Pergamum: A Call to Be Rooted In God- Revelation 2:12-17

heads and pray with me dear heavenly father we

just thank you for today god we thank you for

the opportunity to be in your house to gather

together as your people to worship your holy

name god we understand in your word that you

promised where two or three or more are gathered

that there you are and so god we know that you

are in this place today god just says we just

saying god let us be aware of what you are doing

May your Holy Spirit just speak to us and guide

us as we examine your words, as we look into

what you would have to say for us. God, may it

not just be my words said this morning, but God,

may I be a mouthpiece for your truth. God, I

pray to remove the distractions of the week,

to help us intensely focus on who you are, that

God, you would... highlight and illuminate areas

in our life that needs change that god would

be able to worship you and celebrate areas of

blessings that you have given us but god today

may you just help us to focus on who you are

and may we our lives change as we look to you

in jesus name i pray amen well if you have your

bible i invite you to turn to revelation 2 we'll

be looking at 12 through 17 no i'm not daniel

he has not gotten bald and old because of church

camp So in case you don't know who I am, I'm

Josh Bledsoe. It is my privilege to preach with

you. My family and I have been attending here

off and on about three and a half months. I think

it's important you guys know a little bit about

who's preaching to you. I've already been told

to try and stay within the camera, so I'm going

to try. I wander when I preach, and I'm going

to try not to fall off the front of the stage.

I've not done that yet, so that would be a first.

So like I said, my name is Josh Bledsoe. I was

a pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Monticello

just down the road for almost eight years before

God called me to my current position with IBSA

where I helped work as a director of church health

and revitalization. So I work with churches to

bring renewal and revitalization. We host different

weekends, but originally I was saved in a church,

First Baptist Church in Effingham, Illinois.

And I remember in that service, I was sitting

on my right -hand side over here, and I was sitting

on the end, and it was the fourth pew back. And

we had pews back then, not these comfy chairs.

We had pews. I think it's to make sure you didn't

fall asleep during church. But I sat back there,

and I don't remember what the pastor preached

on that day. I wish I could tell you. I wish

I could go back and think through everything

and be like, here's exactly what he said. Here's

how he presented the gospel. I know he did present

the gospel. I just don't know what he says. But

at the end, here's what I remember. I remember

thinking to myself, the people around me had

something I didn't. There was something in the

lives of my parents, something in the lives of

my Sunday school teachers and the other people

in church that was different from my life, and

I desperately needed what they had. So as soon

as the pastor said, we are going to stand and

begin our invitation, I ran out of the pew to

run to the front. Because I knew if I could talk

to the pastor, I could learn what I needed to

do. And in those moments, I gave my life to Jesus

Christ. I'm sure my parents were scared because

I was an ornery kid. I'm sure they thought, what

in the world is he doing running to the front

of the church? But man, I was excited for Jesus.

I wish I could tell you that that excitement

continued all the way through my life, but God

actually called me into vocational ministry when

I was 16 years old. I was a junior in high school,

but God said, I want you to be a pastor. And

I told God, I don't think I want to be a pastor.

Because my dream, now this is super nerdy, okay?

Joe, don't take offense to this, but it's okay.

I'm a music nerd through and through. I wanted

to be a high school band director ever since

I was a little kid. Like I said, super nerdy,

but that's what I wanted to do. So I told God,

God, I don't want to be a pastor. I will do ministry

on the side, but I want to teach band. So I went

to Eastern Illinois University. I was there for

five years. Yes, you heard that right. Five years

for my undergrad. Graduated there with a music

education degree in voice and trumpet. taught

high school band for four years in vandalia illinois

and while i was there god reaffirmed my calling

in the pastoral ministry and i left to become

a student and worship pastor at a small church

and then god called me to my home church where

i served for nine years as their student pastor

before graduating with a master's degree going

on and pastoring at calvary god can do amazing

things But I think sometimes we get so distracted

in our own ideas, in our own agendas, we miss

what God has planned for us. I praise God in

my context. He renewed that calling that I didn't

miss out on something he had in store for me.

I think about a lot, though. What if I would

have responded? Where would I be now? What would

my life look like if I would have responded to

that initial call? But I praise God for how he's

used me since then. Today, we're going to look.

at this passage in Pergamum, and we've been going

through the seven churches, and it's interesting,

I preached a series on these back in 2020, and

so my sermon series was called 2020 Vision, where

we are going to go as a church, and then something

happened that no one ever saw, except God, and

so that kind of derailed lots of stuff, but I

love these passages, because here Jesus is sending

this message to his churches. To his people.

And yes, these are letters that are written thousands

of years ago. 1900 years ago. But yet there's

so much information for us today. And there's

information for us as believers. So if you have

your Bible, I invite you to stand in honor of

the word of God as I read this morning from Revelation

2, beginning in verse 12. And to the angel of

the church in Pergamum write, the words of him

who has the sharp two -edged sword, I know where

you dwell. where Satan's throne is, yet you hold

fast to my name. And you did not deny my faith,

even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness,

who was killed among you where Satan dwells.

But I have a few things against you. You have

some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who

taught Balak to put a stumbling block before

the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food

sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.

So also you have some who hold to the teaching

of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent. If not,

I will come to you soon and war against them

with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear,

let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

To the one who conquers, I will give some of

the hidden manna and I will give him a white

stone with a new name written on the stone that

no one knows except the one who receives it.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your words.

God, we thank you for your truth. God, today

as we look at these, may your truth just be brought

to the surface. God, we seek to honor you in

everything that we do. So God, may this sermon

and may this message be yours. And God, we look

for your direction. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

If you'll please have a seat. So Pergamum was

an interesting place. My wife and I had the privilege

of going to Pergamum about... 10 years ago. And

they are well known for what they call emperor

worship. And so we know a lot about, you know,

the nation of Rome and they had all these different

gods and we hear about them. You hear about Zeus

and you hear about all those. They also worshiped

the emperor. It'd be like us today worshiping

the president of the United States. What is interesting

at Pergamum, they had a well -known temple to

Zeus there, but at one time they had the most

well -known emperor temple where people from

all over Rome would journey. to worship and give

sacrifice to the emperor of Rome at the time.

And they were very proud of this. And so because

of that, Rome recognized them and they gave them

this nice stone, white stone tablet that they

would put on display that recognized Pergamum

as a place that honored and worshiped the emperor

above all others. Well, for Pergamum, eventually

another community decided to build a better temple.

And so they then got this white stone. So Pergamum,

in their pride, decides, well, we can't have

that. We're going to build a bigger temple and

a bigger church than that one. So Rome gave them

their white stone back. They're very prideful.

They were prideful in their sinfulness. And as

we look at these, this is the word. And I love

how these letters always have some connection

to the community. Some connection to the town

and the sinfulness or the problems that are going

on, but yet it is connected then to the church.

And so for them, he is encouraging them with

this, get a new stone, and we'll talk about that

later. But I love this identification of who

Jesus is. The words of him who has the sharp

two -edged sword. This is a call to the scripture

where the Bible, the word of God, is sharp like

a two -edged sword. I don't know if you know

much about Roman If you think about swords in

the day, I thought about bringing a broadsword

I have. It stands about this tall, and it would

make a nice public display and visual. But Rome

didn't use those. They used these little short

ones. They're about maybe 18 inches, 12 to 18

inches long. And it was two -edged, which means

you can pierce with it, but it would cut this

way, it would cut this way, and they would use

a shield. And then they could be very... and

hit exactly where they wanted to hit with this

sword. It's like the word of God. Have you ever

been reading the Bible and it tells you something

that is so personal? And it's a message that

just hits home and it's like, God, I needed to

hear that today. It's like that two -edged sword.

It hits right where it needs to be. That two

-edged sword could also hurt and damage. The

word of God. brings to light our weaknesses and

our problems, our shortcomings. But here's what

I love about Jesus. While Satan brings these

shortcomings up to try and destroy us, Jesus

brings these up for forgiveness and redemption.

It's not about our destruction. It's about our

redemption to him. And so these words, that's

what it does. And so today, as we've read this,

I want to encourage you. The first thing the

church in Pergamum hears is there's... an encouragement

for how they have endured an extreme difficulty.

So today, you can be faithful amongst difficulty.

At Pergamum, they have all sorts of things going

on. This faithful witness, Antipas, he is faithfully

witnessing and ministering to the people of Pergamum,

but yet he is put to death because of that. Talk

about extreme difficulty. But that still happens

around our world today. In fact, if you would

go to the Middle East to share your faith, there

is a chance you could be put to death for simply

declaring to be a Christian. There are places

around the world where their life hangs in the

balance, where today we can gather and we don't

have to worry about someone coming in and hurting

us because we're here to declare the name of

Jesus Christ. But that is not true in so many

other places around the world. But man, we face

so many other difficulties, don't we? We face

an ever -increasing challenge to share our faith

in a secular world. In fact, I've been to conferences,

and now you are actually better equipped to share

your faith in America if you are trained as an

international missionary than as if you grew

up here. Just because we live in a culture that

is no longer the culture that at least people

like me grew up with. Some of you have not grown

up in a Christian culture necessarily your entire

life. But we have difficulties. There's difficulties

in life, isn't there? Do you know that since

COVID, that depression and anxiety has skyrocketed?

It's difficult. Life is hard. But I want to encourage

you. It is possible to remain faithful in any...

difficulty. These people in Pergamum, while they

were there, they were able to stay faithful,

many of them, even in spite of the difficulty.

The friends they knew, Antipas lost his life,

but yet they remained faithful to the case of

Christ. We can remain faithful. Have you ever

been made fun of for your Christian faith? I

remember I was going around And I was helping

another church. We were doing a survey of the

area, just trying to figure out how many people

went to church and where. And so we were going

around. One of the things I did and challenged

my people as a youth pastor, I said, don't just

go up and ask them questions, but at the end,

ask how you can pray for them. Because we want

to be an encouragement. It's not just about getting

numbers. We want to minister to the people in

the community. I remember going to a door and

asking them if I could pray for them. And they

said, no, I'm good. And they slammed the door

in my face. I had another lady who said, no,

I've already been to church this morning. I don't

need any more prayers. I really wanted to say,

I need as many prayers as I can get. So maybe

you can pray for me. I didn't. But man, it's

discouraging when you're trying to love on somebody,

when you're trying to connect and all you get

is a door slammed in your face. Or maybe you

stand up and declare the word of God amongst

a group of friends and you get ridiculed because

of it. There are prices to pay for standing for

our faith. But we need to remain faithful. It's

possible. We don't have to give in to the things

of the world. Even though they surround us all

the time, we don't have to get in. We can remain

faithful. But I would encourage you today, we

need to have grace in that struggle. I think

it's so easy for us to be really hard on ourselves.

So I'm currently going through doctoral work.

Daniel's actually ahead of me in his doctoral

work, so pray for him as he's writing his dissertation.

I still have half of my doctoral work to do.

But in my class, I was eight weeks in, nine weeks

in, and I had not missed a single point. I had

had a perfect 100 % in my class, and man, I was

excited because that never happens. And I'm like,

I'm going to make it through this entire semester

and I'm going to have a perfect score because

I can do it because I am so awesome. Then I got

my grade back. I had a 99 out of 100 on an assignment.

All because of one dumb mistake. You know, we

beat ourselves up for even dumb stuff. And you're

probably thinking like, what a ridiculous story.

How can you be mad for missing one point? Because

I wasn't perfect. Because I messed up. Because

I wanted to be perfect. But man, we want to do

the right thing, don't we? You want to do the

right things in your life. You want to have all

the things going in the right direction. You

want to obey God. I want to do all those things.

Man, I want to be the best father I can be. I

want to be the best husband I can be. I want

to be the best employee I can be. And man, I

can strive and strive and strive, and I want

to do all those things to the highest capability.

But guess what? We're all human. We're all going

to fail. So parents, look at the kids sitting

around you. They are going to mess up. It's okay.

Children, look at your parents around you. They

are going to mess up. It's okay. We need to have

grace. God gives grace. We need to give ourselves

grace. Now, that doesn't mean we excuse sinfulness.

In fact, in 1 John 1, 9, we are told this is

how we receive grace. If we confess our sins,

he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and

to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It's

not just about giving yourself grace and continuing

to do the same thing. Confession has this idea

of going to God and saying, God, I am. broken

over my sinfulness. You know what? As kids, we

say sorry a lot. When I was growing up, I told

my parents sorry all the time. Do you know what

my sorry normally meant? My sorry was normally,

I'm sorry that I got caught. I wasn't really

sorry for my actions. I was just sorry that I

got caught because I don't want to be in trouble.

Mom, I'm sorry I took those extra cookies. Well,

guess what? Tomorrow I'm going to go back and

try and get more extra cookies. I'm just going

to be sneakier about it. I wasn't really sorry.

I was just sorry they had caught me. That's not

what we're talking about here. To confess, to

say, God, I'm broken over my sinfulness and turn

away from it. That kind of grace. And when we

take our shortcomings to God and we run to him

and say, God, I confess I am sorry for the things

that I have done. God, forgive me. and help me

to live for you there is grace and forgiveness

in that sentiment satan is really great at bringing

up our shortcomings isn't he he's really good

at recalling those things of you know what god

wants you to do that but remember what you did

last time you're doing pretty well now but remember

this is the difference between satan and jesus

satan brings stuff up to make us be held down,

to stop us from doing things. Jesus enlightens

shortcomings in our lives so they can be forgiven

and he can redeem us to greater accomplishments

for his kingdom. So we focus on him. But grace,

give yourself grace in the struggle. So first,

there's this encouragement that there's faithfulness

in difficulty. Second, in this passage, we see

this warning against false beliefs. Pergamum.

has begun to have all these false beliefs begin

to enter their church. They're encouraged about

how they've remained faithful, but yet at the

same time, we begin to see these things seep

into their beliefs into the church. Man, I wish

I could tell you this doesn't happen today. But

there are so many things that as Christian individuals,

it begins to seep in our lives. It may sound

good at first. If we're not careful, they even

begin to seep into our churches. Let me give

you a couple examples. On the worst end of it,

there are people who are Christian people who

will declare, you can believe anything you want

as long as you believe it hard enough. God will

count that as service to him in the end. It's

this idea you don't have to believe in Jesus.

You don't even have to believe in God. You can

believe in anything just as long as you believe

in it hard enough. Then it's accepted. And it

begins getting into churches. But another one.

How about people who say God will give you anything

if you pray in the name of Jesus. Now God is

powerful. Prayer. is powerful. So stay with me

on this. The Bible does say that he will grant

you anything in his name. But part of that requirement

is we are praying in agreement with his name.

So when I pray for the things that God wants

me to pray about, when I pray about the things

that God wants to do because they're in his will,

God is going to grant those. It's like a child.

If my child came to me and said, dad, you know,

I would really like to eat this broccoli for

dinner. Would that be okay? Sure. My kids have

never done that before. But if they did, I'd

be like, yeah, that is great. Why would I do

that? Because it's good for them, right? Now,

if they came to me and said, dad, I really don't

want to eat dinner today, but I'd rather eat

this whole bag of candy. Am I going to say, yeah,

that sounds great. Go ahead. No, because I know

it's bad for them and I'm not going to give them

something that's bad for them. In church though,

unfortunately, we've learned that I can just

pray something. So like today, if I decided,

God, I really need a new car. And God, today,

I would like to ask for you for a Lamborghini

or a Ferrari. And so when I get home today, will

that be sitting in my driveway? In Jesus' name,

amen. I can promise you there will not be a Lamborghini

or Ferrari sitting in my driveway. Do you know

why? Because I'd kill myself in a Lamborghini

or Ferrari. And if not, I can't afford the insurance,

and I'd probably wreck it anyway. So God, knowing

it's not good for me, he's not going to give

that to me. But yet that seeps into the church.

One more. Have you ever heard this idea of karma?

This is a Far East religion idea, this balance

in the world, yin and yang, good and bad. I've

heard people in the church for so long say, don't

worry about them, they'll get... theirs or well

if they've treated you that way don't worry something

else will come back and get them because life

balances out that's not how it works we live

in a fallen world there's sinfulness all around

us bad stuff happens because of sin in the world

bad stuff happens just because we do bad things

bad stuff happens because other people do bad

things Natural disasters happen because it is

God's perfect world reacting to the sinfulness

thrust upon it. Bad stuff happens. It's not karma.

There's not a cosmic scorekeeper making sure

good and bad happens. We know the person who's

been a faithful Christian for years and ends

up dying of cancer early. We also know the person

who has done nothing but smoke cigars and eat

bacon their entire life and they live to be 98.

I don't know why some things happen and others

don't. I don't know why God chooses to act in

some situations, and sometimes he doesn't. But

I believe we have a good God who is sovereign,

who is able to accomplish all things. He is working

for his will and his purpose, and I trust him.

So if we're not careful, all these things begin

to seep in. And the problem is we then begin

to see our compromised theology. Theology, fancy

word. It's just what you believe about God is

your theology. So you can have good theology.

You can have real bad theology. But if we want

to have correct theology, we go to the Word of

God. The Bible is truth. It is God's unerring

truth. It is where we go. You know what? When

I was a teacher, when I was at Eastern, I had

to take a philosophy of education course. This

was the biggest waste of time. in my life. In

this class, we are taught how you teach students.

And they told me, you can never tell a student

they're wrong because you will damage their self

-esteem. I'm like, what? I raised my hand and

I said, let me get this straight. I can never

tell them that they're wrong, but what if they

are wrong? And I said, what if they write on

their paper 2 plus 2 equals 5? And they said,

we can't tell them they're wrong. You have to

tell them, nice try. Or, that's an interesting

way to think about it. Personally, I don't want

my engineers designing my bridges who are using

2 plus 2 equals 5 because that's an interesting

way to look at it. Personally, I don't want my

surgeons doing heart surgery on me because they

have a unique way. to look at my body. I want

someone who knows the truth. I want someone who

studied and they know what to do because there

is truth here. Man, we have got to know our theology.

And guess what? Just because you believe something

is true doesn't mean it's true. And so many times

what our society now does is they take their

beliefs, they read the word of God, and they

adapt the word of God to match what they believe.

If we are going to have correct theology, we

have to take what we believe, examine it with

Scripture, and when it's different, we correct

our beliefs. But the problem is, when we have

a compromised theology, it then leads to a compromised

lifestyle. Because what you believe will come

out in what you do. Let me say that again. What

you believe will come out in what you do. do.

You know, the Bible tells us not to worry, right?

It says to take all things to God with thanksgiving,

and don't worry. So when we worry, do you know

what that actually says? It says to God, I don't

think you're big enough to handle my problem.

That becomes our theology playing out in our

lifestyle. We may say we believe God enough,

that he's big enough, he's powerful enough, But

when we live in doubt, we're actually saying,

God, I don't believe you're big enough and powerful

enough. You know, when God calls us to share

the gospel with our friend's coworker neighbor,

but we say, God, you don't understand. That guy's

real difficult. God, you don't understand. They're

going to make fun of me. What we're saying is

God's not big enough to change that person's

life. That the gospel's not worth my sacrifice.

And unfortunately, over time, As this compromised

theology plays out, our life becomes so compromised,

we can lose sight of what we're doing, who we

are, even where we're going. College was kind

of a time for me I lost my way. I would love

to say I was a perfect student. I wasn't terrible

by any means. Trust me, there's a lot of other

stuff going on in college that's a lot worse,

but we don't play comparative games. In my life,

I wasn't seeking God. I went to church. I went

to church because they paid me to sing in the

choir, to practice, and so I got 50 or 60 bucks

a week just to attend church service. So I'm

like, man, I'll go to that church because they're

going to give me 60 bucks every week. So I went,

didn't get anything out of it. And I lived with

this idea that I can do whatever I want because

I know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. and

because i know jesus christ as my lord and savior

all i have to do is ask for forgiveness and because

he's a gracious god he has to forgive me because

that's what the bible says confess your sins

and he will forgive you so i said i'll go do

whatever i want and i'll say i'm sorry and then

i'll be forgiven and all will be good that's

not really what that verse means i had this head

knowledge about god but it was a compromised

truth and it changed how i lived for him now

i've repented for that over time but we do have

to be careful because like i said that is how

our life is compromised romans 12 2 talks about

this compromising that we have to be careful

about romans 12 2 tells us do not be conformed

to this world but be transformed by the renewal

of your mind that by testing you may discern

what is the will of god what is good and acceptable

and perfect So there's this idea that we have

to take our things to God, to be in the world.

We're called to be in the world, right? You know,

I've always thought about the Amish people. And

I'm impressed by them. One of the things they

get right is this holistic living. They have

separated themselves from the sinful temptations

of the world. They still have their own temptations,

but they don't have to worry about internet stuff.

They don't have to worry about listening to the

wrong songs or watching the wrong movies or spending

too much time on their Facebook or Instagram

or Snapchat or whatever else you use. They don't

have to do all that stuff because they've removed

themselves from the world. But here's the problem.

How are they accomplishing the Great Commission?

And that's the whole point. Your church recites

this at the end of every service. Because that

is the purpose of the church is to accomplish

the great commission by declaring the gospel

and being disciples who make disciples. That's

what we're called to do. They've removed themselves.

Yes, they're protecting themselves. They're not

being influenced by the world because they've

isolated themselves. They're also not influencing

the world for God's kingdom. However, we can

be on the other side where we're trying to influence.

God's kingdom and trying to take the gospel into

the world, but yet the world influences us to

such a degree that we begin to lose our gospel

effectiveness. I don't know if you guys follow

any of the news, but have you guys noticed the

amount of mega church pastors who have fallen

in recent years due to some sort of financial

or sexual temptation from their past or even

recent? You look around at the abuse that happens.

There was just one recently in the news. Man,

we have to be careful. If we do not guard our

hearts, we will fall. I don't know if you're

familiar with the story of David. We know David

and Goliath, right? He took his stones and killed

Goliath. And God calls him a man after God's

own heart. If we fast forward enough. There's

a passage where David, and it says, it was the

season when kings go to war, but David decided,

I'm going to stay back. I've done my time. I

don't want to do that. I'm going to stay home.

And so one night he's up and he sees Bathsheba,

invites her into his house. And as we continue

down that line, eventually he kills Bathsheba's

husband. He lies about it, marries her, takes

her into his own house. Man, just sinfulness

after sinfulness after sinfulness. But it started

with a single thing of him shirking his duty

and saying, God, I don't have to do that. I've

done my time. If we aren't careful, it is so

easy for us. If David, who the Bible says is

a man after God's own heart, can fall so greatly,

we have to be aware that that temptation is right

there for us. But through the Spirit of God,

there is the power to overcome any temptation.

God has promised he will give us a way out of

temptation when we look for him. And so today,

as we look at this, as Jesus calls them, and

I think this is a call for us as well, there's

a call to repentance. Man, Jesus knows this is

a difficult place. It's a town, and he calls

it where Satan dwells. I don't know if he'd quite

say that about Champaign -Urbana -Savoy. Maybe

he'd say, Champaign -Urbana -Savoy, where Satan

dwells. don't think it's probably that bad um

but that's what he says so this is a difficult

place they have these idols these teachings they've

put up this you know stumbling block before all

those things of balaam and balak they've begun

to eat food sacrifice to idols and sexual morality

they have this emperor you know worship going

on but in verse 18 he gives them this word therefore

repent for us today i think there's this call

to repentance and repentance not just the i'm

sorry but the actual turn away to actually repent

so if i was walking this direction and i decided

i was wrong if i was going to repent from going

this direction i would literally turn 180 degrees

and go the other direction That's what it means

in our lives. If I'm pursuing sinfulness for

me to repent, I have to do a complete 180 and

travel a different direction. It's not about

just adjusting my life. It's not just about trying

to avoid it, because we're good at that, aren't

we? I think sometimes we get in our minds, I

have a problem with whatever it may be. And you

can fill in your own blank. It may be greed,

pride, lust, whatever. Fill in your own blank.

And we think, I can do this. I cannot do this

anymore. I can avoid my sinfulness. And guess

what? You'll be successful for a while. Through

your own strength and endurance, you can find

success for a season. But eventually, you will

stumble and you will fall because all of us grow

tired. The only way we can find true forgiveness

is when we repent, turn away. We then fill our

lives with the things of God. not just avoid

what is sinful. And so it's a call to refocus

our life and beliefs on God, because all of us

drift. It doesn't matter who you are. If you're

an elder, a pastor, a deacon, an adult, a child,

you could have been a Christian for 90 years,

you could be a Christian for two days. All of

us are going to have times where we drift, and

we need to refocus and be reunited on who God

is. to direct your life. So there's this call

that we refocus. In fact, Psalm 19, 14 is this

prayer, and I hope this would be our prayer today.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation

of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord,

my rock and my redeemer. Today, is that your

prayer? Today, can you say, the words of my mouth

and the meditation of my heart are on God? Or

maybe you're sitting here today thinking, man,

this guy's preaching way too long. I wonder where

we're going to go for lunch today. No, oh, we

got VBS this afternoon and there's all this other

stuff I need to do. Or, man, there's that new

PS5 game that just came out I want to play and

I can't wait to get back home and play Fortnite

with my homies. They don't say homies anymore,

they say chat now. I'm not hip, I know. But we

get so distracted, don't we? And it's so easy

for us when we want our hearts and desires to

be locked in into who God is and we want to pursue

him with everything that we are. It is so easy

for us to drift away because we all have responsibility.

We all have problems. And if we're not careful,

those things begin to consume our lives. But

our God is bigger than all those things. So we

refocus on God. We refocus our life and belief

on him. So we also receive this warning. So there's

this call to repentance, but you're given a choice.

I want you to see this here. We are always given

a choice. Jesus gives the church at Pergamum

a choice. There's this call, but what is he going

to do? So then there's this warning of judgment.

He says, therefore repent. If not, I will come

to you soon and war against them with the sword

of my mouth. This idea of, look, repent, or you're

not going to be a church anymore. Repent, or

there is judgment coming. Realize in your life

there is a warning of judgment. When we do things

that are against God, there are always consequences.

Sin is always a big deal. And there's this saying,

that sin will take you farther than you want

to go, cost you more than you want to pay. Because

it looks good in the moment, right? So I've been

on a diet for about a year. I've been trying

to run. I've lost about 50 pounds, so I've been

doing pretty good. But you know what? I used

to like to eat candy a lot. And so we would go

buy candy at my house and I'd have it and I'd

have a little bag next to my chair. And so do

you know what I did? And I'm a gamer, so I like

to play video games. I have about every game

system you can ever think of at my house. And

I would sit there and play my games and we'd

play Fortnite with my boys or whatever and I

would eat candy. Sounds real healthy, right?

That was fun in the moment because the candy

was good. But over time, guess what? You put

on a lot of weight when you eat candy. You know

what? Chocolate cake looks good. A little bit

of it's okay. But you better not eat the whole

thing. Because otherwise there's problems. There

are consequences for our bad choices. Just like

our sinfulness, there are consequences. And it

may not be recognizable in the media. Because

guess what? Sin is fun. I know you don't think

a pastor should say that. But if sin wasn't fun,

it would be easy to say no. That's why it looks

good. It's tempting because it's something we

want to do. Satan knows where to hit our buttons.

Ourselves, we tempt ourselves because we know

what we want and our fleshly desires. But man,

there is judgment to come if we're not careful.

Because I went from just under 200 pounds when

I started at Calvary, then I started eating my

candy and I got above 250 pounds. That didn't

happen overnight. We have to be careful because,

man, that stuff builds. And our sinfulness is

like a wall between us and God. Every sin gets

there and it's just a little bit harder to hear

him. It may not seem like a big deal at first,

but eventually over time it builds and builds

and builds. And all of a sudden you look back

and you're not anywhere close to where you want

to be. I don't think any of us make a decision

to be like, you know what, I decide I don't want

to follow God. I just want to do all the sinful

stuff in the world. I'm just going to do that

because that sounds great. But man, if you're

not careful, you find yourself there just from

the little steps along the way. But there's this

warning, and sinfulness always has a big deal.

And so, however, there's also reward for response.

So the two choices as they talk about this reward,

we get this warning, and here's what's going

to happen. So those who reject. Those who reject

Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, there

is only judgment for them. I don't know if you've

ever heard this, that hell is the absence of

God. That's not necessarily true. Hell is the

existence of God's eternal wrath and judgment.

It is absence of God's grace, love, compassion.

Have you ever heard people say, I want to go

to hell because that's where all my friends are

going to be? Guess what's not in hell? Relationship,

friendship, comfort. Those are all blessings

given by God. Hell is the complete absence of

those. It is the full existence of God's wrath.

That is what people earn. The Bible says, for

the wages of sin is death. You know what a wage

is? It is something you've earned for a job done.

And so, you know, I used to mow yards when I

grew up. I got paid $10. Like, man, that's terrible.

You have to realize that was like 30 years ago.

I would get $10. That's my wage. I'd mow, I'd

get 10 bucks. If I didn't mow, didn't get 10

bucks. It's the work I did. This is what I earned.

My sinfulness in my life has earned me death.

There is nothing I can do to remove that judgment.

Let me ask you. Has anyone here ever lied before?

Yes. Raise your hand if you've lied. Oh, man.

A whole bunch of you. Do you know what that makes

you? Liars. Do you know what that makes me? Liar.

I can tell the truth as much as I want, but guess

what? If I ever told a lie, I am still a liar.

I can never take that back. Has anyone ever stolen

anything before? I have. My dad owned a department

store or manager at a department store. And so

I'd go in and I'd take candy out of their candy

display all the time because it's like the little

scoop thing. And I just go in there and take

it because I could. And I was four. But man,

that makes me a thief, right? I can return it.

I can say I'm sorry, but I'm still a thief. No

matter what I do, I can't erase it. Our wages

are sinful. Our actions are sinful. The only

way. For true forgiveness is through the blood

of Jesus Christ, who God sent to this world,

who Jesus lived a perfect life, who then died

on the cross innocent to pay the punishment for

our sinfulness. And we put our faith in him.

We are given this new life. And that's the other

reward for our response is repentance. we get

this repentance it's a new life that all the

old is wiped away and what i love in the moment

of salvation my sins are forgiven past present

and future as christians we're still going to

sin aren't we and we need to take it serious

we need to continue to ask god for forgiveness

but i don't have to worry about losing my salvation

because my salvation is secured through the blood

of jesus christ alone through my faith in him

The Bible says that nothing can take me out of

his hand. My salvation is secure through the

blood of Jesus Christ. When God looks at me because

of my faith in Jesus, he no longer sees the sinful

person I am. He sees the righteousness because

I'm covered by Jesus. He sees Jesus' sacrifice.

Man, I get that new life. And I love this description.

that they give here to Pergamon. It says, if

you repent, if you come to me, I will give you

some of the hidden manna. So what was manna?

If we go back and look in Exodus, the Israelites

have come out of Egypt. They've been walking

through and they just complain and complain and

complain. Like, God, why are we here? God, you

brought us out here to die. God, it would have

been better for us to be in Egypt. Moses, take

us back to Egypt. I'm like, these people don't

get it. And so they're like, we're hungry. So

God says, I'm going to give you manna. Every

day, there's going to be this bread -like stuff

that tastes like honey that falls on the ground.

Go and pick it up. They've done nothing to earn

that, right? All they do is complain and complain

and complain. In fact, you know, when people

complain around us, we kind of eventually give

in, right? And usually those results aren't good.

I told my son I wasn't going to talk about them

today, but I'm going to do it anyway. So when

my son Andrew was four or five, We go to Buffalo

Wild Wings. We like Buffalo Wild Wings. And I

like the hot wings at Buffalo Wild Wings. And

so we are there. And Andrew kept saying, Dad,

I want some of your wings. I said, no, they're

too hot. You won't like them. 30 seconds later,

Dad, I want some of your wings. No, they're too

hot. You won't like them. Dad, I want some of

your wings. Fine! Here! He takes one bite and

starts bawling. Now, as a sinful human being,

I thought, serves you right. But God, as the

Israelites are complaining, he doesn't say, serves

you right. He gives them something that will

lead to new life. That is the promise when we

go to God. He provides our sustenance of new

life. He is the bread of life. It is not just

salvation for the world to come when this life

ends and we get to celebrate eternity in heaven

in the presence of God. We get to experience

God's power in this life now as he sustains us.

And this new white stone, this is where I love

this picture. Pergamum took great pride in the

white stone that they had because they were worshiping

the emperor. And here, Jesus connects that right

to that community. And he said, you know what?

Your community takes great pride in this stone

that has written on how great your community

is. But when you come to me, I will give you

a new stone. So he's going to give them something

that represents their relationship with Christ.

I wish I knew what was written on that. It says,

there's a new name written on that stone that

no one knows, except the one who receives it.

I'm like, I want to know what that is. But what

I do know, man, it's got to be great because

it's given by God. But it symbolizes this new

dedication to a new life in Jesus Christ. So

today, I want to ask you, this is kind of our

application section, where are you? If Jesus

had wrote this letter to you, what would it say?

What would be the things in your life he might

point out? Things that maybe you're tempted to

add to. I'm hoping none of you are worshiping

Balaam or Balak. But man, I bet there's some

of us that are living a little bit too much in

the world. I bet there's some of us that, you

know, some of those worldly beliefs begin to

creep in or maybe we're just not living for God

like we should. Maybe God's calling you to something

new. Maybe he's calling you to share your faith.

with your neighbor, with a co -worker. I don't

know what he's calling, but I know he would have

something to say for you today if you don't know

him as your Lord and Savior. If you've never

trusted Jesus Christ and said, God, I'm sorry

for the things that I've done. God, I'm sorry

for my sinfulness, the things that are against

your will. I'm sorry for participating in those.

And God, today I want to ask for forgiveness.

God, today I recognize Jesus. He came. He died

on the cross for my sinfulness to take the punishment

I deserve. He took my place. And God, today I

give my life to you. Maybe today it's a time

for you to do that. To see your life change from

death to life. From hopelessness to hope. To

give you that new direction. That manna from

heaven. That new life. Whatever your... dealing

with today, I pray that we'll use these next

couple songs as a chance to ask God to move in

our lives. So use them as a time of response.

And whether you stand, whether you sit, whatever

you do, I'd ask you, whether you're singing,

whatever, just use this time to let the Holy

Spirit speak to you, to respond to the Word of

God. Maybe it's a day to recommit, to change,

to say, God, I'm sorry. Maybe it's a day to say,

God, everything's going pretty well, and I'm

pursuing you. God, thank you for protecting me.

Thank you for how you're giving to me, whatever

it is. Our band's going to come, and I'm going

to pray, and we're going to lead in the time

of worship. But my prayer is, spend this time

to focus on who God is and what he has for you

in this moment. I'm sure if you need to talk

or pray with someone, Danny would love to do

that. I'll be up here if you want to do that

as well over here on the side. But just use this

time to respond as God leads you. Dear Heavenly

Father, we are grateful for these words. God,

we're grateful for your message to the church

at Pergamum. God, today I would pray that this

would be a chance for us to examine our own lives.

God, if you were to give us a letter like you

gave to these churches, what would you say to

us? God, I pray during this time, may this be

a time for you just to shine the light of your

word on our lives. God, illuminate our shortcomings.

God, not to judge us or hold us down, but God,

to lead us. to redemption as we confess and give

those over to you. God, I pray today if there's

someone here who doesn't know Jesus Christ as

their Lord and Savior, that you begin moving

in their hearts and minds, draw them to yourself,

help them to begin to yearn for a relationship

in this new life with you. So God, as we look

and respond in these next moments, God, speak

to us clearly. God, help us to lay down our pride

or whatever it is and just respond. and confess

our shortcomings to you. So God, lead us as we

worship. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.