Revelation 3: Hear What He said to the Churches

As you know, we have changed our Tuesday night,

mixed it up, and so he was not all that happy

with us. He's not a member, so he doesn't get

a vote, but he wasn't very happy with us that

we changed up our schedule and did less worksheets

and less lessons that we were broadcasting on

Tuesday night. So I just thought that was funny

that you would get kicked out of it. Well, we'll

be online after this, not on video, live. Yeah.

Yeah, but it'll be on the podcast. And then when

I do the podcast, they can actually print the

worksheet off and then fill in the blanks with

us as we fill in the blanks. It could be fun.

I don't know. It's not new to me, so I wouldn't

do it. Okay, so as you can see on your worksheet,

we are looking at Revelation 3. Jason, what's

the last book of the Bible? Say it again. Say

it again. You're wrong, sir. You're incorrect.

What is the last book of the Bible? Say it again.

Can anybody help him? It's Revelation. There's

no S. You and 80 % of Christians across the world,

so you're in good company. But the book is Revelation,

not Revelations. Why? Because it's just one revelation.

The whole book is the revelation of John, right?

So it's just one revelation. Now, it seems like

it has a bunch of revelations in it, but it's

just one revelation, right? So it's the revelation

to John and of John. Hey, Tony Tate, where was

John when he had the vision that was translated

into the book of Revelation? Do you remember?

Nope. Yeah, the island of Patmos. That's very

good. So we've got at least... One trivia that

we know as a group. Awesome. So there's not a

ton of blanks here, as you can see. In the book

of Revelation, we're looking at Revelation chapter

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

3. When we get to verse 20, I want you to know

that it is one of the key verses that I use every

time I'm witnessing, and either I am successful

in leading someone to Christ, or if they are

saying that they already know Christ. So either

one, if we're confirming whether they've said

they're already saved, And then I go, that route

takes me through being born again, and then to

Revelation 3 .20. And if, on the other hand,

if I've led them to Christ, then it takes me

directly to Revelation 3 .20. Okay? I'm sorry,

what was the book? Revelation 3 .20. Where he

says, Behold. Yeah, I stand at the, yep. Okay,

we'll get there. Okay, so Revelation 3, I'm going

to read verses 1 through 6, and then we're going

to zoom through the blanks. They won't be too

tough. I will tell you that there are two blanks

on your paper that I have no idea what goes in

them. So we'll do those together. So, in fact,

I'm pretty sure the letters are wrong, but maybe

you'll come up with something. I don't know.

So when we get there, we'll see how that goes.

Because I had to go back and fill, after I did

all the blanks, I had to go back and fill in

the blanks, and I forgot what went in some of

the blanks. I told you it was very fast. Okay.

All right, here we go. Revelation 3 .1. I'm going

to say Revelation a whole bunch of times so we

all walk out of here remembering there's no S.

Revelation 3 .1. Here we go. Write to the angel

of the church in Sardis. The one who has the

seven spirits of God and the seven stars says,

I know your works. You have a reputation for

being alive, but you are dead. Be alert and strengthen

what remains. which is about to die, for I have

not found your works complete before my God.

Remember, therefore, what you have received and

heard. Keep it and repent. But if you are not

alert, I will come like a thief, and you have

no idea at what hour I will come against you.

But you have a few people in Sardis who have

not defiled their clothes, and they will walk

with me in white, because they are worthy. In

the same way, the victor will be dressed in white

clothes. And I will never erase his name from

the book of life, but will acknowledge his name

before my father and before his angels. Verse

6. Anyone who has an ear should listen to what

the Spirit says to the churches. Okay, so here

we go. Right from the top. I know your deeds.

You have a reputation of being alive. Very good.

But you are dead. So before we go any further,

notice there, with everybody, we already know

this, don't we? That with everybody, there can

be a lot of difference between reputation and

fact. So you hear a lot of things. Sometimes

you hear something negative about somebody and

you think that they're doing something negative.

You should probably try not to hear negative

things about people if you can do that. But some

people will tell you before you know it's coming.

And their reputation may not be the same as fact.

In the case of the church at Sardis, they had

a reputation for being alive. So that means that

in the kingdom of God, in other churches, other

places, they were known, believed to be alive,

active, growing, working, doing things. But actually,

Jesus is saying they're dead. So then the next

one should be pretty easy. Wake up. It's a P.

It's a big word. Strengthen what remains. That

was verse 2. What would it mean to strengthen

what remains? What is he saying? Within the,

say the last part. Within your spiritual body,

okay? So individually, corporately, as a church.

This is written to the church at Sardis, right?

But it would be individually, corporately, as

a church, whatever, to strengthen what is still

godly in the spiritual body, right? To build

it up, to make it work together. So let's just

hypotheticals for a second. Let's say you have

a church and you've got 40 people coming. And

of those 40 people, the majority of them, they're

just coming to be coming. It's more, this is

just what I do, going through the motions, whatever.

But maybe there's, say, 8 or 10 who genuinely

love the Lord. They want to serve God day in,

day out. Not just one day a week or just Tuesdays

and Sundays, but every day of the week. What

does that verse tell us we should do? You got

32 people out of 40 who are kind of going through

the motions and eight who love the Lord and truly

want to serve him. What should we do? Okay. I

think what you're talking about is very loving,

but it is not what the verse tells us to do,

unfortunately. I think that is what we do, what

you described what we do, because we do love

people, right? But what is the verse actually

telling us to do? It says strengthen the eight,

right? Now, here's an interesting thing. Does

anybody here go to the gym? Any gym goers? No,

yeah, me either. So you go to the gym, and you

see these people at the gym, right? And some

of them are like, they've been going for years.

They're eating right. They're pretty ripped.

They're buff, whatever. Or girls are slim and

muscular. And you think, well, they can probably

run a five -minute mile, four -and -a -half -minute

mile or whatever. There might not be tracks.

I'm not like them. And I go to the gym, I think,

well. I don't compare with anybody that's at

the gym. I'm not like anybody that's at the gym,

right? So the people at the gym, they're pumping

iron, they're jogging on the treadmill, whatever.

And people like us come to the gym and they come

a few times, a couple times a week for a few

weeks, right? Maybe two times a week for 10,

maybe 20 weeks, right? And all the while, the

people at the gym, what are they doing? They're

strengthening themselves, right? Now, it's encouraging,

isn't it, to think that you could be like them

someday? If you, too, went to the gym and ate

right and did that, you could get like that,

too. That's encouraging, right? But they don't

stop at every new person that comes into the

gym. They say, hey, if you do 12 reps instead

of 10, next week you'll have .0004 more muscle.

They don't do that. They don't say, hey, I see

you drinking water. You should be drinking Gatorade.

If you're drinking Gatorade, you'll be strong

enough. They do their reps. They do their workout.

They show up. They show up every time. And so

we have to realize that ultimately, it's very

loving to be concerned about people who aren't

with the Lord, who aren't truly walking it, who

aren't truly living the way Jesus would want

them to live. That is good. We don't want to

dismiss them. We're not trying to write them

off or say, get away from me. I don't like you.

You stink. We're not trying to do that. But you're

responsible for you. And if you're truly walking

with the Lord, you're responsible to strengthen

that, to work on that, to grow, to learn, to

do everything you can do. And you can't do it

for anybody else. You can encourage them, and

I'm not disagreeing that you should encourage

them, but ultimately you're responsible for strengthening.

Now, if you're not walking with the Lord, there

is no solution, right? You can't not walk with

the Lord and grow stronger in the Lord. You understand

that, right? You cannot not walk with the Lord

and grow strong. There's only one solution that

actually works, and it is to repent, right? To

turn back to the Lord in fullness, to dedicate

yourself to God. Then you can strengthen what

remains, right? There was our disillustration

on that point when I was going to the Y very

consistently in my early part of my health journey

I was trying to get my health back. I was going

very like two three times a week and there was

a couple there I didn't know they were a couple.

They were married and I didn't know it because

they never talked to each other while they were

there or nothing. And they worked their butts

off. And during the time that I was going, they

both lost like 60 pounds. And you'd think he

was like a bodybuilder. He got pretty ripped.

And I don't know if he was taking chemicals or

what. But in the six months, he really started

looking good and did a good job getting healthy.

And so did she. She was doing a great job. And

then I didn't go to the Y for about two years.

For like two years, I didn't go to the Y. And

I went to the Y and I had gotten, in the two

years I was not going to the Y, and I'm not saying

anything negative about the Y, I had gotten way

healthier. I had lost like almost 20 pounds.

I was taking my vitamins and supplements and

drinking a lot of water. I had gotten way healthier

in the two years. And both of them had gained

back like 40 pounds. Now they were going to the

Y when I went, but I had to assume in the two

years in between. They either were not going

or they really had not taken care of themselves

one or the other because they lost all that gain.

They looked so good and so strong, and they made

me look like a piece of dirt or whatever. And

then when I came back in two years, I looked

pretty good compared to what I was two years

before, and they had gained back like 40 pounds

of weight that they had lost. And I'm not saying

anything about weight. What I'm saying is you're

responsible for you. And the church at Sardis

was being reminded to strengthen what remains.

If you're dead, you get life from Jesus. If you

got life from Jesus, you live for Jesus. Does

that make sense? Okay, now back on task. Jesus

calls us to be spiritually louder. Okay, it is

alive. In the text, it's alive. So awareness

and being alive or aliveness, which is not a

word, those two things are very similar in the

Bible. Like you say, alive and aware, they're

very similar. But being aware can be very worldly.

Right? It can be very worldly. Like, I woke.

I awoke. You hear that term, right? So I'm woke.

So it can be a very worldly thing. Jesus calls

us to be spiritually alive, not just looking

alive. The faithful will be dressed in white.

When I was 16 years old, I was the youngest member

of a constitutional congress at the University

of Toledo. We went in and had a proposal to rewrite

the constitution. All these kids from all over

the state. And I wore all white. White pants,

white shirt, white jacket. And it was white.

Bleach white. It was nice. It was very pretty.

I liked it. I thought I was cool. And my team

was discussing our constitutional amendment.

It was sunny outside, and they were sitting outside

on the patio. And I came out the door, and I

walked it, and they all went like this and looked

away as I came out because the sun was shining

on me, and I was in all white. And when I walked

out, I'm like, what? What happened? And she said,

well, you're in all white. I mean, she said,

not that it doesn't look good. It's okay. It's

fine. But just like glaring when you came out

into the sun. And you have to realize. This is

that kind of white. Okay. All right. So now this

is an action point. So this is for you. Not going

to call on you for an answer, but you should

have one. Where in your life are you tempted

to look outwardly or look alive outwardly, but

actually you are dry inside? What are you doing

in your life or what part of your life you want

to look alive? You're tempted to look alive,

but actually you're kind of dry and not actually

there. No, don't share it with me. Just write

something on the paper for yourself. This is

your paper. I have done it too many times to

count in my Christian spiritual walk. So if you

sit there and say, well, there's nowhere in my

Christian walk that I would want to look alive

and not actually worry about being truly alive,

I think you might be kidding yourself. There

are many places that we can be tempted to do

that. Okay, section two, the church in Philadelphia.

Verses seven through 13. Here is what the word

of God says there, since I find the little number.

Write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia.

Oh, side note, what does the word Philadelphia

mean? Anybody? Anybody got it? Tony Tate might

have it. Give it to me. It's brotherly love,

that's right. So, phileo, right, is brotherly

love, and then the city of Philadelphia would

be the city of brotherly love. Alright, write

the angel of the church in Philadelphia, the

holy one, the true one, and the one who has the

key of David. who opens and no one will close,

and who closes and no one says, I know your works

because you have limited strength, have kept

my word, and have not denied my name. Look, I

have placed before you an open door that no one

is able to close. Take note. I will make those

from the synagogue of Satan who claim to be Jews

and are not, but are lying. Note this. I will

make them. come and bow down at your feet, and

they will know that I have loved you. Because

you have kept my commands to endure, I'm sorry,

my command to endure, I will also keep you from

the hour of testing that is going to come over

the whole world to test those who live on the

earth. I am coming quickly. Hold on to what you

have so that no one takes your crown. The victor.

I will make him a pillar in the sanctuary of

my God, and he will never go out again. I will

write on him the name of my God and the name

of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which

comes down out of heaven from my God and my new

name. Anyone who has an ear should listen to

what the Spirit says to the churches. Okay. See,

I have placed before you an... Open door. Yes,

indeed. That no one can shut. Since you have

kept my command to endure patiently, I will keep

you from the hour of trial or hour of tempting.

Depending on your translation of the Bible, the

word there is in the Greek basically means a

tribulation or a trial that tempts a person.

All right, here's the one that I couldn't remember

what goes in the blank and maybe the letter's

not right. Jesus opened doors for blank and faithfulness.

I had an M there, but I can't remember what the

M stood for. Anybody got it? By committee? What?

Meek? That's not bad. I kind of like it. So meek

is like being modestly. unassuming or not forcing

your will on other people. So weak is unable

to force somebody. Meek is choosing not to force

somebody out of modesty or restraint. Yeah. And

by the way, the Bible says what? Does the Bible

say that the weak shall inherit the earth? No.

It says that the meek shall inherit the earth.

Yep. There you go. The meek shall inherit the

earth. Did you get a worksheet, Alex? Oh, I'm

sorry. Are you back here too? Okay, well, you

can get the other answers. Oh, and my page turned.

Okay, all right, so meek is not bad. Meekness

would be the, if it makes sense, for meekness

and faithfulness. Anybody else got another one?

Or even if it doesn't begin with an M, because

I'm not positive now that the word was supposed

to begin with an M. Say it again. Mindful? That's

not bad. I like that. Righteous could be. I'm

not sure. Righteousness. Righteousness. faithfulness

okay so we understand the concept the idea here

is that Jesus is opening a door for those who

are genuine right those are real so your relationship

with God is real the door is open and will stay

open for you your your entrance to heaven is

the pathway is clear okay but if you're faking

it Or if you're kind of mean to people, like

you're standing on people's shoulders to get

where you're trying to get, you're stepping on

toes, whatever, you know, kind of harsh, then

not so much. So have you ever heard the old saying,

sometimes God closes a door, but he opens a window?

Not really biblical, right? Have you ever heard

people say, well, I know God wanted me to do

this because otherwise he wouldn't have opened

the door for me to do this? Also, not really

biblical. There's no standing for that, right?

You have to be careful because the Bible is very

clear in the New Testament about us interpreting

signs. And when an opportunity comes along at

a suspicious moment in time, people are like,

oh, this must be it because it's kind of, otherwise

it wouldn't have come, right? Otherwise I wouldn't

have had this suspicious opportunity. And that's

not what God wants you to do. God wants you to

have a relationship with him. So we don't have

a set of rules. We don't go by signs. We walk

with Jesus. And just like I talked about on Sunday,

you can know the mind of God. You don't have

to have these tenfold laws and everything like

that. Through the Holy Spirit, we know the mind

of him whose Holy Spirit it is. Okay. So he promises

then to write his name on the faithful. Very

good. Yeah. That's a good point. So this text

is definitely not talking about once -in -a -lifetime

opportunities or fire sales or, well, I know

I got to. Right now, I'm in a hurry. I got to

get this in before the deadline or anything like

that. That's not what this is talking about.

This is talking about Jesus is opening a way

that you can go that will never shut. Faithfulness

is talking about loving other people, which is

hard. And it's hard to love them even when they...

kind of suck, and they're not lovable, right?

But you can, because God has opened a door that

never can be shut, no matter how much. It's like

Stephen and Jesus praying, Lord forgive them,

for they know not what they do. For the people

that were crucifying them, it's like, I have

a hard time loving, I'm just being frank, I have

a hard time loving people who are being mean

to me when they're not throwing stones or pounding

nails, but the example has been shown to love

people even when they're throwing stones or pounding

nails. So those are the kind of doors that we're

talking about. All right, so that being said,

write for yourself. Again, I'm not going to ask

you to answer this. Write for yourself, what

open door is God giving you right now to serve

or witness? So is he opening an opportunity that

should be an opportunity? It's not just, I can

do it right now this one second, but it's the

kind of person you might become. I'll give you

an example. We have a couple of people in this

room that are very good at talking to people.

Like they could just shoot the breeze with anybody.

And then there's some of us that are kind of

like, I'd be okay if I went the whole day and

did other than greetings. No significant conversations

because I'm not really a social person. So if

you're a person that can just talk to anybody

about whatever and you don't mind being in a

conversation, then that's an open door for you.

That's an opportunity for you to talk to people

about Jesus, talk to people about the word, to

bring them into all kinds of conversations that

you might have. But if you're the kind of person

that, that just doesn't talk to people very much

and not very social, then whenever the opportunity

presents itself, then you're going to have to

require yourself to be found faithful. So you're

going to have to talk to them about whatever

to get to the conversation of talking about Jesus.

So your fruit is different. The first person

is just taking the open door the easy way, if

you will, that God is providing for them that

will remain open because they're social and they're

able to talk to everybody. The other person is

going to get a completely different growth because

they're going to be required to do something

that they would not normally feel comfortable

doing. So now they might learn in self -discipline.

They learn in mental and emotional strength,

for example, that kind of thing. but what is

your open door that God is giving you right now

to serve or witness? The commands that we have

in scripture clearly point to we are supposed

to serve or witness. So how is God making it

possible for you to do that is the question.

Okay, now section three, we're moving right along.

Section three is Laodicea. And that's where we

run into that verse that we mentioned and somebody

quoted most of it. Revelation 3, beginning in

verse 14. Write to the angel of the church in

Laodicea, the Amen, the faithful and true witness,

the originator of God's creation says, I know

your works that you are neither hot nor cold.

I wish that you were hot or cold. So because

you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I'm

going to vomit you out of my mouth. Not spit.

Spit would not be a strong enough word to reflect

the Greek word used there. Not talking about

spit. 17. Because you say, I'm rich, I have become

wealthy and need nothing, and you don't know

that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind,

and naked. I advise you to buy from me gold refined

in the fire so that you may be rich, white clothes

so that you may be dressed. and your shameful

nakedness not be exposed, and ointment to spread

on your eyes so that you may see. As many as

I love, I rebuke and discipline, so be committed

and repent. Here's 20. Listen or behold, I stand

at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice

and opens the door, I will come into him and

have dinner with him and he with me. Verse 21,

the victor, I will give him the right to sit

with me on my throne, just as I also won the

victory and sat down with my father on his throne.

Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the

Spirit says to the churches. Top line under the

church in Laodicea, you are neither hot nor cold.

Very good. Notice he says, I wish you were one

or the other. Isn't that an interesting thing?

Hot would mean like passionate, running for the

Lord, serving, doing stuff all the time, whatever.

That would be hot. Cold would be like, I never

watch TV. I need a snack. I'm going to hang back.

I'm not real committed, right? Hear me when I

say this. Jesus just said he'd rather have you.

Either hot or cold than lukewarm. Is that not

crazy? Jesus would rather have you either running

all out for him, which would really be good.

That is a good thing. Or lagging back and not

really doing nothing. He'd rather have you lagging

back and not really doing anything than lukewarm.

I absolutely agree with that. That's part of

the reason why, for sure. And that's the accusation.

They think they're okay. So this is people that

were going to church, to use modern context,

going to church every Sunday, every Tuesday.

They were tithing and more. They were serving

in ministry. They're doing all these kinds of

things. They're actively involved. They'd be

considered pillars in their church. Yet, their

hearts were not really for him. They weren't

doing it for those reasons. They weren't passionate

about it. They were doing it because they were

okay. And this is a big portion of Christianity

that's out there in the world. It's a big portion

of people that would say they're followers of

Jesus. And eventually what happens is... a chink

in your armor comes up. So you'd be good if you

were upper middle class, you had income, all

your bills are paid, money's accumulating, not

real fast, but accumulating in your bank account.

You're taking a vacation once a year. You get

to have recreation. You go out to dinner, whatever,

a few times a month, everything, and everything

is fine. And as far as you're concerned, you

can stay like that until you die. 50 years, 70

years, right? Except that's not how life works,

is it? People get sick. People lose jobs. People

have broken relationships. How many men have

come home and thought everything was fine? Not

necessarily fine, but good enough. And then they

found out their wife was leaving them or cheating

on them or divorcing them or whatever. How many

women, same situation. How many women have come

home and found out that their dad, brother -in

-law, or husband were abusing their children?

And they were like, no, that can never happen.

right or in the middle of COVID how many people

were diagnosed with COVID and I know a woman

who was 38 years old and her son was 18 living

in his own place in the apartment complex that

she was working at and she went to his house

to check on him and he had had COVID and was

down in bed for four days and she sat on the

floor of his living room and held his head in

his her lap while they waited for the ambulance

and he died died with his head in her lap while

they waited for the ambulance because he refused

to go to the doctor, didn't want to get any help,

and his COVID had gotten so bad that by the time

the ambulance got there, he was already dead.

This is life. Life is sometimes like this. So

if it gets to be like that and all that okayness

was good by you, then when it gets to be like

that, you're not going to be with Jesus. You're

going to be... looking scraping trying to figure

anything out to fix the problems right because

you got it you're trying and then people say

well i get i want to get back to where i was

when all my bills were paid and everything was

fine i was making progress right but that won't

get you more faith with jesus it would just make

you okay in the meantime so i think you're absolutely

right it breeds a false faith yes sir being content

Yeah, so people are constantly groping for another

experience, that kind of thing. Yeah, there's

two sides to contentment. It's almost like a

whole sermon series. So the Bible teaches we

should be content with our circumstances, but

not content in our spiritual growth to say we're

good enough, far enough, forgiven enough. Yeah.

Contentness breeds laziness, but we're also supposed

to be content with whatever our circumstances

are. pushing, striving toward the goal that Christ

has set for us. Go ahead. Yep. Right. Yeah, and

I think that is most likely going to happen in

that middle range where they're in contentment.

It's not that hard to raise the temperature to

destroy them. Yeah, that's a good illustration.

Different use of it, but pretty good. Okay, so

he says, here I am. This is verse 20. I stand

at the door and knock. Okay, it's the door of

your heart, right? But I want you to realize

that this verse is written to the church, right?

So when we use it for an individual, even though

it was written to the church, is that wrong?

It's not for two reasons. First one, what is

the church? It's the people. The people are the

church and it becomes the body of Christ. That's

where you're going, right? It's the temple of

Christ, essentially. We are the temple of Christ.

Christ lives in us, body of Christ, right? So

if it's written to the church, it applies to

us because we are the church. Okay, so that's

the first one. The second one reason it works

is because in every one of these passages, it

says, him who has an ear, let him hear, let him

pay attention to what is written to the churches.

So that's a formula saying that these things,

yes, written to the churches. Yeah, they are.

We accept they're written to the churches, but

we need to pay attention to what it says. So

then it's easy enough for us to apply this first

and say, okay, behold, I stand at your heart's

door and knock. He who opens the door, I will

come in and sup with him and he with me. So if

you got saved, where is Jesus now? If you opened

the door, and I'll say to people, did you open

the door of your heart today? And I never give

them the answers. I'll just say, did you open

the door of your heart today? And they'll say,

yes, I did. And I'll say, okay, so then where

is Jesus now? And they'll say, in my heart, right?

Now, it's not literal. Because he's in your whole

being, right? But he's at your core. That's the

part that is locked away from him. Yeah. The

door. Yeah. That's good. That's good. The door.

The one that matters, I guess, in this case.

Spiritual starts with an L and barely fits in

a blank. Say that again. Okay, so spiritual loneliness

is a problem, but it's not what is in the text.

Okay, so spiritual lukewarmness was what I was

going for. Josh, is that a word with a dash in

the middle? Is it a hyphenated word, lukewarmness?

Lukewarmness? Yeah, I mean, it's a description

of something that's lukewarm. There's a state

of being lukewarmness. We're going to verify.

I think it's luke -warmness. But I'm not positive

about that. Okay. Anyway. Notice what it does.

It makes the Lord sick. Okay. Two words. Or one

word. One word. Lukewarmness. One word. No dash.

Very good. Okay. Two S's on the end. Alright.

So spiritual lukewarmness makes the Lord sick.

Now because of that. That takes it one step further

than what we were talking about. Why he hates

it so much is because it's really bad for us.

But it also apparently is bad for him. Does Jesus

want to vomit anyone out of his mouth? Is that

something he wants to do? No. He loves everybody.

He wants everybody to be part and parcel of what

he's doing. That's his desire. So he doesn't

want to do that. So it's like taking the control

away from him in a sense. But he's going to do

it. It's in his character to do that if people

have nothing, if they really don't have a relationship

with him, so they're in that middle group, or

they're in that middle group with a relationship,

I guess you'd say with a relationship with him,

but still inappropriately in that middle group,

the lukewarm group. Jesus offers, we're coming

on the next one, the other letter I told you,

I'm not sure what it is. So first he offers G,

yes, gold. That's what I was thinking anyway.

And W, white or white clothing, right? And then

the last one is and C. Okay, that's what I was

thinking too. But if you look at the text, go

ahead. I, Sav, okay, you're saying it differently

than I say it, but it's the same word. I, Sav,

right? So if you look at the text, it looks like

he's talking, it should have been I, Sav, verse

18. I'll find it one second here. It says, because

you say I'm rich, I've become wealthy, need nothing,

you don't know that you are wretched, pitiful,

poor, blind, and naked. So if we're wretched,

pitiful, poor, blind, and naked, and think about

the things that we need, I advise you to buy

from me gold refined in the fire so that you

may be rich, white clothes so that you may be

dressed, and your shameful nakedness not be exposed,

and ointment to spread on your eyes so that you

may see. Is there a word for ointment that begins

with a C? I can't think of one. I don't know

where I got the C from. Say it again. Cleaner.

Cream. Could be cream. Yeah. Say it again. Could

be. Although the goal here is to make it so they

can see. Yeah. All right. So anyway, put what

there which you want to, but realize that verse

18 is talking about our state, poor, wretched,

unclothed, naked, blind. And then the reward

is to sit with him on his throne. Very good.

Write, in what areas of your life do you need

to invite Jesus to come in and take the throne?

Not tell us, but write it down. Write a few.

You can do more of that later if there's multiple.

I hope there's not too many. You might be more

general. If you've got a big long list, maybe

be more general. What areas of your life do you

need to invite Jesus to come in and take the

throne? Okay, and then we're in the bottom. Life

application. I put Southern Baptist emphasis

on this, so this comes from who we are as a church.

A true believer must live with the visible fruit

of salvation, not just outward religion. Do we

all believe that? Let me say it again. A true

believer must live with visible fruit of salvation.

You're saved, and it makes you look... different.

You're producing things because you're saved.

Not just outward religion. Yeah, but outward

religion would be works. Not actual faith works,

but it would be works. So outward religion would

be I'm always at church on time. Where people

dress real nice every Sunday. Always bring a

Bible. Always give my tithes. But if it's outward

religion, it's not affecting you inwardly at

all, really, right? There's only one thing that

can affect you inwardly. Well, that brings it

back to the first, that is a visible fruit of

your salvation. That you present that you work

with teenagers. But there should be other visible

fruit as well. Right? Anybody understand the

concept? Can we go to the next one? Endurance

and faithfulness. Endurance. Energy to keep moving.

I'm enduring. I'm continuing. And faithfulness.

I'm found doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

Are proof of salvation. They are an outward fruit.

of your salvation. They are proof of salvation,

not the way of earning it. Right? So we do not

earn our salvation ever. Couldn't. It's not possible.

But endurance and faithfulness, doing what you're

supposed to do and continuing to do it even after

trials and difficulty and all that kind of thing,

are proof of salvation. We know this, don't we?

There was a guy in the Middle East. I can't remember.

It was John. It starts with an S, I'm pretty

sure. And he got saved. Somebody shared Christ

with him. And the day he got saved, he started

telling people in his family about it. And that

night, they picked him up. They tortured him

all night long to get him to give up the name

of the person who shared Jesus with him. They

tortured him. A couple hours before dawn, they

pulled all of his fingernails out. one by one

with a pair of pliers to get him to tell them

who shared Jesus with him. He would not tell.

He did not tell. At dawn, they dropped him on

the street outside the emergency room, but he

was dead before they could get him in the building.

Now why didn't he tell who shared Jesus with

him? That person was next. That's what they're

really trying to do. They're trying to shut down

the gospel. So you can see in his suffering all

the way to death, outward fruit, endurance and

faithfulness, outward fruit of his salvation.

But no religiousness, really. I mean, he didn't

go to church that night. He didn't do Bible study

that night. I'm sure he prayed a lot, but I doubt

they knew what he was doing necessarily. He probably

didn't sing hymns because they beat him pretty

bad. But who knows? Some people have been known

to do that. So what I'm saying is nothing we

do can earn this great gift that we have received

from the Lord, but our endurance and our faithfulness

are proof that we have received it. And that

man was saved. I know a lot of people say they're

saved, and I don't judge very many people. But

if you can go through that and not tell who led

you to Jesus, I just don't think it's humanly

possible. It's beyond pain. It's beyond our understanding.

I stub my toe and I think life's over. And it's

not true. Yeah, so now imagine 10 of that with

a pair of pliers intentionally and probably not

nearly as quickly. I can't believe it. I can't

imagine it. Christ offers fellowship now and

eternal reign with him later. That's what we

get. That's what he's actually offering. He's

offering fellowship now and eternal reign with

him later. So respond to that offer today. Okay,

don't wait. Don't walk out of the room. effect

in your heart right now and say, hey, I want

you to be mine, then you are, then you be his.

And if I get it wrong and say 20 years from now,

I'm not walking with the Lord in this life, God

forbid. I don't want that to ever happen. But

if that ever happened, you better stick with

Jesus. Right? Okay. So I'm going to ask a few

questions and throw candy and then we're going

to be through. Does anybody have any questions

before I ask questions? Candy. I have meat chunks

as well. I get rid of some spicy meat chunks.

All right. So the first, I'll give you a question,

and then you get to pick a giant meat chunk thrown

at you or a handful of candy. Okay? Teenagers

only to start with, including 18. 18 is still

a teenager. You're an adult teenager, but you're

still a teenager. What? Who's 19? 19 is a teenager

as well. If you're less than 20 years old, you

may participate in this. Okay. What? Give me...

I hope you were paying attention. This is a tough

one. Give me, and we'll go teenagers only first,

but some of you might have to help. What are

the three things, not one thing, the three things

that Jesus said that he would write upon the

faithful? Three things. One of them is on your

page. But you need the three things. Going once.

Are you looking it up in the Bible? The verse

is on the page. The verse is on the page. So

he's smart. When you don't know something, go

to your Bible. We're in church. That's what you

do. That's pretty good. Revelation 3 .12. Eight

seconds. Seven. Six. I was in the Holman Christian

Standard, but that... I bet it does. I think

so. I definitely read it when I read it. Okay,

I'm looking. Ah, okay, it's there. Yep, I see

it. I've got two. Because you're not all the

way to the end of the verse yet. All right, go,

Caleb. I shall write on him the name of my God,

the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem.

No, the city is the new Jerusalem. There should

be an and. Go just a little further. Oh, and

write on him my name. All right, that's the three

things. Which one do you want? It was pretty

low, pretty lousy. I'll try to hit the next person.

Okay. All right. Okay. Jesus is standing at this

place all over the world, and it is what? No.

Kind of. I don't know if I want to give you another

chance. You blew the first one. All right, go

ahead. No one else raise their hand. Go ahead.

Okay, I'll give it to you. It's at Hart's Doors.

You hit someone. Got to go back to softball season.

Get some practice up. Okay. All right. All right.

Of the three things that Jesus said that he will

give to restore his people, which one of them

is a commodity? Is a commodity. It's a treasure

to men in general. Nope, not white. Yeah, it's

on the paper, but you'd have to figure it out.

Josh? Gold. Yeah. Okay. So you guys are too slow.

If the adults are jumping in, you're too slow.

Okay. All right. Here we go. When Jesus was speaking

to the church in Sardis, he said that the faithful

would be dressed in... Pick one. Meat or candy.

A doctor out of the chair was awesome. Okay.

That's all Haley's candy. Don't nobody steal

Haley's candy. All right. The last one for now.

And then we're going to go have cake and sing

happy birthday. Okay. Based on Revelation 3,

Revelation 3:10

verse 10, how long will the trial or temptation

be? Hannah. Yes. Okay, now tell me. Hold on.

You're on the spot now. Tell me in this, how

long is an hour? No, that's how long it is to

us. Use your brain. Everybody else be quiet.

She's super smart. She knows. She'll figure it

out. Finish this sentence. It's long enough for...

Okay, for the decision of eternity, right? It's

long enough for trials or temptation, right?

It's not 60 minutes, literally. I'll give you

an example. We talk about, we go to church and

we say... During that hour on Sunday. But is

it an hour? It's usually an hour and a half,

hour and 45 minutes, right? You say, I needed

to be there. I need to go to the doctor. In the

hour that I went to the doctor. But were you

at the doctor for an hour? So it's not a literal

hour at my point. Do you want meat or candy?

Oh, look at that. Okay, so I have a bag of chocolate.

Are there any adults who want chocolate? All

right, we're going to pray and we're going to

go. Remember the things that you wrote down.

Let Jesus be on the throne of that area of your

life, whatever it might be. Whatever open door

God is giving you to be a servant, to be a witness,

do that. Don't fake it. Remember, this is the

bottom line. Jesus would rather you just not

fake it. Come to him for real. Stop playing games.

Be genuine in your faith. And just don't fake

it. Think of it like this. If you fake it, you

make him sick. So I'm saying, you know, I hate

to say this, but here's the reality of it. If

you're going to fake it, you may as well just

quit and go do something else. Because it's going

to make him sick. But if you're willing, boy,

the offer is pretty darn good. The offer is pretty

darn good. All right. Father in heaven, we praise

you. We thank you for the high price that has

been paid. The cost is unbelievable, unimaginable,

so far beyond anything that we could do. And

we're grateful. Thank you for our little bit

of time here together. We're stealing it from

jobs and chores and whatever, and it's just the

right thing. We're right where we want to be,

right where you can teach. We get some things

maybe exactly the way you want them to be, exactly

the way your Holy Spirit wants to speak to us.

And we just walk away with one thing, whereas

Tim only is fond of saying, if I'm just learning

and going, I know it's right. I know it's right.

I'm just moving forward and doing what Jesus

wants me to do. And that's how I feel, too. Thank

you, Lord, for that. I ask you to go with us.

Heal our sick and hurting. We've got some that

are, even some that are here that are overcoming.

considerable doctor attention. We pray that they'll

get back. Thank you, Lord, for blessing us. Thank

you for the groceries that were brought into

the life station today and the hard work was

done and all the running of emergency deliveries

that took place and all the people that Holly

and Devin got off our front door with emergency

food. Whatever it took to get where we are, we're

allowed to serve. We're allowed to walk with

you and stand with you faithful and enduring

in this day when there are other alternatives

that All lead to hell. All lead to smallness

and loneliness and emptiness and giving and temptation.

Lord, please be with us and help us to burn hot.

Help us to work hard. Help us to endure and be

found faithful. So we pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen. Thank you very much. So no one's having

any cake yet because Natalie gets the very first

piece of cake. She'll stand at the cafeteria

door and you can spank her on the way in. You're

going to stand at the door so we can spank you

on the way in, right?