[0:00] Oh So much Good I just want to say a couple of things As we get started this morning We are currently in this year And we are stepping into a brand new year And we got a lot ahead I mean this 14th month month Is going to be the day that we Huffing together Constitute officially As a church And it's going to be a great Day for us
[1:02] It's going to be a good time for us Just to celebrate What God has done for us together And it's going to be a great day For us to look forward To what's to come So on that day there's a few things That are going to happen One we have our church covenant You see printed out there Posted on the fellowship Group page And that covenant is really the framework Of that morning We are going to come together So be sure to look over the covenant We'll be sending the handbook Out this week On the Facebook group page And in there it talks about All the things we talked about on Wednesday night Just in a nutshell To say this is who we are As a cornerstone church And in fact You'll be able to see Just the way That the Membership works The way That we choose elders All those kinds of things So What we'll do The first Sunday
[2:03] Is We're going to come together And we'll be a great time In prayer together As we start And then We will We will covenant together We'll walk through the covenant As a group And then we'll have a covenant signing time Where we just come together And sign on To the covenant Some kind of register here We just We'll all come together And just take some time While we're singing To come and sign that together And it'll just be a symbolic one Together of us Affirming Just in a very practical way What we think God calls us to do In the church We're to be a people That are really committed To the Lord Together And that covenant time Is going to be just that Where we covenant together And so The first action That we'll take In the church Is we'll entertain a motion From the elders of fellowship church Remember Timothy Faye is here
[3:04] For those a few weeks ago The elders there They're acting as our sponsor church And they're going to make a recommendation That you take on As your first pastor elder A very unsacry fellow Me And so So they're going to make that recommendation So our hearing team will make that recommendation To us as a covenanted group together And then you as a church Will cast your affirmation Or vote Whatever you want to call it To say Yes we want James to be the pastor of this church Or not And we can decide that together that day Right?
[3:48] And so We'll do that And then we'll also affirm our statements Our statements of saying Our visions statement together That is also What's on those posters And we put out several weeks ago On fellowship day But it will all be in that book That handbook So that you can look at it In there We'll have a physical copy We pray On the 14th If not The electronic copy Is already going to be out there It will already happen But so we'll adopt those things And we will be proposed with a budget for the year And we'll vote to affirm that So we'll be getting that out as well Between now and the 14th So that you can look at it If you have any questions Et cetera, et cetera And obviously we'll provide it To all those things But it's going to be a great day So that's going to be Sunday the 14th The Wednesday night will follow Some of you need baptism And if you're needing a baptism
[4:52] This would be the Sunday Or the Wednesday night We're trying to figure out Where to do that Rather than get water in here Where we risk damaging the floor Whatever Whatever lot of abilities associated with that We're going to figure out Where that's going to be But we'll gather together To witness a baptism On that Wednesday night I think it's 17th So that's the 17th So you might want to plan ahead for that You might want to be together And show support for those That are being baptized And we'll fellowship around them Somehow, somewhere Okay?
[5:27] You don't have our own building We're flexible Don't need a building To be a church, amen? Amen And so we're going to do that So that Wednesday night And the following Sunday We will have communion together For the first time that Sunday And the reason we're waiting To that Sunday Is to instead of move Covenant together So that those that need to be baptized Can be baptized And then participate in the Lord's Suffer all together with us Okay?
[5:57] So if you're needing baptism I would love to talk to you about that If you're thinking through that And saying Yeah, I've been saved But I really wasn't baptized Read through the articles That were put out But not on the Facebook page And they're explaining baptism So that you can look through that And say Hey, have I been typically baptized?
[6:19] And if you conclude Yes, the Bible says If you conclude No, I really need to do that And let's take care of that And let's plan on doing that And say Now come see me And talk to me I would love to get that All lined up And that's going to be that So that's going to be that So it's really Sunday And Sunday And that Wednesday night In between Really is the celebration time So I want you to think of this As kind of like a business That's doing a soft opening And then a grand opening You know That's really kind of our soft opening Where we come together We officially come as a church And we'll be getting all kinds of pieces in place Of trying to do ministry Trying to do things together Trying to organize our B groups All those kinds of things So that We lead up to Easter Sunday Being a good, hard opening That's the Sunday That I really think We need to think in our minds
[7:21] That that is the day That we're really just going to go all out To invite people to worship And we can invite people any Sunday That's obvious You can do that any Sunday But what I'd like to do Between now and Easter Sunday Is I'd like for us to be thinking About how you can invite I don't know 10,000 people You guys are laughing I'm not laughing In our other church If you remember There were 120 people That went out on one Sunday And we distributed 17,000 doorgames In one day One day We walked over I think we estimated 2,000 miles combined with everybody on foot Going to all the different places that they went To invite people Is that our only evangelistic strategy?
[8:23] Absolutely not Absolutely not But I think for us We've got to get in our mind Right from the very beginning That this church is the church That preaches Christ We're proclaiming Christ We've been doing a lot of work To get the foundation laid So that we can try to start well We've been very cautious That we've been getting the groundwork laid And we've been doing We've been very careful Along the way We've probably lost a person or two You know Some maybe get impatient Or think Oh I don't know about this or that I understand all that That's why we get going slow Because if we get started And all those people are still on board While we have some preconceived ideas that they're in They will have trouble all along the way After we get started So we get real cautious About how we got started And we're taking our time It's been several months now We've just been meeting Taking it slow But once we get going Here in January It's time for us to start pushing forward
[9:25] For us to start thinking about Being the evangelistic Gospel preaching people That God has called us to be And so So what would it look like For us to invite 10,000 people to come To an Easter Sunday Now Will 10,000 people come?
[9:46] Probably not 10,000 I think as people talk about those kinds of things They say you get .1% of those that you're advising Something like that They don't have relationships with all those people But there are times vividly Where apostles were sent out to go toward the Lord That this is part of the very biblical evangelistic strategy For us to reach people in our community For us to think through Who lives in my neighborhood Have I invited them to come and worship the king?
[10:22] Have I taken an opportunity to go and share with them So they're able to know the same Jesus that's saved me? The Jesus that's called us together to worship him And as a church And so I want to encourage you to think of that We'll have some opportunity where we can do some things And print up some invitation cards And those kinds of things But either way The idea is we need to be thinking outwardly And not just inwardly We want to be as a strong church We want to preach Christ so that lost people will be saved We're not trying to glean other church members We're trying to find lost people And preach Jesus to them So that they'll be saved And what we want in our church Is people that are so transformed by Jesus Because people were so transformed by Jesus That they went out and talked about it That they come and our church has a different character to it That our church has a different atmosphere
[11:24] It's people that are freshly saved and ready to serve They want to see Jesus work in other people's lives Because Jesus is sober in their life Amen I want to see God transforming people From being alcoholics to being sober Amen Marriages that are ruined To being families that are whole Amen I want to see God doing some things That we haven't seen Amen We haven't seen these things We're not seeing just a fresh move of God But I'm just praying that as we get started I'm just praying that this will be the encouragement for us To experience God in His Word In such freshness that He affects us Amen And in turn we have that hope Are y'all with me?
[12:15] Yes Are y'all ready for some of that? Yes I'm not ready for some of that I want to get in on that Okay? And so just be in prayer In fact as we get started I haven't even started preaching yet people This is all free Okay?
[12:32] Let's just take a minute and pray That God will stir a fire in our hearts To proclaim Him like a young man I want to do that for you Let's just stand together Let's come down here and let's just pray Let's gather together a little bit Let's just gather together a little bit Let's just gather together and pray Let's not do that Father we come before you today That really is our prayer We want to see you You have changed our mind Lord we don't want to be another church
[13:38] That is just status quo We don't want to be mediocre If that's what we're going to be Lord Then shut us down Close our doors before they ever go Lord I just pray We would catch fresh wind and fresh fire in your Holy Spirit Not that we'll do something that's never been done But that we'll do what's supposed to be done That we'll follow our face before you In absolute humility And call on the God of heaven Stir us up Fill us up Send us out And bring lost people in your Holy Spirit May your Holy Spirit just owe the wellness Lord May you just give us what we don't have Because we're not that
[14:39] None of us are that But Lord you are that And we pray that you would just fill us so much That we would reflect that in our life We're praying God that there would be many people that are one Because they're faithful saints of God Who are proclaiming you Not just because we're meeting you Not just because it's being preached in the building But because we're preaching Christ wherever we go And that we're taking the opportunity to go where people want to go I pray Father that you would just give us a voice That you would just give us a A strength A renewed strength in us And that your name will be made great In Cornerstone Church and through us Lord we love you Be with us as we move toward that time Prepare our hearts Get us right And pray this all in Jesus name
[15:43] God be the same Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Alright, I want you to turn your Bible to Revelation chapter 2 Chapter 2.
[16:13] That's a good thing to start. I know Aaron's complaining, I've been preaching too long. So I'm not going to take advantage of this opportunity to go on and on.
[16:29] But I felt like some of those things need to be said right at the beginning. So it might have pedagogy in there so that you will keep it.
[16:41] He gets hungry if you're old. It's hard. Revelation Chapter 2. We are looking at verse 18.
[16:55] Find a place to go ahead and stand for a few minutes together. Now I'm going to set it up. It's like a Catholic service. Revelation Chapter 2, beginning in verse 18.
[17:07] And it says, And to the angel of the church in Thyatira, write the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished prongs.
[17:25] I know your works, your love and faith and service and patience and endurance, and that your latter works exceed the birth.
[17:37] But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality, and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
[17:55] I gave her time to repent. But she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I would throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery to her I would throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works.
[18:15] And I will strike her children dead, and that all the churches will know that I am He who searches the mind and the heart. And I will give to each of you according to your words.
[18:29] But to the rest of you, the Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.
[18:43] Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations.
[18:57] And he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earth and pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star.
[19:11] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Father, may you bless the reading of your word, and may you speak to us this morning. We pray this in Jesus' name.
[19:29] And, well I remember, there was a time when I was young, young people to pastor it. I was probably 26 at the time.
[19:40] You've got to imagine. I started pastor it when I was 25. I knew every one came. I realized I don't know much now. So, it's a good place to be. But, at the time, I remember very miserably outside the church, on Wednesday nights there was this car that was being parked at the edge of the parking lot.
[20:00] Every Wednesday night, for several weeks, it was there. It wasn't there, you know, that afternoon. It wasn't there the next day. But, during the afternoon and sometime in the night, even late on Wednesday night, that car would be there.
[20:16] And, I got to thinking, you know, it just seemed like somebody's up to no good. You know? It's just parked in a very odd place. And, it's across from, you know, an area where there's some houses down this road.
[20:29] And, so, it just seemed odd to me. So, as a good young pastor, filled with the Holy Spirit, and prayed for his people, I went up to the car, and I scribbled out the window.
[20:40] And, all I said was, God knows what you're doing. And, I put it on the windshield, and I love you. I just thought it was you, okay?
[20:53] I have no idea. I don't know who this person. I have never seen them in the car, or I've never had any contact with them at all. So, I just put that gun on the car, and that car was never there again.
[21:08] Now, I don't know what they were doing. I have no idea if they were up to something or not, or if they saw the note, and they just realized, you know, hey, maybe I should be parking here.
[21:19] But, maybe, I imagine in my mind, maybe they were up to no good. And, maybe, just that little reminder, that little subtle reminder, God is watching you, was just enough to get them to stop doing what they were doing.
[21:39] That's my hope. That maybe that encouragement was helpful, and maybe even in the presence of the church in the parking lot, there was at least some communication, maybe there is some reality about God that I could consider, and this was what they needed.
[21:54] Somebody once said, integrity is doing what's right when nobody's watching. But being faithful is doing what's right because you know God is watching.
[22:07] Integrity is doing what's right when nobody else is watching. It's one thing to have integrity, you should have integrity, it should be because I do this because it's the right thing to do.
[22:24] It doesn't matter if anybody else is watching or if anybody else sees me. But if I'm going to be faithful to God, if I'm going to be faithful to Jesus, what that is going to mean for me is that I'm going to live in such a way and act in such a way that I do things because I know that every moment of every day of all of my life, the God of Heaven is actually watching me.
[22:51] Amen. I really believe this is the message here in Revelation 2, 18 in this message to the church at the Pagetur. And then when we were talking about this this week, Shane Smith, or Shane is, I love this one.
[23:06] I'm a fabulous guy. We were talking about things we used to do when we were young and how, man, you just, people can't do what we used to get away with when we were young because there's cameras and everything.
[23:18] I mean, I mean, they were silly, foolish, stupid things that we did as teenagers, you know, stealing golf courses, flags, or whatever you did, I don't know, but those kinds of things, reckless, you know, dumb things.
[23:35] And now those cameras are everywhere. You can't get away with anything anywhere. You think of people monitoring for security at your home or vandalism prevention in different places, public security.
[23:53] The highways, the roadways are monitored for road rage incidents. Everywhere you go, there's a traffic camera. There's a doorbell camera.
[24:04] There's cameras on your phone. There's cameras everywhere you go. You walk through this building and there are six cameras that are out of the building that are out of you since the time you walked in.
[24:15] I love you. Thirty-eight percent of Americans own some kind of home security. Are there cameras involved?
[24:27] Thirty-eight percent. New Jersey police study shows fifty percent drop in crime credited to surveillance cameras through their cities and investigations.
[24:40] Now, I'm not even playing in that community, but they helped them purchase more cameras or whatever. But there is something there. University of North Carolina Charlotte study found that sixty percent of burglars feed when they see a camera.
[24:53] Sixty percent. You buy something on Facebook Marketplace or somewhere else on the social media connection point and you'll decide to meet somebody somewhere other than your house because you want to meet them where there are cameras.
[25:15] So you might meet them in the Walmart parking lot. Or you might meet them in QT's because there are so many cameras there. You're going to see everything that's going on and feel a little more secure because somebody's watching.
[25:28] I went into Walmart just the other day and just thought through it and realized as I walked into the Walmart from the time I was in the parking lot and went and got one or two items and left, I was on sixteen cameras.
[25:43] And still we've got a guy at the door. I need to check my receipt. The issue is I think sometimes we actually do behave differently when we think somebody's watching.
[25:58] When you think somebody's actually watching you, it affects your behavior. Thomas Watson, as I was reading his book, The Great Game of Godliness, a great Puritan writer, wrote it in 1690 something.
[26:13] I mean, old book. It's kind of difficult to read in parts just because English is a little different. But he said, the fear of God is a powerful shield against sin.
[26:25] It makes the soul tender and conscientious, afraid to offend the eyes of its heavenly father. As a strong man stands sentinel in the city, so the fear of God stands guard in the heart.
[26:40] It beats back the assaults of temptation. When Joseph was tempted by Potiphar's wife, he said, he cried, how can I do this wickedness and sin against God?
[26:52] It was the fear of God. The fear of God was his sentinel and made him victorious. So David declared, I have set the Lord always before my eyes.
[27:03] Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. For David, the fear of God was his anchor, keeping him steady in the midst of temptation's storms.
[27:14] To forget God's presence is to walk upon gunpowder. We may think ourselves safe, but one spark of temptation can ignite the flames of sin and consequence.
[27:28] The presence of the Lord and the thought of God watching you affects your behavior. You come to this passage and really, this passage in the list of seven churches is the longest addressed to any of the churches.
[27:48] As one commentator said, he said, it's the longest and most difficult of the seven letters addressed to the least known, to the least important, and to the least remarkable of cities.
[28:02] In this case, you have the description here in the first few verses, as the other ones are, introducing Christ and telling you something about the character of Christ that you need to contemplate as someone who has ears to hear.
[28:16] There's something about the character of God revealed through Christ that you can see in these descriptions. They're all different. And in this one, he said it as verse 18, the angel of the church of Thyatira said, write, the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
[28:40] His eyes are like a flame of fire. Now this doesn't mean that he has eyes of fire. But when you're picturing, you know, the flame of the eyes and some of the pictures you see when they're painting some wild picture of Revelation, you know, Jesus or the bird of the fire and an actual sword coming out of his mouth and all that, notice the way he says it.
[29:02] He says his eyes were like a flame of fire. And he says it twice. He actually says it at the beginning, or three times, he says at the beginning in Revelation 1.14 when he's describing Christ, he says, He says the hairs of his head were like white wool, like snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire.
[29:25] That's chapter 1 verse 14. And so at the beginning of Revelation, you have this description of Jesus. And then at the end of Revelation, chapter 19 verse 11, John gets the revelation of Jesus and gets this vision of him.
[29:39] It says, And then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, the one sitting on it, the one sitting on it is called Faithful and True. And in righteousness, he judges and makes war.
[29:53] His eyes are like a flame of fire. And so what you see in this description of his eyes being like a flame of fire are describing the fact that he is looking with intensity at his people.
[30:07] That these eyes of fire are eyes of the judge who is looking with intensity. And speaking not only of the intensity with which he is looking, but the intensity with which he is judging.
[30:21] So that he is weighing things out. And he has a feet furnished bronze, which is the symbol of strength. This is that his feet are going to trample over his enemies.
[30:35] His feet are burnished bronze, meaning that they are going to, like as he describes, God describes similar things in Ezekiel. He's describing judgment coming. And the rod of iron is going to break the pots into pieces.
[30:50] This burnished bronze is something that's not going to be affected by the pot. It's something very hard, very solid. When it's swung, it's going to break the pots. It's not going to affect the bronze, but the pots are going to be smashed.
[31:05] And here, this is the allusion to the same kind of judgment. So you see him describing in verse 23.
[31:32] Verse 23. I will strike the children dead. All the churches will know that I am he, who searches mind and heart, and will give to each according to your words.
[31:45] So when he uses this phrase, this is helping you to understand what this eyes of fire and feet of burnished bronze is all about. This is talking about Christ the judge, who is looking with great scrutiny at people.
[32:02] One day, he's going to judge the living and the dead. We're going to stand in judgment seat of Christ, and everybody's going to answer the good and the evil that they've done in this life. Every act is recorded in the book, as the scripture says.
[32:17] I am he who searches the mind and heart, and I am going to give according to each one's words. So the description here for us is the reminder of some of the great truths of scripture.
[32:30] Remember Hudson Taylor's great quote. There is a God. He said this was three great truths. There is a God. He has spoken through his word, and he means what he says.
[32:41] Right? So that's the three great truths. There is a God. He's spoken through his word. He means what he says. Well, this passage is almost like a couple of great truths for three groups of people. Three groups of people being addressed in this passage, and it's a couple of great truths.
[32:58] Well, namely, that God sees, and we're accountable. He sees, and we're accountable.
[33:10] The description is all through scripture that he sees. Ephesians 6, Paul reminded bondservants, he said, Obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ.
[33:24] Not by way of eye service as people pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord.
[33:43] Whether he is a bondservant or a freak, masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven, and with him there is no partiality.
[33:58] He is going to judge. There is a God. And he sees. And he's watching. Psalm 139.2, you know when I sit down and when I rise up, you discern my thoughts from afar off.
[34:17] The psalmist is just reminding. God, you know everything. You know my thoughts in my head. You know the activities of my life. You know every single thing of every moment of every day.
[34:31] You're watching. Now, I can illustrate that even with my own kids. I'm always watching. Right? They know that. I'm the all seeing eye in the light. I'm not really. And hell, I can't see it.
[34:42] But I want to put on that perception of it. Right? That's a dad. That I'm on. If something happens and somebody, they say, how do you find that out? I can't tell you. I'm always watching.
[34:55] You know. And so even this morning, I had to add this in to my sermon because it was so, just so bright. You know sometimes in the morning, believe it a piece of trash.
[35:06] Intention. Right? Believe it intentionally. I know he's doing it on purpose. It's just his nature. So if I put it in a place where I will see it, it's a little piece of evidence for you that he was there.
[35:17] Believe it that trash. So he gets a piece of candy. He goes to my office. He'll eat a piece of trash under my mouth. And so, as a dad, you know, I, they said, how can I get him?
[35:33] Stop doing it. And so I take a piece of trash. He's not there. And I go up to his room and I put it in his shoe. And so this morning, he comes in, Brandon and I, and slightly serious, he says, I've got to say, guys, I don't think we've got a mouse problem.
[35:55] I was like, why? Why do you do that? I'm not denying that we could have mice. I could have mice before we're going to take your license. Why did you do that? Well, I was putting on my shoe.
[36:07] And I said, yes! I got it! He was contemplating up there the whole time. There's got to be mice in the air. And he probably did get through all his shoes. And I got it. I finally got it. And I wanted to think that there's, that once he comes directing it for this moment, that I'm always on top of it.
[36:28] I'm getting, I'm going to, next time he puts trash down, what's he going to do? He's going to be thinking at that very moment. He's going to put stuff in the air. I better be careful. God is always watching.
[36:39] Proverbs 5.21, the scripture tells us, for a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all of his paths.
[36:50] Proverbs 15.3, the eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good. He's watching. He's actually paying attention to your lives.
[37:04] God reminded King Asa, 2 Chronicles 16, verse 9. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.
[37:19] God is watching. He's actually watching the affairs of your life. He's watching your behavior, the thoughts and intents, the motivations of your heart. He is watching with eyes of fire, eyes of intensity at your life.
[37:35] So, it is one of the great truths that he's sharing here, that God is actually watching. And then secondly, that we're accountable.
[37:48] The being burnished with bronze is talking about the judgment that comes, that he's going to trample his enemies. And as he's talking about this passage, or as he's making this allusion, he identifies three groups of people, two of which we'll talk about this morning for the sake of time, and then the third, next week, we'll do the third.
[38:14] The first is the phony and the obstinate. This is addressed to this church as a whole, and so there are some things that he's giving the overarching character of the church, but then in this he's calling out certain particulars.
[38:32] And he's identifying particular groups of people. At least the person, maybe a group of people. First, the phony and the obstinate. Second, the faltering and the compromising.
[38:45] And then third, the faithful and the overcoming. And in these three groups of people, it's just, whoever has the ear, let them hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
[38:57] That in every church, at all times, you're going to deal with this. And you're going to fall into some of these categories from time to time. Integrity is doing what we see when nobody else is watching.
[39:09] Being faithful is living as if there's never a moment in our life when God is not watching. He's always watching. And we are accountable to him in this. And we're going to give him accountable.
[39:22] What should my response then be? So first, the phony and the obstinate. Who's he talking about here? I was talking about the false teacher.
[39:33] The false teacher. You notice this in verse 18. I'm sorry, verse 19. I know your works, your love, your faith, your service, your patience, your endurance, that your latter work exceed the purpose.
[39:47] We can come back to that because this is the overarching message to the church. The church wasn't all bad. But there was a problem in the church. And he says it in verse 20. But I have this against you.
[39:59] That you tolerate that woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to Bible.
[40:15] And she gave her time to repent. But she refuses to repent. Behold, I'm going to throw her own sick head, etc., etc. And so here what you have first is the phony and the obstinate.
[40:29] A false teacher who is obstinate in their sin. And that's what you have the picture of. She's teaching. It says specifically a couple of things that she's doing.
[40:40] One, teaching. And two, seducing. There's a teaching that's going on that does not necessarily mean a formal teaching. But she is taking certain positions on issues that are leading God's people wrongly in a couple of ways.
[40:58] It's one, undermining sound teaching. And two, it's corrupting good morals. There is sound teaching being undermined and good morals being corrupted.
[41:10] And the teaching that you see here is characteristic of what you can see in a place like Biotera where in the city there are all of these guilds.
[41:26] You know what a guild is? A guild is like a group of smiths of some kind. Not smiths, but metal smiths.
[41:38] Workers of some kind with some skill. And they form a guild, a group that's going to govern and train in that craft. And in this city that's going to be mingled with pagan worship.
[41:53] And so when you find in Acts chapter 16 verse 14 when it talks about a woman who is born to Christ whose name is Lydia. The scripture says there was one who heard us, a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira.
[42:10] A seller of purple goods who was a worshiper of God. That statement is telling you a whole lot about the city of Thyatira. These guilds were famous in the city of Thyatira.
[42:25] One in particular this seller of purple goods, the makers of dye and the craft that's involved there. The makers of some of these materials there in the city. And she was a seller of purple there in the city.
[42:39] But what it was telling us is something very ironic about someone from the city of Thyatira. And that is she was a seller of purple goods who worshiped God.
[42:50] She was unlike the pagans of the city of Thyatira. Which was characteristic of them to be involved in all the pagan rituals and all of the things that went on in the cities.
[43:01] Because if your guild was involved in those things, your business depended on you. You'd be kicked out of the guild. The regulation of sales and all those kinds of things would be similar to maybe electricians or plumbers who set prices and those kinds of things.
[43:17] And hourly wages and licensing and all those kinds of things that we do in our culture. Those were similar things going on in these guilds. Except it was mixed with pagan worship.
[43:28] So that you didn't participate in those things. You were kicked out of business. You didn't get the seller of the reserve over there. You lost your license.
[43:39] They didn't want you in their group. There's someone in the church of Thyatira that is teaching some things. They're leading people astray. And she's part of a movement either of the guilds or the cults of the city.
[43:54] And she is persuading. She's teaching God's people things that are drawing them away from the clear things of scripture that they cover. And she's corrupting the morals of the people in the church in some way that is associated with sexual immorality.
[44:10] Which would be characteristic of the guilds and the cults. And the cults. So what is being said here seems to be that this woman is saying, You in the church, it's okay for you to follow Jesus and do this.
[44:26] And this is what she's teaching. Seducing. Seduction is not outright wrong a lot of times.
[44:38] It is the subtlety of drawing people toward what's wrong. It's not going to be obvious all the time. It's going to be very subtle. And so what's being said here is that she's teaching it, which means there are some things that are obvious.
[44:53] And seducing some things that are very subtle. And she's drawing the servants of God astray. So this is giving us just a great picture of just what's going on here in Thyatira in the, oh, the obstinate.
[45:16] In the phonies. She calls herself a prophetess. She's teaching. So there could be even some formal position or place where she's teaching.
[45:28] And if she's doing that, then that would be an obvious, clear violation of Scripture. That she's somehow become a teacher in the church of Thyatira. Because we know Scripture teaches in 1 Timothy that a woman shall not have authority or teach a man in the church.
[45:44] That's not a chauvinistic thing. That's not just a thing from the 1950s. That is a timeless truth in the Scripture that's rooted in creation.
[45:55] It is the picture of church organization and even the government family. So that if we don't honor those things, we're going to run into all kinds of trouble.
[46:08] The reality is that she is calling herself a prophetess and is taking on the persona of a teacher somehow in the church. I don't know if you realize that there are very few denominations these days that teach that.
[46:25] As far as a Protestant kind of denomination, Southern Baptists are one of the last of the major groups that are teaching that. And that is on the docket for the next annual meeting.
[46:41] If that road fails, then it will open up the floodgate for women to be pastors in Southern Baptists. There are movements that are very subtle.
[46:56] And is it going to be a major thing? Well, tell on the service it's not a major thing, but it is a very subtle thing that leads us away from the authority of Scripture. Because if the Scripture is going to be the authority of what we do and practice as a church, and if we're going to disregard that in some of these points, as soon as you as a denomination or a church or as a believer make the decision that you're going to reject what God has clearly said, then you have become a false teacher.
[47:30] You become a false teacher. And this reminder to us is that there is a God, and He's spoken through His Word.
[47:42] He is watching actually, and we are actually accountable to what He says. And what He has said in His Word is what we're going to give an account to in the day of judgment.
[47:53] One day we're going to answer for these things. If the church of Thyatira has allowed this to happen in their church, then they have something to answer for.
[48:05] She's encouraging an open relationship with God. If you read Ezekiel chapter 16, you'll blush as you can read through. We won't read through it here.
[48:16] There's a lot of kids in the room. But it talks about, in general, Israel playing a harlot. She's decided to live like the greedy Egyptians.
[48:27] She's decided to live like the powerful Assyrians. She's decided to trade like the Chaldeans. They've got an open relationship with God and the other nations.
[48:38] They're living like the world. Monday through Saturday. And on Sunday, they're showing up at church.
[48:49] When somebody's drawn away from your spouse, it starts with friendship, doesn't it? Somebody at work.
[49:00] Somebody you can confide in. Somebody that you get along really well with. Somebody at the gym that you've struck up a conversation with. Somebody that's really friendly and their personality is compatible with you.
[49:14] And they joke and have a good time. Maybe you and your spouse are having a rough time and you're not communicating well. And all of a sudden, you strike up a friendship. It's very subtle.
[49:25] It doesn't always just jump out into infidelity. It starts as a relationship. It just begins. You know why, ladies, that I'm not chatting with you? You know why I don't hang out with you?
[49:38] Why I'm standoffish at times? Maybe I'm socially awkward. Okay, that could be part of it. But it's very intentional on my part because I am a spouse to one woman.
[49:50] And I'm guarding that with my life. I do not want my affections to get entangled with you. And it's not to say that all of you ladies are back with me.
[50:03] Maybe you are. Okay. But that's not the issue. The reality is I can't trust my own partner.
[50:17] I have one spouse. I'm dedicated to her. And I know that temptation is out there in all kinds of different forms. And Satan wants to sift me like meat.
[50:28] I don't have female friends that I communicate with. I don't have female friends that we just talk to and just hang out. There's none of that in this relationship.
[50:41] That never works. You know why? Because you start sharing your affections with somebody else. And all of a sudden when things get bad at home, then you've got somewhere to turn and those affections start building.
[50:56] I keep this relationship exclusive. And the reason is because I've been around a long time in the city. It doesn't work the other way. Every time I've seen a man or a woman say as a man, well I've just got female friends.
[51:12] You just need to understand that for a wife. I've just got these male friends and you just got to understand that. I just need you to know if that's you, you just need to repent. That never works.
[51:25] It doesn't work. And it doesn't work with God. James said in James 4, 4, You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?
[51:39] Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy with God. And notice how he described that. You adulterous people. You harlots.
[51:51] You're trying to live in the world and serve Jesus and you cannot do it. The reality for you is you're living a phony life.
[52:02] And maybe in your heart you know this to be true. And the message for you is the message for Jezebel. You need to repent. You need to repent. The church is being groomed today.
[52:16] Think of teachers in these years past. Jen Hatmaker was a woman teacher. And we heard her teach about homosexuality at college group activities that were put on by LifeWave and Southern Baptist Convention.
[52:32] And we complained about it because of the things that she was saying even then. She was writing Sunday school material that was going out to your Sunday school classes. She was writing books that were being published by your Southern Baptist Give-In.
[52:45] And then she came out as pro-homosexual. We saw it all the time. She was always on the edge. She was very subtle.
[52:56] And then as her money came in and she was making the money. And as soon as she was established she didn't need this Southern Baptist Convention anymore. And then she was out with it.
[53:07] She performed the day wedding for her daughter. Divorced her husband. She was a Jezebel. Beth Moore.
[53:18] You may love Beth Moore. Reading some of the Beth Moore's materials of her quotes. Even recently she still posted the gorilla in the cage.
[53:30] And look at that. She'll make her tweets. I so appreciate all of you Southern Baptist Men who have supported me all along the way. She just changed in one of her books just a couple of years ago her stand on homosexuality where she once called it outright sin.
[53:49] And she, out of the electronic version of the book, that whole section is now gone and reworded. She's not open yet about it.
[54:01] Some very subtle things that have moved in that direction. But I'm telling you, watch out. The movement in the Southern Baptist Convention pushing for women pastors. Where this is a very strong movement in the Southern Baptist Convention right now.
[54:16] It is the Jezebel movement. And the churches are feeling so much pressure from the culture. The guilds and the cults.
[54:31] We're just going to ignore what God has said about the issue. And as soon as the churches or the denomination or you take the stand, you're going to ignore what God has said about this. You're going to enter into a new dimension called false teaching.
[54:46] What is the encouragement for the obstinate, false, funny person? Some of you in this room could be that. You've got to examine yourself and say, well, I'm not going to come back.
[54:58] Have I been confined to God's word in certain issues? And I refuse to listen to it. I don't want to hear what God has to say about the issue. Am I just being obstinate? What's the warning and encouragement?
[55:10] Well, there is encouragement even to the most ungodly person. In verse 21, you see Jesus say this, I gave her time to repent.
[55:23] What a statement about the grace of God. For someone who is ungodly and rebellious and out of line and walking contrary to his word. Yet the scripture says, Jesus said, I gave her time.
[55:41] There was time to repent. If you're hearing the truth, if you're understanding scripture, you're being confronted with it. But you've hardened your heart in your position so that you feel entrenched in your position.
[55:53] And you're feeling the conviction that now you've got to defend what you've said. You need to get out of that as quickly as you can. Don't be obstinate in your heart of those things. Step out of that and run to Jesus.
[56:05] Because he's giving you time to repent. And he's giving warning for it. There's warning for her because this is revealed to be given to the church.
[56:16] She's going to hear this. There's warning for you. I'm going to throw her on her sink bed. There's going to be consequences to this.
[56:29] And the Lord has spoken. So it would be encouraging. Repent. And there's hope in Jesus.
[56:41] Even for you, a false teacher, if you'll humble yourself up to Jesus. Isn't that awesome? There's nobody out of peace. Whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you've done.
[56:52] If you can hear it. If you have ears to hear this. And your heart is convicted by the words of God. The Holy Spirit is stirring your heart to surrender to him.
[57:03] Even though you don't understand it. What I tell you is you don't have to understand everything. Just understand that he's Lord and you're not. Surrender to his word. Bow to him and say, God, save me from this.
[57:15] Heal me from this. Correct me and give me direction. What do you mean? Well, she refused. She should have refused.
[57:28] She was called to repent. To repent means to turn around. It means to reject something. To completely turn the other direction and come. She refused.
[57:40] Which means she's heard the truth. She knows it. And she's willingly rejected. Obstacle. She's funny.
[57:52] And she's obstinate. And she's holding out. And when it says that she refuses to repent. It means, that word literally means to maintain an opinion.
[58:04] But hold on to the meaning. It means she's taking her position in something. And she will not let go. Reason will not pull her out of it. Testimony will not pull her out of it.
[58:15] Love. Love. No. She's holding on. She won't let go. Hebrews 3 verse 7.
[58:27] The author of Hebrews says, So, as the Holy Spirit says, Today, if you will hear this voice, If you not harden your hearts. As you did in the rebellion.
[58:38] During the time of protesting in the wilderness. It's the same message from Proverbs. Proverbs 28 14. Blessed is the one who always trembles before God.
[58:49] But whoever hardens their heart will fall into trouble. Or Proverbs 29 verse 1. Whoever maintains a stiff neck after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed and back out many.
[59:03] And the one who is on the road. To the bombing office and then the message is, Repent. Repent. Repent. Jen happy for your repent.
[59:15] Beth Morgan. Our convention. There's still time for people to repent. And I'm telling you. Whatever it is in your life.
[59:26] That you've been lost. And about something in your heart. That you refuse to listen to God on. Today, the message to you is the very same. Christ, with eyes of fire, is watching.
[59:45] And you are accountable to Him. It's the two great truths. That's what we need. We can't be obstinate.
[59:56] So that we don't listen to the Lord. We've got to listen to the Lord when He speaks. We need to be the kind of people who does what He says.
[60:07] And I need to be somebody that is part of the Bible. So that when I come to the scripture and I'm reading through the scripture. When I'm confronted with the reality of God's word.
[60:19] And I don't understand it. Where it goes against what I have felt or thought. I need to be in a place where I say, Lord, I don't understand that.
[60:32] But I'm going to surrender that to you. Because this is your word. And I tremble. And I tremble. And I need to worry. I'm not going to be fun.
[60:44] And I'm not going to be the opposite. I want to be faithful. And I'm not going to be the opposite. I want to be faithful. The Lord who searches the heart tests the mind.
[60:57] To give every man according to his ways. According to the truth of his deeds. As Thomas Watson went on.
[61:08] Talking about the presence of the Lord. And the consciousness of God. He said. He said. Though God's eyes pierce like flames. Searching our hearts.
[61:19] And our inward parts. Yet they are also eyes of pity and compassion. As a mother watches over a stupid child. So God watches over his people.
[61:31] The Lord is near to them. They are in a broken heart. And saves such as have a contrite spirit. Psalm 34.18. He said. When we are cast down. His eyes are upon us.
[61:43] To lift us up. When we are persecuted. His eyes are on us. To deliver us. When we are tempted. His eyes are on us. To strengthen us. The knowledge that God sees our every tear.
[61:56] And hears our every sigh. Should be a great comfort. And hear us all. In every time of trouble. He sees. Come. He's spoken.
[62:13] We should act. Come on. It's an invitation. I'm just going to stop it later. I've got another one. That's all. Aaron? I've got two things now. That is so. I've got two things now.
[62:24] That is so. I've got two things now. I've got to do so. I've got to do so. I've got to do so. But as we stop there, I just think, as the Lord burns our heart to be a witness of our sin, some of us are going to be an obstacle.
[62:49] You're going to tell yourself, I don't need to go do that. I just need to be a witness of where I'm at in my way.
[63:02] And you're going to encourage others that same way. You're going to tell people, you know what? You don't have to go and tell people. You don't have to knock on a door.
[63:12] You don't have to do this or that. Just be yourself. And in your obstinance, you are going to become a false teacher to others. Encouraging, I really think, encouragement of this passage.
[63:28] When you're thinking of false teachers, most of the time, we're hearing that and all of us are thinking, yeah, those dirty false teachers out there. Yeah, we should be looking at them.
[63:40] We should take care of them. And we're not realizing that when he says this, the reason you don't know who the false teacher is, is because of many of you.
[63:56] You may have entrenched yourself in something in your life and unwittingly become the false teacher. And the message to you today is, Amen.
[64:15] God's called us to be a witness. He's called us to proclaim him. He has given us a great commission that says, go to all the nations, making disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and even so, I will be with you to the end of the age.
[64:37] Which reminds us of the task that we have between the bookends of Christ leaving this earth and the time that he will return. And that work is that we are to be a people proclaiming Christ.
[64:51] He's coming to judge the nations. And that means he's spoken. He's watching. We're accountable. He's coming.
[65:02] He's coming. He's coming. So get ready. Let's get ready. We want to be a church that's different. We want to be a church that's on fire.
[65:12] We want to be a church that preaches Jesus. Then let this be the moment that Christ Jesus shines through a church in Barbertsville. And let us preach with renewed zeal, renewed fire, with renewed power from the Holy Spirit as we keep our eyes on Jesus who has his eyes on us.
[65:34] Amen. Amen. Amen. Father, we come.