Mike Bickle | 7 Churches in Rev 2-3: A Church after God's Heart | Pt 1

okay turn in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 1 follow along with the notes if you want to for those of you that are new here I never finish all the notes I don't try to that's not even my goal I always like to give you something to go home to look at all the verses and do a little bit of it extra study and extra passages here father we come before you in the name of Jesus and Lord we thank you again that you gave us the Holy Spirit to reveal the Lord Jesus we say that in our weakness we ask you Holy Spirit to inspire us to open the eyes of our understanding that we could see what you see and feel what you feel when you look at him Lord as you're raising up a church in this hour after your own heart I ask that you would help us inspire us empower us motivate us to be a part of a people all over the earth that are after your own heart we thank you in Jesus name Amen well we're looking at Revelation chapter one two and three only a little bit of chapter one but tonight just a overview on it I remember a couple years ago I did an entire course on revelation 1 I can't remember what I called it but it's we took all of the phrases about Jesus describing him in Revelation chapter 1 and we looked at each one of them it's on the website somewhere I can't remember the name of it but a couple years ago I love Revelation chapter 1 then set it right it's the most detailed description of the majesty of Jesus anywhere in the Bible Revelation chapter 1 now let's let's look at this verse 1 the book of Revelation is called the revelation of Jesus I mean it's the only book that has that title that God the Father gave Jesus the commission to reveal himself that's interesting that the most powerful force in the universe is the revelation of Jesus and the father has authority over that revelation and he commissioned the son go make this part of yourself known and so the book of Revelation is the unveiling of the Lord Jesus by the Lord Jesus that's what's so remarkable but look what it says in verse 1 the revelation of Jesus which the father gave the son I'm adding those words to show his servants here's the phrase the things the events that are going to take place and so the point of this book is the man Christ Jesus that's the number one theme of the book of Revelation it's not a plan but it's the man behind the plan and the reason I'm saying that is that some people they get preoccupied with the plan and they miss the man but the name of the book is the unveiling of the man that's what it's about paragraph B in these three chapters Jesus shares a vision of himself - John the Apostle John's most commentators say John's in his 90s he's on the Isle of Patmos just off sight you know off outside of Greece in the Mediterranean he's in prison for his faith and Jesus appears to him in a chapter one two three I have identified thirty descriptions of Jesus thirty of them of His Majesty his ministry his personality but not only these thirty-three descriptions but also we have 18 different eternal rewards or you could 22 you could add it up to a couple different ways some of them overlap and they seem to be saying the same thing each of these descriptions of Jesus these thirty descriptions and each of these eternal rewards they communicate something specific about Jesus that are necessary for the church to be equipped for the greatest hour of pressure human history these thirty description of him and these 18 8 22 eternal rewards they are critical for equipping the endtime Church to prevail in the most difficult and challenging time of history but also the greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit as well let's look a paragraph deed I want to highlight to you that Jesus revealed himself here as the son of man now most of you are familiar with that title you would have recognized it in the Gospels because Jesus referred to himself as the Son of Man far more than any other description of his ministry matter of fact I have written here in paragraph D 85 times it's far more than any other title or description Jesus gave of himself and the interesting thing is all 85 of these references are referring to one verse in Daniel chapter 7 verse 14 only one time in the Old Testament to Daniel he saw the Messiah as the Son of Man and then these 85 in times Jesus references it in the Gospels he's saying I'm the man from Daniel 7 I'm the man from Daniel 7 they would look at him and they would think do you actually realize who you're claiming to be do you know who the son of man only one reference in the whole Old Testament to the Messiah as the Son of Man he goes yes this is exactly what I'm trying to tell you I am he and so here we have just a little snapshot of revelation 1 here on the notes because Jesus uses or drawls from this revelation of chapter 1 when he speaks to the seven churches in chapter 2 in chapter 3 and so each of the church is that he talks to he says remember what I told John I want you to know this facet of my personality in my ministry because it's going to be critical for you overcoming the car promis-- that's tempting you or to persevere in the pressure and the persecution that's coming against you and again there's so much hair it's just like the marvelous jewel revelation chapter one two and three but let's just get a feel for it in verse 10 John here he is on the island of Patmos again just off of the coast of Greece and he hears a loud voice behind him he turns around and this man says I am the Alpha the Omega I am the first and the last and there's many implications to that and he looks at this man and in the midst of the seven lampstands and later on in chapter 2 Jesus explains he goes I walk in the midst of the churches I'm with the church John I'm not just leading the church from afar the churches are the seven lampstands I'm in the middle of them I am present in their midst they don't always recognize my presence but I am there that's one of the things he's saying in that description and John sees in the midst of these seven lampstands because we find out the seven lampstands are the seven churches of Asia that he's going to give this prophetic message to that Jesus is going to give this message to and by the way these seven churches of Asia are all in what would be modern-day Turkey all seven of those ancient cities are in what we what we know is Turkey today which would have been Asia Minor back in that day as well so he looks and he sees the Son of Man but he doesn't really recognize him because verse 14 his hair is white like snow now John understands that hair white like snow he goes back to the Daniel 7 vision where the Son of Man the only time he appears as the Son of Man in the Old Testament he's next to the Father and the father has hair white likes known he's thinking wait you're like the father you're eternal like the father is that's what John is recognizing he doesn't really know quite what's happening because he's awestruck with what and then he continues to look his eyes or like a flame of fire beloved we know the man that we love he is a man with eyes like fire the man with burning eyes that's our Savior that's our king and the reason he has burning eyes because he has a burning heart but this is critical for these seven churches to encounter not just the doctrine of the Messiah but to encounter the man with eyes of fire that's going to be essential for the endtime Church to walk in victory to much more of an accurate doctrine but a current encounter with the man then verse 50 and his feet were like fine brass that spoke of hid the certainty that he's going to judge the hostile kingdoms that are coming against God's people so that's actually an encouragement now these are not just symbolic things they do speak of many things but he's actually seeing this in Jesus's person his voice is as the sound of many waters you know for 2,000 years the nations have been ignoring and dismissing the voice of Jesus but I tell you he's coming back and when he comes back every single knee will bow every tongue will confess every King will bow before him he will never be dismissed again he has a voice of authority that will be capturing the attention of all the nations when he returns but we're not waiting for him to return to understand the majesty and the power of who he is verse 16 he had in his right hand seven stars and the Lord makes it clear these seven stars are the seven senior leaders the Apostolic leaders over these seven churches there they're actually men and he's saying this I'm carrying my leadership in my right hand they're near to me they're dear to me my people my leadership is in my hand and I'm going to help them that's the message behind that but again much more I'm just giving just ever so brief out of his mouth when a sword he asked power his words to pierce through any scheme of darkness to liberate any bondage his words break bondages and have power over the enemy and much more as well and then he looks at him right in his face he's starting he's just looking all up and down him and his face is brighter than the Sun if the strength of the noon day again he doesn't quite fully grasp what's going on he trembles and he falls at his feet as a dead man and I like to say this that's because he it says if you read the text revelation 1 John odd Jesus bends down he puts his hand on him John John it's just me it's the one you put your head on my breast at the Last Supper of 60 years ago remember John my dear friend it's just me or didn't you really know who I was when I walked among you John is shaking there was no man more intimate with Jesus than John but absolutely awestruck because he'd never seen this measure of power and majesty and his dear friend Jesus he saw him on the Mount of Transfiguration that was really intense this is far beyond the glory Jesus a veil unveiled about himself at the Mount of Transfiguration but here's the thing he falls as a dead man and one thing that speaks to me is that when we see him more fully according to who he is and we'll never seem fully who he is at this age but the more we see him the more easily we die to our own agendas we let go we don't care when we see him like I've prayed a prayer over the years and I'd like to offer to you because Paul the Apostle had this same kind of encounter he said in Philippians 3:8 he goes the excellency of the knowledge of this man because I give up everything he goes it's worthless to me it means nothing to me when I see the ex let's see if it this man so I've prayed over the years Lord if you let me see what Paul saw I can respond like Paul responded I won't I don't want Paul's ministry I don't want to do what he did I want to do my commission but I want to respond in the abandonment Paul did because the reason Paul was abandoned some people say oh he was so Seles no that's not why he was abandoned because he saw clearly beloved I don't try harder but I put more attention to see more clearly because when we see more we give more that problem with the church is in other challenges than the lack of seeing who it is that we're relating to he's more than biblical doctrine he's more than just a way of salvation he's the man with burning eyes he's the face is like the Sun and the more we see him the more easily we will step away from our own agendas it will only make sense to die to everything that gets in the way and though John fellows a dead man literally he was overwhelmed spiritually there's nothing that liberates our heart like seeing him more clearly again I want to say it again I encourage people don't try harder to be dedicated but see more clearly spend more time cultivating this insight and because I believe that I don't read the word because I want to prove I'm dedicated and I want to tell the Lord see how sincere I am i will read the word because the sparks of insight and liberate my heart i read the word because i want a free heart and and the lord loves it when we read the word but I'm not trying to earn anything from him I know that's the way to a liberated heart to see more clearly and of course there's no passage more intensely revealing of His Majesty and his ministry and his personality the revelation chapter 1 okay Roman numeral 2 you're going to find it through the seven churches which is Chapter two and three of Revelation we'll look at each we'll take one week on each of the seven churches you're gonna find that Jesus is entrusting a specific message to each one of those churches and I have just a little snapshot of it here to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus that's a city in Turkey to the Angel of the Church of Smyrna that's a city in Turkey as well all seven of them are to the Angel of the Church of Pergamos and the angel is the human messenger it's the senior apostolic leader over that work of God in that city in the first century or in that generate or that timeframe and of course it's not one person a one-man leadership but he had this this leader would bring this revelation to the team of leaders the eldership over that city the body of Christ in that city and they were responsible to make sure that the message given by Jesus to John John wrote the letter to the messenger of that city and I believe it's the apostolic leader the primary apostolic leader of that city who the Lord would make responsible to make sure this message that the Lord gave that city the church in that city would not be distorted would not be neglected but they would have action plans to walk out what Jesus said and the of course he would hold the whole eldership responsible but always in God's kingdom there's there's a head among equals among leadership there's always leaders among leaders and it gives us to this leader and says ultimately you and the eldership will be responsible that the this message is not neglected or distorted but it's actually walked out and so that's why the message was given to that human leader and I got a little bit on that here in the in in the notes here that I'll just bypass you can read it on your own because some people believe it was given to an angel and the word angel means messenger and in the New Testament it can be a human messenger or it can be a angelic messenger depends on the context and I'm convinced he's giving it to the leadership of the church you're not giving it to an angel and then having the angel appear to the whole church that's not exactly what was happening okay top of page two now when we look at these seven churches and we'll look at it seven weeks in a row there so we're gonna cover a seer a number of things and this is kind of just an outline of how we're gonna look at each one of these seven these messages to each of the seven churches the first thing we're gonna look at ever so breathe briefly every week of course that we won't spend a lot of time is the historical context meaning there was a specific situation happening in the city of Ephesus and that city had specific challenges that they had to overcome and the Lord gave a specific facet he emphasized he said John when you talk to the leader of Ephesus that apostolic leader emphasized this part of who I am and tell them this is what I want to focus on and here's a specific set of promises I mean all the promises are available at all of God's people but I want them to know these promises will help them in the area they're being tempted to draw back and compromise with so these messages are quite specific and strategic and prophetic so we'll look a little bit on each of the Seven Cities week by week you know what's the situation around Pergamos what's the situation around Laodicea and the historical context in situations it's quite interesting actually again there'll be more than I'll have on the notes that will actually cover verbally in the sessions because of time then paragraph B Jesus highlights a couple of those thirty descriptions that I just mentioned that he gives in Revelation one two or three he's saying this church with these temptations and these pressures will need this part of my personality emphasized more so spend time emphasizing this ass of Who I am to them of course third eye emphasis be con all of who he is but I find it very interesting what Jesus connects what part of his of his majesty with what temptation there they're being challenged with then paragraph C he gives an affirmation but the the the tragic part is he only gives an affirmation to five of the churches two of them he has no affirmation I mean I can't imagine anything more tragic for a church that the Lord is not affirming anything like that is unthinkably tragic to me but that is a possibility but it doesn't have to be but in the five churches that he does affirm things they're doing the reason we really value this because we know what moves him here's the resurrected Christ he goes this particularly touches me that you're doing this and you're thinking wow note to self in time leadership team in his church whatever city you're in make sure your ministry is embracing these things because these are the things that Jesus specifically highlighted that he that moved him and he valued but again the fact that two churches receive no affirmation tell is a sober warning it is possible for a church to function but not resumption in a way that receives the Lord's affirmation he loves them but he looks at them he says there's nothing I'm highlighting that you're doing that I want to draw attention to it I mean I can't imagine how many ministries he might think that about I don't want to know but I just want to make sure that for me in my house that's this place but that's not gonna be true of us but we want to look at these things that he's captured that I mean that moves his heart we want to make sure we're doing them not that this is a checklist but as a leader I look at these like okay how are we doing this are we avoiding that are we saying this okay and so for those of you which are many in this room that are called the leadership this is a in a practical kind of a strange way to say it this is a leadership checklist far more than that of course but go down the list and check your life and check your ministry with the things that he says through these seven churches okay paragraph D the other thing he gives not just an affirmation he gives a correction for compromise now in this copper in these Corrections it's not rejection when the Lord gives a correction it is not a rejection it's because He loves us it says in Proverbs 3:12 he says that the Lord disciplines his people like a father who delights in his son he disciplines us because he delights in us and when the Lord corrects when he corrects us individually or our church we don't go oh Lord we don't want to get defensive or we don't want to try to find out ways Bible verses to explain away our compromises beloved when the Lord corrects us he's contending for our greatness and our Liberty he's contending for our greatness in the spirit and our Liberty what I mean our greatness that we would walk in all that God has ordained for us that's what I mean by great though we would make choices that God calls great that God agrees with those choices well there were two churches he didn't correct could you imagine being among a body of believers with that when the resurrected Christ appears with eyes of fire he says I have no correction for you like beloved that's a mass a glorious way to live but I got good news he's coming back at the second coming for a church worldwide that is has a prepared bride that's spotless and full of glory so I believe that what he revealed about himself and about the church in these three chapters really is a church after his own heart and that's the kind of church he's coming back for but he's not gonna just wave his and it's gonna just kind of pop out of the ground instantly he is gonna call leadership teams to these things they're gonna be intentional about cultivating these values and these truths and imparting them to their people and that's why whether you're twenty years old or whether you're 80 years old and God's called you to leadership whether you're in it or you're gonna be in it we really care about what he identifies here because this is what the spirits going to be emphasizing and this is what the resurrected Christ highlighted in his glory when he talked about the church I mean this is a remarkable now you look at the end of paragraph D I want you to highlight this when you study the whole seven churches his strongest rebukes were for three things passivity spiritual passivity just kind of well I love God or you know whatever I just don't really have time I'm real busy and I'm a little bit mad at the church and I'm not happy with my position and I don't and I don't and I don't know there's many many reasons people draw back into passivity they're disappointed they're bruised by the way they're treated things aren't likely thought their expectations don't happen like they thought we don't want to enter into passivity and when we do and we recognize it we want to get out of it because he really spoke strongly about passivity and there's a lot of reasons people get into passivity and I get one of the big reasons is their disappointments and the delays of promises and things didn't happen like they thought and and their hearts get bruised in the process it and I get that I've experienced that a number of times but the lord seastoke camp out there they only have one time on the earth and you don't want to be passive especially when i highlighted the second thing that he emphasized the number of times was immorality and the third one is idolatry now idolatry you might they walk and what what's the idolatry but I got the verses there Colossians chapter 3 verse 5 pumps Paul said let me tell you what I Daltrey is in essence he boils it down it's covetousness you wait worshiping an idol is living money he goes yes that's what it is because when you study idolatry in the Old Testament the reason Israel worshiped idols was to cause their land to be more fertile to make more money to cause their cattle and livestock to bear to be more fruitful so they would make money it was about money and that they would interact with spiritual powers demons they didn't think it was demons but they were they had all these gods but they would interact and things would really appear to get better and so much so that they really bought into it after some generations but it was about love for money they wanted money and power outside of the will of God now in our Western world we don't think of interacting with spiritual powers to get more money and influence but that's what was happening and it was very very clear to Paul it was about money so really the three things that I challenge most passivity immorality and a wrong attitude towards money beloved that those are the three primary challenges and strongholds coming against the Western Church and maybe more than the Western Church immorality passivity and a and a wrong approach and I'm the wrong approach I'm talking bout covetous I don't mean just a misunderstanding on Biblical principles I mean their value towards money is as outside of the will of God for their life all over the Western Church these three issues that's what the Lord is dealing with and so as a spiritual leader I say Lord I want to I don't want to attack them but I want to address these because to the degree that we walk in freedom our lives are powerful before God what I mean by powerful before God I don't mean our ministry everybody thinks wow aren't we powerful God looks at our heart responses and he values them and he steams them you know I want to make an impact on people but far more than that I want to offer to the Lord on the today a heart of faithfulness where he goes that was good that was well done these three issues immorality passivity and covetousness are strangling the church in America right now and very few leaders address these issues and the Lord is going to change this because the Spirit is going to emphasize them when I look at the church much of the church across the America we talked a whole lot how to get more friends how to get more happiness more ease more money and to feel better about our sin without repenting a whole lot of the church that's the focus of it all kinds of cool seminars how to get more money more friends more comfort and feel better about your sin without repenting and using biblical language to do it why am I saying that to you just to kind of beat up on somebody out there no don't be deceived by that because many Christians unaware that's the diet they're very comfortable with when you read revelation two or three you go oh my goodness that is not okay with the Lord because he's got the spirit is gonna move the church beyond this and then to freedom from it then paragraph II he gives them an exhortation to respond each of these churches the two basic categories of exhortation he urges them for repent of compromise the passivity the immorality or the covetousness or he exhorts them to resist the fear the fear of persecution the fear of the stigma of being rejected so not all the folks were drawing back because they were into passivity immorality or covetousness a lot of them were drawing back in fear of persecution or the stigma and the rejection that would come in their social order if they stood true to Jesus so those are the two main areas to compromise in those three years I just mentioned and two he challenged them not to cave in to fear the fear of this stigma of being true to him gay paragraph F here we have the promise for overcomers and here I have some of these twenty to ten rewards again you can put some of them together and you could say it's 20 or 18 whatever but I got 22 of them and oh my goodness these are glorious he says to eat from the tree of life to receive the crown of life to not be hurt by the second death now and at a casual read at a first read you might think well hey those are those were all automatic those are all synonymous with being born again there are many implications to these 22 rewards many implications I did a series back in 2000 or had a class 2016 where we looked at every one of them we went over nine or ten weeks and looked at every one of these and looked at what the scripture said about these in various parts of the scripture and I want to assure you that these are not promises that are just guaranteed to every born-again believer these are promises the Lord offers to those that overcome the passivity the immorality the covetousness and they overcome the fear of persecution not that they're not trepidation about persecution but their obedience is greater than their fear I mean I think if somebody's gonna hit you or throw you in prison they're not gonna like it but it's not that we are absolutely free from any concern of that but our love for Jesus is stronger than our fear of the persecution that's the essence well these 22 promises they are again I'm just remembering the course in 2016 we looked at it week by week and I mean they are magnificent there are so much more than meets the eye it's almost like the Lord says I'll give you a whisper but I'll put more in the scripture on each one of these you search out what the scripture says about these and you'll get a bigger picture and so it's kind of like in this brevity of chapter two and three it's so brief these little descriptions and these little statements of rewards it's like the spirit saying if you want more search the scripture I'll tell you more because there's a mountain of understanding behind every one of these implications and so I just offer those to you right there okay paragraph four how are we going to apply the message of these seven letters well obviously individually that's what we have complete authority in our life to respond to these individually but Jesus not only spoke these two individuals he did he spoke to he that has ears to hear to individual hearts to us individuals born-again believers but B he said I'm also speaking these the whole bodies of the whole body of Christ in an area there is it is so powerful when an entire spiritual family decides I don't mean 100 percent but the vast majority there's always that one guy who won't do it but when a whole body decides we're going after this together we're really gonna do this together and there's a corporate dimension that is so powerful then paragraphs see I just barely mentioned this there's a historical dimension meaning he was really talking to the Church of Ephesus in the first century truly to them about them and some people it's quite popular theory or suggestion that these seven churches are not just talking historically about that church in the city of Ephesus the church in the city of Laodicea but it's also seven successive periods of church history and a number of guys over the years many many commentators have come up with a theory of the first 200 years was the Church of Ephesus the next hundred years was the Church of Smyrna the next hundred years three hundred years and they I'm not convinced of that but it might be true I mean a lot of commentaries offer that and I go maybe I'm not sure but it's still interesting to read but I just wanted you aware that there is a historical application to this as well the top of page three hop a page through account I give you a pop quiz okay so your hands just be just under your honor put your hand over the notes cuz the notes the answer to the love quizzes right there put your hand is the guy next to you looking down say yeah I'm just kidding what do you think is the number-one exhortation Jesus gave and form his own lips in the Bible what exhortation that he give much more than any other one single exhortation wait they got it he that has ears to hear he looked no I'm just having fun sixteen times Jesus gives this exhortation it is the most emphasized exhortation the teaching of Jesus now when I first saw that whenever I was shocked I thought and I handed him you know I looked at other ones I would think either repent or love or something no he it was this because remember at the beginning of this class here tonight I said that if you see more clearly your heart will get free you want to see more because if you understand more about him your heart will be liberated you don't grit your teeth and try to overcome bitterness and overcome immorality overcome covetousness overcome rejection hurting your teeth isn't gonna get you free seeing what he's like liberate sour heart well obviously he understood that about himself so he goes I want to tell you something he that has ears let him hear and what he's saying here look at paragraph B what he's saying when he says I want you to hear this he's saying this truth that's highlighted whenever he says that phrase is especially important to him he's going I want you to know stop this truth then what the verse before or after when he says this the 16 times beloved you can be sure that is a top priority of the Holy Spirit to reveal to you it's specific specially important number one paragraph see when he says that he's saying not only is it dear to me says the Lord but I want you to be very careful to pay attention to this one it is there's more than meets the eye here it's not immediately obvious as what he's saying you might underline it and you know and use all your markers green red purple you know point arrows at it stars around it but he you know I'm just having fun with that but he's saying I've seen some of your Bibles are all marked up and he's saying no there's much more than meets the eye obviously much more than what you obviously think is there and the third thing he's saying paragraph D it's gonna take the help of the Holy Spirit to get this don't just read it and read a few commentaries ask the Holy Spirit even the most devout believer without the spirit helping them understand the verse the truth that's you know a verse or two before or a verse or two after that exhortation he's saying you're gonna need the spirits help but the spirits here to help you so whenever I see that phrase I look at the verse before the verse after like okay okay game on this is a big one okay and you read it you kind of go like okay doesn't seem that big in the Lord says okay that's okay do you think that why did I point to it and put an asterisk on it because I it's more there than meets the eye interesting then in Revelation 2 and 3 he says this phrase specifically related to the eternal rewards he's saying there's more here than meets the eye you're gonna care more about this than you think because I know that the rewards I'm giving you so that's the main exhortation okay so when you leave tonight go to one of your friends and say okay what's the number-one exhortation be humble say it's obvious everybody knows it what is it don't say that way but okay let's look at the middle page three Roman numeral six all through this I mean in each of the seven chap on the seven letters to these seven city churches he uses this phrase - he overcomes so we really care who the overcomers are and there's quite a few theories as to who the overcomers are I've read up over the years and some of them are hot challenging some of them are very kind of like eccentric and but I want to say from the biblical context there's two and they're very different contexts where the John the Apostle the same man uses the call of the word the overcomer he uses it two different ways in two very different contexts and you don't want to confuse these two contexts when I've read at different commentaries of scholars and some not scholars I see that this context gets confused and they put the two together as synonymous many times first context of overcomers is in first John it's overcoming worldly unbelief overcoming the world and what he's has here I'm not going to read the verse here you can read it on your own John he applies this to every believer that they overcome by resisting heresies by resisting the spirit of the Antichrist meaning the spirit of Antichrist and that day Michos Jesus was not God in the flesh is what that really meant and just to sum it up real quick so it was he was challenging the people of his day to be overcomers by resisting heresies about salvation and so the challenge was to have genuine faith in Jesus but care paragraph B in the book of Revelation it's not overcoming unbelief and overcoming the world it's overcoming unfaithfulness as a born-again believer it's a very different context and revela in the first context every believer has to overcome to become pope to become born-again in the book of Revelation to these seven churches he's talking to born-again believers they've already overcome unbelief and resisted heresy they're in the church he's saying now I'm offering you something more than overcoming heresy I'm calling you to overcome unfaithfulness then he offers rewards to them so the first situation they overcome by having faith in Jesus paragraph B they overcome by having faithfulness to Jesus excuse me by having a lifestyle of response to his obedience look at paragraph B here he looks at to the Church of Thyatira it's in Revelation 20 I mean chapter 2 verse 20 he says to the Church of Thyatira we'll look at this in a couple of weeks he goes you allow this woman named Jezebel number one who names their daughter Jezebel my goodness don't name your daughter Jezebel that's it just just sayin okay this gal named Jezebel she became a leader in the church but she had a twisted view of the grace of God and taught that it was okay to be involved in immorality and so Jesus verse 26 says I want you to overcome immorality overcome that teaching resist it and if you do I'll give you power over the nation's in the age to come I mean a little bit in this age but this is particularly in the age to come and he says you overcome that spirit I'll give you authority over the nation's for a thousand years in the resurrection and it will be a correlation but at the point of it here he's not telling the Church of Thyatira to overcome their worldly unbelief and become born again they're already born again he's telling them to overcome the encroaching immorality that's coming in the church to not give way to it because it was becoming more and more accepted in the church at Thyatira just like it is in the church in America so he's not exhorting them here to be born again he's exhorting them here to be faithful he's not exhorting them to read to resist heresy about the Incarnation and the deity and humanity of Jesus and his salvation they're exhorting them to be faithful to his leadership that's what's going on here be faithful to my leadership that's what the second type of overcoming is about look at paragraph one I just sum it up real real brief to the church at Ephesus the issue is to overcome returning to their first love they were born again and he knew they were born again to the Church of Smyrna he wanted them to overcome the fear of persecution they were drawing back some of them were being tempted the church at Pergamos Thyatira overcome immorality and idolatry again would be covetousness but there were demonic spirits involved etc and I give a few the others here just so that you got a real snapshot summary of what he's saying here paragraphs see in summary as unbelievers we overcome unbelief and again we believe we resist the heresies we believe in the deity of Jesus we believe in the humanity of Jesus we believe in the penal substitution of his death on the cross we believe in his right for judgment we believe in the essential doctrines of his personhood and his accomplishing salvation that's what we believe that's how unbelievers overcome the world by believing those things but as believers I'm just saying what I've already said we overcome unfaithfulness by enduring and resisting that temptation again it was passivity immorality or covetousness mostly or by resisting the fear of burying the stigma and the persecution and if we overcome not that we are perfect but when we fail and come up short we rise up again and commit ourselves to obey there's a spirit of obedience that we have long before our obedience is mature and I tell folks if you are waging war against that fear or that but setting sin I mean you're sincerely you're not looking for Bible verses to explain it away so you could live and said a lot of folks they're looking for Bible verses to prove their morality is okay I mean they're twisting grace of God verses and doctrines and it's and it's sad to me not just because it's it's ridiculous but I'm thinking of their life you only have one life on the earth you're not gonna fool Jesus when you stand before him I wouldn't know don't do that I mean he's got eyes like fire you're not gonna trick him and so so there's some folks there trying to rationalize their sin and back it up and get a few friends behind them and they all agree together they think they're gonna change the Word of God because they get on social media agree that this is okay no there's only one authority it's the Word of God and but there's others that are falling to different says they hate it they rise up the Lord I admit it's wrong I'm waging war against it and there's a spirit of obedience working in them it's just not mature yet and beloved that's valuable that matters that counts because eventually that obedience will become a tour if you have that spirit of obedience it starts with that that that cry in your spirit against that area or against that fear it's a good top of page four well who are the overcomers who are the overcomers again there's two ways there's two overcut we overcome the world that they were born again and we overcome compromise by living a life enduring it to the end I mean that's the long term over to overcoming but who are these over comers there's three basic views that you'll commonly run into if you read commentaries on Revelation two and three the first two views I believe are wrong and the third view I believe strongly is the biblical view and what Jesus meant let's look at the two that I believe are wrong I'm very feel very strongly about this and the reason I don't want to win an argument I want to win hearts I want people I'm gonna contend for people's greatness and for their liberty I don't want to win a biblical argument and say I got more verses on it than you do like so what I want the guy to get free and I want him to live the next 10 or 20 years in Liberty and when he stands before the Lord the Lord says well done that's what I'm fighting for when I'm presenting this kind of stuff I'm thinking of their destiny so don't ever get into an argumentative spirit that's never ever gonna prop I mean edify or help anybody winning arguments I'm just I have no interest in that when I was younger I did I don't really care about that now I want to win hearts because I care about even that guy that's all mixed up I want him to walk the next 30 years in liberty and in greatness before God well the all believers view that I believe this is the wrong the wrong view of this they've read the overcomer in revelation 2 and 3 is synonymous with the one that overcomes heresies against Jesus I believe in as humanity I believe in his deity I believe in the penal substitution of his death I put my confidence that he accomplished the righteousness of God for me I believe that's not what John's talking here he's not convincing them to become born-again he's convincing them to resist compromising fears what he's doing so I believe that this view is wrong I have at the end of paragraph a they see all these 22 rewards as fully and automatically given to every believer the day they're born again the day they're born again thief on the cross he'll walk in all 22 of these in the fullness and I think that that's a wrong approach paragraph 1 I'll tell you why our love and obedience in this life is deeply connected to our rewards in the age to come our 11 obedience in this life is deeply connected to our rewards in the age to come we don't earn our rewards and some people get confused by that because how can I resist pride and earn a crown I mean I change an attitude and get a crown you call that earning the Lord is so abundantly generous and here's he gives us a thousand times more than our repentance could ever earns and so there's so much Grace and the reward he gives you know he gives a million dollars for changing an attitude like oh wow nobody pays me that well but he does and so there's no sense of earning it you couldn't begin to change an attitude or we turn against the sin earned the level of what he's giving again it's a million dollars for doing you know you know the analogy for changing an attitude nobody would do that it's gracious and generous beyond measure has nothing to do with earning it by your your works matter but he pays so much more than we would have steamed that person doing that same work in their life we look at him and Pat them on the back side hey good job and forget it the Lord says no I'm gonna reward you forever and so and another thing eternal rewards are not about people having superiority so they strut in front of others like I've heard people over the years I don't care about rewards like oh I think you might because Jesus says you will and so I have this conviction he knows a lot more about it than you and I do and he says we will care so I think there's a lot more there and they have this idea you mean I'm gonna try to get you know really be obedience I can strut in front of people I go no don't have a carnal paradigm of rewards rewards aren't about being over people so you can flex your muscles in the age to come that's a carnal view of authority that nothing like that those with the greatest authority will have a great humility in the age to come be very opposite but rather rewards are Jesus expressing how he feels about the way you loved him in this life Jesus looks at us it says you gave that cup of cold water because you loved me well I'm the wealthiest most generous man that ever lived I'm gonna let you know how I feel about the way you loved me and I've every believer is going to care about that trust me they're not going to get their reward and go to their friend go haha I beat you they they will be overwhelmed at the generosity of Jesus and how deeply he's moved by our weak love I look at the way I love it I the Lord is pretty fragile because I know but it's real because weak love is still real and I esteem it and we will be overwhelmed with gratitude at his generosity so don't get out of the ideas I don't really care about rewards you know Jesus really overdid this one he kind of got her so excited about getting rewards he shouldn't have well I think he should have so I'm going with Jesus all the way on this that he knows a lot more than we know about this okay paragraph two again in Revelation two and three he's not exhorting them to become born again he's an offering them incentives to greater diligence and the incentives are that it moves him and it moves him and he remembers it that's the incentive if I could if I could obey him and respond in humility and be in diligence when I don't feel like it my flesh and he cares about it and he remembers it I want to do it he doesn't care about it I don't care that but if he does care are you kidding and he writes it in his book and revelation two and three he's making it clear I'm putting this in my book every one of you have a book of your life story and every deed you have done in obedience and humility and kindness is in that book every cup of cold water you've given and is remarkable so he's Paul talks about this most of you are familiar with this passage he says in verse 11 be clear there's no other foundation that can be laid than the death in the life of Jesus has crossed a resurrection it's done it's finished but verse 12 if you build on this foundation you can build with gold silver or precious stones or you can build your life with words and deeds that amount to wood hay and straw verse 13 every born-again believer then their work their words and their deeds the way they spend their time and money and the words they say that's verse 13 that's their work every one of us have worked it's what we sit the way we speak the way we spend our time and money the decisions we make our life decisions will become clear the fire of his eyes you know his eyes are like fire Hey look and evaluate the truthfulness of every one of our love our work again our deeds in our words and our money and the way we spend time verse 14 if anyone's life decisions you could put the word life decisions there which he is built upon the foundation of the free grace of God if it endures the fire of his eyes he will receive a reward from the Lord if that person's life decisions are burned up he'll suffer loss the loss of the reward he could have had it's the loss of what could have been his but he'll be saved he'll still born again but he'll be saved like as though by fires the man whose house is on fire and he's got all of these treasures in his house all these things and he runs out a house and he just barely escapes and all of his garments everything burns but he escapes though running through the flames but everything he lost in the fire is the imagery that Paul is giving he goes a lot of believers they're gonna be saved but when the Lord looks at their life decisions the way they spent their time the money the way that they spoke and they were happy about it they were okay about it and they didn't repent of it and it was wrong he says they will go through the fire of my eyes and they'll be saved even many but they won't bring anything out of a house out of this life with them all that they investigate will go up in flames but they'll be saved at least and so the ayat you read that you oh my goodness that's intense but that's real this isn't figurative this is actually real Perigord so I believe that the every believer gets every reward instantly at the new birth I don't believe that's what Jesus is talking about he's not talking about how to become born-again he's talking to Christians about being faithful to resist compromise and fear to the in their life paragraph B the second view is the loss of salvation view and these guys are you know more hardcore they go if you don't persevere and every one of these you'll lose your salvation and I go wow that's a pretty intense view so only spirit see mature Christians end up saved everyone else loses their salvation talk to a few guys ago yeah I go have you thought the implications of that so the church of ephesus ephesians i'm revelation to the first church we'll look at we'll look at it next week Church of emphasis Jesus said you work hard for me he goes I honor you for that but you've lost your first love so I said so they worked hard for the Lord but they didn't keep that fresh love so they go to hell because they lose her salvation oh yeah I guess so I go no no he's not talking about everybody losing their salvation if they don't renew their first love you're talking I've been losing rewards not their salvation paragraphs see I believe the biblical view and we'll look at each one of them we'll spend a few moments on each one of these churches to look at the one or two or three rewards associated with their particular temptations and challenges this eternal reward view I believe rightly teaches that these rewards are gifted given in different degrees according to one's faithfulness to love it obey Jesus now most of you are familiar with this passage Paul says in 1st Corinthians 15 as one glory of the Sun there's one glory of a moon every star of the universe has a different glory meaning a different brightness a different size different mass about it properties every one of the trillions and trillions of stars there's not one of them that's the same they're all different in their makeup and and size and weight and all these things he says as one star differs from another trillions and trillions of them so also everyone in the resurrection will differ where loved by God the same but there will be a different measure of the glory of God at garments and Thrones authority many all these twenty-two areas not that these twenty-two rewards are comprehensive I'm sure there's more besides but there's different degrees and measures for every one of these and so I believe that he's talking I'm guessing most believers get a some measure of most of these rewards that's just a guess I don't have anything to back that up in the Bible but Jesus is so generous that's not what I would use to back it up I guess just his character he's so generous somebody's so kind in his evaluation so I'm assuming a lot of these rewards a lot of people will get a measure of it but I go Lord out with the full measure of what could be mine if I gave myself wholly to you and that's what I'm looking at in these seven chapters these seven letters paragraph one only overcomers receive the full measure I believe there will be many believers like Paul said they their life decisions after I'm talking about as a born-again believer they they were not redemptive they were not in obedience to Lord many of them and they will be saved as though by fire they won't have rewards but they'll still be saved and but I wanna I've said Lord by the grace of God in my weakness because we're all weak Paul the Apostle was weak like us I don't imagine there's some super Christians somewhere that doesn't have the same problems everybody has a tendency to quit a tendency to feel rejected a tendency to been disappointed a tendency to lose energy a tendency to get confused about what's going on that's just what the race is all of us face that but the Lord is very kind very generous in evaluation so I look at this look at paragraph three overcoming doesn't mean a taining perfection in that area I believe overcoming means you stay reaching for victory in that area and you may have a lapse for a week or two or a month or two you know I'm going back I know better Lord I'm with you and it's that reach for obedience it's not it's not at aiming perfection in that area because again the final sentence he's so kind he's so generous now he evaluates us well that's a snapshot of how we're going to look at these seven letters to the churches in Asia and man I'm excited I just I love who Jesus is what he says about himself these little snapshots worshiped even come on up there's so much more behind every one of these phrases and the Holy Spirit says will come after me then if you want more I'll give you more come after me don't be content with just the beginnings of these and so as a people we're saying we're going to as a school as in terms as a staff as a community yes we're going after this we want to go for more of this in our weakness and the Lord says good I'll give you more of that I'll give you more amen let's stand before the Lord

Channel: Mike Bickle Official

Views: 38,817

Rating: 4.8713827 out of 5

Keywords: Mike Bickle, Revelation, Book of Revelation, Church, 7 Churches, Revelation of Jesus, IHOPKC, End Times Church, Victorious Church, End Times, End-Times, Forerunner, EGS

Id: jSBq7pvqhB8

Length: 62min 19sec (3739 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 25 2019