Prophecy of the Seven Churches in Revelation

the seven churches in Revelation is what I want to look at tonight and what this may be saying to us in our current day in our current situation John was instructed to write letters to these seven churches there were seven specific churches that he was told to write to they were actual churches and the issues that he wrote about were actual issues they were dealing with I believe that these churches and the the issues they were dealing with are prophetic and so it's written as a prophecy so it's it's something as addressing a present-day situation that they had went at the time when he wrote it but it's also addressing a future situation that Yeshua was speaking prophetically about I believe these seven churches are speaking of seven time periods throughout history you know they're listed in a very specific order and they're dealing with very specific events and as we look through church history we see that there's a lot of really interesting prophetic significance to what is being said to these seven churches so let's go ahead and jump in to chapter 2 starting verses 1 1 through 7 says to the angel of the church in Ephesus write these things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands I know your works your labor your patience and that you cannot bear those who are evil and you have tested those who say they are apostles and they are not and I found them to be liars and you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my name's sake and have not become weary nevertheless I have this against you that you have left your first love remember therefore from where you have fallen repent and do the first works or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent but this you have that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also hate he who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches to him overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God the church and Ephesus is representative of the first the first time period in history the the Apostolic age and so this would be from 30 ad to 70 AD so this is the time from basically from Pentecost to the destruction of the temple and the persecution that comes at that point during this time period you have this amazing church that you know he says all kinds of great things about them that the early church during that that first century they were great about all that all the stuff they were doing they were doing amazing stuff and there were false teachers and false prophets who were rising up and they were really great at pointing him out and saying no that guy is a false teacher that guy's a false prophet and they were dealing with a lot of of that type of thing a lot of heresy a lot of false teachings but it says that they've neglected their first love or forgotten their first love they got so involved in doing the work and everything that was going on that that they kind of forgot just that intimacy of prayer and worship and praise and not seeking after him with all their heart you know it became more of what they were outwardly doing and less about what they were doing inwardly anyways so this was from Pentecost until Nero began the persecution is so what's interesting so it says that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans Irenaeus wrote about the Nicolaitans and here's what he wrote this is kinda interesting he said the Nicolaitans are the followers of that Nicholas they led lives of unrestrained indulgence the character of these men is very plainly pointed out in the in the apocalypse of John when they are represented as teaching that it is the matter of indifference to practice adultery and eat things sacrificed to idols he talks about you know in other places and there's other accounts of where they talk about it too but it's this idea that they don't restrain their flesh the Nicolaitans were you know they indulge in the flesh they ate lavish foods they were into all kinds of sexual promiscuity and and perversion and they just kind of did whatever their flesh wanted they indulge the flesh but they were supposedly supposed to be Christians and this first century church was commended because they hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans they rejected them and they said this is this is wrong we should not be acting like this this is inappropriate behavior for those who claim to follow you sure and so they dealt with all kinds of heresy and wolves and if you look through the New Testament writings you see that that's what the Apostolic writings all tend to kind of lean towards is rooting out false teachers and Will's you see it in Paul's writings you see it in Peters you see it in James you've seen in Jude and so all throughout the New Testament writings we see them addressing these false teachings and false teachers but they worked hard too they worked hard to root out evil and they're commended for that but again they're rebuked for forsaking their first love they got so busy with all the work they were doing that they forgot just to to love God to just spending time in love and worship of him the ephesian church lost his first love and the next thing that we see is persecution comes in that persecution actually caused the church to return to his first love and some revelation 2 verses 8 through 11 it says and to the Angel of the Church of Smyrna write these things says the first in the last who was dead and came to life I know your works tribulation and poverty but you are rich and I know the blasphemy of those who say they're Jews and or not but our synagogue of Satan do not fear any of those things which you're about to suffer indeed the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested and you will have tribulation 10 days be faithful to death and I will give you the crown of life he who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to those churches he who overcomes shall shall not be hurt by the second death this is the persecuted church this is the church the time in church history when persecution was high from around 80 70 I think it's actually about 67 or 68 when Nero started persecuting but roughly from 87 to about 313 and 313 sounds like a very specific date because it is 313 is when Constantine wrote the Edict of Milan and it ceased all the persecution so on that on that day the persecution ended and so from that day forward there's there was no persecution so from about the time of the destruction of the temple around 70 until 313 when the Edict of Milan was written there was intense persecution and so it began with Nero right right around 70 I think it was like I said around 67 or 68 when it started and it went all the way to Diocletian in around 303 and so when Constantine came to power that changed but during this this time period from 70 to 313 was intense horrible persecution they were tortured in many many ways all of the apostles were martyred except for John the Apostle who wrote revelation and he was tortured several times but he didn't die but this church was admired for its tribulation and poverty and I think that's interesting because the other church was admired for for all the great things that did to root out evil this church was admired for tribulation and for poverty and we're gonna see that other churches they claim to be rich you know like like tours and it says you claim to be rich but you're actually poor and so it's kind of a reversal of this but this one this says that you you have poverty but yet you are rich and so this church went through intense persecution intense tribulation and poverty famine even and he says you you were rich well why were they rich because this tribulation this this persecution caused them to seek the Lord so they weren't at this point they weren't worried about dealing with false teachers they weren't worried about heretics they weren't worried about things like that they weren't that wasn't their concern their concern was we're being persecuted and we need to hold fast to our faith and so the first church forgot the first love this second church they had intense persecution and it drove them back to the first love and so their whole focus was loving God and serving him as best they could keeping holding on to their faith even to death because you know many many Christians died as martyrs and but even through that persecution the church continued to grow and add more and more people to their numbers and but they were stronger in their faith because of the persecution they weren't halfway Christian they weren't half-hearted they weren't just doing it for social reasons or doing it because they think they might improve their life they they had an intense faith because of the persecution they faced and that's what persecution does we see throughout history the times of persecution people's faith gets deeper and they grow stronger in that faith it produced a huge number of martyrs I don't even know if we have a count of how many martyrs came out of that intense persecution but what's interesting is John says you'll have tribulation for 10 days the Bishop of Smyrna was Polycarp Apostle John are the the disciple of John Polycarp was actually martyred and if I remember right he was in jail for 10 days before he was killed you know there's that that literal fulfillment there but what's interesting is if you look throughout history from Nero to Diocletian there are 10 major major periods of persecution 10 waves of persecution led by 10 different leaders and so we have Nero in 67 diminishing and 81 Trajan and 108 Marcus Aurelius Antonius and 162 Severus in 192 Maximus and 235 Decius in 294 valerian in 257 Orillia nin to 74 and Diocletian in 303 so we have ten specific people who led persecution against the Christians over that time period and so I think it's really interesting that you'll have tribulation for 10 days it could be talking about those 10 different days of persecution led by 10 different people you know so 10 time periods of persecution so interestingly Satan was trying to snuff out the church with persecution right and instead of destroying the church through persecution it actually deepen their faith and they became stronger more relying on the Holy Spirit and the church spread and grew even more during persecution than any other time the church remained faithful through that and so it didn't work Satan was trying to kill out the church through persecution and it didn't work and so in 313 changed strategies and so his attack on the church was no longer external but it became internal and this is where things really get interesting so in 313 Constantine H issued the Edict of Milan so that sits the stage for what we're about to read a pergamus the revelation 2:12 it says into the Angel of the Church of Pergamos write these things says he who has the sharp two-edged sword I know your works and where you dwell where Satan's throne is and you hold fast to my name and did not deny my faith even in the days in which Antipas my faithful martyr who was killed among you where Satan dwells but I have a few things against you because you have though you have those who hold to the doctrine of Balaam who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the Turner of Israel to eat things sacrificed idols and to commit sexual immorality thus you have also those who hold to the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which thing I hate repent or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth he who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches to him overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat and I will give him a name give him a white stone and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it this is the compromising Church and it is from 3:13 to around 500 and this is from Constantine until the establishment of the papacy this is when we start seeing the church councils Council of Nicaea Castle a hacia race things like that the church becomes a institutionalized organisation that is so it is now a national religion it's it's legitimized by the state and is no longer persecuted but we start seeing at this point compromises taking place what's interesting is says I know where you dwell where Satan's throne is Constantine was in Turkey and Constantinople well Constantinople from what I understand there was actually a temple that they say was the throne of Satan but you also consider that Constantine was a pagan Emperor and he claimed to be God incarnate and which all the pagan Emperor's did and he claimed to you know he requested worship for himself and so Constantine was a who took over the church there's basically things that said he never got baptized until right before he died so on his deathbed he was baptized after his supposed you know conversion experience so he was he was going to war and he sees a vision and the vision he sees the the Chi in the row and you know here's this message says in the sign you will have victory he puts a sign on all the shields of his soldiers and then they had victory and they win and so because of that that kind of was a catalyst for him to legitimize Christianity and to support them and no longer persecute them right after that he had I mean he he commits adultery he commits murder from if I remember I he killed his his own son or his own brother I don't remember which one it was it's been a while since I've looked at the history of it but he did some horrible gruesome things to his family and so you know you say well is this guy really a Christian if he's you know murdering family members but it talks about how they held to the doctrine of Balaam well what did Balaam do Balaam told Balak you know I can't curse these people so what you need to do is send your women down there and let the women seduce them and leave them in solitary invite them to your feasts and festivals and kind of introduce them to your your idolatry and as they participate in those things as they they participate in the sexual immorality and the idolatry of your women and your festivals they're gonna curse themself that was what Balaam basically advised me like to do this this Bruck corruption into the church it's worth Satan's throne is and and I want to go back to that because I had mentioned that I didn't finish I think it's referring to Constantine I think is saying Constantine is is Satan's throne you know his is from Satan's authority that Constantine did these things and so he he brought peace to the you know amidst the persecution but this peace brought in a lot of corruption and it brought in this this doctrine of balaam in mixing Christianity with with paganism so sickening filtrate of the church and began to corrupt the doctrine of practices during this period church history Sunday replaced the Sabbath so in the Council of Nicaea and Laodicea we see that this introduced introduction to Sun God worship Sunday was the the venerable day of the Sun that's the what constantine called it was the venerable day of the Sun and so in the Council of Nicaea he says that the whole Empire should be united in worshiping on the venerable day of the Sun that was part of the Council of Nicaea well then in the Council of Laodicea it says they basically went a step further and they said anyone who is caught judi izing is what they called it anyone who's caught Judy izing by keeping the Sabbath is to be anathema and basically what they're saying is if you're caught keeping the Sabbath you're gonna be cut off from the church and they typically meant you're gonna be killed so they got rid of the Sabbath and instituted sun worship on Sunday this is part of that balaam an infiltration into the church that polluted and corrupted it this is also during this period between 300 and 500 that things like Christmas and various other feasts and festivals that were formerly pagan got introduced into the church so Christmas Halloween various things like that that's when those things started to come into the creep into the church become part of church worship but at all a tree is the main thing that's entered during this time period we start seeing a number of idolatry practices and festivals and things like that that creep in and so it's not you know we don't see them fighting against false doctrine but we see them being accepting and tolerant and saying yeah that's okay we can keep these pagan things and we'll just make them part of our part of our religion and they they are not fighting against that now let's look at the church in Thyatira revelation to 18th or 29 it says and to the Angel of the church in Thyatira write these things says the son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire and his feet like fine brass I know your works of service faith and your patience and as for your works the last are more than the first nevertheless I have a few things against you because you allow that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess to teach and seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality and II think sacrificed idols and I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality and she did not repent indeed I will cast her into a sickbed and those who commit adultery with her into Great Tribulation unless they repent of their deeds I will kill her children with death and all the churches shall know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts and I will give to each one of you according to your works now to you I say and to the rest in Thyatira as many as do not have this doctrine who have not known the depths of Satan as they say I will put on you no other burden but holdfast which you have till I come and he who overcomes and keeps my works until the end to him I will give power over the nation's he shall rule them with a rod of iron they shall be dashed to pieces like potters vessels as I also have received from my father and I will give him the morning star he who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches so this is known as the corrupt Church or I like to call the Jezebel Church because it says that you know this woman Jezebel is leading them well this is the Dark Ages this is from about 500 AD till about 1580 this is the Dark Ages of the Middle Ages this is when the church was at its worst at his darkest and it says that Jezebel is leading them what does the Catholic Church - they they venerate Mary right the worship of Mary and what they did during this time period as they said that the church actually has authority over the Word of God and I think this could be what this is talking about with this Jezebel leading them is that this Jezebel Church claiming to have its own authority claiming to be a prophetess the big problem we see with the Catholic Church is idolatry right the worship of the Saints the the worship of Mary the statues they have and all there they're different relics and things like that at the various different temples they have and the priesthood the the corrupt priesthood that is not biblical so the Bible talks about a Levitical priesthood the Catholic Church has instituted their own separate priesthood that has nothing to do with the lid of vertical priesthood those things all were brought in from paganism and so it's full of idolatry and you know in sexual immorality too anyways so the church the church was known first good works which is interesting the Catholic Church does do some good things I mean they do have a reputation for doing good in the world but they held to the teachings of Jezebel which included the idolatry and there was the idolatry that was the big problem with this church is because they're bringing in all this idolatry but anyway the Pope declares that he can override the Word of God that he can he can he has authority over the Word of God and so he basically has the final say and so the Bible says you shall not commit idolatry you shall not make for yourself a graven image and the Pope says that it's okay we can do that and they legitimize it and they say we don't have to do what the Bible says we do what the Pope says instead they also declared Mary to be the Queen of Heaven they exalted Mary to a deity status and they worship her in the Prater but it was during this time when the church began persecuting other people and so it shifted gears and so now the church is the persecutor and so anyone who disagreed with the Pope or the authority of the church was persecuted so it could be juice it could be Muslims it could be Christians who just went against the Pope's Authority and so anyone who went against the Pope or the church's Authority was persecuted by that church the papal Church also instituted indulgences and so this is the idea that you can buy your way out of purgatory or buy your way out of hell you could buy your way into heaven or you can buy your relative if you have a dead relative and you're worried about them you could pay the indulgences for them and then you can get them out and get them to go to heaven the Bible is kept in Latin as well so this is another thing they did they they put the Bible in Latin so only the the priests could read it so only the the Pope and his other leaders could read it and so unless you've been trained in Latin you couldn't read it so the common people the common everyday folks to the church they just had to hear what the Pope and the bishops and different priests would say and they just had to go along with it and believe it and so the the priests could be lying to them flat-out and they wouldn't know it because they don't know what the Bible says the laity did not have a clue what the Bible said only the clergy understood what the Bible said because there's only two Corre Latin this was done to maintain the power of the clergy over the lady which is another thing that's connected to the Nicolaitans to the Nicolaitans I should say but it says I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality and she did not repent and sexual immorality prophetically ties to idolatry and it says indeed I will cast her into a sickbed I will kill her children with death and I think that's an interesting phrase I will kill them with death I isn't death killing or isn't killing death like you kill them with death what does that mean exactly and I think there's something really interesting that happened during this time period around 1350 something interesting happen is called the Black Plague or the Black Death and hundreds of millions of people in Europe died of the Black Death so I will kill her children with death this plague came in waves starting in the thirteen hundreds around 1350 and these waves continued to come until about the 1700s and it went throughout Europe and just devastating Europe it was a horrible thing but because basically that people's fingers would just turn black and start rotting and their toes would turn black and start rotting and just different parts of their body would just turn black and that's why they called it the Black Plague but if somebody got it they died I mean it was it was guaranteed that we're gonna die and so they called it the Black Death and so I think it's interesting that this church this Middle Ages Jezebel church is the one experienced the Black Plague and it says I will kill I will send you to a sick bed and I will kill your children with death and then we get to the next church church in sardis and so revelation three into the angel of the church in Sardis write these things says he who has the seven spirits of God and the Seven Stars I know your works and that you have a name that you are alive but you are dead be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die for I have not found your works perfect before God remember therefore how you have received and heard hold fast and repent therefore if you will not watch I will come on you as a thief and you will not know what hour I have come upon you you have a few names even in sardis who have not defiled their garments and they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy he who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments and I will not blot his name out from the book of life but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels he who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches and so this is called the dying church but it refers to the time period in the Protestant Reformation and so it's from 1500 to 1800 so it's right after the dark age is right after the the Catholic Jezebel church we get to the Reformed Church the the Protestant Reformation but it says you have a reputation that you are alive but you are dying and what is that was it talking about the Reformation Church claimed they live by faith but they lacked they lapsed into a state of similar to the papal organization so they claim we live by faith by faith alone by grace alone you know the the idea behind the Reformation was was great get the Bible into people's hands so they can read it for themselves and get away from the idolatry of the pagan okay the Catholic Church get away from the the papal Authority get away from the indulgences says those kinds of things right escaping getting away from from the papal church from the Jezebel church right and getting the Bible into people's hands and living by faith but then what do we see we see churches like the Lutheran Church rise up that is basically nearly identical in practice to the Catholic Church they you know they claim to be alive but they are really dead or dying they they're not like what what they're supposed to be they're very much imitating the Catholic Church still what we see a lot of that same stuff is still part of many churches today so we have Sunday we have Christmas we have Easter we have Halloween like all these things that the Catholic Church came up with have infiltrated and are still part of Protestant churches they're costume to strength what remains and to repent and says their works are not perfect so they have good works but their works are not perfect they need to be perfected they need better works this church has a form of godliness but does not have the power is is something that that I think is important to point out because we're gonna see that change in the next era so this church has a form of godliness they seem godly and righteous but they lack the power of the Holy Spirit and they're not doing what they should be doing what's interesting is Sardis this is the Church of Sardis write the name Sardis means to escape or to come out right and so what does the president information it's they're escaping the Catholic Church where they're coming out of the Catholic Church I thought that was interesting this dying Sardis Church was revived and became the church in Philadelphia so the next phase is a revival that takes place right so it goes from this knowledge based type of church that doesn't have a deep faith to the next churches the church in Philadelphia and this is this is a revived Church and this is the church that is is spoken of most well of all the seven churches this isn't one that gets the best reputation so Philadelphia chapter 3 verse 7 it says into the angel of the church in Philadelphia write these things says he who is holy who is true he who has the key of David he who opens no one shuts and shuts and no one opens I know your works see I have set before you an open door and no one can shut it for you have a little strength I've kept my word and have not denied my name indeed I will make those of the synagogue of satan' who say they are Jews and are not but lie indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet and know and to know that I have loved you because you have kept my command to persevere I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come on the whole earth to test those who dwell on the earth behold I am coming quickly hold fast what you have that no one may take your crown he who overcomes I will make him a pillar in the temple of my god and he shall go out no more and I will write on him a name that the name of my god and the name of the city of my god the New Jerusalem which comes out down from heaven from my god and I will write on him my new name he who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches so this is the fervent church it refers to the missionary church or the revival church or the evangelical church or the Holiness Church right as this this time in history after the Reformation up until like the early 1900s and so it's roughly from about 1800 I'm sorry uh yeah 1800 to about around 1950 roughly this is when missionary revival takes place and evangelical revival takes place this is when you know says I open a door that no one can shut and so during this time period missionaries were able to go into countries where they've never been able to go before and they did so much evangelical work around the world this is phenomenal how many people were evangelize during this 150 years from about 1800 till early nineteen mid 1900s this era is known for men like George Whitfield John Wesley Charles Finney Dale moody Charles Spurgeon you know some of these great names in in church history that we remember as these phenomenal preachers who you know they preach holiness and they LED revivals and they were led by the Holy Spirit and they just had a passion for prayer and a passion for evangelism and they just did amazing things and they had a deep deep love for God and a deep desire to save the Lost and so this time in history was was like phenomenal compared to previous times in history like they don't have any in a rebuke against them so this the only one where doesn't say I have this against you most people know Philadelphia means brotherly love we're supposed to be known by our love for one another but this open door is interesting you know says I've given you a key to an open door that no one can shut and like I said they they went to places just doors were opened during this time where they went to places where no one else was able to go and I mean this place is like India China Japan Korea Africa and numerous other places that no one has ever been able to reach before they were able to go there to reach them during this time period a huge majority of the world was evangelized and right now there's very little places very few places in the earth that have not been evangelized because of these people and so their evangelistic movement was just widespread and and lasting so part of the prophecy that yushua gives is that the gospel will be preached to all nations before the end he says the gospel preached to all nations and then the end will come and was because of this evangelical missionary movement that nearly everywhere in the world has been reached at this point there's very few places left that have been unreached so we're very near the the fulfillment of issues prophecy that every nation will be reached to all peoples will be reached with the gospel but like I said it's because of the open door that this church had this church did not face any persecution or tribulation and they were not a persecuted Church they had this wide-open door to just evangelize and do amazing things this church was alive with love and compassion and the gospel mission was their focus loving God and preaching about Yeshua was their focus just taking the gospel and spreading it around the world was their focus there their whole focus was Jesus Jesus saving people spreading the gospel saving lost getting to them to know Yeshua so they had a pure just a pure faith that was just about Jesus that only focus was was Jesus they weren't concerned with with other things they weren't debating with people they weren't arguing with people they weren't starting controversy they weren't you know what they were doing any of that kind of stuff they were just preaching the gospel it was a time of holiness and revival and evangelism holiness is it's called the holiness movement they had fervent love for your schewe and for the Bible and this is when the gifts of the Holy Spirit began to work in people's lives again these men were just devout to prayer and Bible study and something they spend hours just in prayer and Bible study every single day and when they prayed stuff happened I mean they prayed and God answered but like I said the the gifts of spirit began to work in authentic ways during this period later on we're gonna you know we see now there's a lot of false gifts of the Spirit but back then during this time period there was authentic gifts of the Spirit this period had a they had that spiritual power led by the Holy Spirit that the previous Reformation generation did not have all right and so now we get to the final church the seventh church revelation 3:14 through 22 into the angel of the church and of the Laodiceans write these things says they Amen the faithful and true witness the beginning of the creation of God I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot I could wish that you were cold or hot so then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will vomit you out of my mouth because you say I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing and do not know that you are wretched miserable poor blind and naked that counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire that you may be rich and white garments that you may be clothed that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed and annoyed rise with my sat with eyesalve that you may see as many as I love I rebuke and chasten therefore be zealous and repent behold I stand at the door knock if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come to him and dine with him in him with me to him who overcomes I will grant to sit with me on my throne as I have overcome and sat down with my father in his throne he who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches and so this is the lukewarm church and/or the modern church this is the church we're in right now when you look throughout you know this this history of the church this is where we are is this lukewarm church and so it's roughly the mid 1900s to today this church is rebuked heavily more heavily than any other Church actually this one is just you're lukewarm you're not doing anything worthwhile you're not doing anything praiseworthy you're just mediocre you're kind of worthless is what he's saying and you you think you're something special but you're not is basically what this rebuke is but he says you know I chasing and rebuke those I love so I guess the one thing this church has going for it is we were getting rebuked and that's a good thing because that means he still loves us and we need to listen to his rebuke right the church today is no longer a house of prayer and worship the previous-generation the APUs top of the the missionary of angelical movement the Philadelphia Church that was right before they were a place of prayer and worship when they went to church they prayed and when they weren't a church when they were home they prayed I mean prayer was just part of their daily lives and I mean you read some of the stuff like JC rile or you know deal moody or Smith Wigglesworth you you know read some of the stuff they wrote read in Charles Spurgeon read some of stuff they wrote and some of the sermons they preached and it's like Wow prayer they were deeply deeply saturated in prayer everybody just prayer was a huge part of their life well today prayer is an afterthought for most people and we're not known for our prayer the church today is it's all about being a show it's a spectacle it's entertainment it's a social gathering people who get together to pray and to worship they get together to hang out we think that worship is about which songs we like and how those songs make us feel worship has become all about us it's a self-centered thing right worship is supposed to be about God and lifting him up and glorifying him and praising him and it's what we're supposed to be what we give to him not what we get out of it but we're so selfish we're just narcissistic in our worship service today are basically self-help motivational pep talks if you look at most most preaching that's going on in the last what 50 to 50 to 80 years you know most most preaching is motivational self-help pep talks very little righteousness very little holiness very little repentance it's it's just how to have a better you know six ways to have a better life how to be blessed by God how to live the blessed life The Purpose Driven Life you know all that kind of stuff in us instead of how to how to die to yourself and live to to Christ you know like what Paul was preaching it's you know how to how to have your best life now is what we're getting these days it's become a place of entertainment and it's not you know not just in the church but out of the church you know people whether they're when they're home they spend all their time watching TV movies video games sports magazines constantly entertaining ourselves right and so when you're not at church when you're when you're out at home and in the world you're constantly entertaining yourself with something you got a screen in front of you all the time you're watching a video on on YouTube or you're reading some article on the internet or you're playing a video game and it's like we can't even escape from entertainment we're just so consumed by entertainment well then we get to church and churches entertainment too because you've got music that's this acts like a rock concert and so you go you know you go listen to this performance and you're entertained instead of worshiping you're just being entertained and then the preacher gets up and he tells jokes and he tells you know funny stories or you know illustrations their stories he plays video clips you got a little PowerPoint thing going on that you can follow along with and and you know they they try to keep the sermons short because people have short attention spans and all of its geared towards emotional and entertaining this is what church has become these days is what it looks like the church spends more time talking about superheroes and sports than the scriptures I'm not just talking about you know during sermons but like the church the people of the church people who were people of God the people who claimed to be following God who who claim to love him who claim to be part of his church they spend more time talking about superheroes and sports then they do the scriptures okay I mean that's that's a sad fact but it's a fact that's what our that's what our church generation looks like we're too much focused on our entertainment we're more interested in being entertained and talking about things that we enjoy our pleasures the things entertain us then we are about talking about God and serving God and doing the work of ministry people are more interested in watching Netflix than they are reading their Bible people are more interested in in chatting on Facebook than they are about prayer people are more interested in watching sports than they are about going out and evangelizing this is what we've turned into we are the Laodicean church this generation this era that we're in right now is Laodicea look around it's wretched entertainment so consumers are thoughts that we have award ceremonies for worship music I mean how how horrible is that they give awards to Christian worship music what is this where are we I mean that's that's Babylon you know here have a golden trophy for how good you worship God I don't get it santé repentance our topics to be avoided in most churches because they don't want to fit anybody what does it say about being lukewarm right you were lukewarm what is lukewarm it's if you're compromising you're you're not taking a strong stance on anything you're just trying to be in the middle ground you're not hot or cold you're just in the middle somewhere the church isn't taking a hard strong stance against sin you know what we have we have churches that say hey you can be homosexual and come to our church in fact why don't you be the preacher we would love to have a lesbian preacher in our church that's what they're saying how much more middle ground and lukewarm can you possibly get to say hey it doesn't matter we don't care what your lifestyle is what your sin preference is come past our church come be part of our church we'll just welcome you with open arms we have Luke one preaching we have lukewarm faith lukewarm prayers and lukewarm morality everything about this church this generation this era in time we're in is lukewarm we no longer stand against sin and evil and Yeshua said that makes us wretched you're poor naked blind wretched the Bible warns against practicing sin but it also warns against approving of those who practice it Romans chapter one 28 through 32 says and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a debased mind to do the things which are not fitting being filled with all unrighteousness sexual immorality wickedness covetousness maliciousness full of envy murder strife deceit evil evil mindedness they're whisperers backbiters haters of God violent proud boasters inventors of evil things disobedient to parents undiscerning untrustworthy unloving unforgiving unmerciful and we're knowing the righteous judgment of God that those who practice such things are deserving of death not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them one thing we need to realize is that when if we're being entertained by sin that means we're proving of it have you ever thought about that if you're being entertained by adultery that means you're proving of it you watch a TV show where they're practicing adultery you're watching you're being entertained by your approving of it you watch a show where they're murdering people you're approving of it you're standing by watching it being entertained by and you're basically saying I approve of this you're being entertained by sin and you're saying it's okay this is what Paul's talking about here being entertained by sin Paul says gives us a debased mind okay when we are approving of sin we are being entertained by sin we and we are consuming sin and practicing sin our mind becomes debased and worthless the Bible tells us the works of the flesh will keep us out of the kingdom this is a severe strict warning that we need a heed Galatians 5:19 through 21 it says now the works of the flesh are evident which are adultery fornication uncleanness lewdness idolatry sorcery hatred contentions jealousies outbursts of Wrath selfish ambitions dissensions heresies Envy murders drunkenness revelries and the like which I tell you beforehand just as I also told you in time past that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God so practicing sin Paul says if you continue to practice sin you will not inherit the kingdom of God this is a severe warning and we are living in the final stage of the church we're in the last stage of the church before you sure returns and are we gonna be standing around in sin whenever he shows up are we gonna be practicing sin when he shows up you know are we gonna be playing some video game or watching some horrible movie or you know doing something that we shouldn't be doing are we gonna be participating in sin when he shows up is that what he's gonna catch us doing I mean think about it is that what you want to be doing whenever he shows up think about the stuff that you normally waste your time on the stuff that you normally do stuff that you know you shouldn't be doing by the way you know there's sin in your life that you're doing that you know you shouldn't be doing and do you want to be practicing that when he shows up and he's like hey what are you doing don't you see him right here is that what we want to be doing when he shows up the church is full of idolatry greed lust pride divorce gossip false doctrine spiritual blindness the church is full of these sins you mean think about you know the idolatry have already talked about idolatry and stuff you know but it's not just worshiping marrying the Saints like the Catholic Church does but we have idolatry in worshipping sports worshipping musicians worshipping actors worshipping whatever how much time do you spend devoted to the your television are you worshiping your television I mean like what is your devotion life look like are you devoted to your TV are you devoted to your phone are you devoted to Facebook like where's your devotion that is worship it's where's your spinning the most of your time okay that's what worship is is what are you devoting most of your time energy effort thought heart where where is that going that's worship the church is full of greed you know people are always wanting more full of lust you know you hear all kinds of stories about the the sinful lustful stuff that Christians are involved in pride pride a huge issue divorce divorce rates and churches are just as high as outside the church gossip I think the church is worse at gossip than anybody I think they're the more there's more gossips in the church than there are out of the church sometimes false doctrine the church is full of false doctrines spiritual blindness okay this is this is the one you should says that you're blind and you need to get salve on your eyes spiritual blindness do we see what we're supposed to see spiritually you know spiritual blindness is one of those things you don't know you're spiritually blind because you don't know what it is to see we don't know where spiritual been because we've never seen spiritually we're lacking the eyes to see so we don't even know we're blind we think we can see but it says you need salve on your eyes so that you can see because you don't know that you're blind it says we're naked I mean think about you know I think there's a dual imagery going on here he says you're you're pitiful and naked but this nakedness idea you know he says clothed yourself in this white garment that I'm gonna give you so he's starting to clothe yourself in righteousness clothe yourself in holiness clothes your clothes ears ho of yourself in these garments that that I have for you says the Lord and so we're missing this holy garments that we need the spiritual clothing that we need but what's interesting is I think that you look at most Christians they run around naked anyway I mean like physically naked you know would we see women dressed sexual in revealing ways tight fitting jeans low-cut tops short shorts bikinis yoga pants spaghetti straps tank tops halter tops short skirts I mean like they're dressing in all kinds of sensual sexual lewd ways they're running around naked in the minotaur the same way we have no decency in the way we dress but I don't think that's even what he's addressing here when he says you're naked I don't think he's necessarily addressing our physical nakedness I think he's addressing our spiritual nakedness but I think our physical nakedness is just an outward expression of how naked we really are spiritually inside because if we're taking if we're we're willing to run around naked outside and not ashamed of that that means we're really naked on the inside and we don't even know it they run around naked and they claim to be godly people men are no longer leading their homes men are no longer acting like the head of the house let me just do a quick review of history from about the mid 1950s TV comes along TV is a huge problem that this world has faced that has led to all kinds of immorality and lowering of our morals right lowering of our judgment lowing of our standards okay and it's you look at the the TV shows that progress throughout history from the first you know first TV shows that came on up until today and how they have progressively gotten worse and worse and worse lowering our standards lowering our morals every every year every time a new show comes out and so you went from you know I Love Lucy where Lucy lies to her husband all the time to now we have these shows about like the modern family for example where you have a gay couple who's adopting a child right I mean you have huge huge morale drop over the years from this - right and and with modern families not even the worst there's way worse than that you know you have shows where people are run around naked all the time having sex all the time doing all kinds of horrible things murdering people it just I mean television television has gotten really bad well what happened in the mid nineteen hundreds as well we have well we have the introduction to abortion an abortion becomes legalized and all of a sudden everybody's doing abortions this started in the mid 1900s feminist movement comes along and feminist rights and all those kinds of things well then we have the men stepping out of the way and letting women take over and and this God designed God ordained headship of the male headship in the household shifts places and then we have the women trying to leave the house and the men don't know what the role is then we heart to start having gender confusion women thinking they're men men thinking they're women why do you think that is because they're taking on the wrong roles women are trying to be the men of the house because they're trying to lead well that gives gender confusion causes people not to know if they're a man or woman and then the men don't know what to do because the women are taking away the job and so the men get confused and they start thinking they're a woman gender confusion takes place and we have all kinds of gender issues okay we have divorce divorce rates are skyrocketing mid-1900s up a divorce rate flies through the roof okay prior to that divorce was not as major of an issue divorce in the last hundred years has been a huge issue divorce and remarriage over and over and over again right we have uh single-parent homes you know guys get a woman pregnant and bat bail they abandon her so this woman's left to raise a child by herself so they're these kids are growing up in homes without both parents this is something new to our generation this is not something that was a major issue in I mean it happened occasionally they called it a bastard if a if a kid didn't have a dad that's what they called it it was there was the reference they used and I you know I apologize if you're offended by me using that word I'm not saying it as a curse word I'm saying this is what they called it and it was considered a bad thing though that's why we call it a curse word because it's considered a bad thing to be raised without a pat not a father okay it's considered a bad thing that's why that word is considered a bad word okay we have a whole generation of people who raised in single-parent homes poverty is on the rise homelessness is on the rise and yet the church is the richest Church we've ever seen you know how many millionaire preachers there are in the world today I don't get it if if one of these preachers would sell one of his jets he could probably fix homelessness homelessness in a third-world country for quite a while and he could probably provide water to Africa for the next hundred years just by selling one of his Lear Jets but what does he say he says you claim to be rich but you're poor we have prosperity preachers in the 1900s right mid 1900s to today prosperity preaching is went what took over the prosperity gospel is the new gospel you know ad Jesus to your life and he'll make you happy and healthy and rich that's what they preach you know Jesus wants you to be healthy and rich well you know that's not what that's not what I see in the scriptures and that's not what previous generations were preaching that's not what they that's not the gospel that they took to the third-world countries to evangelize them health wealth and prosperity that was not what they were preaching but that's what our generation is preaching and so we have this wealthy wealthy generation that doesn't know they're poor we're consumed by lust and entertainment we have knowledge but we lack holiness we lag zeal we like love we lack the holy spirit we're fat happy like seriously that's that's the best way to describe this Laodicean church it's fat and happy you're rich and you're satisfied with where you are you don't want to change you don't want to do anything so you have no works for him to say I know your works and you're doing good works this church isn't doing good works it's lazy it's saying I don't see the point I'm gonna sit back and watch Netflix and play on Facebook the the church today looks just like the world we listen the same music we watch the same TV shows we dress the same way we talk the same way we sit we tell the same jokes we watch the same sports we're in love with the world is what we are that's what the Laodicean church is is a church that's in love with the world more than it loves God we're so miserable that God wants to spit us out of his mouth he says I you lukewarm you're miserable to me I'm just gonna spit you out I want to vomit you this is a horrible thing for him to be saying to his church but if you think about it what do we do what are we doing that he could be proud of us for when we were so consumed with entertaining ourselves and we have no love for him we're not willing to devote time to him to prayer and worship to reading his word to doing evangelism to doing ministry for him we're doing nothing we have no works to boast in he says you're worthless you're miserable you're blind you're naked you think you're rich you have wealth of this world you're satisfied with what you have and you you don't think you need anything from me is what he says this is a horrible rebuke and we should really take it seriously we love the world more than we love Christ is what he say you love the world more than you love Christ is the rebuke he's giving us but Yeshua gives us a counsel he gives us wise counsel we need to we need to listen to what he has to say this is the wise counsel he gives us is to repent and be zealous to seek Him to let him close us that we be clothed in his righteousness and that we would do good works and they will be rich in spiritual things we're told to come to you sure to be refined and to be given true riches to go through this refiners fire to let him purge us of all of the things that need to be purged out of us let the refiner refine us and make us pure gold let him close us so that we could be clothed in his righteousness and holiness and walk in purity you say be watchful and be ready do you want him to come and catch you waiting and watching for him prepare for his return ready for him doing what he's asked to be doing or do you want him to come when you're playing a video game or looking at porn or watching some stupid movie okay what do you want to be doing when he shows up you want to be wasting your time in your life doing something that he hates something that's a waste of time worshiping some other Idol wasting your time or do you want to be doing something that glorifies him and that he's gonna say well done servant you you were watching and waiting for me you were prepared you were doing what I asked you to do which do you want to be which servant you want to be the one watching and waiting for your master the one goofing off this is his counsel come to me to be refined come to me to have white garments come to me to have your eyes opened repent amis Ellis if you don't want to be lukewarm poor blind and naked and wretched do you want to be lukewarm when he shows up and he says I want to vomit you up do you want to be lukewarm when he shows up I don't now pay attention what you should said next he said behold I stand at the door and knock standing at the door indicates the soon and sudden return of Christ I stand at the door and knock means I'm right here I'm about to return this generation is the generation will see his return is this lukewarm generation he says to the lukewarm generation behold I stand at the door and knock I'm about to return I'm here at the gates waiting to come in he's almost here he's about to return we will see his return in this generation it also indicates the soon coming judgement so James 590 says do not grumble against one another brethren lest you be condemned behold the judge is standing at the door standing at the door means he's he's right there he's about to come in it's it's about time this is the final church the final phase of the church to what the church is gonna look like when your shoe returns that's why he says will the Son of Man find faith on the earth he says there's gonna be a great falling weight when he returns or before he returns that the final state of the church is a bad state there's a great falling away and he's concerned that there's not gonna be faith in the earth this is the lukewarm church that he's returning to there's no there's no evolution left of the church there's nothing else there's not another phase it's not like we're gonna revive out of this phase and become a great Church but he says repent this is the kind of church he's gonna come back to is this fallen lukewarm casual waste of time wretched poor pitiful blind naked Church but do we want to be part of that or do we want to be separate we want to be set apart and different do we want to be people who are saying you know what I don't care what the rest of the world sue and I don't care what the rest of the church is doing I'm gonna pursue you sure with all my heart soul mind and strength I'm not gonna waste my time doing meaningless stuff that doesn't matter that makes me lukewarm and worthless I'm gonna pursue Yeshua and spend my time devoting myself to him being zealous for him what do you want to do where you gonna be this is the call that's being laid before us this is this is the wake-up call you're saying you are in this final generation I'm standing at the door knocking are you gonna answer this is where we're at what are we gonna do are we gonna repent come to him prefer his refining come to him for his purification come to him for the salve on our eyes so we can see are we gonna be remained blind and pitiful and naked and worthless be ready for him at all times you know we like to speculate you know we all have our theories about what the future holds and what the return of Messiah might look like but you know what you might be wrong you know some people say well we got to see the happen we got to see this happen we got to see this happen what if you got it wrong what if those things have already happened did you just didn't know it you didn't see it what if he's at the door right now what if he comes back tomorrow you know what if the the the things the signs that you were looking for weren't what you expected them to be so you didn't notice him because your eyes are blind he says you have you think you see but you don't you're blinded you lack that spiritual sight so what if the mark of the beast is already taking place what if the Antichrist is already come what if the altar has already been shut down what if you know all these things that you were expecting to happen have already happened we you're blind you don't know it all we have is oh we're going on the speculation some people think there's going to be a rapture some people think the temple is gonna have to be rebuilt some people think the Antichrist is a human some people think it's some kind of something else some people think the mark of the beast is a tattoo on your hand some people think it's something else something spiritual some people think the destruction of the the turn down the altars of physical things some people think it's something else it's all speculation and you don't know so instead of looking for trying to figure out what sign you got to figure out to say oh well if this happens then we know he's going to be coming back and trying to count days and saying well we got thirteen hundred and sixty days or 12 or 1260 days or 42 months or three and a half years or whatever before he returns instead of trying to do all that calculation accounting and figuring out what the future holds maybe we should just put a focus on him and say am i watching for him am i ready for him am i doing what he is expecting me to do if he was to come back right now am I gonna be the servant that he is he says well done - is he gonna be proud of me if he shows up today or am I too worried about like trying to figure out what day he might be coming back in the future so that I know that I have time to get ready you know if he comes back in ten years are you gonna do something different for the next ten years than if he was to come back today what's it matter what's it matter if it comes back today or in 10 years or 20 years or 50 years or a hundred years act live today like he might be coming back today and then you're not gonna be surprised and caught off guard and it's not gonna matter right if you're faithfully following him today if he comes back today he's gonna say well done my faithful servant but if you're wasting your time doing stuff that doesn't glorify Him and he comes back today then what we are in the final stage of the church this is what the church is going to be when he returns this is where we are there's no future progression of we're gonna we're not going to become the Church of Philadelphia okay yes that that church has already passed we're in the Church of Laodicea this is the church where he's going to return but are we gonna be lukewarm like everybody else are we gonna repent and seek first his kingdom and do what we should be doing to pursue him are we gonna watch and be prepared are you ready for your shoe to return he's standing at the door he says behold I stand at the door he's ready to return are we ready for his return

Channel: UNLEARN the lies

Views: 44,995

Rating: 4.8913922 out of 5

Keywords: prophecy of the seven churches, prophecy of the seven churches in revelation, unlearn, unlearn the lies, unlearnthelies, lex meyer, seven churches, seven churches of revelation, understanding the seven churches in revelation, bible truth, Yeshua, book of revelation, church of laodicea in revelation, church of laodicea sermon, church of laodicea commentary, letter to the church of laodicea, 7 churches, 7 churches of revelation, Understanding revelation

Id: Eussu7RgMNo

Length: 64min 47sec (3887 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 22 2020