the job executioner to go and execute him as the bishop of Smyrna. And they came to his house and they said, Polycarp, just just recant. Just recant. There's no glory in killing an old man. You know? And so just recant. Just just say Caesar is lord. Come on, man. Just say Caesar is lord, and I don't want to kill you. And I'm paraphrasing. This is the message bible right here. So Polycarp says, eighty and six years the Lord Jesus has been faithful unto me. How could I deny him now? He refused, he refused, he refused. So they took and they put him at the stake to burn him at the stake and he wouldn't burn. Remember John didn't boil in oil? So then the soldier took a spear and pierced his heart, the pericardium, and blood and water poured out and doused the fire. And Polycarp died but that's the traditional story of Polycarp and his refusal. I mean think about how many years you've walked with the Lord now. You think you're going to wimp out now? You're almost home. You're almost the finish line. You're to recant and say you don't believe in the Lord now? Eighty six years he's taken care of you? He's gotten you through everything? And your faith is gonna fail now? I think the Lord at that moment gives us a great measure of grace and faith and the courage to go through whatever he's called us to do. He's gonna prepare us for that. And if you watch The Hiding Place, Corey Ten Boom's father told her, you know, the train conductor at that moment is gonna want that ticket, you know. And so at that moment, the Lord's gonna give you that courage that you need to go through those trials, you know, and not before. You may be afraid before, you may have fear beforehand, but the Lord's gonna prepare you. So he that has an ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches. He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death. If you're born twice, you're only gonna die once. Right? The unbeliever, he's not only gonna die physically, but then he's gonna die spiritually at the great white throne judgment. Right? And he's gonna spend all eternity in hell. The worst the devil can do to you and I is to destroy this body if God allows them, but to be asked of the bodies to be present with the Lord. So it's really a move. You're moving at that moment out of this body into your new glorified body. And Jesus point blank told us, don't fear him that can kill your body, but fear him who can not only kill your body, meaning God, and cast your soul into hell. And so we fear God more than we do man. We fear him in that he's the judge and he's the one that determines our eternal destiny and we know that he's got the crown of life, the martyr's crown awaiting those who are faithful unto death, right? In Revelation 12, how did they overcome? Amen. Praise the lord. Now what are the other crowns awaiting you and your riches? Tell me the crowns. Five crowns? Ever been to Five Crowns Restaurant? Okay. There's a crown of life, the martyrs crown. There's a crown of glory, crown of rejoicing. Paul said the time of my departure is at hand second Timothy four, time my departure is hand, I fought a good fight, I finished my course, there's now therefore laid up for me a crown of righteousness and not to me only but unto all those that love his appearing. He's encouraging us to be pre tribulation rapture dudes, to be loving his appearing, looking for his soon return. There's a crown of righteousness, crown of rejoicing, crown of glory. There's a crown of life. There's an incorruptible crown that fades not away. The Olympians would get a celery wreath, and that celery wreath would fade away. We have an incorruptible crown that fades not away because Jesus wore a crown of what? Thorns. Thorns. And so there's no shortcut to the palace, we all go by way of the cross before the crown. If you bow down and worship me, I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world, the devil told Jesus. And Jesus was not gonna take a shortcut. He went by way of the cross. Amen. Alright? Cast the crowns at his feet. Amen. We got time for one more, or you wanna stop here? One One more? You guys ready? Yep. Yeah. Okay. Message to Pergamum. Now I want you guys to go on YouTube, and I want you to type in you don't have to it now, but I want you to type in the seat of Satan, Pergamum and Nazi Germany. It's a video by The Seven Hundred Club, and it's the son of Pat Robertson, cbn.com. Fourteen years ago it was posted and it's going to chronicle for you the city of Pergamum, the seat of Satan, the throne of Satan where Satan dwells, okay, and it's the temple of Zeus. And so what the Germans did after World War two is they sent in architects and excavation and they excavated the throne of Zeus where Satan's throne dwells, the Lord is saying here, and they brought it back to Berlin and they put it into the the stadium that was built where Hitler would speak to the people with particular lighting and everything. It was like a religious service, and he would stand there on this throne when he would give those speeches, you know, wanting to channel the devil where Satan's throne dwelled. Right? And so that's where that was. And and then Barack Hussein Obama, when he was being elected his first time as the Democratic National Convention, one of the things remember when he went to Germany and all the Germans and over there are thinking he's great, you know, and they're coming out to hear him speak? And he wanted to speak from that very place that Hitler did, and the Germans wouldn't allow it. So the Democratic party had a party for Obama, and they crafted a a mock up a Hollywood mock up, a set, a Hollywood set at the Democratic National Convention, you know, ushering in their hero, Obama gonna be the president or their their guy that's gonna run. And and they had a mock up where he was preaching, giving speeches from a mock up of where Satan's throne dwells. That's pretty interesting. So if you watch that video, it's fascinating architecturally and historically to see. Abomination. Yeah. Pergamum, message of Pergamum, the name means married. And what happened was in 03/13 Constantine that you had the two hundred years that Smyrna was being persecuted. And then in 03/13 Constantine got a vision and his mom and the whole thing, and he nationalized the church. So the state became married to the church, and this was the start of the Roman Catholic church. Became incredibly corrupted over the period of time at 03/13 under June, the marriage it was the beginnings of the which would eventually be the Roman Catholic system, the Roman Catholic church. So it was a church of idolatry, tremendous idolatry, married to the world. And so the angel of the when we get down to Thyatira is more of the Roman Catholic church, but this is the beginning that led to it was was this marriage of the of the state and the church. In Pergamos, write the things which thou hast, the sharp sword with two edges. So remember how we talked about every one of these will have a description of Jesus in chapter one so the description is the one with the sharp sword with two edges, you remember? Now Pergamum was a place where they had the Temple Of Escapelius. And this is the symbol that is used in the and they had a hospital, a medical center there in Pergamum. And it's a symbol of the serpent on a pole and to this day the medical field uses that as a symbol of the medical field. And so that originated there in Pergamum with the serpent on a pole, the Temple of Aescaplius. I'm saying that wrong, but doesn't matter. You don't know what's wrong. And so the church in Pergamum is right. These things saith he who has the sharp sword with two edges. So we know that's Jesus. Right? Know thy works. I know thy works where thou dwellest even where Satan's throne is. Now think about that. The Germans wanted that spot. They wanted that that marble, that real estate that was crafted for the temple of Zeus there and where Satan's throne dwells. And thou holdest fast my name and has not denied my faith even in those days in which Antipas was my faithful martyr who was slain among you where Satan dwells. And so Antipas is a faithful martyr and what they did with Antipas is they put him inside of a brass bowl and they lit a fire underneath that brass bowl and they cooked him. That's the way they martyred Antipas, my faithful martyr. And there was no backing down of Antipas, he wasn't going to back down for nothing. And so Jesus is saying, notice my my faithful martyr. Now Jesus said in Acts chapter one you're going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the outermost parts of the world. That word witness is the Greek word martyrs where we get our word martyr. So remember he said I'll take your lamp out, you're not gonna be my witness, it's a privilege and a blessing to be his martyr. We're dead men walking, we're already crucified and it's Christ living through us and so we don't fear death. And so some people have said pastor Chuck Missler said it's harder to live for Jesus than it is to die for Jesus because death means that hey let's go We're going home. Right? And but people that don't know the lord, they fear death. We don't fear death anymore to be asked for bodies to be present with the lord. So he says, you haven't denied my my faith even in the days when Antipas so when Antipas is being put in that bowl and being cooked, that would put fear in a whole lot of people, but you guys didn't do that. You didn't capitulate. You didn't give in to that terror, that terror. And also the city of Pergamos was also the inventors of parchment skins to write on which the bible is written on codexes and on parchment skins. The codexes, the leaves along the Nile, they would write the epistles and roll them up on big rolls of leaves along the Nile, but then also parchment skins of animals, they would use that later on in Pergamos, one of those places. A little side note of that. So you've not denied the faith into those days in which Antipas was my faithful martyr who was slain among you where Satan dwells. Now Satan is not omnipresent. Satan can't be everywhere at once. Satan uses a whole association of one third of the stars of angels, demons, that are principalities and powers in Ephesians six, right? So they have regions where these demons are and we saw in Daniel 10 where Daniel's praying for twenty one days and angel Gabriel came and said that, you know, very first that you begin to pray to the present, you know, I've been battling the prince of Persia, so there's an angel of principality that his fear of responsibility was Iran, you know, Persia, and so that in the in the heavenlies. So the devil's the little g god of this world, the prince, the power, the air, and and when he went before the lord in Job, the book of Job chapter one, you know, where have you been Satan? I've been walking to and fro upon the earth. Have you considered my servant Job? So it would seem that the devil has access from heaven down to the earth and back and forth and walking, you know, he walks about Peter said like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And and so it would seem this form of idolatry that was here and the decadence, the evil, the tremendous evil that Jesus is saying this is where Satan's throne dwells. Where do you think Satan's throne dwells now? We don't know. The globalists would love to know, right? A whole bunch of globalists went to Antarctica a few years ago, flew in and something under the ground, know, something under there, place, whatever. Some say that there's Nephilim that are still on the planet, fallen angels that cohabitated with women, the giants, you know, and that some of them are giving these guys information, wanting to put together their occultic global order. We know that the Germans were into that. The Germans were seeking secret knowledge in the occult. It's okay. But greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world, and we don't we don't mess around with witchcraft and sorcery and the powers of darkness in that way but we do recognize that there is a an entity that the bible describes as Satan, as Lucifer, as the devil, as a serpent, and he's a fallen angel. We see in Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28, he was once an exalted cherub angel, so he's equivalent to that of Michael the archangel, to a cherub angel, and beautiful and all that until iniquity was found in him. So he's cast out. We see in Revelation 12 he's going to be cast out to the ground and he knows that his time is short and Jesus said see not up ahead that he said he saw the devil fall from you know, heaven as as lightning fall into the ground and he knows his time is short and he's gonna go after the woman, he's gonna go after the nation of Israel, but presently the Lord's letting us know that is that is this place is where Satan dwells. Now I don't want to live in a community where people are given over to Satan, right, to Satanism. If the Lord sends us there, then we got to take the light of the gospel and do the best we can to share the gospel and cause the light to overcome the darkness. Right? We go where the Lord tells us, but a lot of us when we're thinking about moving and we're afraid of Jay Inslee or Newsom and you're in a liberal blue state, people want to move somewhere where there's so called a red state, but I don't know that I've ever heard anybody base their decision on there's a good Bible teaching church there. It's always what's best for me and what's best for me is I got to get out of here. Are people's politics driving me crazy. And so I moved Montana. I moved here. I moved to Idaho and got all these people transplants moving and all and the most important priority you have is your spiritual life, your first love. Slain among you where Satan dwells. So people say, Hey, Bremerton's dark, Kitsap County's dark, blah blah blah blah blah. Well maybe it's Vegas, maybe it's San Francisco, maybe it's I don't know where, Seattle. What's the most decadent, most ungodly, most ungodly place? I don't know. But the Lord's letting us know that Pergamos at this time was where Satan's throne dwells. And he aspires to have God's throne. He wants God's throne, right? That's his rebellion. He wants to be God. And now during the tribulation period the headquarters of the Antichrist is going to be two places, one Babylon and two Jerusalem. So he's gonna have a political economic headquarters in Babylon, literal Babylon being rebuilt right now, and then also Jerusalem, his religious headquarters. So I have a few things against thee because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel and eat things sacrificed unto idols and commit fornication. So the problem with this church is idolatry, idol worship. It's gonna intensify and carry over to the next church we're talking about with Thyatira. But he's talking about Balaam, a false prophet, a prophet that was hired by king Balak of the Moabites and the Midianites. And in Numbers Numbers chapter thirty one fifteen through 16, Numbers twenty two five and twenty three eight, the book of Numbers, the occasion was Balak wanted to find a way for Balaam to curse the nation of Israel. And four times Balak's paying Balaam money to do that, and every time it happened, Balaam would prophecy a blessing. Some of the most incredible prophecies in the Bible come from Balaam in regard to the nation of Israel, Shiloh coming and speaking of the Messiah. And and then finally, Balaam figured out a way to accomplish the same goal which was to curse Israel and that was through compromise. So he said, why don't you get your Midianite women to entice the men of Israel into your Midianitish idolatrous sexual worship. They mixed the sexual aspect of this worshiping of false deities, and God himself will judge his own people if you get them to compromise. So he did that. King Moab of the Moabites yoked up with the Midianite and brought the Midianitish women out and they began to entice. Now remember Corinth. Corinth had a temple in the city of Corinth, which was a very, very wicked city, a temple where the sailors that would come through Corinth, they would take their boats and they'd carry them across the Isthmus. There was a shortcut. So they had a lot of sailors, a lot of pirates and people there. And one of the things they were enticed was the prophetesses from the temple Aphrodite would come down from the upper area where the temple was, and they'd come down into the city of Corinth and they would entice the men into sexual union, sexual activity, and receive payment and go to the Temple Of Aphrodite and worship in that way. So it's not the new under the sun, it's the way the devil tricks a lot of people. So anyway, the 24,000 people of the Israelites were destroyed by the Lord as a means of judgment because they were unequally yoked with unbelievers, they were participating in idolatrous practices. And so apparently this type of Baalism, doctrine of Balaam was being put here and it became a stumbling block to God's people, to the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols so they're eating the meat from the temples and to commit fornication. Now fornication physically but also spiritual fornication, That's what idol worship is where you're you're you're not worshiping God, you're worshiping a false idol. And we have a jealous God and and he doesn't tolerate that. So come out from among them, be separate, saith the Lord. Touch not the unclean thing and I'll receive you. You and I are not to be an equal yoke together with unbelievers. That's why you can't merge the state with the church. You can't do it. In the founding of our country, one of the reasons our country was founded was for what's called religious freedom. The Europeans that came from Britain and the other European nations that came to America to establish America were tired of King George and the state run religious system. And so they wanted to have freedom of religion. So it was the religious people, men and women of faith that were willing to take the risk to come to The Americas and to start a new nation. Of course everybody else jumps on afterwards. One of the letters from a Baptist minister to Thomas Jefferson was along the lines of a separation of church and state. And the reason for that letter was the pastor was concerned that the religious system here in America would devolve into a state run religion like they had in Great Britain, like they had in England. And Thomas Jefferson said no, absolutely not. There's a wall of separation between the state and the church. So it was information letting the the men of faith, know that no we're staying out of there's a separation. It's kind of like that when king Uzziah died, king Uzziah went from the the model. He went from being a king and he went into the temple and he took a censer and he started to offer incense in the temple. Well he was pushed out from there because his face became leprous. He became a leper. God judged him right there and so he's pushed out of that role. So if you're a king you're not supposed to be a priest so you don't mix state side with the religious side. There's a separation of church and state. And in America, in the fifties, the church was duped with the five zero one c three tax stuff and Lyndon Baines Johnson almost lost an election in Texas. So they begin to lie to the church and say, can't talk about politics. You can't talk about everything or you'll lose your tax exempt status, what they had since the very inception of our country. So they're lying to him, letting them know you can become wealthy, you can have lots of money, just don't talk about elections, don't talk about politics, stay out of politics. So they used it in the schools to get rid of the bible and prayer in their early sixties, which had been in there the whole time in the name of separation of church and state. They used it against the church and the church was too stupid to know what was going on. So we're supposed to permeate the whole culture with our faith and but we're not to let the world, we're not to let the church into the state. So you have to be really careful today with ministries that are geared toward doing good works, feeding the homeless and housing and housing authorities and all that, and they're receiving grant money from the state because then what happens if you receive that money, now you can't share the gospel at The Salvation Army. Now you can't share it Catholic services. You can't seek to get people saved. You know? You can't try to rescue gays and lesbians from that lifestyle. You know? You gotta keep your mouth shut if you wanna do good deeds. And the good deeds are good but not at the expense of doctrine, not the expense of compromise, and so thou has also them that stumble them so verse 15, so has thou also them that hate or hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which which thing I hate. So you're messed up with the false doctrine of Balaam, you also have the the issue of the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. And this Nicolaitans again is an elite, an elitism, a hierarchy, a priesthood. Laity means people and Nico means conquer, to dominate the people. And the best way to dominate the people is to keep them dumb. But if the people know the word of God, then we're all holding each other accountable. And Jesus is in charge. He's the head of his church. Right? And that's what we want. So repent or else I will come unto thee quickly and will fight against thee with the sword of my mouth. And so the Lord will speak it against you and that two edged sword. And so the emphasis upon repentance, quit doing this and do it quickly, don't mess around, nip it in the bud, do it right now. He that has an ear to hear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches, to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna. So part of what's happening here is the Lord fed the children of Israel as they came out of Egypt with manna, the coriander, the angels food that would come down and they were able to be fed. They're leaving the government of Egypt. They're walking by faith and God's providing for them. So you saying no to the government, saying no to the real ID, saying no to what they're leveraging against you may mean you lose your job, you experience poverty. How are you gonna survive? The Lord's saying, I'm gonna give you the hidden manna. You have Jesus. He's your portion. He's the bread of life. And God will miraculously he's saying I'll miraculously provide for you just as I did the children of Israel. So you will have resources that the world has no access to. I'll give you the hidden manna. The Lord is my portion forever, the bread of life. And that's why in John six when Jesus is feeding the multitudes of people with the loaves and the fishes, they were coming only for the loaves and the fishes. So he had to let them know that, no, you need to come for me. You need to come to eat my body and drink my blood. You need to come for me. And and it says a really sad thing there. It says, and many of his disciples. Oh, that qualifies. These people were people that were following him learning and many of his disciples no longer walked with him. They went away that day. They were following him with ulterior motives of he's a meal ticket. He's gonna keep feeding me. I can quit work. And Jesus let him know, no, no, you need to come for me, for me. And many of his disciples no longer walked with him. They went away and he turns to the 12 and he said, are you gonna leave me also? And Peter said, where are we gonna go? You have the words of eternal life. Right? We're hooked. You've got us, man. We're hooked on your word. Men shall not live by bread alone, by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. That's what Jesus told Satan. If you're the Christ, cause these stones to be made bread. There's things more important than the material, the spiritual. You've got the hidden manna. You've got Jesus. And If you've got Jesus, you've got everything else. He's gonna provide somehow. He'll give you another job. He that has an ear to ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches. I wanna know what the spirit's saying to the churches. I don't wanna know what AI they're tricking everybody. You know? I don't care about what this influence or that influence or whatever. I wanna go direct. I want the holy spirit to speak to my heart. I want the holy spirit to speak to me now, to speak to me every moment of every day that he saith unto the churches, to him that overcomes will I give to Eve of the hidden manna and will give him a white stone. The white stone, two parts. One is acquittal. You may be judged by others, but the throne of heaven's gonna quit you. You're not guilty, forgiven. Whatever charges that are against you, whatever kind of criminal they're trying to make you, trying to every kind of public enemy number one the world has against you, you're acquitted. I'm gonna give you the white stone. And it's also a stone of acceptance. I'm gonna give you admittance. You have acceptance to come boldly before my throne of grace, not of judgment. You've been acquitted. You have access to my throne of grace to find help, to find grace, to find mercy in your time of need. And a stone and a new name written which no man knows except he that receives it. And so Abraham's names from Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel, and we see at times the Lord prepares us for what's up ahead and the Lord's preparing you and I to serve him in the millennium and he has a new name that fits with the character that he's molding and shaping us into. So with Jacob, he's a conniver. He's a heel catcher. He met his match with Laban. You know? Laban got him. You know? Twenty years he's there with Laban. He's got Rachel, Leon, he's got all these kids and the whole thing and he's wrestling with God one night and Esau's brother's gonna be there in the morning. He tricked Esau and got the birthright and all that and now Esau's coming. And in the morning, he's got to meet Esau with his armies of guys and all and he goes across the brook to get a good night's sleep and the angel of the Lord Jesus is there to wrestle with him. He's in the cage and they're going at it and and it says that he won because he lost. Hosea says that the Lord touched his hip, the Lord dislodged his hip caused excruciating pain and at that point Jacob tapped out. Enough. And the lord said, alright, you're no longer healed, catcher. You're no longer conniver. I'm a change your name to Israel which means governed of god, prince of God. And so he walked away, a changed man, the reminder of which was he walked with a limp. Right? There you go. So A. W. Tozer says before God uses a man or a woman greatly he must hurt him deeply. The Lord will break that self reliance in us and make us to the point where we only have him to depend upon and that's a change, a transformation of our character. Alright. So you wanna do Thyra Tyra next week? Yeah. Okay. Alright. Which no man knows except he that receives it. And so Thyatira Thyatira, to give you an idea, means continual sacrifice. So it's a picture of the Catholic church when you do your homework this week. Where do you see the continual sacrifice in the Catholic church? The mass. Every day they have a mass and every day there's the transubstantiation. The body of Jesus is continually being sacrificed. Mhmm. And and they think it's the real body, blood, literal That's right. Continual sacrifice. Alright. So we'll we'll cover that. We'll look at that next week. And and so the merging of the state with Constantine led to this era of 06/1517 until the Protestant Reformation, and and it was an incredible, incredible dark ages, and the what came known during that time as the Roman Catholic church. During that time, you still always had a remnant of true believers. You had the Waldenses, people, small little groups that were persecuted but had the word of God and refused to give in to the apostate, you know, church of its day. Alright. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. Lord, we pray that you pour out your holy spirit upon us and lead and guide us in all truth. Thank you that we had a good time studying in your word. And Lord, we pray that those who are listening that we be doers of your word, not hearers only. Lord, that we if we've left our first love, that we return, that we repent and do our first works. And, Lord, if we've allowed idols in or whatever it may be that's encroaching and causing to quench the the leading guide and the Holy Spirit in our life, Lord we pray you clean out all the wax, you clean out everything that's hindering us from hearing from you and Lord help us to just be conformed in the image of your son, help us to yield to your Holy Spirit and Lord to be used of you, to be equipped and used of you in these last days to rescue people who are perishing, rescue people that are so incredibly deceived and delusional today Lord. Thank you for leading, guiding us into all truth. In Jesus name we pray, amen. I got a prayer request. Alright buddy. Prayer request and testimony. Okay. We need to pray for Sherry, the guy a girl that comes with with Bernie. And so and then I wanna give a testimony. You know, I was at the Lisa Stewart. I think her name is Lisa Stewart or something like art last art studio on right across from Grocery Outlet. I go there from time to time and have coffee and sing sometimes and and so anyway, I met a man that, you know, was working with the respiratory, you know, the pulmonary, whatever they call it, breathing, you know, and I we're I was discussing. I was looking for my mask and couldn't find it. So we prayed about it. I think he's from Oregon or California. He was up here working with the Saint Michael's, I guess. And so we prayed about getting a new mask and all of a sudden, I got a a call from Lisa which is the owner of the store and said, we got something for you. I went up there the next day or two days afterwards and there was a mask. Wow. Mask for me. So pray for the Lord. Wow. Lord supply. He must have been from California. I'll tell you, man. Super saint. He was he was a blessing. You know? So we we we need to pray for Sherry, okay? Alright. Why don't you pray? Go ahead. Terry. Terry. Alright. Terry. Ask you lord for Bernie and Sherry as you lord Jesus Christ. We might enrich their life with your love. I pray for me father. I don't know what situation we've guarding Sherry. Ask you lord that you might minister to how how for her to come come out of that place with a clean bill of health. I just thank you lord. Minister to her lord and thank you for the mask that you provided. Yes, lord. Yes, Lord. Me. How many what what would you need the chance that that guy came in right when he needed the math? Amen. I just thank you, Lord, for the victory, Lord. And so minister to Terry and everyone that has need tonight in amongst this circle, Lord. In Jesus name, amen. Amen.

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About This Podcast

Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Home Bible Study

Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, lead our home Bible Study session in worship and teaching the Word of God. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes released on Tuesdays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.

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