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
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,
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?