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The Church of the Lay of the Seans and we did read Colossians chapter 2 for a reason Actually, if you want to sort of get an idea what the church in Lay of the Seer was like Probably the best example of what it was like prior to the writing of Christ Against in the book of Revelation is probably found in the book of Colossians. Probably the closest church you're going to find that's very similar to The church in Lay of the Seer. I'll show you that in a minute But keep your finger there in Colossians chapter 2 and go to Revelation chapter 3, please Revelation chapter 3 So this is the final the seventh church in in the book of Revelation and then it says here in verse number 14 Revelation chapter 3 verse 14 and unto the angel of the Church of the Lay of the Seans writes These things saith the Amen the faithful and true witness the beginning of the creation of God Alright, so if you just quickly flick back to Colossians chapter 2 Colossians chapter 2 look at verse number 1 Colossians chapter 2 verse number 1 Now Paul had not visited never, you know, never physically visited the Colossian Church But he wrote this letter and it says there in verse number 1 for I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you and for Them at Lay of the Seer and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh He goes look the Lay of the Seer Church the Colossian Church. You guys know about me. I've written to you This is a letter for you But you've not seen me in the flesh and you see that the Apostle Paul has a great love He says he's got a great conflict that he has for them. Even though he's never seen them He's heard of their reputation. In fact, one of the church leaders, maybe the pastor I forget his name right now, was in prison with Paul during this time There's no doubt that this pastor or this leader of the church, you know Updated Paul with the progress of the church in Colossians and he heard about the Lay of the Seer Church as well Go to Colossians chapter 4 now Colossians chapter 4 verse 16 Colossians chapter 4 verse 16 The Bible says so, of course, this is the the epistle to the Colossian Church But this is what he says to the Colossian Church This is the instruction verse number 16 Colossians 4 16 and when this epistle is read among you cause it to be read also in the Church of the Lay of the Seers that ye And that ye likewise read the epistle from Lay of the Seer. Okay, so you see that Paul has written to the Colossian Church because once you're done reading that once you're done preaching and learning from it now Send it to the church in Lay of the Seers so they can learn from that as well And we find out here that he also sent an epistle to Lay of the Seers to the church there and you know Their instruction was to send it to the Colossian Church. And of course, you know that epistle is not in the canon of our scripture Okay, I mean there's a lot of books There's a lot of writings and also letters that are not part of the canon of Scripture And so of course this this is not a letter that God saw fit to to keep You know as part of the canon of Scripture, you know, you know Pretend there's probably many reasons for that potentially It's not fully under the influence of the Holy Ghost So maybe it's just very similar to the one that's given to the Colossian Church And so these letters have been shared around and so that gives you kind of idea about the situation of the church in Lay of the Seers You know Paul cares very much for the church He sends instructions to the church and one of the key things in the book of Colossians is You know not to be distracted and not to follow after the ways of the world You know to keep your hearts and minds on on Jesus Christ and and and and to you know Think about eternity and not to think about the temple things. You'll see that when you read the book of Colossians That's that's a major theme that you'll find there in that book And so it kind of makes sense as we go through the church in there to see in the book of Revelation That they've not taken heed to the instruction of Paul Then in fact, they have gone after the ways of the world, you know, they have they haven't set their sights on eternal matters They've set their sights on earthly things and in fact out of all the seven churches that we read about in Revelation The Church of the Lay of the Seer, Jesus Christ says not one positive thing about them You know, you could say it's the worst church now. I don't know if it's the worst church There's been some pretty bad churches as we've gone through that list But Jesus points to nothing positive about them everything that he says about the Lay of the Seer Church is seen in a negative light Now if you guys go back to Revelation chapter 3 and verse number 13 We again see the introduction of Jesus Christ and he calls himself these things safety Amen. Now what does it mean to say amen when we pray together? We often end with amen someone prays maybe the rest of us if we're in agreement with that prayer We would say amen what I mean basically means is that's the truth I agree with that and so when someone prays if you agree with that prayer It's good practice for you to say amen as well if you agree with the prayer, you know And as someone preaches behind the pulpit and you hear them preaching the truth of God's Word if you agree with that You know, you should say amen. All right. Amen means that's the truth I'm in agreement with that truth and Jesus Christ says look, I'm the amen. I'm the truth Okay, and then again, he clarifies this the faithful and true witness Okay, speaking of himself But again, if you see if you hear a true witness being preached behind the pulpit say amen all right, and then he says that he is the beginning of the creation of God and There are those that do not believe in the deity of Christ They do not believe that Christ is the Lord God and here they say well He's just a creation of God and they'll take this verse here in verse number 14 and say look He's the beginning of the creation of God Meaning that the first thing God created the beginning of his creation Right was Jesus Christ the very first thing that God created Was Jesus Christ and you can see how they can take that and of course those that are Antichrist those that are against Christ will take anything they see in the scripture and try to you know Turn people's hearts against the Lord God But that's not what Christ says at all If you guys go back to Colossians should have told you to keep a finger there go back to Colossians chapter 1 verse 16 Colossians chapter 1 verse 16 The Bible reads for by him Speaking of Jesus Christ for by him or by Jesus were all things created That are in heaven and that are in earth Jesus Christ created all things not just that's what what is on the earth But that also which is in heaven and that and that are in earth visible and invisible You know, there's an invisible world out there You know we talk about the you know, the spiritual realm and we don't see the angels Necessarily, you know, we don't see you know, the the devils and those kinds of influences but it's out there It's an invisible world. But then you've also got the microscopic world, you know tiny creatures You can't even see with your naked eye You know that the elements that make up everything in the world these things are invisible and we were told here that Christ created the invisible and the invisible Whether they be thrones or the minions or principalities or powers all things created Powers all things were created by him and for him verse number 17 and he is Before all things and by him all things consist So this explains to us what it means in Revelation 3 14 for Christ to be the beginning of the creation of God verse 17 Says why because he is before all things Okay, and of Christ is the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the ending because in other words besides, you know Going outside trying to find before the beginning trying to find after the end and there's no such thing All you're gonna find is God, you know, God is the one that can sit, you know All things created exist because of him all things consist because of him and so Christ is the beginning meaning He's he's the starting point of Everything that was created and that's what's being affirmed for us there in Revelation chapter 3 verse 14 back to back to Revelation We will go back to Colossians later on So if you want to keep a finger there you can about Revelation chapter 3 verse 15 Revelation chapter 3 verse 15 Jesus says to this church and look this church was doing some works Alright, but it doesn't it doesn't complement the works He says I know that thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot. I Would thou were cold or hot so then because thou art lukewarm So the works that they do is lukewarm right because they were lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will spew thee out of my mouth. I mean, that's the works of this church So I just rather spew you out of my mouth, you know, the way this church was I mean what horrible words, right? I mean for you know, could you imagine that Christ would say that about New Life Baptist Church? How ashamed would I be as a pastor? I hope you would be ashamed as church members as well You know for Christ to have to say things like that. Hey, but we should take heed listen learn. Let's never be that church Let's never been to be that lukewarm church that Christ wants to spew now. I'm gonna give you my interpretation or my understanding of what we just read and it's probably not going to be Familiar to what you guys probably thought about as you've read through these two verses verses 15 and 16 What I've commonly heard taught is basically a few things here Look at look at verse 15 again. He says that thou art neither cold nor hot and what are they instead? They're lukewarm. So the common teaching out there is that if the church was hot That would be a good thing. And I agree with that Okay, I agree with that and the next thing is well because this church is lukewarm That's a bad thing. And again, I agree with that. Of course lukewarm You're gonna be spewed out of the mouth But then what I've also heard taught is basically well if you're a cold church that's also bad and that's where I disagree Alright, and I know that's probably the first thing you think about when you when you read these things you go Well, cold must be bad. Luke one must be bad, you know, God must be saying hey You need to be aiming to be that hot church and I basically heard preaching like this Let's aim to be you know, I'm hot zealous on fire Church for God and I'm all in favor of those things But I think we're missing the points as to what Christ is speaking about here Okay Now look if the if there are only two options if the option was basically cold or hot then yeah I can understand that that God is calling for them to be hot but he says there in verse number 15 I would thou wert cold or hot just look I would rather you be just cold or rather you be hot Now you say well, can you explain that like people basically people just come up with what they believe that's talking about Okay, without actually seeing what the Word of God says without extracting something from the Word of God from the scriptures to determine What does it mean to be cold? What does it mean to be hot and if we take what Christ is speaking about especially verse number 16? It becomes apparent what he's talking about It's about something, you know figurative speaking that has entered into his mouth because that's why he wants to spew out the lukewarm church You know, he's speaking about a drink He would rather this church be a hot drink or a cold drink But not that lukewarm drink and you know you guys, you know, you got you coffee drinkers. You love your hot drink, right? There's a time for the hot drink that there's a time You know, maybe you're cold and you need to be warmed up and you you have that that hot drink, you know It brings warmth into your body But you know the Bible also speaks well in positive light of a cold drink, you know Sometimes I'll give you some references so you don't need to turn there just very quickly Proverbs 25 25 as cold waters To a thirsty soul. So is good news from a far country Cold waters to a thirsting soul and matthew 10 42 Jesus christ says these words and whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water Only in the name of the of a disciple verily I send to you. He shall in no wise lose his reward Okay, so we see in the bible when we're talking about cold drinks. It's actually seen in a positive sense Okay, and but the point is this sometimes you need a hot drink Okay for the warmth, you know to be on fire, you know that kind of thing, right? Some people love the drink so hot. My mother-in-law loves it. Basically boiling straight off a kettle drinking just like that Right, she loves it boiling hot and some of some others when you're thirsty when you need to be refreshed What are you looking you're not looking for the hot drink when you're first? Yeah, you you're looking for that cold water You're looking at for that refreshing nourishing water that you're going to drink And the lesson that I take out of this when we look at the different churches in the book of revelation They're all different. They're all doing they've all got different measures of works They're all doing different things, you know christ sees them as as independent churches You know on their on their own path at different places on their path and we see a variety of them They're not all hot. In fact, the majority here are not hot, you know But christ is able to still see some pleasant things in many of these churches And so what I believe is happening here is christ is look I'd rather you just be that hot drink a cold drink at least you're useful for the purpose All right, because there are different types of churches. But what I don't want you to be is that lukewarm drink Well, you're neither hot nor cold You say what what does it mean to be a lukewarm? Uh church then well have a look at verse number 17 because he clarifies to us He explains to us what it means to be lukewarm in verse number 17 Because right you're lukewarm. I want to spew you out of my mouth because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and know It's not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked So this church is rich. They've actually got possessions. They're doing quite well financially, right? They have goods they say hey, look, we've got so many things here. We're able to run church We're not really you know Needing to call upon the lord to provide us our needs because we're we're well taken care of and they saw their material wealth They saw their possessions as a sign that they were a great church. They were a good church All right, but christ says no actually the truth about you is that you're wretched. You're miserable poor blind and naked In other words, this church was lukewarm because they had no self-awareness All right, they're in a bad state spiritually and they don't even know it They're in a bad state spiritually, but they're looking at the physical wealth They have that maybe looking at their nice building Maybe they're looking at they've got all the bibles and the tracts and all the fancy things in the church going on They've got all the different activities going on, but they're lacking the awareness They're not doing anything for the lord. The lord has nothing positive to say about this church I don't want to be like that You know, i'd rather be a poor a church that is uh, uh poor with possessions but spiritually rich rich in christ You know, you know, it's a blessing to have this church building, isn't it? But if we didn't have the church building and we had to meet in a park somewhere Hey, we could still be a rich church. We still could be a a doing great works for the lord and um I'm gonna i'm just going to uh, read quickly from romans 7 23 Romans, uh 7 23 because he says about this church that they are wretched And the only other time in the bible that he mentions wretchedness is in romans 7 23 I think it goes well with what we're seeing here in this church. Uh, paul says about himself This is the battle between the the flesh and the spirit the new man and the old man He says but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind And bringing me into captivity to the law of sin Which is in my members, of course the battle right the battle between the flesh and the spirit and then in verse 24 He says oh wretched man that I am Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? So paul calls himself wretched right when he realizes man, I want to serve the lord. I want to do what's right But i'm giving in to the flesh i'm giving in to the power of sin Why am I doing that because i'm wretched because of that? And that that is what I believe is happening with this church maybe they want to do what's right You know, it sounds like like paul that they're desiring to do what's right, but they keep doing that which is wrong They keep doing they keep giving into the to the flesh They keep giving into you know The worldly desires and maybe they want to make a name for themselves in the world rather than a name for themselves before the lord And so the lord in verse number 18 instructs them, right? He instructs them And by the way, it says wretched verse number 17, let's not sorry, let's not go to 18 verse yet. It's verse 17 wretched They're miserable Hey, i've seen that in churches I've seen churches that you know have a hundred or some people, you know with a lot of material possessions And people are miserable miserable, you know, i'd rather you know I want to be in church because I want to be encouraged I want to I want to go to church to edify the brethren I want to go to church to be edified by the brethren to receive a blessing But sometimes you go to church and you're miserable Okay, and that's a bad place to be, you know, if you come to church and you feel miserable Then there's something wrong maybe with the church. Maybe there's something wrong with your spiritual life You know and I just found the best way to overcome misery and sadness and depression is just to care about others. You know what? I'm miserable, but i'm going to make someone's else life better I'm going to bless someone else and again by doing that by serving by loving the brevity lifts your spirits, you know And then it says and poor and of course god doesn't care about material wealth, right? They're poor when he says you're poor. He's saying look you're not laying up treasures in heaven You know, you're not rich in my sights. You're not laying up, you know, the riches for all eternity Yes, you've got possessions on the earth You say you have no need of anything, but you're not going to be able to take that to heaven We're not going to be able to take these chairs to heaven or the air conditioner to heaven or the sound system to heaven It's nice to have these things but our focus should be to be laying up treasures on high and then he says you're blind And you're naked. We'll have a look at that soon. Look at verse number 18. So Jesus christ provides them counsel. He says look this is what you need to do church from you You know, you're a lukewarm church. This is what it means to be lukewarm. You think you're doing well But you're doing poorly. That's what it means to be lukewarm as far as the context within this chapter verse number 18 I counsel thee So this is the advice that christ gives and I love it because christ has always given these churches time He's always been long suffering. He's always been merciful He's always given them the opportunity to improve and he says I counsel thee to buy of me Gold tried in the fire. It sounds like this church has not been going to christ It looks like they've been trying to purchase other things through some other avenues, but haven't been going to christ for the needs You know, this is why I love our wednesday services because we have a time where we can buy from jesus christ We got jesus, please help us. It's time for prayer. Let's pray in jesus name We have these requests we have these needs lord, please provide, you know for this church So it sounds like they haven't even going to christ for the needs So look come I can't say buy of me gold tried in the fire Hey start laying up treasured in heaven once again that thou mayest be rich They still had time to be rich in heaven, right? They weren't doing too well as a church, but they have time that mayest be rich And white raiment now just stop there for a minute. I'm sorry white raiment that thou mayest be clothed And that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear Now i've heard some people say that the church in lay of the seer Uh was not a saved church, you know that they wasn't made up of true bible even christians And so when christ says hey, you know buy a white raiment They're basically saying hey, you know, they weren't saved that they weren't, you know They hadn't received the imputed righteousness of of christ and I mean that's nonsense So really when we started this series on the seven churches, we saw that these each church Represented one of those seven candlesticks of christ. Okay, so it's definitely already a church that belongs to christ Okay, and then when it comes to the white raiment what's good about the bible many times, you know We just go back a little bit and we have the answer and just as a refresher Go back in the same chapter there look at verse number four when we're looking at the church inside us Remember what we saw there in revelation chapter three verse four we saw we saw two garments two white garments One represented the white garment of salvation for that for the one who had overcome, you know The imputed righteousness of christ, but another garment represented our walk with the lord Which can be spotted by this world just as a refresher there verse number four Thou has a few names even inside us which have not defiled their garments and they shall walk with me in white For they are worthy. So we see a walk with the lord, you know How we should live with christ and we have these garments and we need to make sure those garments remain undefiled That they remain unspotted and when we commit sin, of course become spotted becomes defiled That's why we need to go to the lord confess those sins, you know And and you know ask the lord to to maintain that clean walk with him And then verse number five and the same for the same church he that overcometh We know that's someone that's saved the same shall be clothed in white raiment That's the white raiment's clothes, right and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life But I will confess his name before my father and before his angels And so if we have that already we've already learned that as we're reading through the book of revelation That there's there's two garments the one that we're clothed with when we're overcome And then we have a garment which is gets defiled as we walk after sin after the flesh Then which garment you think is being referred to for the church in lay of the seans there in verse number 18 He says look And white raiment, you know by the white raiment that thou mayest be clothed. Okay, it's basically this is the walk Okay, they're already saved. So this is this is you know, you've got you know Right now saying you look you're naked I mean not only are your are your garments defiled not only are they spotted by the world? You're not even wearing them All right. I mean these guys are not in a good place spiritually with the lord. Jesus christ This is why he can't even give them a good, you know any kind of good news about the church They're not even walking with the lord All right And this is why hey look get your garment back on come and buy it from me. Come back to me Confess those sins get right start laying up treasure in heaven and you know start walking, you know in the spirit start walking after my ways once again because the You know the shame of your nakedness is is appearing basically, you know Everyone in heaven in jesus christ when they look at that church in later to see at this point in time They may look they're naked, you know, they need to put on some clothes You know and the same truth is you know that you know Soon i'll be preaching on nakedness and modesty and clothing standards and you know We need to make sure that we dress appropriately that we cover our nakedness It's a shame, you know, jesus christ says about this church It's a shame that you're you're not clothed properly that you're showing your nakedness We need to make sure we do the same thing with our physical appearance. And then he says in verse 18 And anoint thine eyes with eyesalve. That's that's an eye solution. You become blinded. You can't see clearly, you know and thou mayest see And um if you guys just go back to um colossians chapter two if you kept your finger there colossians chapter two verse one colossians chapter two verse one Well, actually verse number six, you know that that book was also Supposed to be read by the laodicean church and look at verse number six colossians chapter two verse six It says as ye have therefore received christ. Jesus the lord So Walk ye in him again in the instructions colossians instructions to the lay of the sins Walk in christ. Paul is is, you know, encouraging them to do that verse number seven rooted and built up in him And established in the faith as ye have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving Why verse number eight lest I beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. Look at this After the tradition of men after the rudiments of the world and not after christ Paul warned him this is going to happen to you. If you don't walk after jesus christ You don't walk in his ways and as we get several years later We see the book, you know in book of revelation the church and laodicea. They did not take heed. They didn't obey What paul had, you know, um advised them to do to walk for the lord and it sounds like to me That they were spoilt by philosophy and vain deceit that they went after the tradition of men They've gone after the rudiments of the world They've become a worldly church, you know deceiving themselves looking at their their material wealth as a sign of righteousness But they had not gone after christ. Okay, and you'll soon see that christ is not even Well, we'll see. We'll see but it's not even Fellowshiping with them whatsoever. That's why they're completely naked. All right, and uh, we talked about the the blindness So remember that they needed to buy the eye soil so they can see once again And just very quickly second peter chapter one verse nine. I'll just read it to you second peter chapter one verse nine Um, it says here but he that lacketh these things actually can you turn there second peter chapter one verse nine turn there Because i've got a few verses there that I want you to look at second peter chapter one verse nine Second peter chapter one verse nine The bible reads but he that lacketh these things Is blind and cannot see afar off and have forgotten that he was purged from his old sins So you see how peter warns about those that are saved? Okay, they've been purged from their from their old sins But they're currently blind why because they lack in certain things and and what they lack has caused them to go blind Let's see what these things are just drop look back up in verse number five second peter chapter one verse five These are the things that that are lacking and you go blind when you're lacking these things verse number five And beside this giving all diligence Add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance And to temperance patience and to patience godliness And to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly client kindness charity, what does this sound like to you? We've gone through the fruits of the spirit It's it's pretty much identical not not exactly but pretty much Those are the fruits of the spirit that we've gone through before in our previous series. Okay, so what was what were the what? You know, what is it that turns a church blind or turns somebody blind? When then they don't have the fruits of the spirit once again the spiritual walk They're not walking after the spirit and they don't have these fruits in their life Look at verse number eight for if these things be in you and abound They make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our lord. Jesus christ So if you're walking after the spirit You've got these fruits that are producing in your life Then you're going to abound in the work that god has given you to do But when you're not walking the spirit when you're not allowing the holy spirit to to Fix these things in your life to to help you overcome the flesh, you know You're not producing this in your life. Then that's when you become blind. Okay, you become blind And so we take it back to revelation chapter three the later to see in church. Why have they gone blind? Because they're not even producing the fruits of the spirit. Okay, they're no longer even walking the spirit They're not even have the garments on. All right, jesus says look come to me buy for me these things You need it all over again not to be saved but in order for them to have a fulfilled productive christian life a productive christian church So you can see how this church is failing all over the place on many levels, you know And as I said, you'll notice that they don't even have christ in the midst of their church And uh go back to revelation chapter three now, please revelation chapter three verse 19 revelation chapter three verse 19 So Now Verse number 19 proves like once again that they are saved Okay Because he says as many as I love I rebuke and chasten Be zealous therefore and repent. All right, he says look be zealous get your zeal back All right, start walking with me again. Start producing the fruits of the spirit start doing the works All right, but look he says look i'm gonna chase on you I'm rebuking you and i'm going to chasing you why verse number 19 because I love you But but as many as I love i'm gonna i'm gonna do this because I love you church. I died for you, you know You're you're one of these candlesticks. I don't want you to to be removed and I love you So therefore i'm gonna chase on you because you're doing wrong And expect that from the lord when you're not walking after his ways when you're being blinded when you're not When you don't cover your nakedness spiritually when you're not laying up treasure in heaven God says to you. I love you church. I I love you brother. I love your sister so and so But i'm gonna have to rebuke you right and the best chapter on on chastisement is hebrews chapter 12 So let's turn there hebrews chapter 12 verse 6 hebrews chapter 12 verse 6 And parents why should we chastise our children Number one because we should love our children right getting that rot out and and correcting them, you know, we need that's a sign of love Because we don't want them to go down a bad road. We want them to correct the things they're doing wrong When they're fussy eaters, we need to correct them when they're disobedient to parents. We need to correct them When we told them to do their schoolwork and they're doing something else. We need to correct them We need to chastise them. We need to rebuke them. Why because you hate them. No because you love them All right, you need you need to show love to your children And Jesus christ Loves us and he's going to chastise us hebrews chapter 12 verse 6 For whom the lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth If ye endure chastening god dealeth with you as with sons for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? So look the fact that the lord wants to chasten the church of laodicea means they are children of god Okay And if you're a child of god expect the lord to chastise you all right when you're doing wrong I mean, I don't always know exactly when the lord is chastising me But when things go bad when things aren't going according to plan I kind of wonder is there something in my life? Is there an area of life where i'm really lacking? Is there an area of life that I dropped? Have I backslidden in some area of my life is the lord bringing my attention, you know Is does the lord want to bring my attention to something that's missing in my life? Or could this just be something else? Is this just you know? But that's the first thing you should be thinking about when you're suffering, you know Some type of tribulation some type of trial ask yourself the question have I dropped off? You know an area in my spiritual walk the lord and if you have it's probably the chastisement of the lord That's come upon you verse number Uh verse number nine or verse number eight But if ye be without chastisement Whereof all apart all are partakers Yes, even pastor kevin sephalvada is a partaker of the chastisement of god Whoever you think is the most righteous man on the earth today the most the best christian you can find today Or even the best christians you find in the bible. Guess what they were chastened by the lord at some point So you're in good company, right when it happens, right? You're in good company, but verse number nine Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us. Look this isn't Um, you know dads, you know, you have a choice to discipline your kids or not No, bob just makes it look expects you It's just an expectation even you know, furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us It's just a given fathers. You're meant to discipline your children, you know mothers discipline your children, you know Don't wait for dad to come home and say well when dad comes home You're going to get disciplined don't wait for that mothers fix them straight away Make sure you're in agreement with dad about the instruction. Make sure dad has has given you that you know Um has delegated that task to you When he's away in the office when he's away working that moms can pick up that rod And discipline the kids make sure you're on the same page. Okay about discipline uh Furthermore we have fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence If I was to look when you discipline your kids they're going to give you reverence they're going to give you honor they're going to Oh, yeah Better obey mom with that next time right? Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live? For they verily for a few days chasing us after their own pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his Holiness and so what what uh, what has been you know taught to us here is when we're chastised by by the lord It's so we can be a partaker of his holiness. We can continue to walk in his holy ways And it's it's for our profit. It profits us. Okay, and it's always correct sometimes as parents We could make mistakes with our discipline. You know, we we might sometimes maybe discipline them or correct them when we probably shouldn't have Or we don't discipline them when we should have had, you know, we can make those mistakes But when it comes to the chastisement of god, it's always right. It's always perfect It's always the right measure of chastisement that he puts upon our lives in verse number 11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous But grievous nevertheless afterward afterward it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness and to them which are exercised Thereby so one way for the lord to bring for fruit in your life the fruit of righteousness The fruits of the spirit is for the lord to put you in or under chastisement Okay, we saw hey without those fruits you're becoming blind as a christian All right, and the way god's going to make sure he opens your eyes Well chastisement is going to come your way because he loves you. Okay, because he loves you Back to revelation chapter three, please revelation chapter three verse 20 And this is probably the most upsetting part of all of this when we read about this church verse number 20 and verse number 20 has Many times been taken out of context and that a lot of people use this as a verse about salvation It sounds nice for salvation, you know, but it's not about salvation. Of course. This church is saved already In fact, it's a scarier thing right verse number 20 behold. This is jesus speaking. I stand at the door and knock If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him or fellowship You know commune with him and he with me Where was jesus christ at this church? He was outside the doors. All right, he says look i'm outside. Can you hear my voice? I'm knocking right? Imagine coming to church right you come to church and and jesus, you know jesus over here You know You know, it's jesus here guys Hey, let me in I want to fellowship with you. Let me in Can you hear me They can't hear jesus knocking They don't hear the his voice All right. I mean look how bad this church is, you know that they're coming together Uh, you know, let's come together and worship the lord. Jesus christ. Jesus christ is out there, right? Hey, let me in. All right, you're not walking with me. You're not fellowshiping with me What a bad state for this church to be in And you know, he says look please fix things about yourself. I'm going to correct you I'm going to chastise you i've been calling out to you and you're not letting me in But if you hear me you open up the door, i'm going to come back and fellowship with you once again Man, that's a great guest to have I reckon if you invited me to your house So be there at six, you know What time did we meet 6 30 be there at 6 30 p.m And i'm outside knocking out guys i'm here i'm here and i'm there for half an hour guys. Let me in I'm going to be frustrated at you at some point, right? I'm going to get annoyed at you Hey, you invited me i've traveled the whole way here i'm here to be with you I wonder if you've been fellowshiping with you, but you won't let me in And I love the mercy of christ because it says look just open the door so we can fellowship All right, just open the door and it'll be all right. Once again, we can go back straight to fellowship That's what I love about. Jesus christ, you know, he doesn't make you jump through hoops to re-establish a friendship He says look just confess those sins. Just take the punishment just fix the things in your life And we're back to you know being best friends, you know, we're back to being in fellowship and just you know Let that be a reminder to you if you've been far from the lord if you haven't been walking the lord just tonight Tonight's the time to rekindle that fellowship with the lord. Okay, he wants to suck with you. He wants to be with you And then verse number 21 what a promise he gives here I almost feel like this church doesn't deserve it, but he says this to him that overcometh So the one that's saved will I grant to sit with me In my throne. Wow, we know that jesus christ is seated on the right hand of the father, isn't he? He says look if you're saved i'm actually going to let you sit with me on the throne Wow, what an honor right on the throne of god each one of us that are saved They're going to have at some point some opportunity I don't know how many of us will sit we're to fit on that throne, but it sounds like these thrones are pretty big Because then he says this even at all So even as I also overcame and am sat down with my father in his throne, okay So you see that jesus christ sometimes will sit with the father on the father's throne. I mean, it's a big throne Okay, and again this just confirms the trinity once again All right, and I I don't want to really go there but during this whole oneness controversy. There's some issue about the throne It's like well who's sitting on the throne here at this point? It's jesus christ and at this point it's god the father because the lamb takes a scroll out of his right hand Therefore jesus is the father. Well, look it just says here that jesus can sit on the same throne with the father All right. I mean the front's big enough and you can sit on jesus's throne You know, I don't know if we get to sit on the father's throne. That'd be pretty cool But hey, it's awesome that we'll be able to sit on the throne of jesus christ as well. What an honor I mean even this church that christ can say no good thing about them Says well at least you're saved you'll sit on my throne All right, you'll have that opportunity once you're in heaven. All right, but at this point in time, it's a poor church It's a miserable church and christ wants them to Fix themselves up verse number 22 here that have an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches. So Let's take the lessons that we can from these churches if you ever think man new life baptist church. It's you know It's not that great of a church after all. We'll just read revelation two and three again All right, we're not too bad. All right But we need to make sure that we learn the lessons whatever things we're failing whatever we're not doing better Uh good, we need to be doing better. Let's make sure we're not a church. That is lukewarm now I do want to end on on one thing here and I didn't want to cover it at the beginning I didn't want to distract from the truth of god's word words here But I want to talk about dispensationalism a little bit. Okay, the uh, the um The teaching of dispensationalism now i'm not a dispensationalist this church is not a dispensational church, okay And there's a lot of problems. Okay with the teaching and I believe it causes people to be blinded Okay, we're talking about a church being blind. I believe dispensationalism can blind you from certain doctrines certain truths from the bible And uh one teaching within the dispensational framework is basic or the one of the key teachings is that there are basically seven dispensations of of eras of time that god deals with people differently Okay, and for like for example the first period of time they call the dispensation of innocence and that would be the time of You know garden of eden when adam and eve were, you know before they had eden of the tree Of knowledge of good and evil before they had done that That's like the first dispensation and then once god curses them and curses the earth. That's the next dispensation I can't remember what they call that one. And then the next dispensation is after the flood and the next dispensation is with Abraham and the next dispensation is with moses and the next next dispensation is with the new testament church So today they'll say we are in the dispensation of grace or we're in the dispensation of the church age Okay, and then they'll say at the rapture there's a new dispensation of the tribulation After that there's a new dispensation of the millennium and after millennium there's a new dispensation of the new heavens and the new earth all eternity Now I kind of like the breakup they have in some of those areas There are significant things that happen during those times. There is a shift of some sort Okay, but one thing that they they sort of say the reason God creates a new dispensation Basically, they say this is that the dispensation that god created with man that men fail And so god has to start a brand new dispensation Because men keep failing men keep failing and so god has to start a new dispensation and do it all over again. All right Think about how heretical this is though if we live in a church age right now Where christ has died for the church? Okay, so if this dispensation needs to if we need a new dispensation in the future what are they saying about this dispensation? That we're going to fail right now the church is going to Fail and it has to fail in order for the lord to rapture the church in a this you know, they believe in a pre-tribulational rapture in order to bring the next dispensation of the Maybe tribulation or maybe they lump it together tribulation with the millennium reign of christ And the reason I bring that up is well, let's just keep that in mind for a minute Keep that in mind that they're you know, apparently according to this teaching we're in the church age, okay But they also teach that within the church age There are seven ages within the church age All right, and those seven church ages What they teach is based on what we've learned through this series on revelation chapter 2 and revelation chapter 3 and they'll say each church You know, even though they are physical churches Historical churches they'll say each of these churches actually really represent a period of time within the church age Okay, I hope you're following me if it's gone over your head. Maybe that's a good thing as well Okay, because it's kind of nonsense. All right, but i'm just trying to explain to you what they teach So the first church that we saw was the church in f of emphasis And they'll say well that church represents You know and again, this isn't an exact thing different people teach it slightly differently But they'll generally say this is from the time of pentecost To about 100 a.d. Okay. So the church of f ephysis represents the first century church, okay Then let's say the church in smurner represents the first, uh, you know from 100 a.d to about 300 a.d Okay, and that period of time the church was being persecuted by rome Okay, and namely by uh nero the roman emperor, you know You've heard the stories where christians were gathered and into coliseums and killed and things like that Well, they say the church in spurna represents that church. All right, or that that period of time I should say Then the church in pergamos they'll say represents the church from 300 a.d to 800 a.d Now just for a minute i'm going to let you guys guess what church that could represent from 300 a.d to 800 a.d And as soon as look when I got taught this I was looking. Oh, yeah This sounds about right and then when we got to the church in pergamos 300 to 800 like This is false. This is this is stupid. Okay. I mean even the bat my baptist brethren should know this is stupid All right. What what do you think this represents? I'm just like one of you guys guess if you know The catholic church the roman catholic church apparently has been represented by the church in pergamos Look these seven churches are churches of jesus christ The roman catholic church has nothing to do with christ Okay, they have another christ. They have an antichrist. Look their popes are their christ Okay, they have other gods the saints and and the virgin mary. She's not a virgin anymore, right? She was a virgin when she gave birth, but she had other children up there. Look, they've got another jesus The roman catholic church has nothing to do With a true church of jesus christ and as i'm learning this i'm like man, that's cool. That's awesome. Wow, really the catholic church Baptist pastor, come on, you know, that's a false church Are you are you that blind with your teaching with your doctrine dispensation that you're going to teach your own church members this nonsense? That's what that's how I feel in my heart. But in my in my I was just smiling. Yeah And I passed the test of course, you know Anyway, let's keep going church in thyatira. They say it's from 800 ad to 15 15 17 15 17 and they'll say well, that's the church in the dark ages And then uh, the church inside us is from 15 17 to about the 1700 1700 Now i'll let you guys think what could that represent? Why 15 17? What's the significance of that date? Anyone know Yeah, the protestant reformation when uh luffa nailed his 95 thesis on the door of a catholic church And I say well that church now the church inside us represents, uh, you know, the protestant movement, you know That's come out of the roman catholic church. And once again Baptist pastor we're not protestants, you know this Right. That's what made you a baptist Okay, you you said hey, I identify as a baptist. I've become a baptist pastor because I don't identify with the roman catholics I don't identify with the protestants Identify with believers that always held to certain distinctives certain truths that we see in the bible They were always out there trying to get the gospel out being preached. They didn't care about being famous They didn't care about you know, uh, you know writing books. They cared about getting the gospel They cared about protecting the bible and they lost their lives. They even lost their lives, uh from protestant people protestant leaders even put baptists to that And then the church in philadelphia the 1700 to the 1900 to 1900 1700 to 1900 they said the church in philadelphia was the great missionary days You know the and this is how they stayed, you know, the great missionary days that are past us now You know, that's the past, you know And then the the church of the lay of the sins because it's a pretty bad church. They say well that represents from the 1900s Till today or really till the rapture is what they'll say till the end of the church age Which ends with the pre-tribulation rapture when all the new testament saints are being raptured out of here Now, of course, we believe in the rapture, but we don't believe in the pre-trib rapture and they'll say well see That's what the church of lay the seer represents And because the church of lay the seer jesus christ has nothing positive to say about them. It's always negative what it does guys They say well, we're living in the lay of the sea and age they say, you know, we're living in the lukewarm age and so Look, could you what would happen to a church if that's what the past is preaching to the congregation? Hey, man, we're just in the lukewarm age We're in the lay of the sea and age What what are they saying then? Well, then jesus christ has nothing positive to say about your church Jesus christ is outside the doors of your church and he's not fellowshiping with you Is that what you're saying because that's what you're saying when you're saying we're living in the later cnh Hey, maybe they can be a latency in church. That's a problem If you want to see yourself like that, hey, but this is not a latency in church Okay. Hey, I want to be a great church, you know I want to learn from all these churches and see all the instructions that christ has, you know Laid out for each one of these churches like hey, let's listen to all these instructions and make sure we put this in place for our church Okay, let's learn from all these churches Even the church and later this year. I mean, how bad is that? How this guy it's a defeated attitude to say Well, you know later see and that's how it is. You know, it's been prophesied that we're going to be this way That's a horrible thing. But here's the thing You know, did jesus say well lay this in church. I guess you're just going to be like that You know, no, he says look take counsel from me fix things thing, you know fix these things up Instead of having a defeatist attitude, you know, look how the world's going look how bad the church is going Hey take counsel from jesus christ if you think you're that way and do what's right Jesus wasn't satisfied for you to stay that way He wanted you to go to him, you know, you know lay up treasures in heaven, you know, put on some clothes do some work You know take off your blinders start seeing properly what the word of god says start walking after his ways Hey bring jesus back into the church. Will you you know, let him back in so he can fellowship with you That's what they should be doing if they think they're related to see in church But no, they've got a defeatist attitude, you know the glory days the great old days of the missionary, you know back in the 1700s look Now's the time to get out there look in the last days the gospel of the kingdom according to jesus christ He's being preached throughout all nations. This doesn't sound like a latency in church to me It sounds like they're doing great works, you know leading up to the coming of the lord jesus christ And so just just one last thing which is kind of off topic what's already off topic But they'll say well see the lay of the sea and church age was from the 1900s right they'll say till the rapture But what happened to the imminent rapture? Because when they teach this they say well during the church age you had to go through all these hundreds of years That were represented by all these churches So there was no pre-trib rapture was there there was no imminent rapture According to their teaching they teach as an imminent rapture They teach it could happen at any time from the time that jesus ascended into heaven Any time from then jesus christ could have come back. Well, hold on that's against your teaching of the church ages Because you're meant to go to at least the 1900s, right? I mean they defeat their own teachings, you know with dispensationalism. It's nonsense Guys, just pick up your bible pray to jesus christ pray to the holy spirit Pray to the father that he would reveal his word to you and just take look was that complicated We've gone through the seven churches. Was it really that complicated? Yeah, we need to learn dispensationalism to really know what the churches were about no, okay, it's it's perfect It's beautiful. The words of god are there to encourage us i'm encouraged when I see bad churches I'm encouraged like man, at least i'm not there yet, right? And then, you know, I hope we don't get there Let's learn from the lessons that we've seen from these other churches and you know, let's better ourselves as a church Let's leave it there and pray