To the Church in Thyatira

Hey, the first Friday of every month, that is this Friday.

So if you are interested in joining a midweek gathering this Friday,

! What time would we meet here?

!

This is the place that you want to be.

Morning, everyone. Good morning. Good morning, Danny.

What have you got there? What drink have you got?

Coffee.

Coffee, just straight coffee.

There's fatigue. There's fatigue. I don't know if you're feeling it.

There's fatigue. We had a first month of September,

and then, of course, it's a holiday now. It's break.

We have a few people who are away.

But we're here, and I'm excited for today.

I'm excited for what we're going to share.

But as I said last week, we're going to keep repeating

just so we remember some of the things that we're learning.

We're starting this new season together,

and we're saying, let's start with the end in mind.

So let's go all the way to Revelation.

If we're going to talk about church,

let's go to see what Jesus says about the church, right?

That's going to be the most important thing,

because we don't want to start something that then, at the end,

Zhao Zhou Yang, or he doesn't like, or he doesn't recognize.

And we're like, oh, we've been doing church for 50 years, Jesus.

And Jesus is like, that isn't my church.

That doesn't look like my church.

Turn around. Like, I don't want that.

I want to start with the end in mind, right?

And so he writes to the church, and he writes to seven churches,

which represents the whole complete church.

And the first church he writes to is Ephesus.

And he says, you're doing all these good things.

You're A star, but you're missing one thing.

What are they missing, Godfrey?

Love.

They're missing love.

That sofa looks so comfy, by the way.

It just looks so good.

You're missing love.

You're doing all these great things for the community,

yet you don't have love.

Then because of that, I'm going to come and shut you down.

That's what he says.

Then the messenger keeps going up the coast,

and he goes to the next place, which is Smyrna.

Oh, good, guys.

Smyrna.

They have trouble coming.

They're going to be thrown into prison.

And he says, for 10 days, you'll be thrown into prison,

and you'll be tested, and you will have tribulation.

Be faithful unto death.

What?

There's no help coming.

I'm not going to come and break you out of prison.

I'm not going to stop you from going into prison.

I'm going to give you something even more.

If you are faithful unto death,

I will give you the crown of life.

You won't be hurt by the second death.

We'll all die once.

But the prayer is that we don't die twice.

It's huge.

And then he carries on going to the next city,

which is the city of Pergamum.

What was Pergamum's thing?

Mark?

Some of them were doing some things that weren't good.

Questionable.

Compromised.

They were compromised.

They were like, hey, we can be Christians,

but then we can do all this other stuff on the side,

and then we can have the best of both worlds.

The problem is when you have the best of both worlds,

you give up eternity.

When you have the best of both worlds,

you give up the true life.

At the very end.

And now we reach the church in Thyatira.

Now this is different.

Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum,

these were like almost,

these are the big cities.

This was New York, London, Tokyo.

Thyatira is kind of like this working class city,

and it's a little bit different.

But really the message time and time again,

and actually this one has lots of overlap

with the one from last week.

Time and time again is what this is.

Christians, you Christians,

you have to be different.

You just have to be different.

You're built different.

You look different.

You sound different.

The challenge though here is,

we're trying to live in this world,

and trying to make a living in this world,

and trying to survive in this world,

and often we're trying to reach people

in the most relational way possible.

I think I've literally said this myself.

Hey, those Christians are no different to you guys.

We're not weird.

We're just as normal.

We're just as cool.

We try to be cool.

Haven't you heard someone say that,

or you want to say that?

Oh, we're no different.

We're okay.

But the truth is,

if you look at these letters,

it seems to say,

Paul's saying,

sorry,

Jesus is saying to the church,

if you're a follower of me,

you've got to be different in some way.

You've got to be different.

The question is,

are we different?

Are we different to any other group out there

that's meeting

because they have similar interests as well?

Is our one just because we're interested

in this guy called Jesus?

We're interested in talking about him

because he sounded like a good guy.

Are we different?

And so as we reach this letter,

I want to ask you,

ask the Lord,

what is it that you want me to hear today?

How do you want me to be different?

Not abrasive,

not rude,

not obnoxious,

not arrogant.

How do you want me to be different?

What does that look like?

And so to read the word,

I'm going to actually ask

one of the deacons of our church,

Tony,

who's been a long, long, long,

long standing member of our church.

And Tony,

just going to invite you up

to come minister to us

with the word of God.

And then as I invite him up,

can I invite you,

can I invite us

to stand for the word of the Lord?

Can you use that mic?

Yeah, okay.

To the church,

to the angel of the church

in Thyatira write,

these are the words

of the Son of God

whose eyes are like blazing fire

and whose feet

are like burnished bronze.

I know your deeds,

your love and faith,

your service and perseverance,

and that you are now doing more

than you did at first.

Nevertheless,

I have this against you.

You tolerate that woman,

Jezebel,

who calls herself a prophet.

By her teaching,

she misleads my servants

into sexual immorality

and the eating of food

sacrificed to idols.

I have given her time

to repent of her immorality,

but she is unwilling.

So I will cast her

on the bed of suffering,

and I will make those

who commit adultery with her

suffer intensely,

unless they repent of her ways.

I will strike her children dead.

Then all the churches will know

that I am he

who searches hearts and minds,

and I will repay each of you

according to your deeds.

Now I say to the rest of you

in Thyatira,

to you who do not hold

to her teaching

and have not learned

Satan's so-called

deep secrets,

I will not impose

any other burden on you

except to hold on

to what you have

until I come.

To the one who is victorious

and does my will to the end,

I will give authority

over the nations.

That one will rule them

and with an iron scepter

and will dash them

to pieces like pottery.

Just as I have received

authority from my Father,

I will also give that one

the morning star.

Whoever has ears,

let them hear

what the Spirit

says to the churches.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thank you, Tony.

Please take a seat.

And well done,

everyone who's on a beanbag.

Standing and sitting

is no easy task.

Thank you for doing that.

Hey, you know,

it's just one of those things

that we're trying to do.

I don't know about you,

but I so often

take for granted

the word of the Lord.

I'm like,

oh, I've got to read my Bible.

I've got to read this thing.

Or like when someone

reads it,

you just glaze over

or it just kind of

goes in and out.

Don't you have that?

And I'm like,

but if this is really

what we say it is,

if it really is as valuable

to us,

people die for this book.

And then we treat it

just kind of like,

oh, I've got to read it.

So, I mean,

it can be frustrating

sometimes needing

to stand up and down,

but I feel as though

it helps me.

I'm like, man,

this is God,

and he's here

and he's speaking

to us

and I want to take heed

what he has to say.

This is the word of God.

So, he's going to this church

in Thyatira.

I mean,

we're in the fourth church now

and it's kind of like,

okay,

there's a lot of things

to be scared of

out there, right?

There's the devil

who's throwing people

into prison.

There's people who are doing

all the right things

for all the wrong reasons

and they're going to get

shut down.

So, if I'm the church

in Thyatira,

I'm like, okay,

it's now our turn.

What's going to happen?

And he says

to the angel of the church

in Thyatira,

write the words

of the Son of God.

He introduces himself

as a big deal.

I am the Son of God.

Now, Thyatira was a city

that actually worshipped

lots of different kinds

of gods

and one of them

was Apollo.

Apollo, if you watch

the film Troy,

which I quoted last week,

you can see a little bit

of what that looks like.

It was the God of the sun.

It was the God of the sun,

sunshine.

Apollo was known

in Greek mythology

to be the son of Zeus.

In fact,

some people in the city

would call Caesar

the son of God,

the son of Zeus.

So, Jesus,

seemingly knowing that

and says,

I'm writing to you,

these are my words

and guess who I am?

I am the real son of God.

You guys keep putting

other people

as the sons of God

and sons of Zeus.

Let me tell you who I am.

I am the son of God

whose eyes

are like a flame

of fire.

He's quoting from

Revelation 1

when we introduce

that picture of Jesus.

Remember when I told you

that Christina

has eyes like fire?

Yep, this is it.

Jesus is like,

hey,

I am the son of God

and I see right through you.

I see through

what you're doing.

My eyes,

my sight,

my vision

is purifying.

It's cleansing.

You can't hide anything

from me.

That's who he's talking,

that's how he's introducing

himself and he's like,

whose feet are like

burnished bronze.

Kingdoms rise

and kingdoms fall.

Now it's the Romans.

It used to be the Persians

and it's the Syrians.

Soon it will be the Americans

and then it will be

whatever kingdom,

whatever nation,

it doesn't matter.

The kingdom of God,

the other kingdoms

rise and fall,

the kingdom of God

remains.

Like feast,

like burnished bronze.

Purified,

gone through the fire,

steadfast.

I'm the last one standing

is what he's saying.

I can see right through you

and I'm the last one standing

and I'm the son of God.

So listen to my words.

And then he says this.

He says,

I know you're,

I actually like this.

This is,

these guys are doing a good job.

They've got the fab five.

I know your works,

your love,

your faith,

your service

and your patient endurance.

That's pretty good.

Right?

The Ephesus church had it all

but they didn't have love.

These guys have love.

Can you imagine

just hearing this letter,

the fourth one,

as you're telling me,

like,

dude,

we have love.

Oh,

it's all good.

We've got love.

And then it's even better.

Then they say,

and Jesus says,

and your latter works

are greater than your first.

What does that mean?

What do you think that means?

It means they're growing.

Like you started off like this

and all the works

you've got to hear

and then it's growing

and now your latter works

are greater than your first.

You are a growing church.

Praise God,

we are a growing church.

We're figuring a lot of things out.

This is our first week

in trying a TV

just to see those at the back.

Was that better or not?

Having,

having,

it was a little bit better.

With that Spotify playlist.

So if you still can't see the TVs,

then the next best option

is to download

or get the Spotify playlist

and learn all the songs

off by heart

and then you won't need the lyrics.

We've actually got

these sermons

also on another

Spotify podcast channel

which we will share

especially if you're

in the gathering group.

We're trying to figure things out.

Last week,

we were pretty full

and I know it's flu season

and praise God for Agnes.

Where's Agnes?

Is she here or is she busy?

There's Agnes.

Round of applause for Agnes

and I'll tell you why.

We were like,

there's so many people here

and everyone's like,

because it's flu season

and before you know it,

we have seven

air purifying machines

dotted around the place

with a sticker

that says 99.9%

COVID elimination.

That's good.

We're figuring things out.

We're a growing church.

We don't know what to do.

Some people are still standing.

We don't know.

We're figuring

all those things out

and it's exciting.

But let me tell you,

as we're growing,

here are the things on my heart.

Do we have these things?

If our works are getting more

and I've had a few of you,

actually,

side reminder,

if you filled out

your prison ministry form

and you haven't given it to me yet,

please give it to me.

Okay?

My brother will be back next week

because he's in the UK right now.

Give it to me

and we'll get that process started.

Our works are growing.

We've got fun things happening.

But I pray as we're growing,

we'll have the love of Thyatira

that we would love God,

that we don't love this space,

that we don't love the view,

that we don't love the songs,

but we love God.

We love His Word.

We start to love His Word.

Loving is hard.

Anyone who's been married

for any amount of time

will tell you

loving is hard

requires effort.

Learn how to love.

Learn how to love Him.

Learn how to love His Word.

Learn how to love people.

If you've been around

human beings at all,

you'll know human beings

are hard to love.

That's why it's a command.

Love.

Because it's not easy.

It's not natural to love.

I hope we grow in love

as we grow.

I hope we grow in faith.

That we start to see,

man,

everything isn't quiet

as it seems.

This isn't just a service here.

This isn't just a group

of people gathering

to make each other feel better.

The thing they're gathering for

is real.

We can't see Him,

but it's real.

The battle outside is real.

We have faith

that the one who lives in us

is greater than the one

who lives in the world.

I hope that we grow in faith.

I also hope we grow in service.

The prison ministry

that whilst we gather,

we also, what?

Scatter.

That we go out.

That we go and meet people

and introduce them

to the gospel.

I was just talking to a friend

over lunch on Friday.

I'm like,

you know,

we do so many church things.

I come to church

and I do this Bible study.

I do this group.

I do that group.

But then when I'm at work,

I don't talk about Jesus at all.

Who does that?

Who does all the church

Christian stuff

in church,

but none of it outside?

Right?

Your colleagues don't know

what you do on a Sunday.

When you see them tomorrow morning,

how was your weekend?

Or you see them on Tuesday

because it's public holiday.

Woo!

They were like,

oh, what did you do this weekend?

Oh, I did all this other stuff.

But we don't talk about church.

That's just like a side thing.

How do we grow in service

and reach and scatter

to the people

who actually need this good news?

And to grow in patient endurance

because it's not easy.

To battle against all the things

in this world is not easy.

To live harmoniously here

is not easy.

Oh, I think someone pressed

the fire door outside.

Anyway.

We are going to try

and fight through that.

As we're growing,

do we have love?

Do we have service?

Do we have patience?

Do we have the endurance

it takes to get one?

The church in Thyatira has it

and I want to have it too.

But,

here's the big but.

You guys are doing really well

so that was really loud.

But,

you're doing all these

good things, guys.

You even have love.

But,

you tolerate

that one person.

That woman

who calls herself

a prophetess.

Now,

that woman's name

isn't actually Jezebel.

It's not actually Jezebel.

But,

of course,

we know Jezebel

to be the evil woman

in the Old Testament

who's married to King Ahab

who causes the Israelites

to all worship Baal.

This woman.

And he's saying,

you tolerate this woman.

You're not joining her,

but you're tolerating her.

There's someone

in your midst

who's teaching

and seducing

my servants

to practice

sexual immorality

and to eat food

sacrificed to idols.

that's dangerous.

The question is,

do we have any

of that compromise here?

This is the same

as last week

to start with here.

Are there compromises

that you've made?

Is there a woman here?

Is there a man here?

Is there an individual here

who is teaching

and seducing people

astray?

Now,

actually,

it wasn't even

that

malicious almost.

You know what she was saying?

Do you know the things

that she was saying?

Let me tell you a little bit

about Thyatira.

Thyatira was a working class

kind of city.

It had loads of trade guilds.

So loads of associations

of merchants

and craftsmen

and all these kinds of things.

And one of the essentials

of joining one of these

trade guilds,

if you want to kind of

do any kind of business,

now,

Thyatira,

Lydia,

has anyone heard of Lydia

in the Bible?

Lydia was a businesswoman

from Thyatira.

She's mentioned

in Acts 16.

She's the woman

who actually backs

Paul in Philippi

to start the first church

in Europe.

So she's from Thyatira

and she was a woman,

a businesswoman

of purple cloth.

And so Thyatira

is filled with this

kind of business here,

filled with all these

trade guilds.

And the thing

with these trade guilds

was you have to attend

all these dinners,

all these banquets.

You do all these things

to kind of stay

within the trade guild

so you can be,

you can have,

you can network,

you can have a community,

you can have connections.

And so this prophetess

was basically just saying,

hey,

it's actually okay

to go to those things.

Christians,

we are freed

from slavery now.

We can actually,

we're free to go

and go to all these banquets

and these things.

Now the problem was

as you enter these things,

so often these banquets

and these events

would descend into chaos,

would descend

into sexual immorality.

But she was saying,

hey,

if we're saved by Christ,

we can do whatever

we need to do.

Do whatever we need to do

to stay ahead,

to be part of society.

That's what she's saying.

And then Jesus is saying,

and you tolerate her.

The question is,

what do we tolerate?

And last week,

I asked you this question,

right?

I said,

like,

we're called to be in Hong Kong,

but what if Hong Kong

has seeped into our church?

What if Hong Kong,

what if the city

has seeped into the church?

What banquets

do you have to go to

for your work?

I don't know,

finance guys.

Finance is

the big thing

here in Hong Kong.

What are the things

that you have to do

to go to

to keep your career going,

to expand your business empire?

Whether you go out

for dinners with clients

and it descends

into something else

that you know

is going there,

but you're like,

and you reason to yourself,

oh,

it's okay.

It's the same thing

I said last week,

going to a party

to help your friends

who are getting drunk

to look after them.

What are the things

that you're justifying

if you're a finance guy,

if you're in real estate

and you have to

take these meetings

that go late into the night

that there's lots

of alcohol involved.

What are you thinking here?

What's your thought process here?

Is there any area

of compromise

that we have in our lives

that we have

in our friendship groups?

I want to keep

this group of friends,

but I know

this group of friends

has to go

and do this kind of stuff.

and you're like,

oh,

but it's okay.

It's okay.

That's the compromise.

What about those

in the entertainment industry?

Those who are influencers,

those who are online.

What do you have to do?

What are the things

that you have to do

to kind of like,

man,

if I don't go to that,

I'll be ignored,

right?

If I don't play ball

in this,

then I won't

get my career going.

In church,

if you're a newcomer here

and you don't know

anything about Jesus,

we welcome you.

We're not weird.

We're no different.

But we are

also very different

because we believe

there's something

outside of this world.

We welcome you

and we want you

to see what it is.

But we also need

to know that

we're trying not

to compromise it.

Maybe it's not

even compromise.

Here's a dangerous

word that I want

to post to you.

Guys are particularly

good at this.

Compartmentalize.

I was talking

to a good friend

of mine who's

the managing director

of a big consulting firm

and I was like,

hey,

you're a Christian.

Why has God

put you where you are

and what does that

look like?

What does your faith

and your work look like?

Do you know what he said?

He's like,

oh, actually,

they're two separate things.

There's just two departments

that I'm trying to,

I mean,

typical consultant language.

There's just two different areas

that I need to kind of,

oh,

oh,

that's interesting.

I'm not where you are

so I don't dare say

how I would react

and do that,

but something tells me

that this book

doesn't want us

to compartmentalize.

That Jesus is either

your Lord

or he's not.

But are there certain things

that we compartmentalize

and the easiest one is,

hey,

on a Sunday morning,

I am good.

I come to church,

I'm good,

I'm tired

because on Saturday night

I stayed really late

and I got home really late.

So we compartmentalize

certain parts of our week

into being for Jesus

and the rest of the time

is whatever.

Do you compromise

and do you compartmentalize?

Jesus wants us to,

Jesus wants all of us.

He doesn't say,

love me with your mind,

soul,

heart.

He says,

love me with all

of your heart,

soul,

mind,

and strength.

Do we compromise

and do we compartmentalize?

Are there parties

that you have to go to?

Are there things

that you have to do

in order to be accepted

to get where you want?

Who's watched

Chariots of Fire?

That's a really old film.

I think the older people

are like,

oh,

yep,

that was me.

Watch it.

It's about a guy

who doesn't compromise.

It's about a guy

who is a sprinter

but doesn't want to sprint

on a Sunday

because that's God's day

and everyone's just outraged.

Outraged.

Why would you not do it

on a Sunday?

Just do it.

Do church on another day.

There's reasons

for everything, right?

Now,

of course,

there's some jobs.

There's some,

like,

you have to go to work

on a Sunday.

I get it.

Erica,

don't not show up

to work on a Sunday.

She's a doctor.

Like,

that's not good.

I know Trevor has to go to work.

Like,

there are some jobs

you can't,

but there are other things

that are kind of like,

we reason, right?

Oh,

it's okay.

We can,

we can,

I guess,

Sunday used to be church,

but we can do that instead

and we'll wake it up somehow.

You know what?

We'll watch it online.

We'll watch church online

so we can go and,

we can go and do what we do.

Little things,

little things

that we let through the door,

little things

that sound reasonable

and that's all it takes.

Church,

I want us to grow,

but I want us to grow

in love,

faith,

patient endurance

and service,

but also not to compromise,

to not make things

so seeker sensitive

that we become

sin sensitive.

If you're a seeking here,

we welcome you,

but we also can't tolerate

when there are things

that are in our lives

that are destroying us,

consuming us,

corrupting us.

If we truly loved you,

we wouldn't,

we can't just stand by

and let you do it.

Oh,

because we're a tolerant society.

No,

tolerance isn't a spirit,

fruit of the spirit.

Love is,

grace is.

And this is the hardest line

because society out there

has so many things

that are challenging.

Go,

hey,

what do you guys think about this?

What do you guys think about that?

Would you let that kind of person in?

Christina and I finally got around

to watching the Jesus Revolution film.

Has anyone watched that?

It's on Netflix now.

It's about the kind of

the Jesus hippie movement

from the 70s.

Pretty cool.

It's actually a really well done movie

and it's not your typical

cliche,

cheesy Christian movie.

Worth a watch.

And of course,

there's loads of flaws

and actually they do highlight

some of those things there as well.

It's on Netflix.

But one thing is basically

there was a church,

a small church

filled with the kind of

typical people

that you'd expect to be in church

in the 70s in America.

And then suddenly,

like,

they start inviting hippies in.

And you can imagine

the tension there.

And then the pastor says

this one thing that I love.

He says,

how can we close our doors to them?

How?

If you look at the Bible,

the essence of the faith

is that we welcome anyone.

Jesus himself

hung out with people.

Actually,

the most disputed thing

about Jesus

is who he shared the table with,

who he ate dinner with.

Why did you eat with them people?

Why did you eat with these people?

And the guy in the book says,

the essence of the faith

is that

these people are welcomed in.

But there's a difference

between welcome

and accepting.

I'm trying to find this line.

I want to welcome

every single person in.

And you come

just as you are.

That's what God says.

You come

but he loves you enough

to not keep you

where you are.

Right?

I can welcome you

but I don't necessarily

need to accept

what you're doing.

You guys help me

and God help us

find that line.

Jesus does this so well.

Have you read Jesus' stuff?

Have you read his sermon?

Jesus says,

the law says

if you commit adultery,

you can't do that.

That's not good.

And then Jesus says,

the law says this

but what I'll say is this.

If you look at someone,

you better cut your eye out.

He sees the law

and then he like ups it

each time.

But haven't you found it fascinating

that each time he does that

yet the lowest,

the worst of the sinners

keep coming to him?

I don't know how he does it.

I really don't know

how he does it.

But that comes back to

bring them to me.

Bring them to me.

So they even just reminded me

just now.

That's what the Lord wants.

As a church,

we are pointing people

to him.

I'm like,

I don't know what to do

with your situation.

I don't know

whether Jesus likes it.

Well actually,

there's some things

I know that Jesus

doesn't like that.

There are other things

I'm like,

I don't know.

Come to us.

Be with us.

We welcome you

and go to him

and let him be the one

that tells you the truth.

Let him be the one

that delivers the truth

with grace and love

because I can't do it.

Not to the level

that he can.

That's why Jesus says,

bring them to me

and I'll do it.

But you as a body,

welcome.

You don't have to accept

but welcome.

But don't tolerate.

It was harsh for these guys

because actually

they weren't doing anything.

They were just tolerating.

They weren't joining in necessarily.

And yet Jesus says,

that's the problem

because when you have a group

and I pointed at that couch

last week,

maybe it's this couch.

Maybe it's just you two.

Maybe it's just Sonny and Godfrey.

You're teaching us

how to compartmentalize,

how to compromise

and you start telling people,

hey actually,

it's okay.

It's okay to do this

and then you can do this.

It's okay to be there

and then you'll be there.

Jesus is saying,

that's dangerous

because that kind of just

seeps through

to everywhere else.

That's the danger.

It's interesting,

he says this.

He says,

to the rest of you,

so that's the naughty corner,

but to the rest of you,

sorry guys,

I'll come and give you

a hug later.

It's just the couch.

I'm just jealous of that couch.

To the rest of you,

you have not held

to this teaching

and you have not learned

the so-called

deep things of Satan.

What's that?

Can you see that?

Can you read that there?

What a strange way to put it.

Jesus does a little like

so-called.

Verse 24,

but to the rest of you

in Thyatira

who do not hold

this teaching,

who have not learned

what some call

the deep things of Satan.

there were some people,

some people

sat in that corner

over there

who were telling people,

hey,

we've actually got

a secret thing.

We actually,

we've got a secret revelation.

We know more now.

Do you know what we found out?

That the body

and the soul

are separate,

which means

if you've accepted Jesus

and you believe in him,

your soul's going to be saved

and your body,

you can do whatever

you want with.

There's a rising group

of people,

they were called

the Gnostics

at the time

who were professing

to have this special

realization

of the spiritual things.

Saying,

oh,

in the spiritual realm

that's okay

and in the physical realm

this is okay.

So that's why

Jesus was kind of doing

the air quits,

the so-called

deep things of Satan.

There was another group

that was saying,

hey,

do you know how you conquer

the things of Satan?

Go do them.

That was the,

hey,

do you know how to

stick it to Satan?

Go do the things

that he wants you to do.

That was literally

the reasoning.

It's like,

if you do them,

if you go deeper

into sin,

then you will experience

grace to a deeper level.

Have you done that?

Have you convinced

yourself of that?

When you're in a place

where you're just

in self-pity mode,

that's it,

I'm,

I suck at this

Christian stuff this week,

I'm just going to go

deeper in.

I don't know,

God will save me

at some point.

To the rest of you

who haven't,

Jesus is saying,

to the rest of you,

hold fast till I come.

Hang in there

is what he's saying.

He also says

something interesting.

If we just rewind

a little bit,

I found this is

pretty cool.

He says,

verse 21,

he's talking about

Jezebel,

who's the one

who's leading

all of this,

and then he says,

I gave her time

to repent.

Isn't that cool?

The worst of them,

the one who's leading

everyone astray,

seducing everyone.

Well,

he's trying to,

Jesus is saying,

I gave her time

to repent.

He's not hasty

with his judgment.

I don't know

whether you feel

like the sheep

being led astray

by the prophetess,

or you feel like

the prophetess

who's actually doing

the leading.

This is saying,

however deep

your sin is,

it doesn't matter.

Jesus still gives you

time to repent.

Even if you are

Jezebel,

no one should name

their daughter Jezebel.

It's not a name

to give

if you're having

a daughter anytime soon,

or a son,

but that's for

different reasons.

Don't,

no one likes

this name Jezebel.

This prophetess,

this evil queen,

some describe her

to be the most

evil woman

in the history

of mankind.

And yet,

Jesus says,

I gave her time

to repent.

Just to give you

a glimpse

of what Jesus

is like.

He's fierce,

his eyes

are like fire.

Can you imagine

that?

He's piercing

through to the

very depths

of your soul,

knows all

of your sin,

yet in that

moment,

he still gives

you time

to repent.

That's who

Jesus is.

But then he

says,

but she did not

repent of her

sexual immorality.

Behold,

I will throw her

onto a sickbed.

That's a bit

of a strange

thing to say.

But really,

it's tied into

the saying of,

actually,

you make your

own bed.

Have you heard

that saying

before?

You make

your own bed.

You suffer

the consequences

of your own

sin.

And this

prophetess,

who's teaching

people to commit

adultery,

often done on

a bed,

he's saying,

I will throw

her onto a

sickbed.

I will let

her,

I will leave

her to her

own devices,

and she will

suffer the

consequences

that she

deserves.

she's made

her own

bed.

So often,

we think about

Christianity as

these are the

things that we're

not allowed to

do.

Oh,

we're dating,

but we're not

allowed to have

sex before

marriage.

Hey,

we're doing

this,

but we're not

allowed to go

to that party.

We're not

allowed to do

this,

we're not

allowed to

do that.

And yeah,

those are

things,

but what are

they there for?

Why do I tell

my children that

they are not

allowed to play

with the

firehop in

the kitchen?

Because it'll

hurt them.

Until we

realize that

actually Jesus

is for our

good,

he gives us

time to

repent,

even if he

sees the

very depths

of our

soul.

What he

doesn't want

is for us

to suffer the

consequences of

our own

sin.

Because every

time a couple

decides to

give in to

the temptations

and to give

in to the

insecurities,

when a couple

decides,

okay,

if I don't

do this with

this person,

I'm not going

to keep them.

I'm going to

lose them.

That insecurity,

after it's done,

is that insecurity

gone?

Not.

It just

worsens.

It just gets

worse.

The sins that

we have that

keep us captive

are actually

things that are

destroying us.

That's why Jesus

is so harsh on

them.

Not because he's

harsh about the

actual things,

but because he

loves you and

I so much

that he's like,

don't do them.

Don't do them.

Those consequences

are so painful.

Every time you

give in,

every time you

compromise,

you know it

doesn't help.

You know it

doesn't get

better.

And I just

need to quickly

address this.

Verse 23,

and I will

strike her

children dead.

That's as

harsh as it

gets.

But what he's

saying here is

there are people

that she's

teaching and

following.

There are her

disciples.

There are her

spiritual kids.

There are people

who follow her

way.

They will be

removed.

They will be

gone.

The body of

Christ cannot

tolerate these

things.

Bring them to

me.

Let me confront

them.

And only hold

fast till the

end.

And keep my

works or keep

my will till

the end.

Hold fast.

That's like a

battle.

I was talking to

someone about this

recently.

I was like,

life is just

filled with

battles.

Does your

life feel like

an uphill

battle?

What are we

facing here?

What are the

battles that we

face in society

here?

Let me ask some

questions here.

What are the

battles that we

face in society?

What do you

think?

Trevor, what do

you got?

Lust.

That's an

uphill battle.

There's a book

called Every

Man's Battle.

But of course,

lust isn't just

unique to men

either.

It's to women.

For women.

It's for all of

us.

And it's not

lusting even

just physically

for other human

beings.

It's lusting all

kinds of things.

Lust is a huge

one.

What other

battles do we

face?

Paul, what

battles do

you face?

Greed.

Greed.

Always wanting

more and always

needing more.

I said a couple

of weeks ago,

one of my

friends who

knows super

wealthy people,

and he says,

it's really

funny.

The more

wealthy they

are, the

more poor

they feel.

They genuinely

feel I need

more.

Lust.

Greed.

What are the

other things?

What have we

got?

Tony, you

got anything

for us?

What are we

battling in

this society?

Success.

Success.

Needing to

feel like we've

achieved having

X amount of

followers on

IG and

likes that

come with

it or the

job title

that we

need.

Those are the

battles.

There's this

interesting battle

that I watched

in a video by

the Bible

project.

There's this

battle going

on between the

garden and

the city.

The values and

the principles of

the garden,

the garden of

Eden, the way

that God

created the

garden to be,

one of peace

and tranquility

and prosperity,

filled with

everything.

That's what we

were supposed

to have.

Yet, as you

see in the

Old Testament,

you start seeing

these cities

come.

That's where you

get the Tower

of Babel and

you get all

these Sodom and

Gomorrah and

all these things.

The values of

the city that

are pitched

against the

values of the

garden.

That's a battle

right there that's

happening for

our souls.

Our souls yearn

to be in the

garden.

Psalm 23,

that we lie

by still waters.

Yet, we're

filled with the

city of cities

where the

battle is just

constantly, the

battle of

success, the

battle of

busyness.

Hong Kong is

nuts now.

Of course, there's

the whole wanting

to get the

nightlife and the

night markets and

all those things,

which are quite

fun as well.

But, the

battle of

busyness,

success, lust,

greed.

The battle of

excessiveness.

Between the

garden and the

city, between the

flesh and the

spirit.

Romans 8 talks

about that

battle.

Romans 7 talks

about the battle

that Paul has

within it.

He's saying,

man, I want

to do this.

The things I

know I

shouldn't do, I

want to do.

And those are

things I know I

should do, I

don't want to do

at all.

He's got a

constant battle

within.

And then it's

an uphill one.

But then what's

Jesus' comfort?

What's Jesus'

encouragement?

And this is where

he finishes.

In the midst of

that battle,

whatever battle

it is that you

are facing right

now, Jesus

says, the one

who conquers and

who keeps my

works until the

end, to him I

will give

authority over

the nations, and

he will rule

them with a

rod of iron as

when earthen

pots are broken

in pieces, even

as I myself have

received authority

from my father.

The ESV version is

a little bit hard

to understand.

What he's saying

here is, to the

one who conquers, to

the one who keeps

my will, I will

give him authority.

He will win.

He will win all

of those battles.

He will win like a

shepherd who is

holding a rod and

has the authority.

Why?

Because the

father gives

authority.

That's what he's

saying.

The father gives

you authority to

win that battle, not

because you will win

it, but because Jesus

already has.

To the one who

holds fast to the

end, to the one who

conquers and keeps my

works until the end,

you will win.

I want you to have a

little thought exercise

right now.

The battle that you're

going through, and I

was just talking about

this with a good friend

over breakfast, who

feels as though when

he's going to work, he's

just going into the

battle ring.

Like, every time, I'm

just ready to fight.

I've got to fight

something, I've got to

fight someone.

Imagine for a second

how you would approach

that if you truly

believed that Jesus

has already won.

Just imagine with me

for a second, whatever

battle it is that you're

facing, whether it's one

of lust, whether it's

one with greed, whether

it's one with success,

whether it's one with

busyness, approval,

whatever it might be,

imagine with me for a

second, whatever arena

that you're battling in,

whether it's finance,

entertainment, education,

health care, whatever it

is, imagine if the

truth of Jesus' victory

actually rung true in

your ring.

imagine if Jesus himself

is in that ring.

how would that change the

way you live?

How would that change the

way you fight?

Would it?

It should.

And we were just talking

about that.

We were like, if we're

battling in the ring, in a

battle that has already

been won, that means, and

Jesus is in the ring with

you, so he won't let anything

happen to you, the one who

conquers won't be hurt by

the second death, then it

changes the way you fight.

Do you know what it means?

It means you can turn the

other cheek.

It means you can take

punches and hits from the

people that you're fighting

with, because you know that

the one who conquers and

keeps his works until the

end, he will give authority

over the nations.

He will give you victory.

Imagine, in your arena,

Jesus who won is stood there

right with you.

That changes everything.