WEBVTT 00:00:00.760 --> 00:00:03.600 Um, one thing I do love about our church, though. 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:08.610 This morning, as I was getting ready, I did the mandatory check with the wife to make sure I looked right. 00:00:09.130 --> 00:00:14.190 and I had a tie on underneath the sweater, and I was like, what do you think? 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:15.660 Should I lose the tie or should I keep it? 00:00:15.700 --> 00:00:17.100 And she was like, yeah, definitely lose the tie. 00:00:17.540 --> 00:00:22.260 And I like that about our church, because in most churches, I wouldn't be allowed to be up here if I didn't have a tie. 00:00:22.760 --> 00:00:25.490 So the fact that I don't, I shouldn't wear a tie because it looks weird. 00:00:25.900 --> 00:00:26.870 I think that's pretty cool. 00:00:28.080 --> 00:00:29.500 so that was just a little side note. 00:00:30.100 --> 00:00:32.009 One reason why I think our church is awesome. 00:00:32.340 --> 00:00:39.520 So, so we've been, last week we started our first, week in 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:42.460 a new series called Church The Right and the Wrong Way. 00:00:43.460 --> 00:00:46.220 last week we looked at the churches in revelation. 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:50.650 We looked at Ephesus and Sardis, and we realized that they had some serious problems. 00:00:51.620 --> 00:00:55.270 And, we are not exempt from those problems today. 00:00:55.780 --> 00:01:02.000 We are very much in jeopardy of falling into the same traps that these churches in revelation fell into. 00:01:02.940 --> 00:01:10.460 And if you remember, last week we looked at Ephesus, and Ephesus was doing a lot of things that were right, but 00:01:10.480 --> 00:01:13.620 they were doing a lot of things that were wrong, too. 00:01:13.620 --> 00:01:18.680 And the thing that the that it says that they were doing wrong is they left their first love. 00:01:18.680 --> 00:01:21.820 You see, they were doing church, they were coming to church, they were singing the songs. 00:01:21.820 --> 00:01:22.710 They were doing the right things. 00:01:22.720 --> 00:01:28.120 They were helping the poor, and they were doing all these things, but they weren't doing it out of doing those things, out of a love for Christ. 00:01:28.280 --> 00:01:32.440 They were doing them out of obligation and out of, out of tradition. 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:34.420 And just this is what we do. 00:01:34.420 --> 00:01:35.520 So this is what we're going to do. 00:01:36.160 --> 00:01:38.110 And Sardis fell into a very similar trap. 00:01:38.160 --> 00:01:41.160 And it says you have the reputation of being alive, but you're really dead. 00:01:41.820 --> 00:01:49.100 And we saw that while they were doing these things again, they had forgotten the reason why they were doing these things, and they forgot why 00:01:49.100 --> 00:01:52.960 they were helping the poor, why they were coming to church on Sundays, why these things were happening. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:02:01.000 And they looked like they were alive because they were doing the right things, but they were really dead inside because they weren't doing them out of a love 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:01.580 for Christ. 00:02:02.340 --> 00:02:04.130 So today we're going to look at a couple more churches. 00:02:05.320 --> 00:02:07.650 We're going to look at Pergamum and Thyatira today. 00:02:08.460 --> 00:02:15.580 So not only are you going to get to see some difficulties that these churches had, but you have some really cool names for future 00:02:15.770 --> 00:02:18.290 children or grandchildren if you want to keep in mind. 00:02:18.780 --> 00:02:19.880 Thyatira, I think, would be awesome. 00:02:21.620 --> 00:02:29.820 but these two churches suffer from very serious problem that it's 00:02:29.820 --> 00:02:30.860 a viral problem. 00:02:31.640 --> 00:02:37.500 Once it starts, it's very hard to stop and contain and it's cancerous and it's very hard to keep it from spreading. 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:47.320 and it's something that today I think is extremely prevalent in churches in America. 00:02:47.320 --> 00:02:51.780 And as Alpine Bible Church, as we grow as a group of believers in a body together. 00:02:52.460 --> 00:02:59.810 it's something that we definitely need to be on the lookout for and on the watch for because, it can destroy a church quicker, 00:02:59.900 --> 00:03:01.240 I think, than anything else. 00:03:02.100 --> 00:03:03.580 So we're going to jump right in and ruin. 00:03:03.580 --> 00:03:07.570 I forgot to bring the remote up here, so I'm just going to give you the little point when I need you to click. 00:03:08.620 --> 00:03:10.880 so we're going to be in revelation chapter two. 00:03:10.980 --> 00:03:12.690 We're going to be in 12 through 17 today. 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:14.700 for the first church. 00:03:15.340 --> 00:03:22.480 And it says, and to the angel of the church in Pergamum, write, the one who has the sharp two edged sword says this I know 00:03:22.480 --> 00:03:28.280 where you dwell, where Satan's throne is, and you hold fast my name, and did not deny my faith. 00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:34.820 Even in the days of Antipas, my witness, my faithful one who was killed among you where Satan dwells. 00:03:35.460 --> 00:03:36.700 But I have a few things against you. 00:03:37.380 --> 00:03:37.940 Because you have. 00:03:38.280 --> 00:03:45.420 You have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balac to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to 00:03:45.420 --> 00:03:51.120 eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit thank you, Ross, and to commit acts of immorality. 00:03:51.760 --> 00:03:56.100 So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the nicolaitans. 00:03:56.620 --> 00:04:02.260 Therefore repent, or else I am coming to you quickly and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth. 00:04:02.820 --> 00:04:09.960 He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches, to him who overcomes, to him I will give 00:04:09.960 --> 00:04:17.040 some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone and a new name written on the stone, which no one knows, but he who 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:17.500 receives it. 00:04:19.320 --> 00:04:21.209 so a little bit of background to Pergamum. 00:04:22.120 --> 00:04:23.440 It was a city. 00:04:23.840 --> 00:04:24.740 It was kind of a melting pot. 00:04:25.640 --> 00:04:28.130 There was a lot of it was a major trade hub. 00:04:28.420 --> 00:04:30.400 And so there was a lot of different people coming in. 00:04:30.760 --> 00:04:38.150 And as a result of that melting pot, there was a lot of different religions, a lot of different cultures there. 00:04:38.780 --> 00:04:41.580 it was known as the birthplace of the imperial Roman cult. 00:04:42.340 --> 00:04:49.260 This was a cult that worshiped, Roman leaders, worshiped Rome itself, the country. 00:04:49.260 --> 00:04:52.480 It saw its leaders as deity and as gods, and they worshiped them. 00:04:52.500 --> 00:04:56.560 As such, they would often have statues of the gods of their, kings. 00:04:56.560 --> 00:05:03.640 And emperors, I'm sorry, as statues throughout the city, and would burn incense in front of them and offer sacrifices 00:05:03.640 --> 00:05:10.640 and pay tribute to them, just like any other of the Roman and Greek gods of that 00:05:10.640 --> 00:05:17.680 day was also, the reason why revelation says, I know 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:25.080 where you dwell, where Satan's throne is, because they were in the heart of a pagan cult society, and it 00:05:25.140 --> 00:05:31.280 was also known for the worship not only just the Roman leaders, but it also worshiped all of the Greek and Roman mythological gods. 00:05:31.560 --> 00:05:38.560 To specifically, it was known for its worship of Asclepius, which is the Greek god of healing. 00:05:38.820 --> 00:05:45.860 It's where we get our symbol for, the medical staff today, where you have the rod and the two serpents wrapped around it. 00:05:46.180 --> 00:05:48.370 And they're also known for their worship of Zeus. 00:05:48.700 --> 00:05:55.860 And you can still to this day go to the ruins of Pergamum and see altars to Zeus and temples and things 00:05:55.860 --> 00:05:56.420 like that. 00:05:57.120 --> 00:05:59.900 It was a very pagan society. 00:06:00.500 --> 00:06:08.020 It was a melting pot for everybody to come and just kind of take a little of this, that I like of this religion and a little bit of this and 00:06:08.020 --> 00:06:09.110 just kind of make it whatever. 00:06:10.760 --> 00:06:18.020 And as a result of that, it made the church there one incredible and miraculous 00:06:18.020 --> 00:06:25.200 that it was able to survive and to be planted there in such a such a hostile, negative environment 00:06:25.200 --> 00:06:32.460 towards Christianity and towards Christians, because not only was it a melting pot for all these pagan religions, but we know it was hostile towards Christians because 00:06:32.460 --> 00:06:36.640 in verse 13 says, you hold fast my name and did not deny my faith. 00:06:36.640 --> 00:06:41.120 Even in the days of Antipas, my witness, my faithful one who was killed among you where Satan dwells. 00:06:42.020 --> 00:06:43.880 So hostility towards Christians was great here. 00:06:44.360 --> 00:06:49.730 So we know that the church being started was remarkable enough. 00:06:49.740 --> 00:06:56.300 But just because they started a church in a place that wasn't friendly, That was anti-God. 00:06:57.040 --> 00:06:57.980 Anti-christian. 00:06:58.840 --> 00:07:01.540 Doesn't mean that they were set from then on. 00:07:01.540 --> 00:07:05.460 They still had problems and a really big problem. 00:07:06.580 --> 00:07:11.700 And what we find as we read is that the problem that the church had was they were accepting of false teachers. 00:07:12.820 --> 00:07:17.350 It says that you hold to the teaching of Balaam, and then it also mentions the Nicolaitans Balaam. 00:07:18.860 --> 00:07:20.610 You can read the story of Balaam in the Old Testament. 00:07:21.580 --> 00:07:28.730 A moabite king who was Balak, was petrified of the Israelites because he knew who they were and who they served, 00:07:28.740 --> 00:07:32.820 and that they had just walked over anybody that stood in their way to this point. 00:07:32.860 --> 00:07:33.410 And so he was scared. 00:07:34.060 --> 00:07:36.100 So he asked Balaam to curse them. 00:07:36.100 --> 00:07:37.300 And Balaam said, I can't curse them. 00:07:37.300 --> 00:07:38.140 God's protected them. 00:07:38.540 --> 00:07:44.240 So the king just ends up finding ways to make Israelite the Israelites mess up so God isn't happy with them. 00:07:44.260 --> 00:07:48.780 And the way that he did that was by having them intermarry with the Moabite women, which God forbid. 00:07:50.120 --> 00:07:51.820 and that caused them to stumble. 00:07:52.940 --> 00:07:56.940 But then the main one that I want to look at today is the teachings of the Nicolaitans. 00:07:57.980 --> 00:08:05.160 And if you remember last week, one of the good things that Ephesus was commended for and they actually did well, was they hated 00:08:05.160 --> 00:08:05.740 the nicolaitans. 00:08:07.140 --> 00:08:11.560 So you have Ephesus, who left its first love but hated the nicolaitans. 00:08:11.660 --> 00:08:18.900 And then you have Pergamum, who was faithful to martyrdom and martyrdom, but loved the Nicolaitans and accepted 00:08:18.900 --> 00:08:19.600 them. 00:08:19.940 --> 00:08:27.000 And here you see a big contrast, because the nicolaitans what they would do is, and it's not uncommon of a lot 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:34.020 of false teachers today is they would they saw the church and they went and checked it out, went to a couple Sundays, saw 00:08:34.020 --> 00:08:37.190 what it was all about, and they took some things that they liked from Christianity. 00:08:38.059 --> 00:08:44.920 And then they just kind of took a little bit over here from their pagan rituals that they were used to and worshiping these other gods, and they would just sprinkle it in a little bit at a time. 00:08:46.060 --> 00:08:52.600 And over time, it became kind of a morphed combination of Christianity that Paul taught and helped found the church with. 00:08:53.060 --> 00:08:55.620 And these pagan cults and rituals that surrounded the church. 00:08:57.040 --> 00:09:03.900 And Christianity isn't something that you can mix and match with, okay? 00:09:03.900 --> 00:09:05.960 If you've ever taken a chemistry class, I haven't. 00:09:06.560 --> 00:09:10.580 But I know that you don't want to mix certain chemicals because it would blow up. 00:09:11.180 --> 00:09:12.540 It's dangerous. 00:09:12.540 --> 00:09:14.120 And Christianity is one of those things. 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:17.550 You can't take a little bit of this and add it to something else, and it still be called Christianity. 00:09:18.940 --> 00:09:21.320 And what the Nicolatians were doing was exactly that. 00:09:22.420 --> 00:09:25.300 And as a result, it caused a lot of problems in the church in Pergamum. 00:09:28.780 --> 00:09:36.680 So how does the church in Ephesus, who had lost its first love, hold fast and keep 00:09:36.820 --> 00:09:40.040 sound doctrine, and not accept these false teachers and these false witnesses? 00:09:41.760 --> 00:09:43.860 And the other church in Pergamum doesn't? 00:09:45.760 --> 00:09:47.580 And the answer is the church in Pergamum compromised. 00:09:49.680 --> 00:09:55.820 They saw the church in Ephesus, or they saw these nicolatians come in and, hey, I want to teach a Bible study. 00:09:56.280 --> 00:09:56.680 Yeah, okay. 00:09:56.760 --> 00:09:57.120 That's fine. 00:09:57.180 --> 00:09:57.360 You can. 00:09:57.520 --> 00:09:58.620 Yeah, you can teach a Bible study. 00:09:58.740 --> 00:10:03.300 And then all of a sudden in that Bible study, they misquote a scripture here and there and. 00:10:03.340 --> 00:10:05.160 Okay, well, they misquoted that. 00:10:05.160 --> 00:10:05.560 That's fine. 00:10:05.560 --> 00:10:05.860 That's fine. 00:10:05.860 --> 00:10:06.410 We'll let it go. 00:10:06.980 --> 00:10:13.540 And then the next time they misapply something here and well, they just they're young, they don't they haven't really studied a lot. 00:10:13.640 --> 00:10:14.100 They don't know. 00:10:14.460 --> 00:10:19.770 And then by the time they were done, the Nicolatians had completely warped their doctrine because they just let them keep going. 00:10:19.800 --> 00:10:21.200 And they didn't stop it when it happened. 00:10:24.300 --> 00:10:31.880 And the church in Ephesus, if you want to find the reason that they were able to withstand these nicolatians 00:10:31.880 --> 00:10:38.900 is if you flip back to first Timothy one three through four, Paul is writing to Timothy, this 00:10:38.900 --> 00:10:44.000 is one of the pastoral epistles, and he's giving Timothy instruction on how to be a pastor. 00:10:44.120 --> 00:10:51.160 And he says, in verses three through four, he says, as I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus, 00:10:51.560 --> 00:10:58.680 so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give 00:10:58.680 --> 00:11:03.910 rise to mere speculation, rather than furthering the administration of God, which is by faith. 00:11:05.080 --> 00:11:08.440 See, Paul knew that a compromise in doctrine would mean the end of the church. 00:11:08.560 --> 00:11:11.140 He knew that it was a serious thing that needed to be addressed immediately. 00:11:12.160 --> 00:11:16.640 So he tells Timothy who he trained and trained, who he discipled, who he did ministry with. 00:11:16.920 --> 00:11:23.920 He says, you stay there and teach them that when these things happen, when somebody comes in and starts teaching something 00:11:23.920 --> 00:11:30.960 that's contrary to what I've taught you and what you've heard and what you know to be true, to take a stand on that and not 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:32.820 to listen to. 00:11:32.940 --> 00:11:40.660 He says, genealogies, and uh, and speculations because it's 00:11:40.860 --> 00:11:41.720 not profitable. 00:11:41.720 --> 00:11:45.940 Don't listen to these things that these people would try and intermingle with, but take a stand. 00:11:48.380 --> 00:11:52.660 And the way that Paul tells Timothy to take a stand is found in his second letter to Timothy. 00:11:52.860 --> 00:11:59.880 If you look in second Timothy 316 says, All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for 00:11:59.880 --> 00:12:02.780 reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. 00:12:03.920 --> 00:12:09.660 You see, Paul knew that compromise and doctrine in what we believe, and we just spent our church just spent. 00:12:09.740 --> 00:12:15.520 I think it was almost 12 weeks or more going over the core beliefs of what we believe as a church body. 00:12:16.560 --> 00:12:19.940 We didn't just do that because we couldn't think of another way to spend 12 weeks. 00:12:20.440 --> 00:12:25.520 We did that because it's really important to know what you believe and to stand on that belief. 00:12:27.040 --> 00:12:29.660 And Paul says that all Scripture is inspired by God. 00:12:30.300 --> 00:12:34.940 It's profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. 00:12:35.300 --> 00:12:42.380 The reason that he tells Timothy this is because when you know the word, when you've studied the word, when you're applying the word, and you're in God's Word every day, when 00:12:42.380 --> 00:12:47.440 you hear something that doesn't match up, the little red light's going to go off and go, wait a minute, that's not what I was reading. 00:12:48.200 --> 00:12:49.100 He's got something else. 00:12:49.160 --> 00:12:51.220 I don't know what he's got but it's not what I have. 00:12:52.800 --> 00:12:53.540 And you're going to know. 00:12:55.200 --> 00:13:02.560 You see, when it says all Scripture is inspired by God, it literally means that all Scripture is God breathed. 00:13:02.800 --> 00:13:03.900 It's God's Word. 00:13:03.900 --> 00:13:11.960 It's God's breath for us so that we can know what is right, what is wrong, so we can teach properly in 00:13:11.960 --> 00:13:19.200 truth so that we can correct wrong behavior, that we can correct misbelief so that we can do these things. 00:13:19.320 --> 00:13:21.320 It's a standalone resource. 00:13:21.880 --> 00:13:23.380 You don't need to add anything to it. 00:13:23.460 --> 00:13:24.650 You don't need to take anything away. 00:13:24.860 --> 00:13:31.960 The Bible is and always will be God's inspired word that he gave us to live our life 00:13:31.960 --> 00:13:32.200 by. 00:13:34.560 --> 00:13:35.680 I've. 00:13:36.060 --> 00:13:43.300 I've had people argue with me that at the time Paul wrote to Timothy, the only scripture that 00:13:43.300 --> 00:13:47.620 they had was the Old Testament scriptures and the writings of Moses. 00:13:48.360 --> 00:13:53.030 So the only thing that is actually inspired by God and God's, and 100% accurate is the Old Testament. 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:54.460 And we should just ignore the New Testament. 00:13:55.740 --> 00:14:02.800 But the problem you run in there is that by admitting that all Scripture referring to the Old Testament, you have to admit that 00:14:02.800 --> 00:14:04.010 Paul's writings are true. 00:14:04.400 --> 00:14:10.200 And a chapter before he writes this, Paul quotes Luke and the Book of Numbers as Scripture together. 00:14:10.900 --> 00:14:13.860 So you have to accept the entirety of the Bible. 00:14:13.860 --> 00:14:15.860 You can't just take part of it, okay? 00:14:16.400 --> 00:14:19.640 The Bible is our defense against compromise. 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:22.560 It's our defense. 00:14:22.860 --> 00:14:30.500 When someone comes in and starts teaching something that doesn't quite add up, if you just sit there and nod your head and say, yep, sounds good, okay, 00:14:31.260 --> 00:14:33.630 because there's a lot of stuff out there that sounds good. 00:14:34.040 --> 00:14:39.620 I, if you just believe in Jesus hard enough, you get a Mercedes Benz and you don't have any health problems. 00:14:39.660 --> 00:14:42.240 That sounds pretty good, but it's wrong. 00:14:42.740 --> 00:14:48.210 But if you don't study God's Word and you're not in his word, you're just going to say, okay, yeah, that sounds right. 00:14:48.300 --> 00:14:48.940 That makes sense. 00:14:49.040 --> 00:14:50.340 If I love Jesus, he'll bless me. 00:14:50.540 --> 00:14:51.530 So I should get a Mercedes Benz. 00:14:51.780 --> 00:14:52.160 That's good. 00:14:53.260 --> 00:14:54.740 Okay, but that's not the way it works. 00:14:57.400 --> 00:14:58.200 Paul. 00:14:58.200 --> 00:15:05.500 One of the churches that he started, if you read in acts 1711, was a church in Berea and in acts 1711 00:15:05.500 --> 00:15:12.560 it says of the Berean Church, it says, now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, 00:15:12.620 --> 00:15:16.240 examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. 00:15:17.820 --> 00:15:19.430 So when they were being taught even by Paul. 00:15:20.140 --> 00:15:20.280 Okay. 00:15:20.340 --> 00:15:23.260 And Paul was he was known in his day. 00:15:23.260 --> 00:15:24.400 Everybody knew who Paul was. 00:15:24.540 --> 00:15:29.700 He was one of the religious leaders that everybody knew because he was so strong in his faith. 00:15:29.820 --> 00:15:34.540 He was so committed to Christ, and he was so committed to the cause. 00:15:35.340 --> 00:15:42.500 And he's sitting here teaching these people face to face, and they're still saying, well, I like what you're saying, Paul, but let me just make sure. 00:15:42.500 --> 00:15:46.900 And it says they searched the scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:50.100 They weren't satisfied with somebody telling them what the Bible said. 00:15:50.180 --> 00:15:51.940 They wanted to read it and study it for themselves. 00:15:52.620 --> 00:15:56.370 And because of that, it says in acts that they were more noble than those in Thessalonica. 00:15:58.380 --> 00:16:05.440 When Nathaniel's preaching or teaching or if I'm preaching or teaching or Russ or Mark or anybody, when anybody's teaching you anything 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:08.780 from the Bible, don't take them at face value. 00:16:08.860 --> 00:16:11.060 Don't take them for your word, for their word. 00:16:11.620 --> 00:16:13.020 Open up the Bible and see what it says. 00:16:15.080 --> 00:16:15.980 Search it out. 00:16:16.020 --> 00:16:16.460 Study it. 00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:22.740 Make sure that what they're saying and teaching and telling you lines up with what the Bible actually says. 00:16:24.540 --> 00:16:30.140 And if you don't, if you're not sure how to study the Bible, where to get started, how you can do that. 00:16:30.800 --> 00:16:33.850 There's tons of great study tools that can help you. 00:16:34.600 --> 00:16:37.150 A study Bible is a great place to start. 00:16:37.780 --> 00:16:45.120 It has the verses and then at the bottom it has little notes on verses and kind of background on stuff that can help you understand. 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:46.510 If you have a computer, go to Biblegateway.com. 00:16:48.060 --> 00:16:49.920 There's a ton of resources on there. 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:54.010 If you go to S.org, it's a free download. 00:16:54.100 --> 00:16:55.460 It's a Bible study program. 00:16:55.460 --> 00:17:02.640 I use it a lot when I prepare my sermons and my youth lessons, but you can see commentaries, you can break stuff down, you can see what words 00:17:02.640 --> 00:17:04.920 are in the original Greek, and you can study on your own. 00:17:04.980 --> 00:17:07.500 You don't have to go to Bible college to study your Bible. 00:17:08.260 --> 00:17:09.599 You don't have to have a degree. 00:17:10.220 --> 00:17:14.720 And in fact, you should study your Bible before you even go there. 00:17:15.740 --> 00:17:22.819 but if you're just taking what everybody's teaching at face value and you're not studying it out for yourself, what's 00:17:22.839 --> 00:17:28.390 going to happen is you're going to start to compromise, and you're going to take a stand here and say, this is what I believe. 00:17:29.120 --> 00:17:34.100 And then somebody teaches something and you don't really study it out, and you slide a little bit over and say, yeah, okay. 00:17:34.220 --> 00:17:35.560 I would I would think that's right too. 00:17:36.200 --> 00:17:43.420 And then something else comes along and before you know it, you've compromised so much that you're all the way over here and you're looking back 00:17:43.420 --> 00:17:46.100 saying, wait a minute, that's what I used to believe. 00:17:46.560 --> 00:17:48.610 And now I'm way over here and I don't even. 00:17:48.920 --> 00:17:52.940 I can barely even see what I used to believe now because I've compromised so much. 00:17:52.940 --> 00:17:57.400 But when you're in God's Word for yourself, you can see. 00:17:57.400 --> 00:17:57.740 Wait a minute. 00:17:58.180 --> 00:18:00.340 I don't want to take a step that way, because that's not what this says. 00:18:01.240 --> 00:18:02.150 And I'm going to stay right here. 00:18:03.620 --> 00:18:10.640 Last week, I told you the story about the lady who cut the ends off of her ham to fit it, to put it in the roaster pan, and she didn't really know why. 00:18:10.680 --> 00:18:12.590 So her husband asked her and she didn't know. 00:18:12.660 --> 00:18:14.280 So he asked her mom and she didn't know. 00:18:14.280 --> 00:18:16.060 She just said, well, my mom always did it that way. 00:18:16.120 --> 00:18:17.380 Well, my mom always did it that way. 00:18:17.840 --> 00:18:24.530 And they found out the reason that they cut the ends off the ham is because their great grandma's roaster pan was too small to fit a whole ham, so they had to cut the ends off. 00:18:25.220 --> 00:18:28.050 So for all these generations, they were cutting the ends off the ham for no reason. 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:33.600 And if somebody would have just said, hey mom, why are you cutting the ends off the ham? 00:18:34.500 --> 00:18:35.860 Because my roaster pan doesn't fit. 00:18:36.040 --> 00:18:36.640 Oh, okay. 00:18:37.100 --> 00:18:42.440 They wouldn't have done it for all those years, but nobody thought to stop and question what they were being taught by their mom. 00:18:43.500 --> 00:18:46.820 Okay, don't just take what I'm teaching you at face value. 00:18:47.020 --> 00:18:48.240 Open your Bible and study it. 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:49.800 Study it. 00:18:49.960 --> 00:18:50.360 Monday. 00:18:50.540 --> 00:18:51.080 Tuesday. 00:18:51.080 --> 00:18:51.540 Wednesday. 00:18:51.620 --> 00:18:52.800 Study it throughout the week. 00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:53.920 Don't just come on Sunday. 00:18:54.160 --> 00:18:57.640 Open your Bible for that 20 minutes and call it good. 00:18:58.700 --> 00:18:59.920 Take it home and dive in. 00:19:00.100 --> 00:19:01.340 Find out what's right. 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:01.940 What's wrong. 00:19:02.280 --> 00:19:03.880 Make sure that what's being taught is accurate. 00:19:08.380 --> 00:19:15.980 And this preventative step, this precautionary step against compromising in 00:19:15.980 --> 00:19:22.300 what we believe and what our doctrine is also the same thing that could have saved the church in Thyatira. 00:19:22.460 --> 00:19:29.600 Because if you read in Thyatira, Thyatira, they suffered from the same basic problem. 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:37.620 And in 18 through 20 of revelation two it says to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, The Son of God, who has eyes like 00:19:37.620 --> 00:19:44.760 a flame of fire, and his feet are like burnished bronze, says this I know your deeds and your love and faith, and service 00:19:44.760 --> 00:19:48.820 and perseverance, and that your deeds are of late are greater than at first. 00:19:49.840 --> 00:19:57.000 But I have this against you that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads my bond servants 00:19:57.000 --> 00:20:01.660 astray, so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 00:20:02.900 --> 00:20:10.000 So like Pergamum, who was accepting of false teachers, says Thyatira was accepting of 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:18.800 Jezebel and her false teachings, and as a result, that led them into immorality. 00:20:19.060 --> 00:20:23.600 Now, Jezebel probably wasn't this woman's real name. 00:20:23.700 --> 00:20:25.180 She was a false prophetess. 00:20:26.060 --> 00:20:33.260 Her the name given to her here of Jezebel probably just refers back to the Old Testament to 00:20:33.300 --> 00:20:41.520 the woman Jezebel found in the Old Testament in the Book of First Kings, and she taught similar 00:20:41.520 --> 00:20:42.620 things to the Nicolaitans. 00:20:42.860 --> 00:20:46.140 She just came in and crept in, seemingly unnoticed. 00:20:46.940 --> 00:20:54.640 Just said, hey, I know you're not really supposed to do this, but everybody else is doing this, so you should just go ahead and accept 00:20:54.640 --> 00:20:56.210 this kind of behavior and do this. 00:20:57.240 --> 00:21:00.240 And they compromised and allowed her to teach these false things. 00:21:01.160 --> 00:21:09.240 And as a result, a large portion of the church large enough that it was problem enough that it's addressed here in the book of Revelation, began 00:21:09.400 --> 00:21:16.520 to fall into habitual sin and to fall into continuous immorality and things that God commanded 00:21:16.520 --> 00:21:17.500 them not to do. 00:21:17.520 --> 00:21:24.560 And it's all because they gave in just that one time that led to the second time, and the third and fourth, instead of just putting 00:21:24.560 --> 00:21:25.610 a stop to it. 00:21:27.480 --> 00:21:34.520 And the same way that Pergamum could have stopped false teaching is the same way that they 00:21:34.520 --> 00:21:37.900 could have stopped their moral backsliding and their moral compromise here in Thyatira. 00:21:39.800 --> 00:21:46.480 If you read in Psalm one 1911, your word have I treasured in my heart that I might not sin against you? 00:21:46.800 --> 00:21:53.980 The psalmist is crying out, God, I know I'm going to sin, but the way that I'm keeping myself from sinning more than I should and 00:21:53.980 --> 00:22:01.240 more than I could sin, is by studying or by treasuring it in my heart, not just reading it, treasuring it in your heart, 00:22:01.600 --> 00:22:03.140 studying it, memorizing it. 00:22:04.860 --> 00:22:06.120 Second Timothy 215. 00:22:06.360 --> 00:22:10.380 Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who needs not be ashamed. 00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:20.060 And if you read in Matthew four one through 11, Christ is being tempted by Satan in 00:22:20.060 --> 00:22:20.410 the wilderness. 00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:29.280 And the response every time Christ is tempted is he responds to the devil with Scripture, and 00:22:29.820 --> 00:22:34.760 he responds by quoting Scripture to fight off that temptation, to fight off that sin. 00:22:35.240 --> 00:22:43.200 When you know God's Word and you're in God's Word on a regular basis, it's a lot Harder to 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:44.280 give in and compromise. 00:22:46.060 --> 00:22:50.850 I had a friend who was a truck driver and he's an awesome guy. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:54.490 He, he was probably about £400. 00:22:54.820 --> 00:22:58.640 His head was as big as a basketball, but he was the nicest guy in the world. 00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:00.740 I talked to him for hours, and he. 00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:01.640 He drove a truck. 00:23:01.640 --> 00:23:06.180 And every time I talked to him, every time he came back into town, I always heard the same story. 00:23:06.220 --> 00:23:09.040 And I always loved hearing the story because he was awesome. 00:23:09.040 --> 00:23:16.120 Jd was the man, but he always told me, he said, man, I'm driving on the road and I'm by myself and 00:23:16.120 --> 00:23:17.940 ain't nobody know me from Adam. 00:23:17.960 --> 00:23:19.360 You know, I could do whatever I want. 00:23:20.020 --> 00:23:20.720 But you know what? 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:22.810 I got Bible all up on my dashboard. 00:23:22.980 --> 00:23:29.220 He took post-it notes and just put them all over the dashboard, down the console of his door, on his door handle. 00:23:29.480 --> 00:23:30.720 When he flipped down his sun visor. 00:23:30.760 --> 00:23:35.920 He had verses there because he knew when he was on his own, when he wasn't surrounded by his family, it was going to be. 00:23:36.060 --> 00:23:36.710 It was going to be temptation. 00:23:38.580 --> 00:23:43.620 But he surrounded himself with God's word so that he wouldn't fall into that temptation and make that compromise. 00:23:46.620 --> 00:23:54.680 He knew how important God's Word was for him to stay pure to God, and to not compromise who he was and 00:23:54.680 --> 00:23:56.140 to compromise what he believed. 00:23:57.540 --> 00:24:04.680 If you're not in God's Word, it's going to be a lot harder to stay true to God and follow what he's teaching and what he wants 00:24:04.680 --> 00:24:05.320 for your life. 00:24:07.480 --> 00:24:14.480 And I'm not saying that if you do study God's Word and that you do make it a habit, that you're going to be free of sin and your life's going 00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:16.320 to go smoothly, because that's just not true. 00:24:17.620 --> 00:24:17.820 Okay. 00:24:17.880 --> 00:24:20.090 And if you study your Bible, you're going to realize that's not true. 00:24:21.840 --> 00:24:28.920 but what I'm saying is that the more that you study God's Word, the more that it affects every aspect of your life, not just Sunday mornings when 00:24:28.920 --> 00:24:29.300 you come here. 00:24:29.500 --> 00:24:36.580 And if you come on a Wednesday night for the occasional Bible study, it affects every day because 00:24:36.580 --> 00:24:40.520 you're ingraining and you're studying and you're memorizing every day. 00:24:44.440 --> 00:24:49.580 Compromise is a dangerous thing that we don't even really realize happens a lot. 00:24:50.460 --> 00:24:51.940 It just kind of sneaks up on us. 00:24:54.460 --> 00:24:59.380 But as it sneaks up, it takes us further and further away from where we're supposed to go. 00:24:59.400 --> 00:25:04.080 James one if you're reading James one, it says that lust grows into sin and sin into death. 00:25:04.700 --> 00:25:11.740 Compromise just starts with that one little thought and then acting on that thought, and then that thought grows into 00:25:11.740 --> 00:25:14.700 sin, and sin eventually leads to death. 00:25:15.380 --> 00:25:22.400 And when we give in that one little time, it's not like the church in Pergamum, Thyatira, just they all woke up one 00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:24.940 day, got together and said, you know what, guys? 00:25:26.040 --> 00:25:26.790 What we're believing. 00:25:27.620 --> 00:25:28.670 I think it could be more fun. 00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:31.360 So we're going to go ahead and bring in. 00:25:31.700 --> 00:25:32.380 This is Jim. 00:25:32.440 --> 00:25:33.360 He's our guest speaker today. 00:25:33.420 --> 00:25:35.540 He's going to teach us some different stuff that we're going to go ahead. 00:25:35.560 --> 00:25:37.200 And they didn't happen like that. 00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:45.170 They didn't decide that they wanted to change it just happened because they weren't paying attention and they weren't studying the scriptures, and they weren't searching out to make sure that 00:25:45.240 --> 00:25:48.040 the things being taught were accurate to God's Word. 00:25:49.980 --> 00:25:51.340 And the same thing in Thyatira. 00:25:52.980 --> 00:25:56.720 Not a whole lot of people wake up and say, you know what I think? 00:25:57.120 --> 00:25:59.350 I think today is a good day to go out and try some heroin. 00:26:00.280 --> 00:26:00.840 You know it. 00:26:01.600 --> 00:26:04.950 It's not I'm going to go try some some hard narcotics. 00:26:05.260 --> 00:26:12.500 No, it starts gradually and builds and builds and then eventually they 00:26:12.500 --> 00:26:19.980 step back and say, man, a year ago I said I would never be in this kind of a situation doing this kind of a thing, but 00:26:20.040 --> 00:26:20.600 here I am. 00:26:21.260 --> 00:26:22.180 And how did this happen? 00:26:23.020 --> 00:26:29.420 And while it's because at that first party I went to, I gave in and I tried this, and then I did this, and then I did that, and it just built and built. 00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:40.840 Compromise, whether it be doctrinal, whether it be moral or a combination can simply 00:26:40.840 --> 00:26:42.940 be fixed by a study of God's Word. 00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:51.180 And the last couple of weeks, last week and this week have been kind of a little bit heavier, a little bit. 00:26:51.400 --> 00:26:53.480 This is corrective behavior that needs to happen. 00:26:53.500 --> 00:26:58.030 But I promise if you stick with me, next week is going to be a little bit more encouraging for you. 00:26:58.540 --> 00:27:02.160 So stick through the rough part and I'll get to a little bit of happy stuff. 00:27:03.160 --> 00:27:10.820 But this is important to know because as a church, as we grow, the more we grow, the easier compromise is going to become as 00:27:10.820 --> 00:27:12.000 a whole and as individuals. 00:27:12.780 --> 00:27:19.800 As we grow, it's easier to just slip to the back and get lost in the crowd and stop sacrificing and stop giving like you used 00:27:19.800 --> 00:27:20.400 to. 00:27:21.240 --> 00:27:29.240 It's easy to compromise and let somebody something go that maybe you would have stopped sooner when 00:27:29.240 --> 00:27:30.160 we were a smaller church. 00:27:30.260 --> 00:27:32.460 But as we grow, we need to be on the lookout for these things. 00:27:32.540 --> 00:27:36.040 And the best way to be on the lookout is by being in God's Word. 00:27:37.140 --> 00:27:41.000 I love it in the Psalms when he says, I meditate on your word day and night. 00:27:41.500 --> 00:27:45.990 Because when he's talking about meditating, I shared this in youth group and they thought it was kind of gross, but I think it's awesome. 00:27:46.920 --> 00:27:49.980 It's talking about a cow chewing its cud. 00:27:51.360 --> 00:27:56.160 And so a cow will bite a chunk of grass and chew it up and swallow it, and goes into one of its stomachs. 00:27:56.280 --> 00:28:01.020 But then later in the day, it'll bring that back up and it starts chewing on it again to get more nutrients out. 00:28:01.840 --> 00:28:03.440 And that's what he's talking about with God's Word. 00:28:03.740 --> 00:28:05.040 You don't just read it once in the morning. 00:28:05.160 --> 00:28:06.300 Oh crap, I woke up late. 00:28:06.300 --> 00:28:07.250 I gotta hurry up and get to work. 00:28:07.730 --> 00:28:09.260 John 316 For God so loved the world that. 00:28:09.340 --> 00:28:10.520 Okay, good. 00:28:10.560 --> 00:28:12.870 I read the Bible for today, and then you go on about your day and do your thing. 00:28:13.200 --> 00:28:14.100 No, you read that. 00:28:14.180 --> 00:28:17.280 And then throughout the day, man, God loved the world so much, he died for everybody. 00:28:17.560 --> 00:28:18.020 That's awesome. 00:28:18.680 --> 00:28:19.740 How should that affect me? 00:28:19.740 --> 00:28:20.680 What should I do about that? 00:28:21.400 --> 00:28:24.160 And then later on you think back, man, really? 00:28:24.380 --> 00:28:25.060 The whole world. 00:28:25.880 --> 00:28:27.100 What should I do about that? 00:28:27.140 --> 00:28:28.600 Does do they know? 00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:29.500 Should I tell these people? 00:28:29.760 --> 00:28:30.600 It should affect you. 00:28:30.600 --> 00:28:32.260 You should bring it up throughout the day. 00:28:32.340 --> 00:28:34.370 Don't just let it go at a one time quick glance. 00:28:35.580 --> 00:28:36.280 Study it out. 00:28:36.300 --> 00:28:37.020 Meditate on it. 00:28:37.160 --> 00:28:37.860 Let it affect you. 00:28:38.800 --> 00:28:46.060 We should study God's Word so much that it permeates all of our life, that everything that we do, the decisions that we make, 00:28:47.460 --> 00:28:52.140 should be geared and affected by what God's Word says for our lives. 00:28:54.240 --> 00:28:56.600 Second Timothy 215. 00:28:56.600 --> 00:29:03.100 Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 00:29:03.560 --> 00:29:05.100 Accurately handling the word of truth. 00:29:06.320 --> 00:29:13.420 Properly interpreting and applying God's Word to your life so that when somebody comes up 00:29:13.420 --> 00:29:20.280 and tells you something that this is right, you can say, no, it's not because I studied and you're wrong. 00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:21.580 This is what the Bible says. 00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:29.410 But if we're not careful, that compromise can take us a long way from where we want to be. 00:29:30.820 --> 00:29:37.860 So as our church grows, possibility of false teaching emerges and it gets even bigger 00:29:39.420 --> 00:29:44.700 when those false teachers can cause us to compromise what we believe and what we stand for as a church. 00:29:45.160 --> 00:29:50.980 And it can cause us as people, as believers, as individuals, to move away from our moral standard. 00:29:50.980 --> 00:29:53.760 That is God's Word, and that is the Bible that tells us what is right and wrong. 00:29:54.720 --> 00:30:01.780 And we don't want to follow that moral standard of what's right and wrong in the Bible, because that's what we're supposed to do, and that's what gets you to heaven, or that's what makes 00:30:01.820 --> 00:30:02.460 you a good person. 00:30:02.680 --> 00:30:05.920 We do that because we love Christ and we want to see him glorified. 00:30:08.820 --> 00:30:15.940 So as you go home today, just think about the last time that you opened your Bible and studied 00:30:15.940 --> 00:30:16.040 it. 00:30:17.520 --> 00:30:18.550 You know, we just sang breathe. 00:30:21.080 --> 00:30:22.120 I love that song. 00:30:22.120 --> 00:30:23.920 Man, this is the air I breathe. 00:30:23.940 --> 00:30:25.130 This is my daily bread. 00:30:27.260 --> 00:30:29.680 When's the last time that you felt that way about God? 00:30:31.280 --> 00:30:34.820 And when you think about the last time you felt that way about God, I'm going to go ahead and guess. 00:30:34.880 --> 00:30:40.540 It was pretty close to the last time you really studied the Bible and you really studied God's Word. 00:30:42.300 --> 00:30:45.620 So as we go home this week, like I said, next week will be a little bit happier. 00:30:46.200 --> 00:30:47.840 It'll be a little bit more encouraging for you. 00:30:48.660 --> 00:30:55.740 But if I didn't warn you about the things that could happen as our church grows and these things to be on the lookout for, I'd be doing 00:30:55.740 --> 00:30:56.320 you a great disservice. 00:31:00.020 --> 00:31:01.270 this week for construction. 00:31:01.800 --> 00:31:08.360 There's not a ton to do, but if you're interested in helping get Ahold of me or Mark, if you don't have either of our numbers, just let us know. 00:31:08.520 --> 00:31:08.900 We can get it. 00:31:09.380 --> 00:31:10.040 Get them to you. 00:31:10.380 --> 00:31:12.550 But we're getting close to the finishing stages. 00:31:12.600 --> 00:31:19.800 Hopefully by next Sunday, you won't feel like you're in a construction zone and the floor will be done and the walls will be painted and everything will work. 00:31:20.820 --> 00:31:21.200 Right. 00:31:21.200 --> 00:31:28.460 But, all of that coming and helping is for not if we're not doing it for the right reasons, and we're not doing it out of a love for God. 00:31:29.580 --> 00:31:33.430 and we're not studying our word to make sure that we aren't compromising in any way. 00:31:34.320 --> 00:31:34.820 Let's pray.