The Church That Made God Sick

This past Lord's Day we concluded our series on Jesus' letters to the 7 Churches of Asia Minor, called Strengthening the Foundations of the Church, with an exposition on the Church of Laodicea. It was this church, that the Lord used the strongest condemnation than any of the other 6 churches. Jesus, in his attempt to get them to understand this condemnation, uses their geographical location to explain to them his issue with this church. Laodicea sat in between two cities, Hierpolis and Colossae, whose responsibility was for one to funnel cold water into Laodicea and the other hot water into the city. When the cold water met the hot water, it naturally turned the water lukewarm, and if anyone drank of this lukewarm water it would make them sick and cause them to regurgitate. So Jesus says to them, just as you drinking lukewarm water makes you sick, lukewarm Christians make Him sick. Here is the sermon outline:

Text: Revelation 3:14-22

Thesis: God desires a church that is willing to clearly define whose side they are standing on

I. A Church of Compromise

-verses 15-16...I know your works: you are neither cold not hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth

II. A Church of Confusion

-verse 17...For you say I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked

III. A Church That's Comforted

-verse 19...Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent

The Church the Lord Brags On

This past Sunday we were able to continue our series entitled Strengthening the Foundations of the Church, with our attempt at biblical exposition on the Church of Philadelphia. Jesus tells the Apostle John to write these letters to the 7 Churches of Asia Minor and the previous 5 churches we discover Jesus has something nice to say about them, but he spends most of the letters criticizing that church for their inadequacies as a ministry. But Philadelphia is the only church where Jesus offers them a total commendation for their faithfulness to the Lord in the face of their suffering and heavy attacks from the Roman Empire. Jesus is looking for a faithful church, a church that makes Christ the focus instead of themselves, a church that focuses on making the people better and not prosperity, a church that teaches people to love Jesus and one another. Here is the sermon outline:

Text: Rev. 3:7-13

Thesis: any church that proves itself to be faithful to the Lord no matter the consequences will be a church that the Lord will brag on

I. Condition of the Church

-verse 8...I know your works...behold i have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut...I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name

a. Privilege They Enjoyed
-behold I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut

b. Power They Exhibited
-I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name

II. Challenges of the Church

-verse 9...Behold I will make those of the synagogues of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie

a. Challenge of Persecution

b. Challenge of Perseverance
-verse 10...because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth

c. Challenge of Protection
-I am coming soon...hold fast to what you have, so that no one may seize your crown

III. Comfort of the Church

-verse 12...the one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God...never shall he go out of it and I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name

a. Comfort of His Stability
-I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God

b. Comfort of His Safety
-I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God

c. Comfort of His Security
-I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God

The Church of the Living Dead

Happy belated Memorial Day to all. I pray that everybody had a safe weekend and ate alot of bar-b-que (I mysteriously did not this year...what a shame). This past Lord's Day was an interesting one for our church as we had too many of our members decided to take a break from worship this week. I should have gave them the wonderful post entitled summer vacation for Christians by Pastor H.B. Charles before sunday and it would have convicted their hearts to do be in church.

I continued our series on Jesus' letters to the 7 churches of Asia Minor, by looking at the church of Sardis. Jesus refers to them as the living dead when he says that they appear to be alive but they are really dead. I truly believe that this disease has infected many of our modern churches, in that they appear to be a thriving, lively congregation of believers, but the reality of the matter is that they are really walking around looking alive, but they are dead. In these last and evil days, the Lord is looking for a people that will stand up and be the type of church that he is calling for. I am committed to leading First Mount Zion to be a productive and relevant church that will speak truth to power, help change the lives of many and to advance God's Kingdom here on earth. Here is the sermon outline:

Text: Rev. 3:1-6

Thesis: God is looking for a church that will focus its total attention on discovering that which is dead and desire to bring his church back to life

I. Jesus Provides A Description of This Church

-Jesus gives three characteristics of this church

a. Dead Church - verse 1...you have the reputation of being alive but you are dead
b. Dying Church - verse 2...wake up and strengthen what remains and is about to die
c. Defiled Church - verse 2...I have not found your works complete in sight of my God

II. Jesus Provides A Diagnosis For This Church

-Jesus sees their outlook doesn't look good...he provides two steps that will provide a great revival for this church

a. Return to the Word of God - verse 3...remember then what you have heard and
received...keep it and repent
b. Recover Hope of the Lord's Return - verse 4...yet you still have a few names in Sardis,
people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white

Mother's Day

I am about to say something that may sound a little crazy to many of you who are reading this entry...I can't stand Mother's Day Sunday's in church. Now give me a chance to explain before you tune me out, on days like Mother's Day, Christmas and Easter, you will have a lot of people show up at church only because Big Momma made them feel guilty enough to come with her, or they want to show off their new clothes or things like that. Now don't get me wrong, I want all of them in church, for the only way they will get a connection with Jesus Christ that will result in their salvation is to hear the Word of God preached, but those services have all kinds of distractions...people walking during preaching, cell phones going off, laughing with family members they haven't seen in a long time. All of this makes it kind of difficult to concentrate on the message. Then you have members who come regularly, they expect you to preach a canned, sweet adnd soupy message on mothers. When I am in a series, I do not break the series for a special service.

This caused me to have some level of trepidation while approaching the church for our 10 AM worship. But to my utter amazement, the Lord showed up in that place yesterday and allowed us to worship freely and to preach with power with no distractions or strange looks on faces. It made the day easier to deal with when you consider the meaning that the day has for me. We continued our look at the letters from Jesus to the 7 churches of Asia Minor in Revelation 2-3, with our look at the letter sent to the church in Thyatira.

This was a church that had tolerated all kinds of evil and wickedness to go on to the point where Jesus tells them that he will bring judgment on both the one who brought the evil into the house and also to the ones who allowed them to do it. He is looking for a church that is willing to stand up and not allow people with alterior motives to bring wickedness into his house. Here is the sermon outline:

Title: The Church Where Anything Goes

Text: Rev. 2:18-29

Thesis: God's church must decide to deny the tolerance of all manner of evil brought into the house of the Lord

I. The Lord Commends This Church - v. 18-19

a. Commends them for their faithfulness
1. requires faithfulness
2. rewards faithfulness

b. Commends them for their fruitfulness - v. 19
1. A Producing Church - "I know your works
a. people were unselfish
b. people were untiring
2. A Progressive Church - "your latter works exceed the first"

II. The Lord Criticizes This Church - v. 20-23

A. Infallible Wisdom - v. 20
1. Complacency of the Church
2. Caused problems for the church
a. teaching immorality
b. teaching idolatry
3. Compassion of the Christ - v. 21
B. Impartial Justice - v. 22

III. The Lord Challenges This Church - v. 24-29

A. Encouragement is Rendered - v. 24
B. Endurance is Required
1. no more dangers - v. 26
2. no more difficulties - v. 27
C. Endurance is Rewarded - v. 28

The Church That Compromised Its Calling

On the last Lord's Day, we continued our series on our Lord's letters to the 7 churches of Asia Minor entitled Strengthening the Foundations of the Church, with our look at the third church, Pergamum.

Pergamum was a very interesting place in within the pantheon of the Roman Empire and we see that expressed in the beginning of the letter written to them. For when you look at this city in its context you will discover that it was the capital of the Roman Empire in Asia, which had an impressive library with over 200,000 parchment scrolls, and it was the first city to have a statue erected for a living emperor in 29 BC for Caesar Augustus.

Jesus also commends them for what was right about this city. He commends them for holding fast his name and for refusing to renounce their faith in Christ Jesus all while they faced immense persecution.

Despite of all the commendations Jesus gives this church, he moves from what was right about the church to what was wrong about the church: They were found guilty of compromising the Word of God for the ways of Satan. They had allowed some in the church to practice Balaamism and of the Nicolaitans. All of this caused Jesus to tell them that they must strengthen the foundation of refusing to tolerate any and everything going in in God's church. We too must stand up and be willing to refuse to allow messy stuff to go on. Here is the sermon outline:

Text: Rev. 2:12-17

Thesis: we have been called to stand firm upon the truth of God's Word by refusing to tolerate the ways of the world

I. Commitment to Change

-verse 16...therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth
-an indication of regret for the pursued course resulting in a wiser view of the past and future
-there are consequences for our disobedience to the commands of the Lord...he will unleash the power of his Words on the church

II. Challenged to Conquer

-verse 17...he who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers
-to remain faithful, persevere, don's quit and finish the race even in the face of persecution
-Jesus cares not about how we start the race, but rather how we finish what we have started

III. Confidence in Christ

-verse 17...to the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it
-if we are victorious in this race, we are assured of a reward for our faithfulness

a. Source of Life - hidden manna
b. Special Liberties - white stone
c. Specific Lineage - new name

-verse 17

The Church That Endured Suffering

On this past Lord's Day, we continued our series on Jesus' letters to the 7 churches of Asia Minor housed in Revelation 2-3, by examining his letter sent to the church at Smyrna. The foundation that I was led to express to our church that needed strengthening was this thought of enduring suffering as a child of the King. For it is clear that we have been called and set apart to suffer for righteousness, and this Smyrnian church was a people that spent every day under intense persecution for their allegience to Jesus Christ.

Jesus in verse 9, gives them a commendation by telling them that he knows the circumstances that they were facing as well as the fact that this church had cruel enemies who had brought sever afflictions that produced stress and distress. They had no monetary means of survival, but yet He tells them that they are rich, which is a suggestion that they may have been in poverty in this world, but they were rich spiritually. And he tells them that he knows that there are people who come to them saying they are like them, but really they are of the synogogue of Satan. All of this has caused this church to feel the weight of this persecution and may even desire to give up. But Jesus tells them in verse 10 that whatever persecution they will face, it will last only for a little while, when he says thou shalt have tribulation for ten days. This simply means that trouble won't last always. Thank God our troubles won't last very long. Here is the sermon outline:

Thesis: we are able to perservere through our struggles due to our immense belief that our suffering is only temporary

I. Fearless in Our Suffering

-verse 10...do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested

-the characteristics of our suffering makes our fearlessness impressive
a. Promoter of Our Suffering - behold the devil
b. Place of Our Suffering - is about to throw some of your into prison
c. Purpose of Our Suffering - that you may be tested

II. Faithful Through Our Suffering

-verse 10...be faithful unto death
-faithfulness of their Pastor Polycarp

III. Flourish Because of Our Suffering

-verse 10...and I will give you a crown of life

The Church That's Lost Its Loving Feeling

On yesterday, we began our series on the 7 Churches of Asia Minor, which I have entitled Strengthening the Foundations of the Church, with a look at the first church that Jesus told the Apostle John to write to in Rev. 2:1-7, the church at Ephesus. In this letter, Jesus opens by telling them that He is the one holds the seven stars (church) in his right hand and this actually gives Him the authortiy to write this letter to them in the first place.

He begins by giving them an accomodation in verses 2-3 by telling them I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and I see that you will examine those who come to you saying that they are preachers of the Gospel to prove that they are genuine. He moves on to verse 4 when he tells them that although they have a lot going for them, they have displayed works, labor and patience, but they have lost their first love. What is the first love? Our first love is not to service of ourselves, but the first love of the Church is to the creator of the church, Jesus Christ. And the foundation that Jesus is trying to strengthen at Ephesus was to get back to doing everything you can, but make sure that you are motivated by your love for Jesus Christ. Paul says in I Corinthians 13:1, though I speak with the tongue of men and angels and have not love, you are as sounding brass and tinkling cymbols. Here is the sermon outline:

Thesis: it is only as you love Christ fervently that you can ever serve him faithfully

I. Consider Your Past Activities

-verse 5...remember therefore from where you have fallen

II. Change Your Present Attitude

-verse5...repent

III. Come Back To Your Primary Association

-verse 5...and do the works you did at first

Strengthening the Foundation of the Church

As we continue in our theme for 2008, Becoming a People of Excellence, I pray, with the Lord's allowance, that on the next Lord's Day, I will begin a series on the letters that the Apostle John was ordered to write by the Lord Jesus, to the 7 churches that resided in Asia Minor, found in the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John chapters 2-3.

These letters give us an opportunity to observe Jesus, the great head of the church, accurately inspects each church, acknowledge their present conditions through a deified examination of their internals instead of a wordly focus on their externals. Jesus is actually giving each church an intense x-ray of its condition that at a cursory glance would appear to be case specific to that particular assembly, but it is truly meant to be considered by all of the churches of that region as well as modern-day churches as well.

We will, with the power of the Lord, examine the church of Ephesus on tomorrow. Please keep our church and me in your prayers that the lessons that the Lord has for us to learn will penetrate our hearts that our church turns from hearers to doers of the Word of God in a more excellent way.