Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/ontario/sermons/82787/hold-fast-to-the-morning-star-revelation-218-29/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Welcome to Ontario Community Church, where we are encouraging, equipping, and engaging lives! I'm Pastor Patrick Daly, and each week I balance the grace and love of Jesus Christ with the truth! Today, you'll be hearing week seven of our sermon series through the book of Revelation.

[0:24] We are looking at Revelation 2, verses 18-29, which is Christ's letter to the church in Thyatira. Now, here's something that is powerful to note before you listen. Thyatira was a church that was growing in love. The text says that their latter works exceeded their first, which essentially means they were getting better, not worse. This church had demonstrated love, faith, service, and patient endurance. But Jesus also confronts this church. Some in the congregation were tolerating Jezebel, a false prophetess who was leading believers into idolatry and sexual immorality. This wasn't just a bad teaching, it was seducing people away from Christ to worship another god. The text mentions that Christ, whose eyes were like fire and feet like burnished bronze, calls the church to repent or to face judgment. What a reminder for us today. We live in a world where there is compromise everywhere, and there's this pressure to tolerate corruption and to blend in rather than to stand out. But it is

[1:39] Christ who searches our minds and our hearts. His eyes are like fire, and they see everything. He calls for us to stand firm in Him and to hold fast. In this sermon, you'll hear three practical applications for your life. First is to receive the light of Christ, to believe in Him, to receive His salvation, and to remain rooted in Him. The second is to resist evil and to let your lamp shine. Don't hide your light under a bushel. Let it shine. And third is to share the hope of the morning star, to help others find the light, love, and truth of Jesus Christ. And here is the beautiful imagery that runs through this entire message. We are like the lamps. We are like lamps that are shining in the night. And Jesus Christ is the morning star. We are living in this darkness of this age and letting our light shine that we received from Christ. Letting it shine in the darkness as we await for the dawn of the morning star to rise and bring forth a new eternal day. Just like when the power goes out, you need a flashlight or a candle until the sun comes up. Well, in the same way, we are carrying the light of Christ now as we await for the greater light. To the faithful who hold fast, Christ promises the morning star, Himself. He promises authority, inheritance, and to reign with Him forever. Let us refuse compromise. Let us resist evil. Let us hold fast to Christ alone. And let us await for the coming of the morning star. Let us now listen to today's message, Hold Fast to the Morning Star. Paul, good morning, everyone. Today we are continuing through our study through the book of Revelation. And we've been going through these seven churches that are found in Revelation. Let us be reminded of Christ and this imagery that we have about how He holds the seven stars and that He walks among the lampstands, showing the sense of completedness, the sense of the church, and walking among them, showing the power and the authority that Jesus Christ has. It's important for us to recognize that these churches, not only were they historical, but there are specific situations that we can learn from and that we can be mindful of. When we find it in Scripture, sometimes we wonder, well, what in the world does, how does that, what does that even look like today? And are there patterns that happen from Scripture that we can see today? Absolutely.

[4:41] It is just like how there are so many people in this life that are in darkness. And before, feel free to turn your Bibles to Revelation 2, chapter 2, verses 18 through 29.

[4:57] And I want you to, as we are turning our Bibles, I want you to get this image in your head. We've seen throughout Scripture this image of a lamp.

[5:11] As the children sang this song earlier, this little light of mine, I am going to let it shine. And it's a cute song. It's a historical one, one that gets you going and gets you wanting to stomp your feet as the children were doing. But it's important to realize how the symbolism and the significance of lamps are.

[5:33] To receive the light of Christ. To receive the fire, the flame, the oil in the lamp. And how important it is to not hide it under a bushel.

[5:43] Or not to hide it under a bed. But to put it out and to let it shine. And what's so powerful about that, the implication, is that lamps are placed out when it's dark.

[6:01] We think about that, you know, when it's dark, I need a flashlight. Or I need a lamp. But think of a moment of how there is darkness in the world.

[6:12] And how we are waiting for the true light, the light of Christ to come. And we'll see how that is so connected when Scripture talks about lamps and these little flames that are flickering.

[6:26] And how we wait for the greater light in Christ. We'll see how this is connected with this church in Thyatira. And so, are we there, church? Are we here at the church in Thyatira?

[6:40] It's on page 1219. Revelation chapter 2, verses 18 through 29. Church, let's read this together.

[6:51] And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like what?

[7:02] A flame of fire, and whose feet are like what? Burnished bronze. I know your works, your love, and faith, and service, and patience, endurance.

[7:16] And that your latter works exceed the first. But, uh-oh. I have this against you. You tolerate who?

[7:27] That woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. And is teaching and doing what? Seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality, and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

[7:43] Isn't that interesting how we have this time to partake in communion as an act of worship? And you see in Scripture, just like in this, an act of worship to another God.

[7:55] Very interesting, right? Verse 21, I gave her time to repent. Does she accept? No, she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.

[8:06] Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her, I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works.

[8:17] And I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am he who searches what? Mind and heart, and give to each of you according to your works.

[8:29] But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold to this teaching, who have not learned what some called the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.

[8:44] 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 what?

[8:57] The nations. And he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.

[9:09] And I will give him what? The morning star. There it is. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

[9:22] Really interesting. We have a lot of things that are going on here. Father God, we pray that as we have read the Scripture, that your Word speaks to us.

[9:38] We ask that it will be made abundantly clear, not only what you are going for, but what are the lessons we can learn, and how can we apply it to our very lives.

[9:52] We know that you are the God of simplicity, but through simplicity, there are deeper things. May we be hungry to learn more about this church in Thyatira, and how Christ is the morning star.

[10:06] We say together, church, amen? So, in this, let's go into what exactly is happening here, right? Well, we see first and foremost that Christ is speaking to the church in Thyatira, and this church is known for four things then.

[10:24] If you look back in your Bibles, or you can look on the screen as well, you see here that there are, I know your works, right? So, we see your love, your faith, your service, and patient endurance.

[10:39] So, there are four things that make up the works of the church in Thyatira then, right? So, that's interesting that we see, right? That Christ is introducing himself as the son of God.

[10:52] He's recognizing these four things. And the text is mentioning that the latter works are exceeding the first. Now, that's kind of a weird language that's going on. We have, as we went over the church in Ephesus, first and foremost, we've got to love God and to love people.

[11:10] That is the foundation of when we think of churches, not only back then, but churches even today. When we think of what happened back in Ephesus, they had lost that love.

[11:22] And what a tragedy it must be to lose the love of God and let alone the love for others. Here, love being that foundation for the church, they had grown in their ability to do good things in the name of Christ.

[11:37] And that's something that's very important for us is we have, we've got to love God. And we've got to love others as well. We continue to grow in the word and we should be moved to do good in his name.

[11:52] And so then we see in here, Christ is confronting the tolerance of Jezebel. That's kind of an interesting one, right?

[12:03] Now, for some of us nowadays, we may have heard a show of hands or if you're online and watching this, some of you may have heard the phrase, a Jezebel spirit.

[12:14] Have you heard that recently? So-and-so's got a Jezebel spirit. It's really icky, right? It's really something you, you don't want to be called that kind of thing.

[12:25] Well, what we're going to do is go into what exactly the significance of Jezebel and why does she reappear in Revelation? I'll tell you, when someone's calling someone a Jezebel spirit, that's usually typically tied into someone who's rebellious.

[12:41] It's a lot heavier of a word than people should be calling people church. That's very important for us to know. So, Christ has something against the church, their tolerance.

[12:53] Now, what's very interesting for those of you who are more scholarly and more academic, you have different manuscripts. Some that follow the KJV versus the ESV, it's different manuscripts of the old languages.

[13:09] Well, what's interesting is that some translation are saying that the tolerance of Jezebel is resulting in suffering. That's what the KJV says.

[13:20] And in the English standard and in a lot of modern translations, it's saying you're permitting it to happen and you're not doing anything about it. And I think it's important for us to note that there is suffering that is happening because it is falling into sin.

[13:36] And it's also important to note nothing is being done about this. Well, you have this woman, this prophetess, who is just doing these very wicked thing.

[13:50] She is false and leading believers into idolatry and immorality. And what I want to say first and foremost is how important it is. this section can be misused and misread.

[14:07] There are some people out there that say, well, see, this is why we don't have women in ministry. And that's inaccurate. This is a very specific situation of a woman who had power and abused that power.

[14:21] This is not ammunition to say, well, this is why we don't have any women in ministry. And I want to speak to that because this is one of those verses that can be misused and used in such a way to unfortunately attack women in ministry.

[14:37] That is very inaccurate because this is a very specific situation. Here's what I mean. Jezebel, in this sense, is leading people into sexual immorality to the point where they're worshiping another god or having them partake in meals as acts of worship.

[14:58] That's very different than someone who is dedicated to the Lord and leading people to Christ. Do we all understand that? That's very different. And unfortunately, what we find is something that is inaccurate or what some people would call misinformation on that.

[15:17] So tolerance, in this sense, is allowing someone to do wrong and it's because of their permissiveness that Christ is going to intervene in here. Christ is warning of the sickbed for Jezebel and tribulation for those who do not repent.

[15:32] And let us remember, when we talk about repentance, it is changing your mind, right? It's so important for that. When we're doing wrong, we've got to repent of that. We've got to change our mind in understanding why it is wrong and how can we course correct.

[15:48] It's just like how when you see in Scripture repent and believe, it's change your mind about Christ so that you come to believe in Him. Well, we continue to repent, seeing how God is going to mold us and make us more like Him to make us more holy and also to act upon the faith that we have in Him.

[16:09] And so, Christ offers mercy to all of those who repent. it's a reminder for us. Should we fall into sin, we've got to change our minds to get back on the course and to remain in Him.

[16:26] To remain faithful to Christ is so important for us. It goes on further, going back here, it says, to all the churches who, I am He who searches mind and heart.

[16:41] The language talks about knowing your inward parts. Isn't that interesting? It's very similar when we find in Scripture, before you were born, I knew you, right?

[16:51] The inner workings of who you are. Well, before you're born, God knows your inner workings and certainly after the fact that you're born when you're here on the earth, God knows who you are, your inner workings.

[17:04] So that's important as well. And so, hold fast to what I come. Verse 24, to the rest of you in Thyatira who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned, I'm not going to lay any other burden.

[17:18] You keep doing what you're doing. And it's important that when there's a scandal, when there is something that is happening where someone is partaking in sin or in evil or whatever it is, for us that are not partaking in it, we just remain in Christ and by golly, we keep journeying in Christ.

[17:36] we remain, we hold fast as the language is saying. And so, Christ is commanding to hold fast until I come. And the promise then is the morning star, which is the light of Christ.

[17:50] And we start to see how some of this, when I had gone over the parabolic language of the parable of the lamps, a lot of that language is finally getting tied in to what we see in Revelation.

[18:02] In other words, we are waiting in darkness, shining the light of Christ, waiting for the brightness of the light of Christ to come. It's fascinating how that kind of connection begins to happen within Scripture.

[18:16] Let's go to that next slide here. I want to show you something. When you see in Scripture this language of eyes like fire, right, and feet like burnished bronze, this is the same type of language that we see in Daniel chapter 10, verse 6, where the prophet Daniel is kind of seeing a heavenly figure.

[18:36] Some scholars say this is actually Christ that he's seeing. Some say it's an angelic being. But in any case, it's the same kind of description that is being shown in Revelation and in Daniel.

[18:47] And it's fascinating when we see that kind of thing, right? Now, obviously, in Daniel, he's talking about the arms and the legs compared to the feet, right? Obviously, different parts of the body, but still kind of the same idea with this.

[19:00] And that's really fascinating when we see that. We can go to the next slide here. And what's important for us is that what are the things we can learn from this?

[19:13] It's very interesting to see, like, okay, you have Jezebel, you have all these things that are going on and remaining firm. Well, the first thing here is recognizing that Christ refines and searches our hearts, right?

[19:26] As it mentions in Hebrews 4, verse 13, that no creature is hidden from his sight. I always love, you guys remember the story of the garden where God's saying, where are you, Adam?

[19:40] I always love that. It's like as though God doesn't actually know where Adam is, right? He's calling for him to come and out of hiding, hey, let's deal with this kind of thing, right? And so I've always found God having a sense of humor in Scripture, especially what you find back in Genesis here, right?

[19:58] And that it's important for us to know Christ knows our intention, right? When we think of the things that we think of, that's why it's so important for us to think about what we think about.

[20:10] What are you filling your mind with, right? When we talk about the heart, what is your intention for God and for other people? And so it's important for us that not only do we seek out Christ, but we have the Lord refine us, right?

[20:27] That's the same kind of language of transformation or becoming sanctified, right? The language of being more holy and becoming like him. And ask yourself the question then, how is Christ purifying your life right now?

[20:43] Or is he? If not, perhaps it's a call for you to ask the Lord to search your heart and your mind and to continue to mold you. Because I find that as a Christian, as I have grown in my faith, I hope you can say this as well.

[21:01] It's wonderful to see how God changes you and then you look back at who you were. Not even a year ago or even a few months ago. You see how God is working in you, continuing to transform you.

[21:16] The second thing then is Jezebel shows a pattern of abused power. Now, we'll go into that. You know, let's go to that next slide, actually.

[21:28] I want to show you some examples of what exactly Jezebel is doing here. Now, throughout 1 and 2 Kings, we see this constant battle between, I mean, we see throughout through all Scripture, the battle between good and evil, right?

[21:45] That's why we trust in the living God. We trust in Jesus Christ because he's victorious. But here you're seeing Jezebel, who she went and served Baal and worshipped him, right?

[21:58] Someone that is serving another God and to the point where I am going to go against the people of God. That's important for us to understand.

[22:09] Not only did she worship another God, but she was waging war against the people of God. That is the pattern that you see not only in 1 and 2 Kings throughout Scripture, but also what is happening in Revelation 2 here.

[22:25] Now, do we know if they are giving the title Jezebel to this prophetess? Some argue that. Some are saying it's someone who has that same name.

[22:38] Never name your child Jezebel. Can we not do that, right? You don't want to live up to that name, okay? So, in any case, it could have been someone literally named Jezebel or it could have been we're just going to give you the title because it's just like what happened in the past.

[22:52] There is some debate on that. But in any case, you see in this other verse with the green here, there was none who's referencing King Ahab who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel, his wife incited.

[23:10] Right? So, we're talking about influence. We're talking about this sense of I'm going to make people turn against the Lord and do evil in his sight.

[23:22] So, when we see that in the Old Testament, we can actually have an understanding of what, a better understanding of what's happening here. In other words, Jezebel in the Old Testament and this Jezebel in Revelation is using their power and their influence to turn people away from God to sexual immorality, offering their bodies to another God and partaking in these meals.

[23:52] That's a very specific thing. And so, when you hear someone say they've got a Jezebel spirit, that's a very heavy title and I don't think that should be loosely just thrown out at people.

[24:03] This is a very specific thing that happens that Christ is against in this case. And so, I show that to you just as how important for it, for us to understand who is Jezebel?

[24:19] What did she do? And why is it here in Revelation again? Let's go back to the interpretation that previous slide here. Right? It's a pattern of abused power.

[24:32] We have to think for us, if you want to bring it home, is how you influence people. Some of us are in positions of power. Some of us have positions where we can influence people.

[24:45] We have to consider what God has given to us, right? Time, talent, treasure, testimony, but also how we influence people. You would be absolutely amazed at how you can lead people to Christ or lead people away from them.

[25:04] Now, I don't know about you. I don't know any Jezebels. And if you do, pray for them. Pray that God will intervene in their life and that they may repent.

[25:19] Just as Christ was offering Jezebel to repent. I pray that we don't have any of those, but I would be foolish to say it's never going to happen again.

[25:30] It is in those cases that we stand firm and we don't fall into that type of seduction or that temptation as it were. And so, use your power, your influence for good.

[25:46] Right? This is the same pattern. We also think of the responsibilities of pastors and shepherds, that we are to lead people to Christ and to offer ourselves, our bodies, as it were, to the Lord.

[26:02] Not in sexual immorality, but in purity. We don't send people into darkness. We send people to light. That is important for us.

[26:13] And this whole thing about meals and partaking in that, let us just remember when we partake in communion together, we worship the living God and we say thank you and we reflect on that.

[26:28] Let us, and I hope none of us ever partake in a meal like that as an act of worship to another God. It's very clear in Scripture to not do that.

[26:39] The third thing then that shows up is that Christ is our hope, the morning star, that there is a reward for remaining in Christ even in the presence of evil.

[26:52] We think of how things are going on today with, well, things globally, things that are going on in Sudan and the terrible things that are happening there.

[27:04] We think of things that are going, I mean, we can go on and on about just all of the tragedies, the war, all of these things that are happening. In the face of evil, we stand firm, trusting in Christ, the living hope.

[27:22] you can't take away the love that God has for us. You can't. And no matter what politician, government, regime ever happens, we believe in the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, whose power is far greater than any human being.

[27:46] And so, in this, Christ, as the morning star, will share in the inheritance and his authority to reign with him forever in the new heaven and in the new earth.

[28:00] And so, as I gave you this imagery about the lamp that shines in the darkness, Christ being the morning star, we await for the day to break.

[28:11] Just as scripture says, joy comes in the morning. And so, ask yourself, are you living your life settling into the night?

[28:24] Or are you living your life in anticipation for the light to come? I know we're getting, I'm getting a little far here. Let's keep going. Let's go to our application then.

[28:35] So, how should we respond? How do we live this out? Well, the first thing, the first most important thing is to receive the light of Christ. We've got to believe in Jesus Christ and receive his salvation and we remain rooted in Christ.

[28:49] We have him as our firm foundation. That is the ultimate decision. That is the greatest decision. Right? Receive salvation.

[29:00] Receive the light of Christ. Receive and to remain in him. Never be afraid to go to the Lord. Never be afraid to seek him and to ask him to search you.

[29:10] Consider the words of the Psalms. I love it. Psalm 139 where it says, Search me, O God, and make me true. Ask God. Now, don't only ask God for salvation, but ask him to be more like him.

[29:25] Because God will mold us in some incredible ways. Love, patience, joy, the peace that surpasses all understanding. I mean, we can go on and on about all of the wonderful things that God gives to us.

[29:36] And even when we have this language of receiving the morning star or the white stone, all of these things is showing the gifts that the Lord has for us. Ask yourself if you have received salvation, if you have that light of Christ.

[29:53] The second thing then is to what, church? Resist evil. Right? And let your lamp shine. Right? And we can see how this gets connected, right?

[30:03] We don't hide our lamp under a bushel. We don't hide it under a bed. As we journey in faith, we will face pressures from the world.

[30:14] It can be at work. It can be people that are against your faith. It can be people that say, you know what? You used to be this kind of person. Why aren't you that person anymore?

[30:27] Could be those kind of things. In any case, we stay the course and we resist evil. That's where we use the language of standing firm, remaining rooted.

[30:39] Right? Because we have that solid rock in Christ which we can build our house upon. Very important. And this is just like how when we recite or when we pray the Lord's Prayer, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

[30:59] It's wonderful how things are connected as this. Are you being asked to partake in evil? That's a question that you can reflect on.

[31:12] And in those moments, may you resist evil. May you stand firm. May you navigate or maybe even help someone resist evil in their life.

[31:25] It's very important. And then finally, share the hope of the morning star. I want to turn there.

[31:36] We'll have a little bit of time here. I want to show you something that I think is very interesting throughout Scripture in here. In Genesis, we all know that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was out with formless and void.

[31:54] There was darkness that was over it. And then God said, let there be light. The implication is that it's actually a mini creation story within the creation story.

[32:07] The world being in darkness and the light of Christ coming and breaking through. How powerful is that? Just as how Jesus says, I am the light of the world.

[32:20] Whoever follows me will have the light of life just like how Christ is saying, I will give him the morning star. And then as we're going in Revelation to the one who conquers, I will give the morning star.

[32:36] We can see. And if you need it even more clear, Jesus identifies himself as I am the bright morning star.

[32:47] What beautiful connections here, church. stars and light shining in the darkness. I want you to think as we close here.

[32:59] Today, we live in darkness as though the night is here and we hold our lamps in anticipation and waiting for Christ to come.

[33:16] We await the light of the morning star and we await for God to say, let there be light and there will be light. So powerful. And there's always an end to every storm.

[33:29] There's light at the end of darkness and there's morning after the night. And that is why we shine our lamps brightly.

[33:41] We wait for the greater light to come. Think about it. when you're in a dark room, let's say the power is out. You've got a little lighter, right?

[33:52] Or a candle. There's only so much light that is illuminating in the room. But my gosh, when the sun is out, I can see everything, right? And we think of that when it comes to Christ.

[34:06] That his light is unlike any other light. And this is why we share in the gospel message, right? It's that. Let's go back to the application.

[34:18] That's why we share the hope of the morning star. Because there's so many people that don't have that light. They're not holding a lamp yet. A lamp that's lit.

[34:31] Well, think about it. If the power goes out and it's dark and you've got the lamp and your friend doesn't, hey, buddy, you've got to have a lamp here. We've got to find you one.

[34:43] Let's get you some light. Let's get you a candle kind of thing. That is the kind of imagery we think of when we share the gospel so that they too can have the light and that they too can wait for the greater light to come.

[34:58] We tell the world of the hope of Jesus and we speak of how God has worked in our life. Think of that imagery. Hey, I'm holding a lamp here and it's shining.

[35:09] Do you want to see where you're going? Let's get you a lamp. Go to the light. See how simple God is when we're thinking of this kind of language? We can think literally like, hey, bud, you're in the darkness.

[35:22] I've got to get you a flashlight, right? But we think in the spiritual sense how powerful that is. We speak of his promises and we have to think, church, of how important it is for the world to know of Jesus Christ more than ever before.

[35:42] Because there's still a lot of darkness as we wait for the light to come. People need to know that there is more to the confusion, the darkness, the sin, and the evil that exists in the world today.

[35:55] It does not, the existence of evil does not change our call. We share in the hope of Jesus Christ for others. We share the gospel, we grow as we've received salvation and we do good in the name of Christ.

[36:11] And I want you to think as we close, who can you share the light of Christ? Ask yourself that. Think of someone that you can share in the gospel message with this week, the next person that you know, a friend, a family, a co-worker, a student, whatever.

[36:31] Think of that. In closing, let us think of this beautiful imagery of Christ being the morning star. We are in this darkness shining, holding these lamps together as we wait for the dawn.

[36:47] Let's pray together. Father God, we thank you for this time, this opportunity for us to go over this wonderful church in Thyatira.

[37:00] We just pray, first and foremost, that we recognize that your Son, Jesus Christ, is the Son of God and He is the fulfillment of prophecy. We pray, Father, that lives are transformed.

[37:14] We pray that if anyone has not made a decision for Christ, they believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of your Son, Jesus Christ. We pray that individually and collectively as a church, we may grow in the deeper things of God and not in the deep things of Satan, as the Scripture mentions.

[37:32] we pray that we can have the ability to discern right from wrong, truth from lies, good from evil, and that we can stand firm and hold fast in our faith so that should there be a Jezebel, or should there be a synagogue of Satan, or should there be Satan's throne, that we can resist that.

[37:53] That we can stand firm and we continue on the journey that exists in you, just as you have shown us that Christ is the shepherd leading us to green pastures.

[38:05] We are awaiting, and may we wait upon you, for we are like holding those lamps, waiting for the light of Christ, the morning star to come.

[38:20] I pray, Father, that as we close our time today, that this imagery of standing firm, this imagery of lamps shining in the darkness waiting for the dawn will resound with us, that we will remember it and take it to heart, and that we may share in the gospel message, share in the words of our testimonies, and live and love like you.

[38:48] It is in the name of Jesus Christ, the morning star, that we pray, and we all say together, amen, church? Amen. Thank you for tuning in to Ontario Community Church.

[39:00] If this message encouraged you, I encourage for you to share it with a friend or a family member. Maybe you know someone who is struggling with compromise, or maybe you know someone who just needs to hear about the hope that we have in Christ.

[39:14] Remind them that Christ knows their heart, Christ understands their circumstance, and he calls for each and every one of us to come to him, to remain in him, and to hold fast until he returns as the bright morning star.

[39:30] Let us receive his light. Let us resist evil with the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us share in the gospel with others who are still in the darkness. In today's sermon, we learned that we are like lamps, shining in the night, awaiting the morning star.

[39:47] And just as a lamp helps us to see in the darkness, we carry the light of Jesus Christ today. We await the full dawn of when Christ returns as the morning star to bring eternal light.

[40:02] That is our hope, that is our future, and that is what we hold fast to. Think about this. If the power goes out and you have that flashlight, but your friend doesn't, you would obviously help them find a flashlight to or shine the light upon them.

[40:19] That is what sharing the gospel is like. We have the light of Christ. Let us help others find the light of Christ so they too can wait for the greater light to come.

[40:30] You're welcome to visit Ontario Community Church dot org for more information about our church, how to connect with us, or how you can get involved. Just visit our website. Next week, we will continue in our sermon series through the book of Revelation with the Church in Sardis, found in Revelation chapter 3, verses 1 to 6.

[40:51] We will be looking at Christ's message to a church that has a reputation for being alive, but is actually dead. And what does it mean to wake up, to strengthen what remains, and to remember what we have received?

[41:04] Grace and peace to you in our Lord Jesus Christ. May you receive the light of Christ. May you resist evil and let your lamp shine brightly. May you share in the hope of the morning star with others, and may Christ search your heart and refine you, making you more like him.

[41:22] May you hold fast and wait with joy for the dawn when Jesus Christ, that morning star, returns. He searches your heart and he knows your circumstance.

[41:33] May you turn to him, and may you come to know Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life. God bless you. God bless you.

[42:11] God bless you.

[42:41]