Apostles Live | Letters from Jesus | Part 3

while worshiping with us so during the 10 30 a.m service we offer an overflow section in the chapel where masks are mandatory we also have a mask only section available in the sanctuary this wednesday night we are offering a special class called what's on the label where we will dive into some of the philosophies in local school curriculums and explore some helpful steps parents grandparents guardians or teachers can take to address their concerns if you're interested please register online to find more information about our church offerings please view our online bulletin or use your phone to scan the posted qr code as you exit the sanctuary join me as we stand and sing praises to our god and good morning it's always a special delight for me to have parents standing here in your presence and in the presence of god to covenant with god to bring up their children in the admonition and the word of god and so today we have three families some already been through it before others first time so i'm gonna invite all the parents bring your children come on up i think the rain is holding some folks but back there i can see the garages packed back come on in how are you go on in go on somebody else okay i hope they're okay i'm so glad you're here and i'm gonna ask you in the witness of this congregation with your covenant with god that you will bring up your children to know and love jesus would you model christ for them and will you teach them the word of god on a regular basis so they grow up to fall in love with jesus would you pray for them on a regular basis to come at a certain time in their life that god will open their spiritual eyes to know him and to love him father what an honor and a privilege to stand here to covenant with you and to know that you are a covenant-making covenant-keeping god lord we thank you we praise you and we worship you these precious children they're not ours they're yours and you knew them before the foundation of the earth you knew every one of them and you have a plan for every one of them and so i pray that you'll bless them you'll protect them that you guard them that they'll grow to know and love jesus for i pray this in jesus name amen now let me turn to you and ask you who have witnessed all these vows would you do all in your power to support these persons amen amen well there's two little ones they know the lord already come on in name of this child i know but i want you to speak it loud so they can hear it autumn i baptize you in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit amen [Applause] name of this child phoebe phoebe i baptize you in the name of the father and of the son of the holy spirit amen these two knew exactly what's going to happen now this one doesn't it's okay it's okay hey name of this child benjamin asher i baptize you in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen amen there you go okay what do you say thank you god bless let's really give them a warm apostles welcome thank you so much thank you god bless you could you please stand and just turn to your neighbor and say we're glad you're here [Music] [Music] the church will stand and sing together listen to the lord [Music] when all i see is the battle you see my victory when all i see is a mountain you see a mountain and as i walk through the shadow your love surrounds me [Music] we sing this together so when i fight so when [Music] it your feet i'll sing through the night oh god the battle belongs to you [Music] and if you are for me who can be against me amen [Music] for jesus there's nothing impossible [Applause] is [Music] [Music] belongs to you the battle belongs to and almighty forces you gonna be forced nothing can stand against the power of our you shine in the shadows you win everybody nothing can stand against the power of our mighty forces [Music] everybody [Music] [Music] nothing can stand against the power oh but i don't to you [Music] praise god we affirm our faith this morning this is our confession [Music] is laid for your faith in his excellent work [Music] [Music] i'll strengthen you help you and cause you to stay upheld by my righteous son people tonight on christ the first the first foundation i saved my life my hope and rest and went through fiery trials your pathway shall hide my grace all sufficient will be your supply and the flames will not hurt you i only deserve my rock routine the righteousness on christ the first foundation i seek my life all right church let's lift our voices high this is the promise of god to us sing it out sold it on jesus's i will not i will not deserve to let your neighbor hear you that's all though all hell should endeavor [Music] righteousness [Music] [Applause] you unravel me with a melody and you surround me with a song of deliverance from my enemy till all my fears are gone and i'm no [Music] i'm no longer [Music] i am a child of god [Music] you have chosen me [Music] your blood [Music] i am a child of god [Music] [Music] i am a child of god [Music] for me through [Music] [Applause] so i could walk right through [Music] [Applause] [Music] i am [Music] [Music] hey church let's sing that bridge you split the season i could walk right through [Music] my fears [Music] you rescued me [Music] am a child of god i am a child of god amen [Applause] pray with me please heavenly father we are your children and we come to you with grateful thankful hearts primarily that while we were yet sinners you still loved us and you sent your son jesus to pay the penalty for our sin we thank you god we thank you lord jesus we thank you for the work of this church and we pray for all the ministers and their families and and all the different work that is being done here and through church of the apostles we thank you so much for your under shepherd michael that you would bless him and bless his family and later then bless him such that his words would be your words to our hearts and lives today so many of us today hear god we have pain we have trouble in our lives whether it's physical spiritual emotional mental and we can't fix it without you all we can do is offer ourselves to you jehovah rapha to heal us heal our land heal our world so many problems so much talk of war and rumors of war oh lord all we can say is come quickly lord jesus all this talk about illness and disease all we can say is come quickly lord jesus we pray for leading the way we pray for the workers of leading the way that they would be protected they would be directed specifically to those who want to come to know you as lord and savior and can have that relationship with the father through jesus christ the son we pray for the work of uh the persecuted ministering to the persecuted all over the world i pray god that you would be with them as they go and they're in places that we would dare not go but they're there in your name protect them and guide them and keep them safe all we can do is say and thank you that you who started a good work in us shall perfect it shall complete it until the day of jesus christ so all we can say is lord jesus come quickly come quickly now holy spirit and continue to settle upon us as we worship today if we need the gentle breeze if we need a full force hurricane holy spirit come quickly all this i lift up to you father in the name of jesus christ my redeemer amen as an architect i love fixing things i love making things better renovation you get back to the original idea and make it come to life again well growing up it was a difficult environment when i was around eight years old my oldest sister decided that i needed more discipline than what my absentee parents were providing and for five years she took that position in order to not just control my life but actually serve herself reflecting on that what is amazing is that the emotional control was worse than any of the physical beatings and so that left a a mark on my mindset and on my outlook one of the good things about the past as dark as it was is it caused me at an early age to start asking the right questions such as what is the meaning of life why are we here where are we going at the age of 17 years old the senior in high school i was traveling through first warner park when you get inside the park everything is untouched everything is absolutely beautiful and there was a particular afternoon where the sun was setting and the leaves were turning and i was just stunned and almost in a very deep and spiritual way that i'm pacing through an environment that i have not created and it does not need me i realize that there's something out there bigger than my life that i can discover and i wanted to find out what that was i did a comparison contrast paper of one religion against christianity and at the end i concluded that christianity is a valid worldview that can be trusted because there's truth in it god was just drawing at my heart and it turned out that when we went to this little youth revival the lyric that really convicted my heart is that i used to practice my own type of psychotherapy just to find out who i am and now i die each day to the son of man and so i realized that i had to stand up i had to stand up the scriptures that we that we all love that old things have passed away all things have become new that we're a new creation in christ jesus those were my life mantra when i moved to atlanta i began getting closer to god through the community of church of the apostles i wanted to go to a church that respected god's word what i see in the church is that it's simply letting god's word be what it is this is his love letter to us we need to respect it i started having a relationship with a lady i realized that my heart was hollow in some places that god wanted to fill in and when i journaled about it god led me back to my in the five years that i was abused as a kid i realized that god had made a provision for me to forgive and i needed to take advantage of it and so i went through forgiving and writing letter to my older sister i was able to see that the justice that i want and my heart demanded was actually satisfied on the cross after that i realized that there's still a wealth of anger in my heart it became clear that i was angry with god and was like whoa because that created a huge difficulty the only place i knew to go was not the christian counsel at this point but back to the word of god and the only place i could find in the word was the book of job and so what happened at the end of the book is that job got his wish god showed up there is a particular comfort that comes to job of just being able to see the heart and the character of the person that he's questioning forgiveness is not just a one-time decision it's also a lifestyle and it's a lifestyle that has to be continually offered because we're continually receiving it from christ part of my long-term health care plan was to stay fit i found a couple years ago that i could no longer run up and down the stairs at the multi-story architectural firm that i'd worked for and then about six months later a colleague of mine and i we were trying to catch a flight we got to the airport a little bit late and so we had to run could have made it but i couldn't run she made the flight i didn't and so when dr elindov came and said sam i hate to break it to you but the electromyography exam shows that the lower motor neuron is dysfunctioning along with the upper motor neuron and that is early als so at that point the holy spirit just welled up within me and surprised me and him with the response that i was able to give him and say so what you're telling me dr nadav is i get to go home early for the next 30 minutes we have an open-handed conversation with dynamic dialogue about why christianity is the world religion that really resolves the human condition and and so i shared the gospel with dr ellen adolf as much as i'm independently minded christianity is a team sport my prayer group have come alongside and the first time that they came by and helped that it felt like jesus washing my feet i think that's a significant part of god's community where people give without any expectation of return i'm realizing that as much as he does things sovereignly without my help he's wanting me to enter into the place of letting him change me and inviting him to do so it's a choice to let him lead to the place that he is when i saw and felt the lord carrying me through that diagnosis i realized that i don't have a fear of death his life carries me and whether i die from this disease and go home or he heals me his life carries me through all praise god for that testimony and now we're going to move into a time of giving and worshiping through giving and uh if you're in the room and you know you know this that uh if you've been coming the last several months then we're going to be giving at the end of the service there's going to be opportunity for us to give our offering to the ushers as we walk out but if you're online you can join us in this time as well and and you can follow the link that's on your screen and give you know a mentor of mine um i was in a small cohort of worship leaders over this last year and a mentor of mine said you know if you see a ladder in the church if you see a ladder in the church then kick it down and i immediately was afraid for randy dooley our maintenance guy because that's a terrifying thought for him um but this isn't about climbing our way into the kingdom right it's about dying and being resurrected the way for us is the way of the cross to follow jesus and brothers and sisters i can't do that without the holy spirit indwelling me because my pride and my arrogance my sinfulness wants to do it i want to do it on my own i want to i want to work my way up and though that may work in the corporate world that does not work in the church and that is not god's way and so this morning that is going to be i would love as we give this morning and as we sing this song that this is our confession that it is no longer we who live but it is christ in us and that we can do all things through christ who strengthens us would you stand as we sing to the lord a new song [Music] what gift of grace is jesus my redeemer there is no more for heaven now to give he is my joy my righteousness and freedom my steadfast love my deep and boundless peace to this i hold my hope is only jesus for my life is [Music] is [Music] the night is dark but i am not forsaken for by my [Music] [Music] foreign power is [Music] [Music] [Music] for jesus [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] me [Music] for [Music] until [Music] is is is [Music] is [Music] hit [Music] amen praise god [Applause] amen amen amen and we join with dr hill and say come lord jesus sam thank you for sharing your life and your testimony with us we thank god for you and we will prepare food by the words of my lips and the meditation of all of our hearts and the thoughts of our minds be focused on you lord jesus and that way they'll be pleasing to you in jesus name amen when history books are written the first two decades of the 21st century are going to go down as a decade where discrimination and persecution against christians have begun in earnest in the west in the west mind you in the west you got that every day it seems to me i am hearing some news of somebody being fired because of their faithfulness to christ and his word every day from around the world now all over the western world in the united states teachers are being fired similarly because they refuse to teach godless ideology in the u.s a coach is fired simply because he knelt at the end of every game to thank god for protection in australia an executive was fired for taking a stand on biblical authority in england in the uk a woman works for the for the british airways was fired because she would not remove the cross that she was wearing a friend of mine in scotland executive literally i mean he was heading up an organization he was fired just because he worships in the bible church a medical doctor in london was fired for praying with a patient at her behest and and and and and acceptance acquiescence but her daughter didn't just sued him and he got fired now i would be standing here for literally for hours and just telling you one example after another of how this discrimination against christians and focusing on christians particularly how faithful believers around the western world today are being dismissed from their jobs and blatantly persecuted by the same token just think about this by the same token church after church after church are falling in line with the pagan secular culture sunday schools in mega churches instead of teaching the word of god to children they're teaching them socialism social justice and crt bishops of churches heads of denominations are requiring the pastors under their jurisdiction on easter sunday on resurrection sunday of all sundays for the pastors to preach on social justice and the not the resurrection but social justice and those who refuse can be removed from their post this is in america folks again would take me hours literally to give you example after example a church after church that has surrendered to the gods of the secular culture we used to think that christians are persecuted somewhere over there in other lands now it's in our doorstep in my personal belief i always make sure that you understand when i speak personally not from the word of god unless god intervenes unless god's people wake up in time unless the church repents unless we seek god more than we seek our comfort and our safety things are going to get worse not better and that is why jesus's letter to the church in smyrna that's not smyrna georgia up the road here this murder in asia minor that is why this particular letter has a special significance for us today this time this day where we are now whether you live in smyrna georgia you live in brooklyn new york or you live in oakland california or you live in london england or or sydney australia or anywhere in the world wherever you are this message is for every faithful believer everywhere this message is desperately needed today for every faithful student in school for every government worker for every teacher for every executive for every person and certainly for every faithful bible teacher and preacher let me draw your attention to the screen where you'll hear jonathan youssef read jesus letter to the church in smyrna from smyrna from the city of smyrna itself now called the city of izmir and make sure you get the cameras on that screen so that they can see the bible reading him who is the first and the last who died and came to life again i know your afflictions and your poverty yet you are rich i know the slander of those who say they are jews and are not but are a synagogue of satan do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer i tell you the devil will put some of you in prison to test you and you will suffer persecution for 10 days be faithful even to the point of death and i will give you the crown of life he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches he who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death [Music] we saw in the last message the letter of our glorified lord jesus to the believers in ephesus it was a church that was biblically sound but they've lost their first love for jesus they were doing things and even believing the truth but all of what they were doing is not coming out of the love for jesus and jesus was warning them that the hebrew removed the lamp stand now here the believers in smyrna they kept their love for jesus which caused them persecution now beloved listen to me it is most often the case when your love for jesus is real let me repeat this when your love for jesus is real it will cause you suffering it will cause you suffering i want to remind you that in the greek language the word faith and faithfulness almost the same word the same root why you say because faith that is total trust total faith in the lord jesus christ and faithfulness emanates from each other when your faith is totally in christ you'll become faithful in trust in christ we prove ourselves to be trustworthy [Music] please listen in fact it is your willingness to suffer for anyone for anyone let alone jesus your willingness to suffer for anyone your willingness to pay the price your willingness to accept the cost for anyone is the clearest indication of your love for that person let alone christ how can you prove your love to anyone let alone jesus if it costs you nothing and now we glibly you see the people holding the sign john 3 16 john 3 16 and we recite it we don't understand we don't stop to focus what it means it's the very heart of the gospel for god so loved that he gave love always gives love always gives by the way this body of believers in smyrna one of two one of two churches out of all the seven one of the two churches where you never hear jesus condemning them for anything you never see you hear jesus correcting them even you never see a rebuke they were great church in fact they stayed that way for well over hundreds of years later i'm going to share with you at the end some of the history of that church because it's very encouraging to every one of us the believers in smyrna were hated by the world because they were faithful in their love for jesus that's why they were hated and because they were hated they were persecuted and because they were persecuted they loved jesus more i want you to look in the map again with me again have that camera on the map because people watching at home they might not be able to just understand hispanmas again we'll go over that where john was exiled and he's making the rounds it's not quite a circle but semi-circle the first message was to the church in ephesus the second one in smyrna now as you look at that map this the city of smyrna is now modern esmere in turkey about 35 miles north of ephesus as you can see on the map smyrna was a great trading city smyrna as as you saw from the video still even on those many years later it's still a beautiful city in fact it was called the ornament of asia it was called the crown of asia it was called the flower of asia and it was founded in the year 1000 bc as a greek colony but about 600 bc it was totally demolished it was totally destroyed by the lydians and it remained desolate for 400 years until the romans rebuilt it in the year 195 bc just remember that date and because rome rebuilt it the citizens of smyrna were so beholding to rome felt so indebted to rome felt so thankful to rome so the first temple they built was to the goddess roma you know rome was named after the goddess roma and that is why it was the first city in asia minor to build the temple to the goddess roma in fact it was a joke at that time people would say these murders the folks there are more romans than the romans but that's not all they built temples for every god they heard about any god they hear about somewhere there's a good god that he does that so the god does that or does the other thing he said hey build him a temple whether it be zeus or civil or apollo or or or nemesis or or aphrodite's just build a temple for them please all the gods to mention just a few and i said michael we didn't get up and get dressed and come to church to get a history lesson trust me there is a method in my madness i'm going to explain to you why this is absolutely relevant for our day today where we are in this very moment in history this is not a history lesson these people who bow down to every miserable god they can heard about that they heard about these miserable people who worshipped so many gods and every time they hear of a new god they built a temple for him the same people who had the temenity they had the goal to call those who trusted in the one true living god create a god to call them atheists think about that let that sink in okay is it sinking in hello it's sinking in it will really help you understand that the devil has not changed one bit that the devil have not changed his tactics in 2000 years in fact ever today the very people who preach the gospel of tolerance tolerance tolerance the very people who tolerate every miserable religion and every miserable belief system the very people who wanted our kids to learn immorality in schools and perversions and the virtues of other religions they are the very people who call christians bigots satan never changed his tactics out of the mainstream think about this please please please think with me just think with me the most loving people on the face of the earth the most caring people on the face of the earth are called haters can you see this am i the only one who see it can you see it thank you i was just beginning to think i'm the only one i just want to show you how the devil's strategy and tactics is the same and we are facing the same tactics of the devil today as they did in the church of smyrna 2000 years ago nothing is new nothing is new he did it in the city of smyrna 2000 years ago and he's doing it today in every western city in the 21st century hear me right please satan is not only the god of confusion but he's the father of lies can i get an amen he loves to create confusion in the minds of the masses particularly the young people why is he do why does he want to create confusion so that they cannot distinguish between falsehood and truth but here's the good news jesus said to the faithful believers in smyrna and he says to the faithful believers in the 21st century two comforting words i know say that with me say it loudly [Applause] those two words fill me with joy and confidence and comfort and peace i know your reflections i know you're being falsely accused i know you've been deliberately being misunderstood deliberately i know the price that you are paying for your faithfulness now beloved i happen to know that some families are not talking to each other that in the past we used to say we disagree disagreeably that's gone members of the family do not want to speak to the faithful believing members of their family i happen to know that their co-workers who have canceled their faithful christian co-workers council culture question what happened to the gospel of tolerance what happened to it what happened i also know that some are even paying heavier price much heavier price than that but what is immeasurably far more important of us knowing these things far immeasurably far far far far more important is that jesus knows he knows he knows what the devil is up to in your life and in your family life and in your business life and in your church life and in your campus life jesus knows and to make things worse for the faithful believers christian believers in smyrna the religious jews who had exemptions from worshiping lord caesar they had official exemption they turned on the christians and they were turning them in to the authorities something they've done ever since insisted on pontius crucify jesus listen carefully please what satan's ultimate aim is this and it's very simple really it's very simple his ultimate aim is to zip the mouse and silence the believers that's his ultimate aim listen to me there is something that the devil there's nothing the devil loves more than to close the mouth of the believers the devil does not want you to witness to your faith the devil does not want you to testify to the power of jesus that saved you the devil does not want you to testify to the power of jesus that is working in you so question how does he silence the believers how does he silence you how silence try to silence me i'm too big a mouth for him to try to silence thank god amen by intimidating you into fear that's what he does he intimidates you into fear fear of rejection fear of alienation fear of false accusation fear of being cancelled and the list goes on and on and on but it doesn't matter it all goes back to fear and that is why the glorified jesus's message to the believers in smyrna he said i know i know and then immediately he goes on to tell us who he is as if they really need to know who he is as if they really need to be reminded who as if we need to be reminded who he is and the answer is yes we do we need to be reminded every day not just every day but every moment of every day we need to be reminded and so he goes on to remind them i'm the first and the last i'm the alpha and the omega i'm the one who was dead but rose from the dead and i'm now glorified in heaven ah because there is nothing that frightens away fear like who jesus is there is nothing that banishes fear like the power of the resurrected jesus there is nothing that exchange fear for with faith than experiencing the power of the resurrected jesus there is nothing that will give you confidence in the midst of trouble than fully trusting in the resurrected jesus can i get an amen the pagan population and the compromising religious jews were saying to the christians burn the little incense to caesar what is just burning that little incense is going to harm that thing's not going to cause you any harm what would it do what harm can just a little nod you don't have to bow all the way down just nod to caesar what harm a little bit of compromise just a little bit not too much just a little bit you can you can about to took jesus on sundays but then during the week would you need to live and let live come on now just bow a little bit give in a little bit to all that the believers in smyrna politely said no thank you no thank you then the heat was on the pagans and the compromising religious people began to say to the faithful believers in smyrna you're going to lose your jobs you're going to become poor you're going to become destitute you're going to become alienated from your neighbors you're going to become a pariah in your family you could even lose your life you know what they said here's a yusef translation bring it on bring it on and jesus is saying to every one of his faithful children i am the alpha and the omega that's the first greek alphabet and the last in the greek alphabet just in case you don't know this as it was i am the a and the z and everything in between those those letters i am the beginning and the end i am the one who had risen from the dead never to die again i am the only one who defeated death and the grave i am the only one who has power over death i am the only one who has power to overcome death so bring it on bring it on even the religious jews who believed in yahweh in order to save their own skin and to get on the good side of the pagans they turned the christians in handed them over to authority and that is why verse 9 look at it with me i'm going to explain it to you because it's very important it's a very important don't misunderstand that in verse 9 revelation 2 jesus called them the synagogue of satan that does not mean they're worshiping satan i want to explain this very important he called it the synagogue of satan it's in the same way that jesus called peter his chief apostle satan you got that he gonna get behind me satan wait wait a minute you calling peter the your great chief apostle satan yes and that's in the same sense in the same vein when he calls this the synagogue of satan why because they're doing satan's bidding they're doing satan's bidding when peter tried to stop jesus from going to the cross and fulfill the plan of god the father in life and in the future in the history of the world when he tried to stop him and try to get him to bypass the cross he said this is what satan has been trying to get me to do and that's why he called him satan doesn't mean that peter was satan any more than this the synagogue worshipping satan have you ever asked yourself the question have you ever asked yourself the question why is the natural man this is man a woman when i talk mankind why is the natural man hates the gospel of jesus christ so much and i'm talking about the natural man whether it be religious people or non-religious people because there are many religious people who are in the natural they've never been regenerated they've never been born again they've never been born of the spirit of god have you ever asked yourself why do they hate the gospel so much do you want to know why one person wants to know why do you want to know why thank you okay we've got to have an interactive session here i want to tell you why whether you want to know not because the gospel of jesus christ exposes man's sin and guilt and the natural man doesn't like that the gospel of jesus christ reveals the judgment and the wrath of god that is coming upon those who refuse to accept god's only remedy for guilt and they hate that the gospel of jesus christ announces that man no matter how brilliant he or she may be they cannot save themselves and oh the natural man says i'm the captain of my ship and the master of my life and they hate that the gospel of jesus christ announces that it is only only only through the cross of christ that anyone can be forgiven and receive eternal life and the natural man refuses to accept that that's the bottom line listen they can go around the block few times and take you around the block with them and argue in the red herring and the smoke screen and all that stuff that's the bottom line and because of their rejection my beloved friends listen to me because that thing breaks my heart into because of their rejection what many a preacher today is doing is they took it upon themselves to water down the gospel so it can be acceptable to the natural man you see they took it upon themselves to modify the truth of the gospel the the they will make whatever changes that are needed to be made in order to make the gospel palatable to sinners who refuse to repent they'll the whole movement in the evangelical movement in america the whole movement is basically dedicated to making the gospel to be murky and mucky and muddy they call it being ambivalent the whole movement sweeping a lot churches just be ambivalent we don't know what's right and what's wrong we're not really sure about what is right and what is wrong it's called ambivalence the whole movement started on being ambivalent any fool can do that and so they want the pagan culture to at least be indifferent and not hostile because they don't want hostility ooh we don't want him we we want to be liked by by the culture really if you want to be liked by the culture be very careful be very careful because there's another there is a god in heaven who's watching what are they doing what they're doing they are trying to escape rejection by the pagan culture they are trying to escape persecution and discrimination they are trying to get to to avoid cancer culture they are trying to be loved by the pagans and they are desperately wanting to be accepted by our pagan media they do have you heard the term celebrity preacher have you heard that or preacher to the celebrities oh yes be very careful be very careful when you see a preacher agreeing with oprah winfrey be very careful he wants to be loved by the world be very careful when you find a preacher want to be loved by the women on the view be very careful want to be loved by the enemies of the cross i don't call them the enemies across they call themselves enemies of the cross don't miss this don't miss this don't miss this don't miss this please here the resurrected glorified jesus wants all of his faithful believers all his faithful children who are facing trouble he wants them to know that jesus wants all of his frightened children to know that jesus wants all his timid children to know that he alone that he and he alone has all the power secondly that he and he alone knows all things and thirdly that he and he alone has a purpose in everything [Applause] and these are my three-point sermon i haven't stopped preaching yet this was just an introduction don't panic but since jesus made this clear and this message clear i want to at least touch on these three things that he does here first of all that he has all the power don't you ever think that power is in washington dc they're daydreaming they have no power all the power is in jesus don't ever think that the politicians have power they are powerless they're all a mouth and once is dead is dead all the power is in jesus and jesus wants to remind him of his power and he's saying i was there before the creation and i'm going to be there when it's all destroyed no one comes before me and no one comes after me i created it all i control it all i died and they thought it was all finished but on the third day i rose again i have defeated i have defeated the most powerful enemy of all and you need to know that i've defeated death and the grave and all you need to do is trust me trust me with all of your heart trust me with all of your life trust me with your with all of your intellect and i'm gonna bring you through whatever suffering you may experience i will bring you through whatever affliction you may go through i'll bring you through whatever temptation you might be battling i'll bring you through whatever false accusation leveled at you i have all the power jesus says he has all the power who has all the power secondly i told you not to panic secondly he knows all things he knows all things he doesn't only know what troubles you he doesn't only know what afflicts you but he's holding your hand in the midst of your affliction you might not be feeling his grip but he's holding your hand in all of your troubles and jesus is saying that whatever confusion and affliction you might be going through i have been there i have been there and i've been through worse people might call you poor but i call you rich people might call you ignorant but i call you knowledgeable people might call you bigot but i call you loving do not listen to their false accusation because i know i know the truth i know the truth not only that he has all of the what not only that he knows all but thirdly he has a purpose for everything he has a purpose for everything for every step he has a purpose when the devil tempts you he tempts you so that he might try to destroy you but your sovereign lord your sovereign lord jesus the resurrected magnified glorified soon coming to reign and rule jesus he turns your temptation into test so that he may give you victory look at verse 10 do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer the devil will put some of you in prison to test you and you will suffer persecution watch this watch this what are you watching watch watch this watch what's coming watch what's coming watch what's coming for 10 days for 10 days what does that mean it means that it is only a limited time it cannot go on forever and ever i may allow the evil to prosper for a little while but only so that the judgment will be greater what satan means for evil i'm gonna turn it for the good whatever satan tries to destroy you i will turn it around to bless you whenever satan designs to work against you i will make it work for you why why i think jesus would answer up and don't put words in jesus's mouth but but i know because he said that in john chapter 10 verses 28 and 29 those whom the father has given has given me i will lose none that's why that is why that's why he holds you in the palms of your hands and nothing nothing is going to happen to you unless he says so all of their persecution all of their false accusations all of their harassment all of the discriminations all of the lies will amount to nothing will amount to nothing say this with me will amount to nothing and they are doomed to failure when you put your whole trust and who the alpha and the omega i want to conclude by telling you how amazing this church and this wasn't just during that time and then went by the wayside like other churches that church stayed faithful for a long time i'm going to show you from history as a matter of fact the pastor to whom this message was delivered was persecuted and died for christ that pastor in smyrna was ordained by the apostle john himself but the man who succeeded him as the pastor of that church that was about a year 156 so think about it there's almost 100 years 100 years of continuous faithfulness 100 years of continuous faithfulness and it is my prayer for this church that way after the lord takes me home that this church will stay faithful to the lord and to his word way after i'm going to glory if if jesus delays his coming without the bible said he whose comes does not delay 156 a.d there was a pastor in that church by the name of paulie copp polycarp at the urging of his congregation he left the city but when they tracked him down he would not flee he would not run instead he held a feast for his captures he held a great feast for them he asked him only for one thing before you take me for my execution i need two hours to pray they agreed after praying he said okay we're ready to go and on the way to his execution the commanding officer pleaded with him he said and i quote swear by the genius of caesar and i will let you go to which polycarp made this would become famous and become comforting to believers from 156 a.d to this day he made the following statement quote for 86 years i have served him and he has done me no wrong how then can i blaspheme my king who saved me then when he got to the pro council the pro council said to polycarp he said recant or i'm going to send you to wild beasts to beasts to devour you he said call them and then he said to him he said the pro council said since you made light of the beasts i i will have to destroy you by fire unless you recant or when he did not would not deny christ angry jews and gentiles alike gathered wood to burn him at the stake he asked only for one thing do not fast me to the stake i'm not going to run i'm not going to go away just do not fast me to the stake as he prayed i'm going to give you a summary of his prayer oh lord almighty god father of your dear son beloved son jesus through whom we have come to know you i thank you for continuing i thank you for counting me worthy this day an hour of sharing the cup of christ and be among the number of your martyrs when the fire was lit a wind blew away from polycarp and burned the spectators in the end they had to kill him with the sword how much does christ mean to you how much does christ mean to you how much does christ mean to you father god i'm beside myself in thinking of the faithfulness of the church members of the church in smyrna in many ways i'm incredulous when i think of the incredible faithfulness to you lord jesus and here we live in such comfort that we think we're great spiritual giants when we come to church late and leave early oh god forgive us when we nickel and dime you with our time and with our money and with our talent forgive us give us the faith of polycarp and many others who are so faithful to you through the years for lord jesus as we were reminded few moments ago without you we're not able to please you without your strength we're weak and without your adequacy we are inadequate breathe in us holy spirit afresh and renew us for these coming days that the world will see men and women boys and girls who are lit up for christ for i pray this in his name and all of god's people said well let's stay amen same [Music] so [Music] there is strength within the sorrow there is beauty in our tears and you meet us in our morning with a love that casts out fear you are working and are waiting you're sanctifying us when beyond our understanding you're teaching us to trust your plans are still to prosper you [Music] you are always [Music] who could understand your ways [Music] reaching down [Music] [Music] and your is [Music] [Music] you are is [Music] forever [Music] even with the enemy reaps for [Music] you turn [Music] you're working for our is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you are [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] all throughout my history your faithfulness is walk beside me [Music] the winter storms may wait for a spring in every season from where i'm standing i see the evidence is [Music] [Music] will victory [Music] you are my strength [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] all my sin is is [Music] all over my [Music] [Music] is [Music] amen amen church thanks for joining us go out with the power of the holy spirit and knowing that god is faithful to us we'll see you next week [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you for being part of our worship today please contact us and tell us about what god is doing in your life if you are in the atlanta area we hope that you can visit us in person god bless [Music] you

Channel: The Church Of The Apostles

Views: 1,166

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Sermons by great preachers, testimonies of christians, jesus christ, leading the way, Dr Michael Youssef, The Church of the Apostles

Id: AlXc7Fr72aE

Length: 92min 5sec (5525 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021