Lessons from the Seven Churches: A Call to Faith
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Sermon Clips
"lesson objective is that one we're going to understand the historical and significance of the seven churches in revelations two and three we're going to recognize how these apply to our modern day churches and then we're going to challenge ourselves to see uh whether or not it impacts us and which one of those churches we represent" [00:00:22] (26 seconds)
"okay um we start with thank you what what would happen if you got a letter from christ right now would you pay attention to it or would you just throw it in the trash what what would you what would you do with it okay you know sometimes you get these emails and they're spam and we just kind of look at them and throw them away and sometimes they're they're important and we take the time to listen to read them and and uh so here we're going to thank you turn this is not a spam this is a a an email a letter that we need to to read and maybe read more than once to make sure that we understand it okay uh these letters were written uh in revelations two and three and they were written to the churches in asia minor which is what we call turkey now uh and uh it represents different types of churches and believers throughout history not just at that time but it includes churches that come from then to now okay all right" [00:09:22] (84 seconds)
"now in the in the letters they all have a certain pattern first is that there's seven letters and seven we know means completion in the bible you know so so we got we got that's why it's seven so it's not eight or nine you could you could maybe find an eighth or ninth if you look hard enough but basically this is a general representation of all the type churches uh that that john has written about okay uh and it starts off all of them have the same pattern uh first is that the letter the letter starts off with an introduction who is the letter from and even though john is pinning the letter he's pinning the letter based upon his revelation from from from from god and from christ okay next day he does is that he praises the church what are they doing right and then he talks about what they're not doing right corrections then he gives a a word of encouragement okay and then he leaves them with a promise what happens if you if you overcome so all of the letters kind of use that as a uh as a guide now remember what we were talking about um criticizing people or judging people or whatever you want to call it that we talked about the sandwich method of saying something good first then saying something that needs to be changed and then ending it with something good the same process same thing here" [00:10:46] (114 seconds)
"so it doesn't taste as good because she's missing that love she's cooking because it's her it's expected but not because she wants to do it doesn't taste quite as good i say that to say is that sometimes we do things out of habit we say our prayers in the morning out of habit we say our grace out of habit but not because we love god and we're trying to have a conversation with god or develop a relationship it's just a matter of habit and when we get to that point where it becomes just a matter of habit then we're missing that we're missing something so it's not as good as it used to be our relationship is not as good as it used to be because it's just what's expected but not but not what it should be does that make sense what i'm trying to say" [00:18:54] (68 seconds)
"and so this is consistent with that thought pattern is that whatever we do we ought to make sure that we're doing it for the right reason so we might be doing the right thing but if we're not doing it for the right reason then we're missing something okay any questions there you you" [00:20:04] (21 seconds)
"and sometimes, as we talked about the Sunday church, is persecuted, meaning friends talking about you. Okay? People talking about you, that you did A, B, and C, when you didn't. Lying on you. Okay? Falsehoods. You know, separating themselves from you. That is this whole part of this thing. And because we don't like to be separated from people, we may change our actions so that we be more acceptable to people." [00:21:49] (37 seconds)
"and they were going to give them money, give them a reward for doing this. And his response was, I want the money, but I can't talk against God unless God allows me to talk against him. But I want to. I want to because I want the money. And every time he went to prophesy, he could not prophesy against children of Israel. And even though he was reaping the benefits thereof. And as the story goes on, he found another way to defeat Israel. He told, well, if you can, you can figure out how to seduce Israel. Israel. Thank you." [00:24:16] (55 seconds)
"and then you have my favorite church and i always say favorite because i used to live in the city philadelphia you plus it's about love okay says they had no problems why did that have any problem because of love everything they did was consistent with love okay since they kept jesus word and did not deny his name okay and again it's based back what we said earlier is that this is the opposite of the church of ephesus the church of ephesus was what was was uh was was talked about because they had lost that love the church of philadelphia had not they understood the importance of love and and they did whatever they did in love okay it says they remained faithful" [00:37:26] (67 seconds)
"and sometimes we we try to walk this line of of being in between okay and it doesn't work that way okay the bible says that we've got to be have a have the right relationship with christ it can't be half -hearted cannot be half -hearted okay we got to be passionate you know uh the word fan if you go to a football game or to a soccer game or to a basketball game uh we call the people go to the game fans means fanatics you go to a football game or a soccer game people are jumping up and down and shouting throughout the game is there anyone is just sitting there not moving not doing anything no if they do they're not a fan okay they're not a fan or the team is losing okay but true fans you know they're gonna get up and down and shout that's what this church is missing it's missing that someone's been a fanatic okay and being lukewarm cannot be lukewarm okay all right so those are our seven churches now my question to you don't respond but just question which church do you resemble the most" [00:39:59] (107 seconds)
"okay okay good question good question the very first thing is that we have got to look inside ourselves and ourselves personally and do a self -assessment do i love and if i if i do how do i demonstrate that love and and if i don't then what can i do to you know to enhance that first looking within myself okay then being willing to stand up and demonstrate that in church and when i think when i think that we aren't demonstrating that then i need to say something" [00:46:15] (48 seconds)
"and let me add one more thing to this discussion. I think that we need to be careful that we separate our actions as a Christian on Sunday from Monday. Okay, I mean, you know, if you're going to act a certain way on Sunday, you need to act that same certain way on Monday and on Tuesday, on a Wednesday." [00:56:09] (26 seconds)
"you're exactly right which means that we're like the church of ephesus the church of ephesus did things but forgot love and and they were reprimanded because of that so we've got to not just do things out of habit even if everybody else in the world does it out of habit we've got to say if i got to say to you or so that you know that when i ask you how are you doing that i really want to know how you're doing and and and i got to make you feel that i can't just just say it just to be saying it uh and and so you you are exactly correct and you are saying exactly what what i want to make sure that we understand is that we don't do things out of habit we do things because we really really care but you you are certainly right" [01:20:15] (56 seconds)
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"okay um we start with thank you what what would happen if you got a letter from christ right now would you pay attention to it or would you just throw it in the trash what what would you what would you do with it okay you know sometimes you get these emails and they're spam and we just kind of look at them and throw them away and sometimes they're they're important and we take the time to listen to read them and and uh so here we're going to thank you turn this is not a spam this is a a an email a letter that we need to to read and maybe read more than once to make sure that we understand it okay uh these letters were written uh in revelations two and three and they were written to the churches in asia minor which is what we call turkey now uh and uh it represents different types of churches and believers throughout history not just at that time but it includes churches that come from then to now okay all right" [00:09:22] (84 seconds)
"now in the in the letters they all have a certain pattern first is that there's seven letters and seven we know means completion in the bible you know so so we got we got that's why it's seven so it's not eight or nine you could you could maybe find an eighth or ninth if you look hard enough but basically this is a general representation of all the type churches uh that that john has written about okay uh and it starts off all of them have the same pattern uh first is that the letter the letter starts off with an introduction who is the letter from and even though john is pinning the letter he's pinning the letter based upon his revelation from from from from god and from christ okay next day he does is that he praises the church what are they doing right and then he talks about what they're not doing right corrections then he gives a a word of encouragement okay and then he leaves them with a promise what happens if you if you overcome so all of the letters kind of use that as a uh as a guide now remember what we were talking about um criticizing people or judging people or whatever you want to call it that we talked about the sandwich method of saying something good first then saying something that needs to be changed and then ending it with something good the same process same thing here" [00:10:46] (114 seconds)
"so it doesn't taste as good because she's missing that love she's cooking because it's her it's expected but not because she wants to do it doesn't taste quite as good i say that to say is that sometimes we do things out of habit we say our prayers in the morning out of habit we say our grace out of habit but not because we love god and we're trying to have a conversation with god or develop a relationship it's just a matter of habit and when we get to that point where it becomes just a matter of habit then we're missing that we're missing something so it's not as good as it used to be our relationship is not as good as it used to be because it's just what's expected but not but not what it should be does that make sense what i'm trying to say" [00:18:54] (68 seconds)
"and so this is consistent with that thought pattern is that whatever we do we ought to make sure that we're doing it for the right reason so we might be doing the right thing but if we're not doing it for the right reason then we're missing something okay any questions there you you" [00:20:04] (21 seconds)
"and sometimes, as we talked about the Sunday church, is persecuted, meaning friends talking about you. Okay? People talking about you, that you did A, B, and C, when you didn't. Lying on you. Okay? Falsehoods. You know, separating themselves from you. That is this whole part of this thing. And because we don't like to be separated from people, we may change our actions so that we be more acceptable to people." [00:21:49] (37 seconds)
"and they were going to give them money, give them a reward for doing this. And his response was, I want the money, but I can't talk against God unless God allows me to talk against him. But I want to. I want to because I want the money. And every time he went to prophesy, he could not prophesy against children of Israel. And even though he was reaping the benefits thereof. And as the story goes on, he found another way to defeat Israel. He told, well, if you can, you can figure out how to seduce Israel. Israel. Thank you." [00:24:16] (55 seconds)
"and then you have my favorite church and i always say favorite because i used to live in the city philadelphia you plus it's about love okay says they had no problems why did that have any problem because of love everything they did was consistent with love okay since they kept jesus word and did not deny his name okay and again it's based back what we said earlier is that this is the opposite of the church of ephesus the church of ephesus was what was was uh was was talked about because they had lost that love the church of philadelphia had not they understood the importance of love and and they did whatever they did in love okay it says they remained faithful" [00:37:26] (67 seconds)
"and sometimes we we try to walk this line of of being in between okay and it doesn't work that way okay the bible says that we've got to be have a have the right relationship with christ it can't be half -hearted cannot be half -hearted okay we got to be passionate you know uh the word fan if you go to a football game or to a soccer game or to a basketball game uh we call the people go to the game fans means fanatics you go to a football game or a soccer game people are jumping up and down and shouting throughout the game is there anyone is just sitting there not moving not doing anything no if they do they're not a fan okay they're not a fan or the team is losing okay but true fans you know they're gonna get up and down and shout that's what this church is missing it's missing that someone's been a fanatic okay and being lukewarm cannot be lukewarm okay all right so those are our seven churches now my question to you don't respond but just question which church do you resemble the most" [00:39:59] (107 seconds)
"okay okay good question good question the very first thing is that we have got to look inside ourselves and ourselves personally and do a self -assessment do i love and if i if i do how do i demonstrate that love and and if i don't then what can i do to you know to enhance that first looking within myself okay then being willing to stand up and demonstrate that in church and when i think when i think that we aren't demonstrating that then i need to say something" [00:46:15] (48 seconds)
"and let me add one more thing to this discussion. I think that we need to be careful that we separate our actions as a Christian on Sunday from Monday. Okay, I mean, you know, if you're going to act a certain way on Sunday, you need to act that same certain way on Monday and on Tuesday, on a Wednesday." [00:56:09] (26 seconds)
"you're exactly right which means that we're like the church of ephesus the church of ephesus did things but forgot love and and they were reprimanded because of that so we've got to not just do things out of habit even if everybody else in the world does it out of habit we've got to say if i got to say to you or so that you know that when i ask you how are you doing that i really want to know how you're doing and and and i got to make you feel that i can't just just say it just to be saying it uh and and so you you are exactly correct and you are saying exactly what what i want to make sure that we understand is that we don't do things out of habit we do things because we really really care but you you are certainly right" [01:20:15] (56 seconds)
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