.
You
Good evening everyone. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. You can all find your seats. We'll get started
Go ahead and open up your hymnals. We're gonna start in a song number 413 stand up stand up for Jesus
Song 413 stand up stand up for Jesus
Four one three stand up stand up for Jesus
All right on the first stand up stand up for Jesus
Jesus
Ye soldiers of the cross
Lift high his royal banner
It must not suffer loss
Victory unto victory
His army shall he be
Every foe is vanquished and Christ is Lord in me
Stand up stand up for Jesus
the trumpet call
obey
or to the mighty
Conflict in this is glorious day
Ye that our men now serve him against a number
Oh
Right with danger and strength to strength
Stand up for Jesus
In his strength
Flesh will fail you
He
All right
Heavenly Father Lord, thank you for this evening. Thank you for Steadfast Baptist Church and thank you for
Pastor Shelley and his family. Thank you for all the people here tonight. We ask that you
Fill this room with your Holy Spirit Lord
Help us all to be edified tonight for the evening service and help us all sing praises under your name Lord
It's in Jesus name. I pray. Amen
All right. Next song up is no song number two zero seven
only a sinner
Two zero seven only a sinner
Song 207 only a sinner
All right on the first
He's rooted right I am face. I'm only a sinner
Stay by grace
This is my story to God be the glory
I
Be my case
Oh
God's face, but now I'm a sinner
Say
Oh
I'm only
Oh
Thank you so much coming to Steadfast Baptist Church
if you do not already have a bulletin and you'd like one or usher can come by and
He can get you a bulletin. Just keep your hand lifted up for a few minutes as he walks through
Also in the front we have our Bible memory passage
Verse number eight of Proverbs 31 any child that's 18 or under it can quote the verse can get an ice cream
And if you can quote the entire
chapter
Proverbs 31 there is a special prize to all those who are able to memorize the entire chapter
Since we're only eight verses in you sub plenty of time
Even if you haven't started to pick up on that and you can memorize it several weeks for that on the inside
We have our service time so winning times and then church stats
Make sure you're turning that into our soul winning captains and lieutenants on the right
We have the list of expecting ladies and we have several ladies who are expecting also you can add miss Sarah Cardona
Who's expecting in July congratulations to them?
Exciting and
Then down below we have the congratulations to the Zermano family on the birth of Priscilla Zermano
she was born on the 9th at 11 26 p.m. Weighing six pounds seven ounces and
Nineteen and a half inches long. Congratulations to them. That's really exciting
On the back we have our prayer list and we have upcoming events
I'm gonna just go over the events real quick. We have the Mexican missions trip at the end of the month
If you haven't already signed up that window is closing as fast as you can imagine
So make sure to let us know on that
Also, we have the ladies Christmas party on the 8th
all ladies are
Welcome to attend it is nursing's
only though so
It's it's something that we need you guys really when I make you know
I hear the word nursing most guys are just thinking about like football or something, you know, like tuned out
But this it's actually an announcement for you guys
You need to watch the kids
All right
We need to give these ladies a nice evening for their Christmas party so they can have some fun
And we watch the kids and as always say you can always throw peanuts at them or something, you know
I mean can't you can't you can't survive for three hours? I mean, come on and so
Also the 11th is Christmas caroling so that's always a lot of fun
December 16th
Children's Christmas music recital. I'm really excited about this
And we have a lot of talented
Musicians in here and so we're excited for you kids to showcase some of that music
24th is a cookie bake-off. The 31st is our New Year's Eve party
We'd like to go over our prayer request list as well
We've been praying for brother Cameron for his leg and apparently it's it's been getting really close
It's been healing a lot actually and it's getting really close to being a lot better
And so they're actually really hopeful that maybe in the next
Month or so to kind of check up that things are gonna be really close to normal
and so this has been a long-term prayer request and
Honestly for the longest time they didn't even know what's going on
And so to have this much improvement is actually a very it's a big miracle
And so just continue to please pray for brother Cameron and for his leg and everything that would go smoothly
It's crazy to me to think about how much pain that guy's in and how he's like the happiest person you'll ever meet and so
He just makes me feel bad when I feel bad because when I'm feeling bad, I'm like the grouchiest person you've ever met
So, you know, he's an he's an inspiration
Also been praying for the Wallach's daughter Haley who's pregnant
We've been praying for his niece as well. And then we've been praying for miss Cooley stepdad. We've been praying for
Brother Oz his brother we've been praying for the names grandmother
We've been praying for brother rich for a job. We've been praying for miss Melissa a friend of hers
Allen is also struggling with cancer and then been praying for the good ones mother-in-law
We've been praying for her to have a recovery
So a lot of things to pray pray for for our church family
If you have other prayer requests, please email those in or submit it in our cards so we can add to our list
But we'll just say a quick word of prayer as a church family
Thank You Heavenly Father so much for our church and being gathered here. Thank you so much for these expecting ladies
I pray that you please be with them during their pregnancies. Please help their children's development. I pray that you'd also help all of our
Church family that's not able to make it this evening. That's sick. Please give them speedy recovery
Some of these more serious health issues and these chronic issues. I pray that you would just please give them health
Please give them favor
Please allow them to have peace and comfort during their difficulty
and I also pray that you would help our church family that needs favor right now with the job or
With life decisions. I pray that you would just come alongside them and those of our family and friends that need to hear the gospel
I pray that you would just give us boldness
Give us the opportunity to preach the gospel to them and that we could see them save and we just thank you for all you
Give us and it's your son's name. We pray Jesus name. Amen
Um
That's that's pretty much all I have as far as bulletin. I did release a video
on on some of our social media platforms this week and
about just some upcoming vision for the future as far as our church is concerned and some of our church plants and
We tried to email it out to everybody too. I would assume most people in here
If not, all probably seen that video but just isn't as a kind of an update
I didn't want to necessarily release it in person because I felt like people's feelings would be hurt
Whoever I told first or whatever. So that's why I made the video. So it's a free-for-all and whatever but
as far as
Oklahoma City our church plant that's up there
but brother or really evangelists
Fur has been doing an excellent job up there and
Is really the church has been going really well
But he has decided that he would rather just serve in church rather than becoming a full-time pastor
and so that kind of leaves the opportunity for someone else to step in and become that pastor and
And having a lot of conversations with brother Oz
that's something that he wants to do is become the pastor of the church there in Oklahoma and so
Really it's probably still gonna be a while until that happens just just kind of mostly based on practical reasons
So just trying to help him get to a point where you know, he can have a full-time job
He can relocate his family
They can give birth to the next child and everything like that
We're gonna kind of that'll be a little bit of a slower transition
But that is kind of the goal and the vision for that church and for brother Oz and so we're really excited about that for him
He's been doing a great it's it's really gonna be hard to lose him
Because he does so many good things for our church and there's such a great family
but I think that he's gonna be a big asset to the Oklahoma Church and to that area and
It'd be great to see that church just kind of be independent and do its own thing
And you know get away from our issues, you know, so now I'm just kidding
But I think that he's been doing a great job. And so we're looking forward to that
also
Evangelist
Duncan or Bannock who was sent from our church down to Houston
he's also been doing a really good job down at Houston the church has actually been growing and
the soul winning has really been going great down there while he's there preaching really good sermons and
Honestly, there's nothing you could say negative about brother Duncan
He's a great guy great family, but I think because he has such a unique opportunity to go to the Philippines
We we've kind of made a decision to try and send him out there and to do a work in the Philippines which
would open up again
pure words what's going on with that, but we have
Another guy in Oklahoma City search actually Salvador Alvarez who's originally from
Puerto Rico
But he speaks Spanish and English fluently and he's really a great preacher
It's great soul winner great guy and and really has a lot of potential to be a great pastor
Really is gonna meet the qualifications very soon
So we're gonna transition him down to pure words and he's gonna take that church and it's gonna become independent as well
so we're kind of we're kind of shuffling a lot of people and
and to be honest with you most most of the shuffling is kind of like what I think is probably the best vision for
These men these churches and everything like that and but I've talked to all these men
I've talked to a lot of people and it really just makes sense from the long term
Especially, you know brother Salvador has a great opportunity to reach a lot of Hispanic people
And if you've ever been to Houston, there's a lot of Spanish-speaking people
I mean, it's like almost 25% if not more of the people there only speak Spanish
And so it'd be great to have someone down there. That's that's bilingual that can really reach that community
Really do a big work and possibly even run two churches run in English and a Spanish Church
A lot of people have done that successfully and other areas and I think Houston is another area where that could be really a successful
opportunity and so
His his wife and him are very dedicated the ministry. They want to be in the ministry. That's been their lifelong goal and
You know, it's just it's just inspiring to me that someone that's not necessarily from the contiguous
United States can move here and speak English better than the vast majority of Americans and
Get a job be promoted buy a house
I mean, it's a young guy who's married has kids bought a house speaks, you know
English very well very articulate. I mean that just shows that he has a lot of
He's very hard-working and he's very
Industrious and and so I really think that you know brother Salvador can go really far if
Being empowered and given the right opportunity and so I'm really excited for what he can do down in Houston
I'm really excited for what brother Oz can do in Oklahoma and and I'm really excited what Duncan can do in the Philippines because
Every single person has ever talked to me about it has basically just said like it's one of the most receptive places you could ever
go
for the gospel and
Brother Duncan's a really good soul winner
and so, you know, we're gonna actually have him try to partner up a little bit with pastor Stuckey over there and
Pastor Stuckey has multiple church plants are already going plus
There's other areas that could possibly even use a church plant. So, you know, I talked with pastor Stuckey about it
I just thought instead of trying to compete with you know, pastor Stuckey who's just like knocking out of the park
It's like let's just you know
Join his team a little bit and just kind of assist him where it makes sense and then you know from there kind of launch
Out into whatever makes the most sense
So evangelists are bannock will probably just help with some of pastor Stuckey's church stuff and then we'll develop
Where what's the most logical church plant or start a church or whatever and just get him doing all of that work. And so
You know and God willing I think that evangelist urbanic wants to be a pastor one day
And so, you know if that's what is the right fit then we could we could do that
But honestly, you know for me
We're just we're just sending the advantages are bannock to the Philippines to just do the work of the Lord
Whatever that is and when whatever makes the most sense and is achieving the best results
And so we're gonna be a little flexible there
But you know God willing we could start more churches or grow the churches that are already over there and and help them to thrive
Do more evangelism get a lot of people saved. I saw someone put online
It's like we're gonna set up
Basically, like a marriage service over there, you know, like a marriage, you know
Hooking up young guys with you with young women over there something
I don't know pastor pastor Stuckey was like man all the good women in my church. Just keep getting married to American guys
They need it, you know, he's always wondering how to do for money, but he needs to basically create some kind of like a
Scheme to basically sell wives. I'm just kidding. Don't don't get any ideas. All right
Obviously, you know, so funny about it
Most of the Filipino women that you meet they're like the most humble ladies
They like don't even like people that are rich or have lots of money
So that stereotype is like totally the opposite of most of these young ladies
I heard a testimony from one that she like was kind of disappointed to find out that her husband owned a dishwasher
Because she thought he was too rich or something
I was like, I just want to wash the dishes by hand and I'm thinking like can you imagine American woman saying that?
You know, she would be upset that he didn't have to before she'd be upset that he had only one. All right, so
No, we're excited about that. I've never been to that part of the country
So I'm planning on taking a trip out there kind of at the beginning of January
Just to kind of scout the area and and that way I have some eyes on the land and I can do some soul
Wanting to and then I can talk a little bit more intelligently about that part of the world
It's basically literally like the exact opposite end of the world
I mean, it's like they're about 13 hours off from us timeline wise and so it's almost exactly like the other
opposite side of the world exactly and
So it's really exciting all the work that's going on. Of course. A lot of these things are gonna take a little bit of time
to happen
But because it's involved these men
Possibly changing jobs and houses and moving and all this stuff like we just want to give you a pretty big announcement
So then that way our time of notice so that way people aren't like what are you doing?
You know like what's going on or that way, you know people can make practical plans
We did set up against a Gibson go for evangelists urbanic. It is our basically
He's gonna be you know, fully sponsored by our church
So we're gonna help pay for him to go over there and just do that full-time. I don't know
What that looks like entirely yet, but we we feel like we can
Do that for now and we look we're gonna we're gonna support him
He's made a lot of sacrifices for the ministry and for his family and we want to basically sacrifice
for him so that way he can do a great work and earn all kinds of spiritual rewards and
We're really excited for him and all these men and their opportunities and of course this doesn't mean that there isn't more opportunities for
Steadfast or the or the future or anything like that. It's just we're trying to get these ladies married off
You know pure words and okc. So that way we can you know, basically do more things in the future
And of course, obviously we'll still be friends with these people
Hopefully unless they turn into heretics or something and then we'll then we'll destroy them
but
you know other than that, you know, it's gonna be fun and we're gonna have a lot of we're gonna have a good time and
But just pray just pray for them that everything goes smoothly and you know, of course
I've always I made plans to stay in Houston my whole life and be the pastor of peer-words Baptist Church my whole life and that
Changed and you know, it was it's kind of disappointing because that's what I wanted but at the end of the day
It's like it's Christ Church and it's the work of Christ. It's not about me. It's not about us
It's not even necessarily about what we want
Sometimes it's just like what's the most important thing for Christ and for Christ's people and for the work of the Lord and allowing?
Ourselves to be adaptable to that work and and basically being subservient to that work
You know the apostles I don't think they really wanted to leave Jerusalem
But you know, it was God's will to get him out and instead of just leaving God had to kick him out
Okay, and so sometimes we want to make sure that we're sensitive to the Lord's will and that we're not
Making him kick us out, but we're willing to go, you know
He might even get a whale to swallow you and drag you where you need to go, right?
So it's better to just go the first time and to just do what he wants you to do
So I just wanted to make that announcement. I'll probably say something in Sunday just for our Sunday morning only glory
and
But again things will probably evolve and and as we have big
Changes or some of these things get established then I might make another announcement about it
But I just wanted to say that also one other thing if you say you know what? I can't believe you would do this
I hate these people they're terrible and I have all I have this huge list of horrible things that they've done
This is your one time to tell me
Okay
So now is your opportunity to tell me and and you can't be like afterwards be like I knew him
He was bad all along. Okay. I knew brother Oz, you know, it was just such a bad guy or whatever
And I just didn't tell anybody. Okay. This is your opportunity, you know before
The before everything the dust is settled, you know, if you have something against these people and look I I really say that
You know somewhat jokingly because I don't think anybody has anything legitimate
but of course, it's very serious right and of course it also helps me like
Identify who the bad people are in our church because when you hate all the good people it starts to become pretty obvious
You know, who's really the bad person, but that's a little psychological warfare on you. Alright, so you reprobates
Go ahead and and write me up an email
That's pretty much all I have as far as announcements. Let's sing Psalm
139 Psalm 139
Alright everybody sets Psalm 139
All right, we're gonna sing it out real loud on the first
Oh
You can turn your Bibles to Revelation chapter number two
You
Revelation chapter two we're gonna read the entire chapter as
Is our custom starting in verse number one?
Revelation chapter two the Bible reads under the angel of the church of Ephesus
Right these things sayeth he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand who walketh in the midst of the seven golden
Candlesticks, I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience and how thou canst not bear them
which are evil and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not and has found them liars and
has born and has patience and for my name's sake has labors and has not fainted nevertheless
I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works or else
I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place
Except thou repent but this thou hast that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolai attends
Which I also hate he that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith under the churches to him that overcome it
will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God and
under the angel of the church and Smyrna right these things say it the first and the last which was dead and is alive I
Know thy works in tribulation and poverty
But thou art rich and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not but are the synagogue of Satan
Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer
Behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tried and you shall have
Tribulation ten days be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life
He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith under the churches
He that over cometh shall not be heard of the second death and to the angel of the church in Pergamos
Right these things saith he which hath a sharp sword with two edges
I know thy works and where thou dwellest even where Satan's seed is and thou holdest fast my name and has not denied
my faith
Even in those days were in Antipas was my faithful martyr who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth
But 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 to eat things
Sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication
So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which thing I hate
Repent or else I will come unto thee quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth
He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith under the churches to him that over cometh
Will I give to eat of the hidden manna and will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written?
Which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it and under the angel of the church and
Thyatira right these things say at the Son of God who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire
And his feet are like fine brass
I know thy works and charity and service and faith and thy patience and thy works and the
Last to be more than the first not withstanding
I have a few things against thee because thou suffers that woman Jezebel which calleth herself a prophetess
To teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things
Sacrificed unto idols and I gave her space to repent of her fornication and she repented not
Behold, I will cast her into a bed and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation
except they repent of their deeds and I will kill her children with death and all the churches shall know that I am he which
Search at the reins and hearts and I will give unto every one of you according to your works
But unto you I say and unto the rest in Thyatira as many as have not this doctrine in which have not known the depths
Of Satan as they speak I will put upon you none other burden
But that which he have already hold fast till I come and he that overcometh and keepeth my works under the end
To him will I give power over the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of a potter
Shall they be broken to shivers even as I received of my father and I will give him the morning star
He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches
Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer father in heaven. We thank you so much Lord for Revelation chapter 2
I pray that you give pastor Shelley clarity of mind as he expounds the chapter to us
And Lord, I also pray that you help us to draw valuable lessons from the scripture this evening
We love you and in Jesus name. I pray Amen
Amen, so we're in chapter 2 of Revelation
And it's it's coming right off of the description that we left here in chapter 1 talking about these seven
candlesticks
Jesus Christ makes it clear in verse 20 if you just look at that last phrase
It says the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches and so in the opening portion of Revelation
It talks about how there was a letter written to seven churches. They're symbolized or pictured as a
Candlestick, so there's seven
Candlesticks each one pictures a church and it starts here with the first church in verse 1
under the angel of the Church of Ephesus, right
Interesting about this is it mentions
Angel in a singular sense notice that it's being addressed to the angel of the church
It's not necessarily being addressed to the church
It's being addressed to the angel of the church now the word angel in your Bible can mean a few different things
Typically when we hear the word angel
I think of a person with a halo and wings and they're flying or something like that
But the word angel sometimes can just simply mean messenger so it's just kind of a more sometimes has a more broad
definition someone that's just the messenger of
Something so when we talk about the angel of the Lord that just means the messenger of the Lord
So in the Old Testament, sometimes it'll talk about the angel of the Lord, but it's pretty clear
It's a pre-incarnate Christ and here's the thing Christ is not an angel
But what he is is he's the messenger of the Lord and so that's what that means in that particular instance
Additionally in the book of Revelation, we're gonna find a couple other places where it talks about an angel
Talking to John but then John when asking him about him or falling down. He's like, hey, I'm not someone that should be worshiped
I'm one of your fellow brethren
And so in fact just a saved Christian could be considered a quote angel in the Bible
You even have think about the two angels which went down to Sodom. They look like men
Did they not I mean they confused them as men they could just been men they're just messengers
So sometimes we've got to you know
Get Hollywood and cartoons out of our brain as far as what an angel is
Because many times the angels not necessarily what we think it is now there of course is angelic beings in the Bible
There are creatures that fly there's some really interesting, you know things described in the Bible
Things that have wings for sure, but in this particular instance, you know, what I believe it's alluding to is
the leader of the church
The angel of the church is kind of like the main
Messenger and he's that angel in a context and so it's most likely he's just talking to the pastors of
These particular churches the letters are being addressed to the pastor or the leader of the church
And that's what it's meaning by the angel and the angels are even in his hand if we looked in chapter 1
It talked about the seven stars and it talked about the the seven
Candlesticks and they're in his hand and I think in the same way like, you know
These angels are kind of in Christ's hand as well
We have here. It says these things say he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand
Who walketh in the midst of the seven golden?
Candlesticks
okay, so
The Bible tells us the stars are the angels the candlesticks are the churches and they're in his hand, you know
They're in Christ's hand
you know you could think of it as his hand is a hand of protection a hand of guidance a hand of leading that he's
The he's the overseer
He's the bishop of our souls
And so he's the really the one that even is guiding the angels guiding the stars guiding the candlesticks
You know we come to church and Jesus Christ isn't leading in a physical sense our church
But he is leading it from this sense
This is the leader of our church is the King James Bible and we believe that the Word of God is
not just text on a page but rather it's Jesus Christ himself and
That he is leading us. Of course. The Bible says we're two or three are gathered together
He's there in the midst and I think it's interesting when we think about the language
It talks about how he's in the midst of the candlesticks
And then it's kind of like that symbolism is how Jesus Christ is literally in our midst
He's in the midst of the church and not just our church every saved church in the world
I believe Jesus Christ is there in the midst of the candlesticks
He's in the midst of the churches and that those leaders are in Jesus Christ's hand
You know, sometimes people think like we need accountability for leadership
Well, how about Jesus Christ having them in his hand is that enough
Accountability for you, you know and really if we had spiritual goggles where we could see the spiritual world
We would we we'd probably be a lot more terrified of the decisions. We're making
Realizing how Christ is directly
involved and the spiritual realm is directly involved in our lives that there really is
Christ here with us and that he really is
Making decisions as far as advocating for us or
Protecting us and even other times chastening us disciplining us being upset or disappointed and things that we do and
That's gonna be evidenced in chapters 2 and 3 about how Jesus Christ has a lot of mixed feelings
When it comes to these churches, he likes certain things and then he doesn't like certain things, you know
Jesus Christ isn't this idea of someone who just loves everything
There's this this hippie Jesus that's just cool with everything and likes everything and that's not the Jesus of the Bible
Jesus of the Bible is holy and righteous and he only likes the truth
he only likes that which is pleasing unto his father and
Everything that is contrary to him in the Word of God he hates
He's not even afraid to have strong emotions, you know, Jesus Christ hates things and it's mentioned in the Bible
There's this attitude out there where hatred is just bad
But you know what that's a foolish idea because everyone hates something
Everyone hates something and it'll be funny. They're like, I hate you because you're so hateful and you're like that sounds a little ironic
You know
How dare you hate anyone? I hate you and you're like you hate me like yeah, it's like wait a minute
I thought hate was bad. It's like everyone hates someone you can't
If you love anyone then you're gonna have to hate someone and if you hate someone then you're gonna love someone
In fact the more you love the more you hate, you know, if you love your children
you're gonna really hate anybody that tries to attack them or hurt them and
you know the person that doesn't love their children doesn't really care if someone hurts them or attacks them and so having these emotions is
Good, and we want to have them like Christ has them
We want to have the same emotion that he does because he's always right in these particular instances
Additionally it notice it says in his right hand who walk in the midst of the seven golden sticks
You know, these are in his hand. He's holding the candlestick, you know, he's keeping the candlestick in its place verse 2. I
Know thy works and thy labor and thy patience and Al can't not bear them
which are evil and thou has tried them which say they're apostles and are not and has found them liars and has born and as
Patience and for my name's sake has labored and has not fainted nevertheless
I have somewhat against thee because thou has left thy first love
So initially he commends the church at Ephesus for some of their
Positive attributes some of the things they have going right number one
He they work and they labor and they have patience and they don't like bozos and and notice
You know, that's a positive attribute Jesus Christ likes churches that don't like bozos
that don't like liars and
That are willing to kind of investigate right people that are trying the spirits and testing people and trying to see like is this guy
Legitimate or not. Jesus Christ likes that attribute about them. He doesn't like this
well, let's just give everybody the benefit of the doubt and let's just never
Test anyone and let's make let's not care if they're bad at all
It's like no no if someone is going around preaching lies
We want to figure it out if someone's an infiltrator if someone's not legit
We want to figure this out and we don't want to deal with them. We want nothing to do with them
We're gonna cast them out. I
Love the fact that it says you can't bear them which are evil
Why would you want to bring evil people in your church?
You know, isn't there churches a day that we really really want to bring in evil people and want to they kind of almost brag
About it. They kind of act like look how loving we are
We bring in the worst people and we love them where they're at
You know, whereas first Corinthians chapter number five says there's certain people that shouldn't be allowed to come to church
You know
If you're gonna have a certain lifestyle
That you're unrepentant in then the Bible says that person's supposed to be cast out
Of course those who are repentant, you know, you can come back from you can come from any background theoretically
But those who are unrepentant and certain grievous sins are not welcome to church the junkard the fornicator
The idolater the covetous person the extortioner those people can't be living that type of lifestyle
And be active and participating in church now, it's not saying sinners because then no one could show up
Okay, we're all sinners. We all lie. We all do things that are bad
But you know what? Not all of us are getting drunk every single day. Not all of us are committing fornication
Not all of us are extorting people not all of us are worshipping idols like the Catholics
Okay, those people are not allowed to come to church. Okay until they get rid of that sin in their life
They have to clean themselves up then they can come into church and
Why would I want to bear with that person that's evil, you know in 1st Corinthians chapter 5
It says that we're supposed to put away from ourselves that wicked person and you know, there are people that are just living in wickedness
They're just evil and we just don't want them to be a part of the church
You know, it says you can't bear like why would I want to bear with you?
You know, you just got too much evil and you know the people that are lying about who they are
False teachers, of course, you would never want to bear but I think that there's a lot of churches that do this
I think a lot of churches they have you know, they'll have like a hundred and fifty missionaries that they support and
and they'll like have them all come and preach for them every once in a while randomly and
Sometimes they'll get up and just be you know saying things like oh you have to repent of all your sins
You know to be saved and the church doesn't even believe in that and you're thinking like let's let's corner this guy
And let's figure out really what he believes because why would we want to literally be giving money?
sacrificially to the church to then support someone that's not even saved and
I think that that actually is happening. I think that unfortunately there's a lot of churches today that are supporting missionaries that aren't even saved and
and to me that Christ is not liking that Christ is not thinking like oh you give to a hundred and fifty missionaries but
handfuls of them are not even saved and
As opposed to maybe a church like ours we support a very few number of missionaries, but at least we know that they're saved
At least we know that when they go out and preach the gospel. They're gonna do a great work for God
And you know what Christ is literally saying hey
I'm appreciative of the fact that you found these guys as liars, and you want nothing to do with them
Not the church that just says well
We just want to bless everyone and not really figure out where they're at or test them or make them feel uncomfortable
Or anything like that. No you know if you're gonna be a missionary you need to be filled on you need to be made uncomfortable
You know we need to figure out where you're at you need to figure out if you can even give the gospel
It's like why would I pay for you to go give the gospel to someone across the world when you can't even give the gospel
Right now you know it's like get the get start giving the gospel now and start being able to win people to Christ right now
He also says here though they have something against them because they've left their first love
Now this is ambiguous
But I believe when you kind of think about it logically and you compare a lot of scripture
It becomes clear what he means by this first love
He also says in verse 5 remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works
Or else I will come unto thee quickly and remove thy candlestick out of his place except our pants so
According to the text it kind of uses two different phrases first love and first work
alluding to the same thing
Now I want you to go to a couple places go to Matthew keep your finger go to Matthew 28, but the last
Portion of Matthew
Let me explain. This is my theory. Okay. This is just my personal opinion. You can have your own I
believe the reason why he made it ambiguous is
Because if he had spelled out
Exactly what they were supposed to do and made it clear then you would have all these fake churches
Doing this in a in an insincere way
now I believe it's very clear that the first works and the first love is preaching the gospel is
Going out and preaching the gospel and evangelizing people and trying to get them saved
That is the first works and I'm gonna try and prove that here in a minute
But what if the text had said this you've lost your first love
You need to go back out there and preach the gospel to the lost and and and make it clear how to be saved
Then you know what you would have all these fake churches going out
Preaching the gospel to people because it was so clear in the text, but they're not even saved
and you know that really wouldn't benefit our society if
every one of these horrible churches were going through up and down the neighborhoods like the
Mormons and like the Jehovah's Witnesses because they already taint the neighborhoods don't they they already give us a bad name
They already give religion a bad name
They already have plaques up and say no religion or don't knock or no soliciting just because of Mormons
Just because of Jehovah's Witness. In fact, if you live in Phoenix, Arizona
Where there's a ton of these Mormons
Every single door in certain neighborhoods have giant signs saying like no soliciting
No visitors don't talk to us because the Mormons have knocked on their doors
dozens and dozens and dozens of times and they hate Mormons and
When you knock on the door, they're like no Mormon and you're like, I'm a Baptist. Sorry, you know, okay
Right, but they just ruined it and imagine if that was happening with every Pentecostal and every non-denominational church at every Catholic
I mean, I believe that it's probably ambiguous because the unsaved can never figure out what the Bible really means
So God making it a little ambiguous we get it and they don't
just like Jesus gave us a lot of parables where we get it and they don't and
It's just because he doesn't want them to go out there and do all this stuff and ruin the world
So that's why I believe he used this type of language
So as we get it perfectly, but the world is kind of still confused or lost on that particular issue
That's my personal opinion. You can have your own opinion as to why it's worded this way
Now Matthew 28 to prove why I believe that the first works is preaching the gospel is
We have here the Great Commission given by Jesus Christ in Matthew 28 and and look at verse number 19
the Bible says go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Ghost
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever commanded you and lo I'm with you all way even under the world
Amen now if you pay attention it says teach
baptize teach
Right. That was the formula that the basic group notice in the second teach. What did it say teach all things?
So what do you think that that first teach was then what's the prerequisite to even getting baptized according the Bible?
It's teaching them how to be saved. And so that's the first thing. What's the first thing? What's the first work?
What's the first love preaching the gospel getting them saved then the second one will be what?
Baptism then what will be the third one teaching them everything in the Bible you say what's that? That's church, right?
So we go out we get someone saved then we bring them in we get them baptized
And then what we do then we teach them everything that the Bible has to offer them
Okay, and so what's a church that's forgotten the first works. They're not going out and preaching the gospel anybody
They're not going out and teaching anyone and as a result, they're having very few what?
Baptisms, right
It's typically only the people that are already in their congregation a lot of the youth and a lot of the children that are getting saved
Or getting baptized because they're not going
churches that are going are gonna have baptisms churches that don't go and have a lot less baptisms and
So you can see a lot of churches today are kind of forgetting the first works
Aren't they a lot of churches?
They aren't going out and preaching the gospel even ones that are good and even ones that are saved
Go go to Matthew chapter number five go to Matthew chapter five
Just logically thinking
Isn't the first step to Christianity getting saved?
So that fits pretty well with the first love with the first work
how about the fact that according to the the
the discipline
What is what does Jesus Christ say if they don't do it?
He said he'll remove their candlestick. Okay. What does a candlestick do a
Candlestick holds candles. Okay. I'm getting really philosophical on you. All right
What does a candlestick do it holds candles? All right, and
What's the purpose of the candlestick?
The purpose of the candlestick is it's lifted up high and it can hold multiple candlesticks so it can maximize
the utility of the light
Right because if I have a candlestick or I'm sorry if I have a candle
It may not give much light if I'm holding it down low or what if I have it behind the pulpit, you know
what's gonna really maximize its utility is being up high and
Not even just having one having multiple
Right and that's kind of alluded to in a lot of parables in the Bible in Matthew chapter number five
It says in verse number 13
You're the salt of the earth
But of the salt of loss of Savior wherewith shall it be salted it is thenceforth good for nothing
But to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot of men
Here are the light of the world a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid neither them in light a candle and
Under a bushel but on a candlestick and it giveth light unto all that are in the house
Let your light so shine before men that they may see her good works and glorify her father which is in heaven
So when Jesus Christ was preaching about candles and candlesticks, what did he want?
He wanted the candles to get into the candlestick and then be lifted up to shine
Brightly on the whole city so that everybody could have light now. Let's think about what Revelation told us
What is the candlestick?
It's Church and
What is what is Jesus Christ? What he wants all the candles to go get plugged into what?
Plugged into church and then when all the candlesticks are plugged in the church and lit up. What is that gonna do?
It's gonna light up the city. So how does that work?
It's a bunch of soul winners getting plugged into a soul winning church
Preaching the light of the gospel and going out and getting a bunch of people saved
but what if that one angel what if that one messenger instead of putting his light on the
Candlestick and causing other people to do so he just takes it and hides it
Well now it's kind of like that salt. That's not good for anything. And then what does he do? He tosses it out
He gets rid of the candlestick, right? Because what's the point of having a candlestick if you have no lit candles?
Now it's just in the way now. It's just it's serving no purpose, right?
So what's the point of having a church that doesn't have the gospel or isn't preaching the gospel it loses its purpose
Okay, and so that's why he's talking about it in this punishment way go if you would the second Corinthians chapter number four
Just to the right
After Romans you got first and second Corinthians look at chapter number four
I want to hit this point for a moment because I don't want you to ever
Get doubtful of what the first works means the first works. I believe is very clearly
Preaching of the gospel and getting people saved and in the Bible uses a lot of ways to describe this
Look at verse number three second Corinthians chapter 4 verse 3, but if our gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost
What is it comparing the gospel to a light and it's saying if you didn't have this light you'd be lost
Okay, notice verse 4 in whom the God of this world that blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the
Glorious gospel of Christ
Who is the image of God should shine unto them for we preach that ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves
Your servants for Jesus sake for God who commanded the light to shine out of?
Darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ
But we have this treasure and earth and vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us
So this is a little bit of difficult language
but what he's trying to say is that us preaching the gospel is that light and
That light shines in the darkness shines in the darkness of this world
What darkness the darkness of the social media?
The darkness of CNN the darkness of TV the darkness of all the propaganda
The darkness of the public full system the darkness of all the false religion in this world
Lying to people deceiving people and causing them to destroy their lives
The only light that they have comes out of your mouth when you open your mouth to make known the mystery of the gospel of Jesus
Christ and it's the only real light that anybody has and
Not just that obviously we want to get them saved then get them baptized then get them in the church because this is the only
Light of the world. This is the only message that gives any real light to the path of our feet
For that for the word is a lamp
Right and a light under a path
I mean we need to use this as our navigational tool in life
And he's saying that the gospel is that light
Like that we put that candle on the candlestick and it shines brightly and of course Christ is really concerned with that
Candles that aren't being lit
Don't really serve a purpose for him go up the first Corinthians go back to the left go to 1st Corinthians chapter number one
It's super clear that the light is
a picture of the gospel we see that we're supposed to make that shine and
I think that that's really clear. So some people might say that well, how do you know? It's the first work though
Well one point that I've already made is that in the Great Commission? It was the first point wasn't it teach all nations?
That's kind of like the first I want to give another in my mind clear example of why preaching the gospel is the first work and
The Apostle Paul talks about himself and what he was commissioned to do look at verse 17 for Christ sent me not to baptize
but to preach the gospel
Not with wisdom of words. Thus the cross of Christ should be made in an effect
What is the work that Paul was sent to do? What was the first work preaching the gospel now again?
He did baptize some people and of course, it's not that he was against baptism. But what was that first work?
It was preached in the gospel
That's what he was sent to do he wasn't sent to baptize
That's the second work. And in some cases you have men only doing the first work or only doing the first and second work
you have the
Philip the evangelist going out and joining himself unto the Philippian or unto the eunuch and
basically, he
Says hey, what's stopping me at baptized and he preached he basically checks his salvation
Make sure he's saved or gets him saved and then basically they get baptized and then he's gone
So if you look at the Great Commission, he teaches and he baptized but he didn't teach everything
Okay, but it was still what the first work
because there's no point in teaching someone the Bible until they get saved and
Those of us that have tried you realize this point
When you go to your Roman Catholic mom and you try to show her the Bible and she's not saved
She won't get it when you go to your Pentecostal dad and you try to show him
You know stuff about tongues or whatever and he's not saved
he's not gonna get it like, you know, people just don't understand the Bible when they're not saved and
It's the same way as if someone's been blind their entire life
If you were to try and describe to them the color purple, it would be a futile exercise
Because they would be like what's purple? Well, it's kind of like blue and red. I'm like, what's blue and red?
Well the colors the sky's blue what does the sky look like
Like you can't how can you describe something to someone that's never seen in their entire life?
It's impossible just like it would be to explain doctrine to someone who's unsaved. They don't even have the light bulb on yet
Okay. So the first work is super clear preaching the gospel go to Hebrews chapter 6. I'm gonna I'm gonna prove this even more
You thought that I was done I had more and
Tell them what they get next. Okay, they get Hebrew six. All right, go to Hebrews chapter number six
This is an important point why because if we don't do this we cease to be a church did you notice that?
So we better make sure we're dialed in on whatever the first work is
Because if we're not doing it Christ is literally saying hey, I'm gonna take your candlestick away
So no matter what you believe you better believe that you're doing the first work
Right now, of course, we want to then establish what that verse work is so that our church is really emphasizing it
Look at Hebrews chapter 6 look at verse 1 therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ
Let us go on under perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and a faith or God
So he says we're gonna leave
the very most principal
Foundational doctrine. What is the first thing he mentions?
He says repentance from dead works and a faith or God, you know that is salvation
What is repentance from dead works dead works was trusting that you're going to church?
Circumcision and helping people is gonna get you to heaven and your pendant from that you said that doesn't save me
My works won't save me and I put all of my faith in Jesus his death bear and resurrection that saved me
That was the foundation. That was the moment someone got saved
Most people are still trusting in what their dead works and their dead works will never get them to heaven
There's nothing you could do to save yourself, but trust in Christ. And so that's the principle doctrine notice
Here's another word the foundation
the
Foundation go if you would back to first Corinthians
But go to chapter number three go to 1st Corinthians chapter number three when you're building a house
What is the first thing you build?
the foundation
You're not gonna build the roof first. You're not gonna put the curtains on you're gonna do what you're gonna build the foundation
And any construction project that is the most essential first work is getting that foundation
Right, and if the foundation is wrong, the whole building is gonna be screwed up. You have to get that foundation
Correct. Look at first Corinthians chapter number three. Look at verse number ten
According to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder
I have laid the foundation and another bill if they're on but let every man take heed how he buildeth there upon
For other foundation can no man lay then that is laid which is Jesus Christ
Notice what is the foundation?
It's Jesus Christ
So the foundation the first step in the Christian life is what getting saved and believing on Jesus Christ and he's that foundation
Go go to Romans chapter 15
I want to go one more go flip one page back or two pages back to the left. Look at Romans chapter 15 verse 20
I'll show you again and
Look at verse 20 it says yay, so I have strived to preach the gospel not where Christ was named
Lest I should build upon another man's
Foundation. So again Paul was I'm not baptizing or doing it
So I'm just going up preach the gospel and he's like where he's already gotten laid where the foundations already been there
I don't need to do any work
So what's that first work the foundational work and what was Paul really trying to do?
he was trying to get a lot of foundations laid and
Then he was allowing other people to come build houses on that right and if you think about the early church
What really gets churches started going to an area and getting a lot of people saved?
Then we can start getting them baptized then we can start building a church
then we start taking all those candles and we put them in what a
Candlestick. Okay, and and see here's the thing
What would be the point of having the candlestick if then none of those people are gonna ever preach the gospel again?
It doesn't it doesn't make any sense. So what was that first love getting saved? What was that first love preaching the gospel?
What was that first work?
It was getting people saved and preaching the gospel and when a church ceases to preach the gospel it ceases to be a church
Ceases to be a church, you know, if you look at our bulletin, you know what the first thing is the service and soul winning times. I
Mean we really are putting here on our first like one of our works our spiritual multiplication and our physical multiplication
Okay, and then we have restoration of the sick. Alright, so that's basically what our structure looks like, but what's our first work?
Preaching the gospel
That's what we emphasize and we should always emphasize and never stop emphasizing
That's so important go back if you would all the way to Revelation chapter number two
Super
Important that we recognize this and he makes one more final point here in verse six
He says but this thou hast that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate
another ambiguous
Section of Scripture and again, I believe everything's purposeful
Why would he not tell us or why is it that when we search through the Bible?
We can't figure out what the deeds of the Nicolaitans were and I'm gonna appeal to a similar logic
But you know, it took me a long time to think about this one day
I just kind of clicked and I thought you know if he had put a particular deed
This is what people would say
Let's say he just said I hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans. They commit fornication
Then they would say well, the only thing we can hate is fornication
This is what churches would do wouldn't they?
Whereas if Jesus doesn't hate one deed you say well what deed does Jesus hate?
Read this
And you'll figure out what things he hates
He doesn't need to tell you what's deed it was because the deeds
insignificant the point is that they hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans which are obviously contrary to the Bible and
What it's trying to help us understand is it's okay to hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans
Sometimes there's just certain things out there that we should just hate, you know
Pedophiles reading books to children in libraries if you don't hate that there's something wrong with you
And this is not the church for you. Okay?
I mean, there's so many evil things going on in this world that it's like if you can't hate that
There's something wrong with you
Okay, he's like hey, I really like that you hate these these deeds
Think about it
Christ is saying like I'm this is one thing that I really like about you guys
How much you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans?
You know and some people would be like, oh you guys just obsessed with hating pedophiles or whatever
It's like you know what I guarantee Christ is thinking like I just love the way that steadfast hates pedophiles. I
hope so I
Hope that it's not like the church is like welcoming them into the church or something like that
I mean, that's a commendable thing to be a church that hates the deeds of the Nicolaitans and he's saying are the deeds the Nicolaitans
Pedophilia, I have no idea what it is, but let's just substitute rape. Let's just substitute
Bestiality, let's just I mean we could plug and play all kinds of weird things
But there's some things out there that we should hate we should abhor that which is evil and cleave that which is good
Now I want to make one other point before we kind of move on to this next church
And and this is something kind of new to me when I was thinking about this this section of Scripture
but it seems like
Christ makes a connection in each epistle to the churches to his description of himself
now
Notice how he described himself in verse 1. He was someone who's walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks
Meaning what he's present in the church
He's there in the church guiding and protecting the church. Okay, but when you don't do the first works, what's that punishment?
He removes the church. And so we see kind of a direct connection
He's trying to remind us like hey the whole reason you even have a church is because of Jesus
The whole reason you're protected is because of Jesus
The whole reason you're not removed and not destroyed is because of Christ and if you don't go out and preach the gospel
well, then he himself will remove your church and
so he's kind of
letting us have a little clue here as the who he is to remind us of
Why we need to behave the way that we do and he's gonna kind of do this subtle clue throughout these
chapters look what it says in verse 7 he that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches to him
That overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God
Verse 7 to me kind of confirms what I've been saying to you that what we're reading here is not always just on the surface
That you kind of have to be spiritual to understand it
Don't you isn't that what he's saying he that have an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the church meaning that?
Unsaved people aren't gonna catch what we just put down
The first works are gonna kind of go over their head
The first love is gonna kind of go over their head the deeds of the Nicolaitans
You know people do they'll be like well
I found this old book somewhere that said this is what the deeds of Nicolaitans were
And it's like it's not about finding out what it was
It's just recognizing the fact that he hates certain deeds and then we use the Bible to figure out what they were
Not some secular source that'll tell you what they supposedly did because then this is what people do again
Well, that's the one thing we can hate and it's like that's not the there's not one thing
There's a lot of things. Okay, and you say well, how do I know you got to read the Bible?
You got to study the Bible
You got to have the ear of the spiritual ears and pay attention to what Christ is saying under the churches
And of course him that overcometh
Consistently, this is brought up in the Bible in first John
It's brought up but the person that overcomes is the person who believes in Jesus Christ
If you if you just go back like one page or two to first John 5
It tells us what it means to overcome look at verse 4 first John
Chapter 5 verse 4 for whatsoever is born of God
Overcome at the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith
Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus the Son of God, so the whole world
The devil the God of this world and the whole world is trying to get you to not do one thing
What is the one thing that the devil and the whole world wants you to not do believe in Jesus Christ?
And what's the one how do you overcome is you believe in Jesus Christ?
That's what it means to overcome them because just every force of this world
money and sports and fame and riches and drugs and alcohol and fornication and
Adultery and just food and culture and racism and social media
Everything's just trying to just drag you down into hell with them
And you know the person that overcomes is the person that says all of that is junk
I just believe in Jesus Christ and they're saved and notice what that person gets in
Revelation chapter number two they get to eat of the tree of life
Which is in the midst of the paradise of God that person's going to heaven
It doesn't say the person that gives up all their sins
Or is so much better than everybody else or is born in a specific ethnic family. I was born Jewish
No, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who you are
It matters if you believe in Jesus Christ or not
And those are the people that overcame are the people who believe they basically escape the lies of this world
This whole world is a big lie. And the one truth is faith in Jesus Christ
That's the person that overcomes verse 8 and under the angel of the church and Smyrna, right?
These things saith the first and the last which was dead and is alive. So now we've moved on to a second church
We talked about Smyrna
Notice the description of who's talking changed a little bit, didn't it?
It was kind of talking about the person that's in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks now
We're talking about the person that was and is to come and he's alive. He was dead and is alive
Verse 9. I know thy works and tribulation and poverty
Thou art rich and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not
But are the synagogue of Satan fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer
Behold the devil so cast some of you into prison
They may be tried and you shall tribulation ten days be thou faithful in a death and I'll give thee a crown of life
He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith in the churches he that overcometh shall not be heard of the second
death so again
Not all of this is gonna be plain. We kind of have to take a spiritual ear unto what's being described
What I think is interesting here
is that
What what is he kind of what's the message he's trying to give to them
Be thou faithful unto death. That's kind of the overarching message. You're gonna go through tribulation
There's there's difficulty here. There's struggle here
Some of you have been cast into prison and it doesn't say all of them just as some
So not the whole church just some of the church and they're gonna be tried and they're gonna have tribulation ten days
But he wants them to be faithful in death and he's gonna give them a crown of life
what I think is interesting is
What could give you the confidence to be faithful unto death?
The resurrection
Knowing that you will rise again
And what do you get the crown of life with that and how does Jesus Christ describe himself in verse number eight?
he said he's the first and last which was dead and
Is alive so what is that pointing to the resurrection of Jesus Christ?
So he's describing himself as the resurrection to remind them
Hey you guys be faithful in the death because why because you will get a crown of life and we see that connection of him
Describing himself in a certain way just to try and remind them of what they're supposed to do
Hey Christ is in the midst of the golden candlesticks. So we need to make sure to do the first works
Hey Christ is the resurrection
So, you know what?
We need to be faithful unto death and he's using these descriptors to kind of remind us of the attitudes and behaviors that we need
To have even though we're not Smyrna and even though we're not Ephesus we can still learn from their example
We can learn that the Jews are not the children of God
Who are they? They're the synagogue of Satan. You say who said that Jesus? I
Didn't say that now I'm repeating it. Okay, and you say what does that mean?
You know, obviously when we when we use the word Jew in the Bible, it can mean a lot of things
you know the Jew could mean someone who's ethnically from
a
Particular heritage it could mean someone who lives in Judah. They may not even be like Jewish of Jewish descent
They may just be a person that lives in Judah. And so they're a Jew
Also the Bible alludes to Jews as being a spiritual thing
someone who's believed in Jesus Christ has become a spiritual Jew and
Then there's also people that may not even be ethnically Jews may not even live in Judah
But they're of the religion of Judaism where they basically are of this Antichrist
God-hating religion and they're basically a Jew and
you say what what Jew is it here in verse number nine, I
Would say it's any of them that are not saved
all three apply if someone is saying like I'm really a Jew because of my
Genetics they're lying if someone says I'm a Jew because I live in Judah
That's not accurate if someone says I'm a Jew because I practice the Talmud and I do the Passover
they're lying the only real Jews in this world are those who have believed in Jesus Christ and
Those who are not and still claiming that they're Jews
They're the synagogue of Satan and there's only one religion that has synagogues
Judaism and I believe even the Jews today
Can be described here as the synagogue of Satan those who worship the devil now
I don't think that they I don't believe that the vast majority of Jews think that they're worshipping the devil
I think there probably is some that do are like kind of trying to worship the devil on purpose
But I think the vast majority of Jews are sincere in their religion like they they truly believe their religion
They're truly practicing what they think is the right religion, but they're obviously just worshipping a false god
Similarly you have this throughout the whole Old Testament people are constantly worshipping an idol
Sincerely worshipping that idol, but what was that idol? It was really a devil
It was a demonic spirit that they were really ultimately worshiping
I don't think they necessarily knew or realize what they're doing. I think a lot of Hindus in this world
They sincerely think that they're worshipping their weird false gods
But
Not realizing those false gods are really just the devil and demonic spirits
Okay, and again
I think that's the same with Jews and I wouldn't say that every single Jew is a child of the devil and every single Jew
Can't be saved, but at the same time they are
Actively worshipping the devil when they're practicing that religion, and they need to be you know
Told that so they can stop worshipping the devil and they could end up believing in Jesus Christ and getting saved
And and not going too far down that road to where they become what the Bible describes reprobate meaning that they'll never get saved
Okay, so we want to make sure we understand those points of course. They're the enemies of the New Testament
They're the enemies today. They're the ones that hate Jesus the most
You know it's funny. There's this little tiff. That's going online right now between Candace Owens and
Ben Shapiro
I don't anybody heard of this okay a couple people all right
Basically Candace Owens is basically saying like I don't think that Israel should just bomb
Palestinian children and all these people in Gaza
Just because of Hamas existing and and Ben Shapiro's is basically saying oh you're anti-semitic and such a terrible person for
For saying that because you know these these children are just shields for Hamas
So basically you're just promoting Hamas by not wanting their children to die
and
Then she like basically just quoted scripture
Like she just basically took a quote from the Bible and just posted it and then like Ben Shapiro said like you're being anti-semitic
For just like quoting the Bible
But you know I was actually surprised. She kind of just said well. You know what?
I
Can't be at fault for quoting the Bible
You're the one that's in the wrong you know and I'm more or less is paraphrasing what she said and I'll be honest
I don't really like Candace on that much, but just the fact that she least stood up for the Bible
Against men and she kind of acted like I'm surprised that you're attacking. You know the Bible verse that I put
Let me in let me let you in on a secret Candace. He's a Jew
Jews don't like Jesus they crucified him
through the hands of the Romans and
They hate the New Testament
They hate the Apostle Paul
They hate the Jesus Christ of the Bible
I don't know why you think that Jews love Jesus all of a sudden or something
I don't know why you think like oh, I'm gonna quote Jesus, and then this Jew didn't like it
It's like why can't Americans and Christians wake up and realize Jews don't like Jesus
They spit if they say his name
The
Tiny hats don't like Jesus my friend, okay
and we need to wake up the world on this issue, and I'm glad that some people are waking up and
Realize you know there's no reason to support one Antichrist religion against another you know
I think we should just be like stay away from all of us and
Of course if anything we preach them the gospel right why not preach them the gospel even the Jew
Let's go to verse number 12 the Bible says and to the angel of the church in Pergamos, right?
These things saith he which had the sharp sword with two edges
I know thy works and where thou dwellest even where Satan's seat is and thou holdest fast my name and has not denied my faith
Even in those days where an Antipas was my faithful martyr who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth
But 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 to eat things sacrifice and idols and to commit fornication
So as thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which thing I hate
Repent or else I will come unto thee quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth
He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches to him that overcometh
What I give to eat of the hidden manna and will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written
Which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. So here he's talking to the church at Pergamos
Notice how he describes himself. He describes himself as having the sharp sword of two edges now again
These descriptions are consistent with the vision that John had described in chapter number one
He's talking about how there was a sharp two-edged sword that was proceeding out of his mouth
he described him as having these seven stars and having these seven candlesticks and so
He also described himself as the person that was and is and is to come so he's using all the same language
But kind of making it more relevant to the passage that we're looking at here when we look at Pergamos
They're dwelling in a really dark area spiritually according the Bible. This is where Satan literally dwells and
You know Satan's not God
God can kind of be everywhere
God God is in heaven, but he's also got like an on my presence meaning he's everywhere, right?
But the devil is not everywhere
the devil is spatially located meaning he can only be in one place and he's
Deciding to dwell here at this point in human history
Today the devil is dwelling somewhere. I don't know where that is and
You know, we don't really necessarily know where that is
But I would guess this that there's a lot of persecution and a lot of darkness in that area
okay, so wherever you see Christians and churches having some of the greatest persecution and
Having a lot of evil. That's a very likely location where the devil or a major demon is at
Have you kind of pay attention some people would think like oh you're getting heavily persecuted. You're doing something wrong
Maybe you're just in enemy territory
You know and that's that's pretty cool
Kind of to think about like you can have a thriving church where Satan literally is
Like he can't even defend his own territory folks
Okay, you can just come into his neighborhood and take over his neighborhood, right and he had it
Sometimes you have martyrs though, right? You had a faithful martyr
Antipas who is slain but you know also the devil sometimes he can't destroy you directly
So he has to destroy you by other means the children of Israel could not be destroyed by Balaam
Balaam was unable to curse the children of Israel
So after failing multiple times to curse them
what he ended up having to do is he had to try to seduce them with sin and get them to destroy themselves and
Often that's how that's how the devil works
He can't destroy you because you're saved and because God's protecting you
But what he can do is he can entice you to sin or try to lead you away
With bad people and with temptation and you destroy yourself and that's what the devil really wants
And so in this church, we see kind of the same doctrine the doctrine of Balaam
That stumbling block of eating things sacrifices and idols and fornication was creeping into that church and it was going to destroy the church
fornication destroys churches
And really fornication destroys everything it touches according the Bible fornication destroys a country too because whenever the men
Prostitute thy daughters. It causes the whole land to fall to whoredom is what the Bible says
and you know America is being destroyed today because men aren't protecting their daughters and
Frankly speaking, you know
It's just the reality if a man was always keeping his daughter
Well-dressed and never allowing her to be alone with some young man, there would be a lot less fornication
Because men don't like their daughters to be violated in the presence
I don't know if you know this or not, you know, it kind of irritates the fire out of them
Okay
The reason why it's happening is because dad's not there is he he's either not in the home or he's not around or we're sending
All of our young ladies into college to where they're basically just committing rampant fornication
Being destroyed by men that don't love them don't care about them and it's just destroying our culture. It's destroying our population
Women aren't having children anymore and I preach those sermons on this. They're destroying their own value women have an intrinsic value
They're worth something and their virginity is worth something
But when they go and prostitute themselves and just give it to a bunch of young men for free
They basically zap all the wealth that they have out
Because then young men run into a young lady and they say hey, I'm interested in you and she's like well
I've been around the entire block and they're like, bye
And
Then they're like, oh men are pigs and men are disgusting and men are awful
Well, you kind of just ruined yourself and then expect people to want to pay for something that you don't have anymore
Right. Imagine if you went to the car dealership and you're gonna buy a car and they said hey
Every single person has driven this car and it has 10 million miles on it
But we still want you to pay the price for a new car. You're like get out of here
I'm not gonna pay the price for a new car
When it doesn't even have tires and the wheels and the upholstery is jacked up and there's smoke peak
There's smoke stains everywhere and it's like women
Have literally been driven up and down every single street with smoke stains and everything all over it
And then they're thinking I want a new price car and it's like sorry
Hey you had great value, but you sold that to someone else and you know what now you're destroyed and
Fornication destroys the young ladies in our society
and you know
There's nothing wrong
With some man deciding that he's still gonna love that young lady and take her and still pay that price
Because you know what there was women there were whores in the Bible that end up being great women later
So it's not that they can't be redeemed and restored but they also need to be realistic
about life and our culture and our society is destroying young women and it's destroying men and it's gonna cause
it's gonna cause us to have a
Giant population of single ladies that are just these angry blue-haired liberals
who just vote for the worst politicians and
They have their cats and they're just but I mean you've met ladies like this you meet that old lady
That's just bitter and has no children
Boy, they're the most bitter people you've ever met in your life
You know, it's because children make women sweeter
Okay, and and you know when they've just wasted their life and no one loves them and no one cares about them
And they've been divorced ten times, you know and their own cats don't even like them
It's just it's just like, you know, it just destroys society and it creates a lot of problems
I'm just telling you what's happening. We you laugh. It's really sad
Because it's it's it's happening
It's literally happening and it's destroying our culture
It's a stronger society and it can destroy a church if we let all the young ladies in here
Go out and be whores
then who are all the young men gonna marry and
Who's gonna bring in the next generation?
No one that's why us as men we have to stop and break that chain and break that cycle and say you know what?
We're gonna protect our daughters and we're not gonna let them get violated and we're gonna we're gonna marry off a bunch of virgins
To a bunch of young men and they're gonna repopulate Christianity and repopulate this world because you know what?
The world is destroying itself, but we don't have to and as God's children, you know the worst thing
For the devil is when we just start popping out great children
So what he wants to do is destroy us, but we can't let him do that
Even if even if he's in our backyard, you know
Also notice that it says in verse 15 the doctrine of the Nicolaitan so the deeds weren't just bad
It was also the doctrine and when you study the Bible doctrine is brought up over and over
Super important, you know, what does he describe himself as?
Well, he had said that he's the one with the sharp sword of two edges
What is that sword according the Bible is the Word of God and what's the two edges?
you got the Old Testament and you got the New Testament and
Every doctrine can be defeated with the Old Testament side and the New Testament side
You can just slice that thing up in a hey fornication
We can destroy that with Old Testament and we can destroy fornication with the New Testament
It's that sharp two-edged sword that we go out and you know what battle we do we battle doctrine
Oh, why do you care so much about doctrine? That's the battle we're in
Hey, we were in a physical battle. We'd have shooting practice
And we'd be rolling around and we'll be learning how to create grenades and all kinds of different things
But you know what? Our war is a spiritual warfare and what we were with is the Bible
That's why we're studying. This is we're doing shooting practice right now
We're sharpening our short this evening and we're learning how to use the shield of faith
And we're learning how to use the right kind of armor that the Bible has and how you defeat doctrine with the Bible
That's how you defeat it
let's look at verse number 18 and
Under the angel of the church in Thyatira, right?
These things say the Son of God
Who hath his eyes like unto flame of fire and his feet unto like fine brass
I know thy works and charity and service and faith my patience and thy works and the last three more than the first not withstanding
I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel
Which call herself a prophet is to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and eat things sacrificed unto idols
And I gave her space to repent of her fornication
She repented not be old
I'll cast her into a bed and then that commit adultery with her into great tribulation
except they repent of their deeds and I will kill her children with death and all the churches shall know that I am he which
Searches the reins and hearts and I will give unto every one of you according to your works
But unto you I say and unto the rest and Thyatira as many as not this doctrine
And which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak I will put upon you none other burden
But that which you have already hold fast till I come and he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end to him
Well, I give power over the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of a potter
Shall they be broken to shivers?
Even as I have received my father and I will give him the morning star
He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the church. So we have our last church mentioned Thyatira and
He has a big issue here where there's a woman Jezebel who's teaching and she's not only just teaching she's teaching false doctrine
Not a really good example of women preachers in the Bible
You say what's the good example of women preachers in the Bible? You don't have one. Okay
It's always a negative story somehow. Oh, what about Deborah?
Well, it was a shame that the king had to go and ask Deborah
He was such a coward that he had to ask Deborah to hold his hand to the paddle
Look when you need a woman to hold your hand to the battle, that's not a positive story. Okay, I
Mean imagine some guy challenges you to a fight and you're like I need my old I need this lady to
Walk with me, you know, it's like that's embarrassing. Okay, if you need some lady to tell you how to fight and
You know when the Bible brings up women preachers in this context
It's always negative because the Bible says that women aren't supposed to be the pastor not supposed to be the teacher
They're supposed to keep silent in the church. And of course, what's one of the things they're gonna do potentially teach false doctrine
Now it doesn't mean that men can't teach false doctrine. It's just that they're more susceptible
Obviously she was tricked in the garden by the serpent women are a little bit more easily deceived
They're a little bit more emotional
And so as a result God has ordained it that men are the leaders men are the pastors men are the teachers
this woman not only is teaching false doctrine, she's causing people to commit fornication and
Notice that God was really gracious with her
Which I believe is kind of an example of why she was probably saved
but you know because she just decided to just keep living a very unrepentant life a
Sin that would have got her thrown out of church if handled properly notice what he does
He's gonna kill her and her children with death. That's a serious punishment. Some people say all the God of the New Testament's really nice
This isn't that nice. It's gonna kill her and her children with death
But it it's showing you that God is serious he takes church serious
He takes what's preached by in the pulpit seriously, you know those of you that want to preach behind the pulpit
Do you ever wonder like I wonder if God's gonna kill me for what I preached
Instead of seeing like am I gonna get popular on YouTube? You should wonder if God's gonna kill you for what you said
Because that's more important than getting viral or then getting lots of views because you know
What Joyce Meyer gets a lot of views on on YouTube?
But you know what God's not pleased with her and you say well, why is God not killing her probably because she's not saved
and
That's why I think you know, but you know if you are saved
Then you should be terrified to get behind the pulpit and then preach lies
The false prophets they get to do it because God wants to use them to try and trap people and test their hearts
You know what? God doesn't want to test us as saved people seeing how many lies we can preach
he gets really angry at that and he's gonna judge his people and
Notice how he describes himself in this particular passage in verse number 18
He says that his eyes are like unto a flame of fire
Now that's important. Go through to Hebrews chapter 12 for a moment. Go to Hebrews chapter number 12
Why is he describing his eyes as a flame of fire is to show you that God still gets angry
If you saw somebody and their eyes were on fire
What does that denote?
This person's mad
Right this person's seeing wrath. Okay, and let me tell you something
Jesus Christ still has wrath in the New Testament
Especially for false doctrine and I like that this passage even brings up a woman preacher
Showing that God and Jesus Christ is not a respecter of persons. He's not gonna go easy on her just because she's a lady
He's still gonna kill the ladies
That means that you ladies need to take Christianity seriously
Christianity is not a religion just for men. It's a religion for men and women
It's not just for men and women. It's for children
Because you know what at one point in the Bible God sent two she bears and they tear 40 and two children
Because they were wicked and you know what?
We all that are in this room need to take Christianity seriously because we've been given much
I noticed what the Bible says about Jesus Christ says about God verse 29
For our God is a consuming fire
Our God is consuming fire. Now. I showed you that go back a few chapters to chapter 10
I'm gonna show you another thing keep that in your memory bank for our God is a consuming fire
Hebrews chapter 10 look at verse 26
For if we sin willfully
After that, we receive the knowledge of the truth remaineth no more sacrifice for sins
But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery
Indignation which shall devour the adversaries. What is fiery indignation super mad?
And it destroys people. What was it that we read in Revelation chapter 2? He's super mad at this lady
And what does he do? He destroys her. Okay, let's keep reading
He that despised Moses law died without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sore
punishment suppose he shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God and have counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith
He was sanctified and unholy thing and had done despite under the Spirit of Grace for we know him that hath said
Vengeance belongeth unto me
I will recompense say the Lord and again the Lord shall judge his people
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God notice what it says
You should be afraid to fall into the hands of God
You should be afraid of God you say well is God gonna send me to hell
Well, if you're saved no, you know what he could still burn you in this life
He could still destroy you with a fiery indignation in this life
And you know what he doesn't like it when his people just say nuts to the Spirit of Grace people say
Oh, you're one saved always saves a license to sin
When did I say that?
No one's handing out licenses to sin, you know, I don't go in my office and print out you may lie three times today
Here you go. Oh
You wanted fornication. Sorry. Here you go
Like it's not the Catholic Church where we're selling indulgences folks
I've never sold an indulgence. I've never asked or told or encouraged anyone to ever sin a single time and
Let me tell you something. I'm saying the exact opposite you sin God's gonna come down on hard on you
He's gonna destroy you and he can destroy you in this life
Go if you would all the way to Deuteronomy chapter 4 for a second go to Deuteronomy chapter 4 and you say
Why go there? Well, we got one edge of the sword. Let's get the other edge of the sword
Okay
Deuteronomy chapter number four and look at verse 24
Because we read a quote about for our gods are consuming fire. Look at Deuteronomy 4 verse 24 for the Lord thy God is a
Consuming fire even a jealous God. Hey, that sounds familiar, doesn't it? That's because the New Testament's quoting this passage, isn't it?
But what was the verse proceeding? What was the verse proceeding this? Well, what does it say? It says take heat on yourselves
Lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God
Which he made with you and make you a graven image or the likeness of anything which the Lord thy God has forgiven thee
What was it that made God so angry and caused him to make this passage saying he's a consuming fire?
Idolatry wasn't it idolatry go back if you would to Revelation chapter number two
Why do you think it is that Jesus Christ has his eyes as a flame of fire?
Because our God is a consuming fire and he's a jealous God and he doesn't want people to be sharing him with idols
Does he he gets very mad when people are getting mixed up in idolatry?
What does it say in verse number 20 again not withstanding?
I have a few things against thee because thou suffers that woman Jezebel which called herself a prophetess to teach and seduce my servants
to commit fornication and
To eat things sacrificed unto idols. What was it that caused him to get so mad at this woman wanted to destroy her
Idolatry, what was it in the Old Testament idolatry? Is it anything different? No
The Lord is the same yesterday today and forever. I am the Lord
I change not it's the same consuming fire of the Old Testament is the same consuming fire of the New Testament
And you know as a fearful thing to fall in the hands of the Living God
Now I just want to finish on this thought we already read the passage but in verses 26 to 29
He talks about how the person who overcomes and keeps his works under the end is gonna have power over the nation's and
They're even granted the same privilege. He says he received of his father is the morning star
but
This is what I was thinking about
This morning star title or whatever has been given unto Jesus Christ
kind of alludes to the idea of him being at the top and
You know, I was thinking about you know
Just a lot of us men we can kind of relate to the idea of being in a job
The top person is kind of like the CEO right if someone said hey, I'm gonna give you the CEO position
they're kind of saying like we're gonna give you the top dog position right and
Kind of in the same way, I think it's kind of alluding to this this idea and I you know
You go to a job or you go work for a company
Sometimes when you interview they might ask you this question like what's your goal?
Like what's your five-year goal or what? What's your career aspirations?
And if you work for a really really great company, or there's a really great company that you're trying to work for
What would be like kind of the top aspiration wouldn't it be being like the CEO?
Saying like I don't even just want to work for you guys. I want to be at the top of that company
That would be a really lofty and admirable goal
To work for that company and I think for a lot of us some of us even have that aspiration
We say like I want to keep rising the top. I want to get promoted at work
I keep showing I show up early because I want to get the next promotion. I'm
Clocking an extra. I'm
Doing overtime like I'm trying to work my way to the top or if you have your own business or trying to build it
Like we're all striving like that as men in our company
But do you realize that you work in the company of the kingdom of heaven
You've already been hired and
What Jesus Christ is trying to say is hey, I want to give you the top position. I
Want to get you where you got the Morning Star. I want to put you all the way there, but how do you get there?
Well, what did he say? He said in verse 26 he that overcome it so saved you have to be saved
Otherwise you're not even in the company but notice this and keepeth my works under the end
Now again, some people twist passages in the Bible say like oh you have to do this to be saved
This isn't talking about salvation. This is talking about being the top of the top of the top
Meaning what yet your works don't get you into heaven
but you know what your works do is once you're in heaven, they determine your position in heaven and
Notice who's at the top. It's the one who keepeth my works unto the end
It's not well, I went to steadfast Baptist Church a few times
No, it's the person that went to church to the end well, I went so winning a few times in my life
No, I went so winning to the end
Well, I tried to keep his commandments for a while. No, I kept his commandments to the end
Well, I you know, there was a controversy online. I made a comment one time on YouTube. No, it's the person that dies of martyr
It's the person that is faithful unto death it's the person that says hey, I'm gonna keep your works under the bitter end
But you know how many people today?
Didn't show up for their secular job
Like if you said I want to become the CEO of this company, but then they just skipped work today
that doesn't seem very like
Coherent like why are you skipping work? You think you're gonna be promoted like, you know, we're in the holiday season
You're hoping for that holiday bonus
You're like, but I'm just not gonna go to work in November and just see
It's like you're not gonna get the the holiday bonus when you're skipping work. You're not gonna get the holiday bonus
You're not gonna get the promotion when you're not doing your job
But then think about how many people are just like Oh Church. I'm gonna skip church this week
I'm gonna skip Biblery. I'm gonna skip soul winning. I'm gonna skip the things of God. Well, guess what? You're not gonna get promoted
That's
Just the reality who's the person that's gonna get to the top it's the person that keeps his works under the end
I'm gonna say this there's gonna be a lot of people in heaven that frankly speaking they
Don't do a lot
You know, they're not really that high of a position
They're the least in the kingdom of heaven, but they're still there because they believe in Jesus Christ
You know what this church we're not striving to be the least in the kingdom of heaven
This is a church where we're trying to encourage people to be at the top
And if that means that our church never runs thousands then okay, but guess what? There's not gonna be thousands at the top anyways
You say why do I go to church on Wednesday night? Well, are you trying to get to the top?
Why do I go so winning? Why do I do things that nobody notices? Well, what are you working for?
You know realize you you are employed you are in the company and you are gonna get a position that's gonna last
Forever some of us are striving so hard to get a position that we may only have for a few years
But did not realize you're working right now for a position that will last for all of eternity and here's my question
Where do you want to be in that company?
Where do you want to be in the kingdom of heaven?
It's important that we think about the sins we're making in our lives and and you really get to see what people believe by their actions
Do you really even I mean if you really believe and the rewards that God's gonna give you would live differently
If you don't really care about it or whatever
it'll be pretty obvious to and
You know these churches are evidenced by what by their works
unless steadfast Baptist Church be a church where we have so many believers that are striving to be pleasing unto the Lord and have works
unto the end and for him to look down and have a lot of positive things to say about us rather than just being like
You
Know I'd rather him have lots of I'd rather be one of these churches where it's a lot of positive things a lot of things
He likes about us and about us even personally
So let us make sure that we're thinking about who Jesus is to remind ourselves of who we should be. Let's close in prayer
Thank Heavenly Father so much for this this great chapter and these instructions you gave to these churches. Thank you for being such a great leader
Someone who protects us someone who guides us
Someone who's given us hope through the resurrection
someone who gives us the ability to fight with that two-edged sword and
someone who is
Gonna reward us according to works whether they're good or bad and
I pray that you would help motivate us not to live lives of destruction and while we're still saved
rather live a life trying to earn rewards and
a position in heaven that is worthy of
Being called a Christian
and I pray that you would just help to continue to motivate us for us to have more faith in your word and
To do all the things that we do for your honor and for your glory and in Jesus name we pray. Amen
All right for our last song we're going to do 356 I
Must tell Jesus
Three fifty six I must tell Jesus
Three five six
I must tell Jesus
All of my trials I cannot bear these
Burdens alone
My distress he kindly will help me
For his own I must tell Jesus
I must tell Jesus
I cannot
I
Must tell Jesus Jesus can't help me
I must tell Jesus
All of my troubles
He is a kind
Passionate friend
If I
Make up my troubles
I
Must tell Jesus
I must tell Jesus
I cannot
I
Jesus can help
Tempted and tried I need a great
I
Must tell Jesus
I must tell Jesus I cannot
I
Must tell Jesus Jesus can't help me Jesus
How the world
We
My heart
I
Must tell Jesus I cannot
Tell Jesus
Jesus
You