Laodicea - Lukewarm Christianity: The American Predicament, Pt. 2 - Revelation: The Apocalypse

You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

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God the Father wants you.

Today, Pastor Steve continues his series on the book of Revelation.

At The Road, our vision is to raise up whole-hearted disciples of Jesus Christ.

For more information on The Road, visit theroad.org.

We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

So turning your Bibles to Revelation chapter 3, and this is part two.

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

We started last week on the Laodicean church, and I shared my thesis last week is this the vexation of the church in Laodicea is the same in the American church today.

Let me say that again.

The vexation of the church in Laodicea is the same in the American church today, a lukewarm form of Christianity.

So of the seven churches in Revelation, the church in America, in my opinion, is closest to the Laodicean church.

Now there's aspects of every church in all of the seven churches that we've covered in Revelation 2 and 3.

But when you look at the Laodicean church, listen, the Laodicean church was the wealthiest church in the wealthiest city in the Phrygian region.

It was a city that had Mercedes Benz in the parking lot.

It was a church that had probably quite a staff on the pastoral staff of that church.

It was a church that had the latest technology.

It streamed its messages.

It had a nursing mother's room.

It was a church that had it all, and yet God looked at that church and said, even though you're rich, you're actually poor and miserable.

And I believe that God has so blessed our nation that we're at a time in our history where we have to go deeper than just the physical wealth of how God has so poured out his grace upon America, which I am a recipient of.

I'm blessed by, and all of you should know the blessings of that.

I'm glad you're experiencing that.

But to remember that the heart of God goes so much deeper.

So we looked at the first part of this, and we actually looked at the problem last week, and I'm just gonna sum it up a little bit again this week, and then we're gonna look at the solution.

What I love about the Laodicean commendation and criticism here is that Jesus actually says in this passage, like no other church, I counsel you.

Wouldn't it be great to have Jesus as your counselor?

A lot of great counselors out there, but Jesus would probably be the best one.

And he actually brings counsel.

And that's what we'll look at a lot.

So look at verse 14, and let's cover a little bit of what we covered last week so we can understand where we're going with this in relation to God's counsel.

To the angel of the church and the Laodiceans, right?

These things say the amen, the faithful, the true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.

I shared with you last week that this is the passage, this is the verse that Jehovah's Witnesses use.

And they say, because it says the beginning of the creation of God, that it's a misunderstanding of a Greek word that they make it sound like when they're presenting to you at the door when they knock on your door, or the Bible that they use, that Jesus was the first creation of God.

And I shared last week, and you have to listen to that, you have to stream it and watch it again, but I shared the fact that that actually means that Jesus was part of the initial creation of God.

And so we have John chapter 1 and we have Colossians chapter 1 that speak of Jesus as a part of and dwelling with God the Father in creation.

John 1 · chapter mention Colossians 1 · chapter mention

He wasn't the first creation, he was a part of the first creation.

I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot.

I could wish you were cold or hot.

So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth.

Verse 17, because you say, Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have no need of anything, or no need of nothing, have need of nothing, and do not know, actually, from God's perspective, that you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.

Now he's not saying that riches in and of itself is bad.

He's talking about a misplaced trust of where our trust is found and what we're dependent upon.

And so I shared last week and I'll cover again.

The Laodicean church is interesting because it was a part of a tri-city area in which there was the city of Colossi that had a cold mountain stream that flowed through Colossae.

And then there was Heropolis, which was six miles away, that had hot springs.

And from Heropolis, there was an aqueduct that had been built that ran those hot springs all the way, six miles, open aqueduct, into Laodicea.

And by the time those hot springs, that hot water had gotten to Laodicea, it was lukewarm.

And so they immediately could understand what he's talking about about lukewarm waters.

And I brought my water bottle up here because I carry this almost everywhere, and it's a reminder to me to drink this amount of water at least each day.

And I usually don't, but anyway, I do carry this with me.

And so what happens is I put this thing in my my truck and then I go into meetings and stuff.

I don't just carry it around with me everywhere.

Maybe I should, but when I get it, it's almost always lukewarm and it's nasty and it's gross, and that's why I don't drink all of it.

So, but this is also a reminder to pray until something happens.

Push.

And I don't do that very well either, but it's just a reminder.

So I just carry it around because it makes me feel better.

But actually, that thing gets lukewarm and it's yucky, and you've all had lukewarm water and it's it's nasty.

Here's why.

Because water coming from a spring is always hot or cold.

Did you know that?

I mean, it's always God doesn't produce from the ground springs of lukewarm water.

He has springs of cold water, which makes our beautiful mountain streams.

Or he produces medicinal waters, oftentimes kind of sulfur-based waters, which are hot springs.

And when I lived in Japan, I used to love to go to these islands south of Tokyo.

We'd take a ship out there during our vacation time.

It was my favorite place in the whole world, and I'd go there, and what I loved about it is we could snorkel out in the ocean, and it was kind of frigid, cold water, but then there were hot springs in the rocks right next to the surf.

So it was really cool.

So we would come in, we'd take all our if we were scuba diving, we'd take all the scuba stuff off, we were snorkeling, we take snorkeling stuff off, and then we'd just go in the hot water.

It was really neat.

And so you had hot water, ah, you know, like relaxing, and then you had cold water where there was a lot of life and fish and and kind of an adventure to be in the cold water.

And so God made uh water to be cold, that's refreshing, or hot, that's medicinal and relaxing, but he didn't make lukewarm water.

And lukewarm people are boring.

I mean, they are.

I mean the reality is, you know, you're kind of boring.

Because lukewarm people attract lukewarm people.

And so you that you get around them and it's a lukewarm conversation.

And so it's so, and it's like, you know, and you're you're trying to be nice and you know, ask good questions, I mean, because you're a good pastor and all that.

But the reality is you get around hot people on anything.

They get you fired up.

I mean, around here, it's maybe it's the Broncos.

You know, you get around people or Broncos, and it's like, oh, I mean, they know everything about the Broncos.

Everything.

It's like, and you, you know, you're trying to think of something to say, and like me, I don't know that much about the Broncos.

I just it's just W or an L.

I mean, in the last game.

Um, I usually know who the quarterback is, and I always go in that.

No, Tim Tebow's not the quarterback anymore, right?

Oh, what?

You're an idiot, you know.

But but hot people tend to attract hot people, and they're going somewhere.

There's something, there's momentum to their life.

And lukewarm people, Jesus says he vomits them.

I mean, we're talking like projectile vomiting.

And so lukewarm people give Jesus stomach flu.

And uh sometimes in our family with all the kids that we have, oh, I hate that.

That's like the worst thing ever, is when one kid gets sick.

We just had this.

We had through go through three, and then it's like, oh, and he's sick.

And then we thought we were just out, and then another one's sick.

And we said, quit drinking the same drinks out of the same, put them in the dishwasher, please.

And it's like, no way, it's everybody still gets sick.

But the reality is, is that God hates that, and so I talked about a few things.

So here's here's I want to give you four types of lukewarm people.

I covered it last week, I'll cover it really quick, and then we're gonna get into the solution that Christ gives.

Number one, I think this is one of the issues a lot with American Christians, and I'm gonna call it emotion-based faith.

So, number one type of lukewarm person is an emotion-based faith person.

That is, they have this flimsy emotional faith.

If they feel good about God, if they have a great worship time, if they have a great quiet time, they're awesome for about 24 hours, you know.

But as soon as difficulties come, issues of testing come their way, they collapse into their emotions because they've never developed.

And by the way, I'm for emotional faith.

I'm totally for it.

I believe we're supposed to know God's love in an emotional way.

Don't get me wrong.

I preach it all the time.

But if it's not built on a conviction based in God's word, you're gonna really struggle.

You're gonna really struggle.

And so, lukewarm people tend to be emotion-based to the degree that they don't have a strong conviction when hard times come.

And again, you can listen to last week to hear more about that.

Number two, armchair Christianity.

Armchair Christianity, comfortable?

I call it a just good enough walk with God.

It's just good enough.

They don't want to be challenged too much.

They want to be in a church where it's pretty comfortable, makes them feel good about themselves, but they don't really want to take any new steps of faith.

And so they the irony is that their comfort has actually become boring even to them.

So they're actually bored with their faith.

And they and there's something that says, I wanna, man, I want to be challenged, but then when you actually get challenged, it's just so hard to get out of the armchair because it's so comfortable in there.

Thirdly, this is a huge one, untrained civilian mentality, an untrained civilian mentality, an ignorance based on, listen, an ignorance based on lack of experience.

So when I talk about dreams and visions, when I talk about encountering the demonic, when I talk about casting out demons or going through a house and we cast out demons in a house, are we talking about a situation where we encounter a demonic influence, demonically empowered individual and we've had to cast that demon out?

I know of people that say to me on a regular basis, man, I want to learn how to do that stuff, but then when we actually do the training, they're not there, because the reality is they still have a civilian mentality.

This idea that Christianity is supposed to really serve them instead of them having a love, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

And so when that happens and there's opportunities to get trained, they don't get trained, and so they continue to live kind of like a civilian in a guerrilla warfare type war.

So your members are getting just taken out all the time, your sons and daughters are getting taken out, but you won't fast and pray.

And so you're going, your marriage is just going south, it's falling apart, but you won't fast and pray.

You've got a son that's hooked on drugs, that's totally demonic, but you won't encounter the demonic.

Because there's a civilian mentality that somehow we go to church and you know we took our kids to Sunday school.

I just can't understand why it's not turning out very well.

It's because you don't have a warrior mentality.

And so, folks, let me just tell you the rise of evil by the enemy is happening on a daily basis.

I get to Wall Street Journal and it's like, uh, uh.

If I didn't have a belief in what we're studying right now, the book of Revelation of the coming of the Lord, and the fact that God would never allow evil to arise without giving a commensurate level of power to his church through Jesus Christ, man, I would be really depressed.

And yet it's amazing how many people have a civilian mentality.

And then fourthly, and this is the most important one, especially for Americans, and this was the hardest thing about me coming back to the States after almost 10 years in Asia, is we're distracted and we're busy-minded.

We're so distracted and busy-minded.

We just don't have time to fill our lives with the best things of life.

So we've settled for good, which is the greatest enemy of the better, which is the greatest enemy of the best.

And so we don't have time to grow.

We don't have time for corporate fellowship, we don't have time for prayer, we don't have time for the springs and issues because we're just so busy.

And so what happens is we miss out on the power and the love of God.

So that was happening in Laodicea.

That's their situation.

And look at verse 18 and look at the first three words.

I love this.

I counsel you.

I counsel you.

Underline that, highlight it, box it in, circle it.

He's about, you're gonna be about to get counsel from Jesus.

If you have a red letter Bible, this is in red.

This is not in black, this is in red.

This is from Jesus, okay?

So John's in the cave on Patmos, and Jesus saying, Look, counseling session begins now for all you guys.

This is what you need to do.

You can't get any clearer than that.

We got all the New Testament now, but I mean, he's like really clear.

And he says, he says, Look, I want to guide you.

And then what he does is it's almost a parable.

It's kind of interesting because what he says is parabolic.

He gives metaphors that the Laodicean church would immediately have understood, and we will miss, because of us not knowing the history of the region, that is amazing.

So he says this.

Here's what first thing he says.

I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire that you may be rich, and white garments, so you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed, and anoint your eyes with eyesol that you may see.

Now there were three major industries, don't miss this, there were three major industries in Laodicea.

Number one was banking.

So the first thing he talks about is gold refined in the fire.

Second was wool, and he speaks there of white garments.

And then third, he it was medicine that one of the largest medical colleges, medical schools in that region was in Laodicea, and he talks about anointing our eyes with eyes out.

So the first thing he says, number one, is this I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire that you may be rich.

Strategic banking industry that even Cicero, the famous statesman and philosopher, mentioned as the location where he cased his letters of credit.

He's counseling, though, he's using that as a metaphor.

Like you value gold and you have one of the largest banking industries in the whole region, just like you would case your gold with the bank, deposit your money at the bank, I want to counsel you to go after a different kind of gold.

I want you to go after a gold that just like gold is refined in the fire.

I want to talk to you about a different kind of gold by which you come forth gleaming with a faith that can take you through anything.

So he's talking about, I'm gonna call it faith gold.

Can I just call it that?

I'm just gonna made that up.

Okay.

Faith gold.

That there's gold old and then there's faith gold.

And he's talking about a faith, men and women, that has gone through the fire and came out purified.

So, to understand, I think part of this issue is Revelation 17, where we're not there yet, but we're gonna get there, but it talks about Babylon.

Let me just talk about that.

The woman, I'm gonna read from Revelation 17, don't turn there, but it says, the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.

So this is during the great tribulation period.

We're coming up on that.

And on her forehead a name was written, don't miss this.

Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth.

Now, we're gonna talk about that when we get to Revelation 17.

Some believe it's the Catholic Church, some believe that it's the Roman Empire, some believe that it's the Antichrist, but it has seven different ideas about this.

But here's what I believe.

And this is one that I think many are starting to land on us.

We believe it could be the financial industry.

So that actually the mystery of Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots, is actually the financial industry.

So this kind of gold that will rule the earth, the banking systems, the stock market, the Dow Jones, the S P 500, he looks at that, so just think of it that way.

They're looking at that.

Everybody he's talking to in Laodicea is probably pretty wealthy for the area in the area of Phrygeia.

He said, look at that.

See how important that is.

I want to talk to you now about gold.

Maybe another way to say this.

I want to talk to you about stocks and bonds that have gone through a fire and been refined.

That's kind of a dumb one because stocks and bonds don't go through fires and stuff.

But gold did.

And so he uses gold.

And this is the way Peter, and if anybody understood this, it's Peter.

The guy who boasted that he would, you know, he'd follow Jesus anywhere, I'll always be by your side, and then he denies Christ.

He understood gold refined in the fire.

He said this in 1 Peter 1.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials.

Anybody here going through trials?

Raise your hand if you're going through a trial right now.

Pretty good trial.

I mean pretty a pretty bad trial.

Raise your hand.

Almost everybody in the room.

Okay.

So you understand it.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you've been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness, listen to this, that the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

I mean, it's like he took this thing right out of revelation.

And so this is Peter.

I remember I was thinking about this thing, oh, it must be 1 John.

No, it's 1 Peter.

Peter saying this, he's saying, look, that's what trials are all about.

That's the purpose of trials.

You can rejoice in trials, James says, because by going through trials, you have the perfect result that God's building endurance, and there's a fire he's taking a lot of you through to refine you.

And so what they would do is they would take this impure gold.

And in the old days they would boil it.

It's boiling.

And the dross, the impurities would rise to the top.

And then they had this skimmer.

And they would skim off the grime and the dirt and the impurities that were in it to the point where the goldsmith knew that this was pure gold when he could see his reflection in it.

When he could see a clear reflection of himself, he knew it's pure.

As pure as they could do it at that time.

Jesus is taking you, the Laodiceans, and we as Americans, through a refining fire as a country and us as individuals, a refining fire in our marriages and in our life and in our in our situations at our jobs, so that he can look at you and see himself.

He's boiling those impurities out of your life, if you'll let him, that he might refine you like gold.

And so this was something that Paul had to grow to understand.

So Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 talks about this thorn in the flesh that came to him.

He said it was a messenger of Satan.

And he prayed, and everyone else in this room does this.

We prayed, God remove it.

Take that person out.

I don't know.

I mean, don't take him out, but like, sort of take him out, you know.

I know none of you have ever prayed that.

But here's what he said.

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.

Concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.

And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Therefore, this is crazy what he says, just radical paradigm shift in Daniel's life.

I mean in Paul's life.

He said this, therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake.

For when I'm weak, I am made strong.

Hello?

Did you have a spiritual lobotomy, Paul?

What is going on here?

I mean, don't you need to renew your mind more?

You need to get more tapes from word faith guys.

You're messed up, man.

No, the reality is that he discovered, Peter discovered, and John discovered, that there is this secret to the Christian life.

It's a great secret, it's the great paradigm shift.

That actually trials filtering through to the wholehearted disciple from God are being used in our life to refine us to look more Christ-like, to be more of a reflection of Him.

And that if we can learn to war and to contend in prayer, sometimes for God to remove stuff, but also sometimes it's not going to be removed because the greater good is what He's doing in your life to refine you like gold.

So that that reflection of Christ might shine in your life.

So we rejoice.

Not because we like it, not because it's comfortable, not because we're not that we're giving up.

It's because God's doing a great work in your life, men and women.

To give up on you and to give in to Him.

His power and His grace and His mercy and His love is enough.

Because He loves you and you're beloved.

You're beloved.

And the hardest part of this is when it's happening to other people in our lives.

I think that's harder than when it's happening to us, don't you think?

Especially if you're a parent, you see it happening in your kid's life and stuff.

In the same way, God's refining you to learn how to intercede and how to contend in prayer.

Not you doing it, but Him doing it through you.

White garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed.

A white raiment in contrast to black wool is very interesting here.

The textile industry was extremely successful in Laodicea.

They raised a special kind of black sheep that produced a deep, shiny kind of black wool, which produced beautiful carpets that were famous all over the world.

He's saying, I want you to have white raiments.

I want you to be walking in the washed blood of Jesus.

Revelation 7, 14.

These are the ones who came out of the great tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Can you imagine that?

What he's saying is that your raiment are like black wool, which they would have all understood because of the unique sheep that were raised there.

And when those when that black wool is put into the blood of Jesus, it comes out as a white garment.

Pure, refined, forgiven.

You're forgiven.

Men and women, you're forgiven.

You're forgiven.

Isaiah 43, 18 and 19 are the key verses that God gave us in planting the road.

Don't look to the past, don't dwell on the past.

Behold, I will do a new thing.

I will make a road in the wilderness.

You are forgiven.

And God has washed you with the blood of the Lamb.

And you have a white garment.

Put it on.

Put on the white garment today.

Put on the white garment tomorrow.

Put on the white garment this week.

You are clean.

You are pure.

Yes, you still sin.

Yes, you still have some bitterness.

Yes, you still have some guilt.

You keep what you have to do is you just have to keep giving that back to God.

You have to keep giving that back to the Lord.

You have to continue to confess it.

And there's this process, as slow as it seems, God is supernaturally healing you.

He is supernaturally enabling you to emotionally experience his forgiveness.

And I'll tell you, until you experience it at the emotional level, you will continue to struggle with the guilt of it all.

And so God wants you to experience it.

And I believe it's true for every saint, all of you that are beloved in the Lord, that you continue to say, God, I still feel, I mean, I just hate that person now.

I just don't trust that person.

Ah, and by the way, you can forgive someone and not trust them, but you have someone in your life, or, and I know I say that because I think it's a lot of times it's people stuff, you know?

It's not like, oh, I am bummed out because I, you know, I lost$1,000 on the stock market last week.

I just can't get over it, you know.

15 years ago I lost$2,000 on the stock market.

I just can't get over that.

I've never heard of that, okay?

Okay, but I have heard about every day about us struggling with relationships that people have stabbed us in the back and betrayed us, divorces, people despising you because of something you stand for, something you believe in, or maybe even something you don't even believe in anymore.

It's amazing, man.

It's like it's like, oh, I'm still mad at him.

Well, why are you mad?

Because he did this like eight years ago.

I said, dude, that's like not even the same person.

Oh, yeah, they'll never change.

I know.

Look, I know them.

They're not that person.

They hate soccer now, you know.

Whatever.

And it's amazing what people carry with them that is like everybody's forgotten about it but you, you know?

It's like, hey, you know, anybody home?

You know, it's like that like passed like 18 years ago, dude, and people are carrying stuff.

And so he's saying, be washed in the blood of the Lamb and put on a new garment.

It's a new day.

It's a new day.

And anoint your eyes with eye salve that you may see.

So the famous school of medicine was in uh Laodicea, specially known for its eye salv, an otholomic ointment, a Phrygian powder that we put in little tablets even today, but they look like little loaves of bread with some kind of a phosphorus in it, crushed with a combination of oil and powder.

It was even mentioned by Aristotle.

So he's talking about an eye cell that was literally used for healing, eyesight, and eye problems.

So listen to what he's saying.

He's saying, first of all, you need a faith that's refining the fire.

Secondly, put on the blood of Jesus, put on the white garments of purity with Jesus.

And then thirdly, start having spiritual eyes.

I was on the phone with a guy recently, and I'm driving, and I make all my really like what I think, this is gonna be a long phone call.

Okay.

I know this is gonna be a long phone call.

And this is one of those, you know, it's gonna be a long phone call.

And so I called, I'm away from a baseball tournament in Longmont, and I'm driving, and I talked to him all the way from there to Black Forest.

Okay, so I'm the whole time talking.

And finally, I mean, I listened for the first 30 minutes, and I said, I can't listen anymore.

Dude, your life is horrible.

It's like the worst life.

He goes, Yeah, I know.

And I go, I can't take it.

And he goes, Well, you're a pastor, you're supposed to be able to take that, you know.

He didn't say that, but that's what I felt like he was saying.

I said, Look, here's your problem.

Your problem is you won't surrender to Christ.

Dude, you need eyes to see.

You need wisdom, you need spiritual insight.

You keep dating, you know, these girls and da-da-da, and all the stuff that was going on, you know, you know, that's confidential stuff, and nobody knows him.

He's not even in this state.

But he says all the stuff, you know, and I'm like, look, how are you gonna have eyes to see without spiritual eye salve?

Because I was just, you know, on this, I was working on this, from Christ.

It's from the Holy Spirit to see and have insight and have perception that's beyond your natural ability.

And so he gave his life to Christ, and we'll see what happens.

But, you know, finally said, uh, I said, I don't want to hear any more about your problems.

It's like, ah, you're driving me crazy.

I said, let's just start with the first thing, and why don't you get right with the Lord and let's see what happens.

Why don't you try a 31-day experiment?

31-day experiment.

Read the Bible every day.

P B and J, not peanut butter and jelly, prayer Bible journal.

Prayer Bible journal.

Just 10 minutes a day.

Try that.

Do not call me in the next 31 days.

I don't want to hear from you.

Because I'm just gonna tell you the same thing anyway.

I promise you, you can tell.

If you're thinking about suicide, call 911.

You know, don't call me.

But I mean, the reality is that, you know, 31 days, I'm gonna tell you the same thing.

Get right with the church.

Start praying, read your Bible and journal.

Start with the Gospel of John.

So we'll see what happens.

But don't you guys, don't you feel like that?

I mean, we need eyes to see.

I want to be able to have the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.

I want to have the Bible in the hand and my marriage in the other, and the Bible in my hand, and all those dumb relationships I'm involved in in the other hand.

And so that we can begin to see, have spiritual eyes to see.

Hello?

You guys know what I'm talking about?

If you're not in the word, you won't know what to do.

You won't.

I mean, I love the fact that we have experience, and that's great.

Experience is great.

But I need present-day experience, not two years ago experience.

That's called Rhema.

Rhema means present, moment by moment revelation from God's Word.

We need Rhema, not just logos.

And as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, therefore be zealous and repent.

So some of you need to repent in this room tonight.

I mean, you just need to get right with God.

And, you know, when we go into worship, when Luke leads us in worship, lift your hearts to the Lord.

I mean, drop your crummy marriage, you know, behind.

And drop your issues at work and your jealousy and your strife and your envy and say, God, change me, transform me.

I give you my heart.

I give you my life.

I give you my attitude.

And man, Jesus loves that stuff.

That's like Jesus' MO stuff.

I mean, that's what he does.

He's just looking for people.

He's not looking for perfect people.

He's looking for messed up people who want to be perfect.

And he shows up and says, repent.

Hebrews says this: My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him, for whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and he scourges every son whom he receives.

And so that's what God does.

He's in some of our cases, he's just chastening us.

He's giving us a little spanking.

I mean, did anybody grow up?

I mean, anybody grow up where you got like paddled or something, you know, corporate?

Oh, a lot of you, that's great.

Must be from the South, man.

I remember being chased around the house with a switch.

And I mean, it hurt.

And she just ripped my pants down, man.

Take those pants down.

And I, by the way, I'm not suggesting you do that today.

Somebody will turn you into DHS, don't do it.

It's not good.

But that's what they did back then.

So he's saying that I chasten you, and he chastens you, and he and he disciplines us because he loves us.

I think a better way to think of it is what made later my parents, you know, my parents are like really super liberal and stuff and everything.

And it's like you think, like, no corporate, but they were not liberal on that.

They were liberal actually in giving corporate pun qu'al punishment.

Um, but then my dad changed somewhere like in junior high, and this is more what I've done, it's like 25 push-ups.

What?

You know, run around the house in the snow, naked.

Yeah.

Not real, not really, I'm only kidding.

But we do run around the house.

That is something we do.

That's harder in suburbans because you got, you know, jump that fence.

You know.

Twenty pull-ups.

No help.

No food until you do 20 pull-ups.

I don't know.

But anyway, I'm just saying that God He does chasten us and everything.

Then He says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with me.

This is one of the most famous uh Christian paintings.

And this comes from William Holman Hunt, and it's called uh Jesus with a lamp.

But if you notice, his right hand, or our left, when we're looking at he's knocking at a door.

And we believe this comes from Revelation 3.20.

Um, he's knocking the door.

If you look closely at that door, there's no latch.

There's no latch.

And uh William Hunt was asked soon after the painting came out, is did you forget to do like the latch?

And he goes, No, because the latch is on the inside of the door.

You men and women open that door.

Behold, I stand at the dark.

If anyone opens that door, he's speaking of you opening that door.

And so Jesus, A, wants to come into your life, but B, what does it say?

He wants to dine with you.

And we're not talking about, you know, I was at Chick-fil-A yesterday.

I tithed at Chick-fil-A yesterday.

Someone once said to me, said, you know, I don't tithe to the church, I tithe at Chick-fil-A.

He was being funny, but but so it's not fast food dining.

It was Jewish dining.

And in a home, in a Jewish home, when you dined, it was a long, it was like four or five hours.

And you you reclined on usually a low-lying table, and there was fruit, and there was vegetables, and then there was lamb or there was some kind of meat, and then there was wine, and then there was more wine, and then there was more wine.

And uh, but they hung out.

You know, you hung out, and you and you just kind of went for hours.

That that's what he's talking about.

Jesus wants to dine with you, he wants to know us.

Isn't that cool?

Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone opens that door, I will come into him and dine with him.

He wants an intimate fellowship, konania, relationship of personal integrity and personal give and take where we can be honest with him and he can be honest with us.

If you've never opened the door of your heart to Christ, do it tonight during communion.

As we take the Lord's Supper, get with one of us, come up to me, come up to one of our shepherds or stewards, it'll be over here.

Say, I want to receive Christ, I want to open the door of my heart.

We would count it a joy and an honor to pray with you to receive Jesus Christ.

You know, Jesus doesn't want anything from us.

He doesn't want anything from you.

He wants you.

He doesn't want your money, he doesn't want your gifts or your talents, he wants you.

He'll take care of the other stuff over time.

I don't want anything from my kids except them.

I want them.

I want their heart.

I don't want their stuff.

I want them.

God the Father wants you.

It's a good deal.

Jesus wants to come into your life and change you from the inside out.

The latch is on the inside of the door.

We open it.

He's knocking.

And to him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to churches.

You know why I like this last part?

Is because Jesus seems to really dig overcomers.

He really likes people who aren't quitters.

Some of you have been quitters your whole life.

Soon as the heat gets turned up, you book it.

How about if we change that tonight?

How about if we become overcomers?

And we decide, you know, I've tried doing it in my own power for 35 years, and I'm really tired of me.

I know what I can do.

Why don't we see what Jesus can do?

And he promises that you'll sit on the throne with him.

So evidently he likes to sit on this big throne that we're gonna look at.

Actually, next week we're gonna look about a throne in heaven in Revelation chapter 4 and chapter 5 over the next couple weeks.

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

And he likes to sit with overcomers.

I like overcomers.

I like my kids when they overcome.

I like overcomers because there's just they just make me feel good.

Because I want to quit so much.

How about you?

Anybody here like think about quitting here once in a while?

Like, you gotta get better than this, please.

So then you hang out with overcomers, and Jesus likes to hang out with overcomers, and I think he dines longer with overcomers.

So that's the counsel of the Lord.

That's the way that we break lukewarmness.

It's Jesus' counseling session tonight, and he shows us how.

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