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May 31, 2024 - Jim Bakker Show
57:30
Jim Bakker Sermon 4: The Church At Ephesus
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Judgment Begins At The House Of God 00:12:50
Heavenly Father, I pray that you anoint this word now, God, as we open this book with fear and trembling.
Oh God, we pray that you will bless everyone in this room that hears your word, as you promised to do in this book, that you would bless those who hear this word.
God, anoint it, I pray God.
Father, give us wisdom.
Give us revelation.
And God, I pray that each person in this room will be prepared for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God, I pray that you'll grant me this miracle.
Don't let one person in this room miss heaven.
Oh God, don't let one person miss the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord, help us not to be a part of this world.
I pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Today we start with Revelation chapter 2.
And as I've been studying the seven churches, it is almost overwhelming the message to these seven churches.
The message of warning.
And the warning is almost 100% about worldliness.
Can you imagine?
Here's 90-year-old John in prison, and he's warning the church about being in love with this world and not being ready for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I believe today that this warning should be louder than ever before.
I believe the messages to the seven churches are more for us today than they were towards those seven churches back in John's hour.
Lori was watching television as she was dressing to come to the studio, and she said, Jim, even the programs that are supposed to be informative, some of the things that you'd watch, she said they're getting worse and worse.
She said, it's filthier and filthier, and it's such an abomination.
I know none of you ever watch television that is bad.
You know, you only probably watch TBN and our show.
But, you know, if you happen to, you know, just kind of by accident hit some of these youth channels, I won't name them, but you know what they are.
They're unbelievable.
The things that the young people today are being entertained by, unbelievable, beyond comprehension.
And God warns us that the last days that people will be unaware.
They won't be aware of the coming of the Lord.
This book of Revelation, very few people are reading it.
Very few people are teaching it today.
We have a teaching style today that's called proof texting.
And it's a style of teaching where you take a little piece of the scripture from one part, and then you take another little piece from another part, and you take a little piece, and you put that together, and you make the Bible say anything you want it to say.
I believe we need the whole Bible.
The Bible says that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every, say it, every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.
We must have every word.
And that's why we are taking our time going through this book of Revelation word by word.
The next two chapters, chapter two and chapter three, contain the challenges to the seven churches from John as he sits there in this penal colony in prison there on a rocky, rocky, little island.
Why do you think the book of Revelation begins with messages to the churches?
Does anybody have any idea?
Why would John be giving a message to the church at the beginning of a book that's filled with judgment?
Go over to 1 Peter.
I know I have you at Revelation 2, but hold your finger there or put a napkin or something in there.
I'm going to answer that.
I'm going to answer that question.
I'll answer my own questions tonight.
For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God.
And if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
Now, if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?
There are some very strong words.
Here we read: judgment begins at the house of God.
I believe God is about to shake the church like it's never been shaken before.
I believe God loves us so much, and what does the Bible say?
Whom he loves, he chastens.
I believe he's going to shake us.
I heard one old granny say, hey, to her little granddaughter, I'm going to shake your shoes off, you know, because she was so bad.
Well, I'll tell you, God's going to shake our shoes off.
God's going to shake us.
God's going to shake us up and get us ready because he loves us.
That's why judgment begins at the house of the Lord.
The Lord deals with his own before sending judgment to the world.
You know, we have so much doctrine being taught today.
God is a good God and he won't allow anything bad ever to happen to you.
How many of you know that's not truth?
You haven't been alive then.
You're living in La La Land.
I mean, I've known the greatest people of God.
I know a wonderful pastor today had to take his son to the hospital.
Bad things happen to good people.
God so loves us that he says the trial of our faith is more precious than gold.
And God wants us ready.
God wants the church to be clean and ready, that church without spot and without wrinkle.
Look over at 1 Peter 1:7.
I quoted it.
I want you to have it.
I want you to mark that in your Bible if you don't have it, marked.
I want you to read the whole part together.
It says that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, you might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
How are we going to be ready for the revelation?
How are we going to be ready for the last days?
He says it's the trial of our faith that's precious.
My prison taught me more than I ever learned on the mountaintop.
Joseph prepared to save the world in the pit and in the prison.
We're hearing the Revelation written by John, 90 years of age, in prison.
The book of Revelation comes to us from prison.
And today, preachers are telling you, you don't have to have a headache.
You don't have to have any problems.
You can have a charmed life, live in your beautiful mansions, drive your Rolls-Royces, have all the prosperity in the world, and never have anything happen to you.
I don't believe that.
It's not in the book.
The love of money is the root of all evil.
When we get back to the end of this book and we start dealing with the harlot of Revelation, you're going to find out that the harlot is all about the lust of this world.
It's all about the material things of this world.
And the Bible tells us if the love of the world is in our hearts, then we don't have the love of the Father in our heart.
We can't love the world nor the things of the world.
For if we do that, God's not in our lives.
And so today, we have a lot of form of godliness, a lot of form of religion.
And that's why this Revelation chapter 2 begins as the message to the seven churches.
And I believe this message represents all the churches down through the ages.
And I believe it represents the church that's on the earth at this time and will be on the earth when Jesus returns.
So I want you to remember now as we open this new chapter, chapter 2, John wrote this book in code.
If you're going to understand the book of Revelation, you've got to understand code.
He talks about stars.
He talks about candlesticks.
Do you remember what the stars were we talked about last week?
The stars were the pastors, were the leaders, the candlesticks, the churches.
And the Bible just explains that clearly right there in the book of Revelation.
You just have to read a little further to find that out.
But as we study, we're going to realize that we'll find answers to the book of Revelation by reading the book of Daniel.
It's going to blow your mind when we get to some of these parts.
It's going to be wonderful to see the revelation come alive for you.
In Ezekiel, we're going to study.
In Zachariah, we're going to study.
We're going to find out that all these codes are nothing more than the Old Testament words that the church there was already informed about.
So he had to get this message, I believe, past the guards.
And so when the guards saw this, it was a scroll, really.
It wasn't a book that he sent out.
It was actually called Roll, and it's a scroll.
And this scroll had to be smuggled out or brought out.
And I'm sure when the guards read it over and they said, well, this is just a bunch of rambling of an old, mad old man in prison.
But he'd written it in code.
And boy, I'll tell you, a lot of people still today think it's written by some madman in prison.
But it's not.
It's divine word of the living God.
So, remember, John talks of the stars as being people.
Waters will represent nations.
Just giving you little clues where you're going to see the water will represent nations.
You're going to find out the harlot is not the Catholic church.
Boy, we always want to blame something on other people.
We always want to get out of it ourselves, you know.
There's no way on earth it can be the Catholic Church.
I mean, you've got to put all the pieces there.
And we're going to find out what it's all about.
It's going to be clear as we move through this wonderful book.
So open to Revelation chapter 2, verse number 1.
And this is the church at Ephesus.
Revelation 2.1.
Unto the angel.
Remember that word angel is so important.
You keep remembering that word angel means messenger.
It means to bring tidings.
Huge Temple of Trade 00:02:38
Also, it means pastor.
And I believe it was the leader of the churches.
So he's saying unto the pastor, the leader, the messenger of the church.
And the church is the called out ones, the body of Christ.
It can be simply a synagogue, a body, an assembly, the Christian community of members on earth, of saints in heaven and earth.
So, I mean, it's the body of Christ is what this word really means in the Greek.
So unto the angels of the church of Ephesus.
Now, Ephesus is the largest city in Asia at the time, 60 miles northeast of the Isle of Patmos.
The book of Ephesians written to it.
It was a church that was planted by the Apostle Paul.
He founded that church.
And John lived there when he wasn't in prison much of the time.
And this city was a city of cults and a city of wealth.
And it was sort of like the trade center.
It was sort of like the New York of that part of the world in Asia Minor.
It was a marketplace.
It was a place of world trade.
And it was an evil place as well because it had this huge temple to the goddess Diana.
Diana's temple was at that time one of the seven wonders of the old ancient world.
So this was a wicked place as well.
Anytime you have a lot of people moving in and out from around the world, a lot of time wickedness will come with that trade and all that kind of thing.
But they had this huge temple.
Can you imagine?
One of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
And she was the sex goddess.
Boy, the more you study these church, you know, there's two problems.
It seems like they have sex and money.
All lust, lust after things.
And so Satan had plenty to use in luring Christians in that city into idolatry and immorality.
God Walks Among Stars 00:04:24
But the church of Ephesians resisted everything except one thing.
So here it says, unto the angel of the church of Ephesus, write these things, saith, he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, and he that holds the stars in his right hand, and these stars we're talking about are the ministers of Christ who are under his special care and protection.
He's calling them stars, not like here in Branson or on Broadway.
That's not what he's talking about.
But this is the word they're using for the leaders, his stars.
You see, God knows every one of his stars by name.
Did you know that?
The Bible actually says he knows all the stars by name.
He knows his preachers.
He knows his pastors.
He knows his leaders by name.
And they're under his care and protection, just as you are.
He knows how many hairs are in your head.
We have an awesome God.
And this is, as you study in the Greek, you're going to find out what this means here.
And it is such an honor that he knows the number of the stars, calls them by their names, and it is the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ that ministers of the gospel who are the greater blessing to the church than the stars are to the world are in his hand.
It says in his right hand, he holds the stars in his right hands.
He directs all their motions.
Listen, God says the steps of a righteous man or a righteous woman are ordered by God.
And John is telling them that he that holds the seven stars in his right hand, he that holds the leaders of the churches in his right hand.
And it says he directs all their motions.
He directs them into their orbits.
He fills them with light and influence.
He supports them, or else they'd soon be falling stars.
They are instruments in his hands.
And all the good that the leaders do are because of him.
Because he directs their path.
So we must give all the glory to God.
And that's why we see falling stars.
We see falling leaders because they take the glory unto themselves.
We cannot take his glory.
Great preacher used to say, God won't share his glory.
It says he walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks.
This tells of his relationship to the churches as the stars tell of his relation to his ministers.
Christ is intimate and present and conversant with his churches.
He wants to speak to his churches.
It says that he walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks.
God walks among his church.
God walks in his church.
That is an awesome thing to know.
He takes pleasure in his church.
Just as a man would walk through the gardens in his home, God walks among his churches.
He is there in the true church.
Though he's in heaven, he's still here walking among his churches, observing what they lack in them and what they want, what they need.
We're going to find out.
Because this message is from Jesus, from heaven, to these churches, what God has seen in their midst.
I Know Thy Toil 00:05:14
This is a great encouragement to know that as a member of the body of Christ, you are the church.
You know, we've got it so in our brain that churches are these big stained glass window places or big steeple places.
You are the church.
And you're in the palm of his hand.
You are engraved in the palm of his hand.
I'm telling you, people, one day you're going to get so excited over this revelation because you're going to survive because you know the truth.
And the truth is going to set you free in the last days.
Revelation 2.2, I know thy works.
We're talking about the church at Ephesus.
I know thy works and thy labor, thy toil and your pain.
Isn't that a good word?
God knows your labor.
People say, oh, nobody sees me.
I'm out here in the kitchen cleaning these pots and pans.
I'm talking about the restaurant here.
That's the bad job.
I'll tell you, I worked my way through Bible college in a kitchen in Rothschild's Young Quinlan dining room in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
And I was a bus boy.
And I worked out in the kitchen.
And I'll tell you, part of my job would be on the weekend, especially when they're open late, I would have to do the pot and pan duty.
Boy, you haven't lived till you do all the pots and pans in a restaurant, you know.
And you think, oh, nobody sees me.
But God sees you.
God sees his church.
It says, I know your works.
I know what you're doing.
Oh, people, you would do so much more if you realized that God's watching you.
And I know a lot of people are like little energizer bunnies when everybody's watching, but then they turn off when nobody's watching.
But the Bible lets us know God watches us.
I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience.
Say patience.
Boy, a few years ago, you know, every New Year's, Rick Joyner asks me to come usually to speak at their prophetic conference.
The last ones I haven't been able to get to because of being here and busy, but I would have a word.
You know, God would give me a word for that year that would be a key word.
And several years ago, and I don't know if you remember that period of time, but I think we're still living in it.
But it was patience.
Nobody likes that word.
Say patience.
Probably don't like that word patience.
We want what we want and we want it now.
We drive up to McDonald's or Kentucky Fried Chicken and we get it now, our way, you know.
And so he says, but here's Jesus saying to the church at Ephesus, I know thy works.
I know what you're doing.
I know your labor.
I know your toil.
And that labor is toil and pain in the Greek.
I know your pain.
I know.
You know, former president says, I feel your pain.
But I'll tell you, God feels your pain for real.
God really knows your pain.
He looks into your heart and sees your pain.
He knows your works.
And he says, and thy patience.
And you know what?
This word patience, I love this in the Greek, because it means cheerful hopefulness.
Cheerfully hopeful.
Your patience.
You're hopefully, cheerfully enduring, and you're constant.
If you want to know, that's the whole Greek word right there for patience.
Hopeful, cheerful, endurance, constant, constant, consistency.
My Lord, I've watched church people lately.
Boy, they're not consistent.
Up and down.
Go in here.
Go find the next thrill.
I found my thrill at the first church of the what, what, what?
You know.
I mean, looking for a new tangle, a new thrill.
But God honors faithfulness.
God honors patience, endurance.
That's what he's honoring in his church here at Ephesus, the Ephesians.
And I know thy patience and how thou canst not bear with them which are evil, worthless, depraved, injurious.
Almost 90% Shocking 00:03:04
They could not bear the sin.
They didn't tolerate sin.
And today, we don't know the difference between holiness and sinfulness.
Dr. Gary Smalley's son was on our program today.
Michael.
Michael said something so shocking.
But the biggest thing that I see hurting relationships today is purity.
And I don't know if you know this, but of male, and this is Christian men, evangelical Christian men, by the age of 19, almost 90% of them will have had premarital sex.
What?
What?
How many?
Almost 90%.
Christian men before the age of 19 will have had sex.
Almost 80% of Christian women will have had sex before the age of 19.
80%.
That's a total epidemic.
That's your little Sunday school boys.
That's your sons and daughters.
That's the kids that are being brought up today.
The kids in the church are living together the same as the world kids are living together.
We are in the last days.
We're in perilous times and we don't know it.
We're asleep.
We haven't woke up.
We're letting all the things come in.
I was only in prison five years.
I say only.
It seemed like a million years.
Five Christmases is a long time.
But when I came out, it was like the world had changed completely.
And especially the church.
I couldn't believe how far down the line of sin and backsliding the church had gone.
How can this be?
Because we've let the care and the cares of this life come in.
And we've let all the things of the world.
Why is God going to pour his rage out on this material generation?
It's because it is a harlot that has taken the love from God.
Oh, people, this is something.
These churches are going to show you what God thinks, how God reacts.
It says, thou canst not bear them which are evil, meaning worthless or depraved or injurious.
I Will Come Unto Thee 00:11:34
And thou hast tried them or tested them, which say they are apostles.
And it says that Apostle, you know, is an ambassador of Christ.
They said, we're an ambassador of Christ.
We're a delegate of Christ.
We're a commissioner of Christ.
And actually, in the Greek, it goes on to say these are ambassadors with special powers and miracles.
You know, and it says, and it says here, let me read the whole thing.
I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience, and how thou cannest bear them which are evil.
And thou hast tried or tested them which say they are apostles and are not, and has found them liars, deceitful, wicked, untruthful.
And you have borne, endured, and has patience.
Boy, that word patience coming up again.
Say patience.
Boy, I'll tell you, patience is what God honors.
Boy, I'll tell you, those are the ones that are going to go with him.
There's a lot of patience in the Bible.
A lot of talk about patient, cheerfully hopeful, enduring.
Oh, God, forgive me.
You know, we complain about everything, don't we?
And I have a little saying: if you complain, you remain.
That's what happened to the children of Israel.
They complained and they remain.
You whine, you stay behind.
And I think the biggest thing that keeps us from the promised land of what God wants to do in our life is our whining, our complaining.
But they were patient, cheerfully patient, hopeful.
And for my name's sake, hast labored and has not fainted.
Here is this church at Ephesus.
They are a working church.
They are an active church.
And they are laboring until they felt fatigue.
It says here in the Greek.
This word labor means to feel fatigue, to work hard, and hast not fainted.
Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love.
Say first love.
This is a key word, Joe, to underline it.
Here he's bragged on them.
They want to keep a holy church.
They want to do things right.
They're patient.
They're faithful.
But it says, Nevertheless, I have something against thee because thou hast left thy first love.
Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, where you came from, where you fell back from, and repent and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee.
It says quickly.
And I hate to say these things to you because I know it just bothers people so severely.
But that word quickly is not in the original transcripts.
That word was added by King James and his translators, so it's not important anyway.
Just leave it out.
It says, I will come unto thee, period.
And quickly is fine.
You know, that's a word that's used a lot in the book of Revelation.
He's going to come quickly.
When it starts happening, it's going to happen quickly.
But anyhow, I will come unto thee and will remove thy candlestick out of his place except thou repent.
Those are pretty tough words.
That doesn't kind of stack up with some of your theology today.
I mean, I'm a little concerned because a lot of people believe if you somehow have said a prayer that you're saved and everything's okay.
I'm not sure.
Boy, I sure would like to go into some depth of teaching on salvation.
Because I think, personally, a lot of people who have said prayers have never been born again.
Because you must make Jesus Christ Lord of your life.
He must be Lord.
You know, there's no scripture in the Bible that says, come and receive Jesus Christ as your Savior.
It's not in the Bible.
I tried to find it.
He is Savior.
But the number one name of Jesus is, say, Lord.
Lord, owner, master, possessor.
That's what he's talking about.
Not somebody who just says prayers.
You can walk down an aisle and say a prayer, and you haven't read the fine print of the book yet.
You haven't read this book.
And it's those who keep his commandments.
And here's what he is saying to us again.
And this is important.
And it says, nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, verse 4, because thou hast left thy first love.
Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen and repent, repent.
Turn back.
Change your mind and do the first works.
Or else I will come unto thee and will remove thy candlestick out of his place except thou repent.
Wow.
You know, as I was studying this here and I was studying, will remove, it also means to shake and destore.
And I think this is a message to the last day church today.
He is saying to you, if you don't get back to me, I am going to stir you up.
I am going to remove.
I'm going to shake you to death.
I'm going to shake you.
I'm going to stir you.
And it says, let's look at it quickly.
And I will come unto thee and will remove, stir thy candlestick, the church, out of, and this means the point whence action or motion proceeds from out of place, time, or cause.
So I wouldn't be a bit surprised if this doesn't mean that God is saying to this church, if you don't get back to where you're supposed to be, if you don't repent, if you don't go back and do your first works again, I am going to shake the church.
I'm going to shake it like it's never been shook before.
God spoke to me that I am not just some strange thing that happened in the body of Christ.
You may think I'm a strange thing, but God spoke to me that I was more like the John the Baptist of the shaking.
See, a lot of people think I took, you know, I'm supposed to be like the scapegoat that somehow my sins will help rid the whole church of all of its sin.
God says he's going to shake everything.
And he's warning this wonderful church.
I mean, they were a good church, this church at Ephesus.
But they were cold and they weren't close to Christ.
And he said, if you don't repent and get back to your first love, I'm going to have to shake you up.
Do you know I found the intimacy with Christ that I sought my whole life?
Do you know where I found it?
In prison?
It's where?
It's the valley where he restores your soul.
It's that intimacy that comes.
And we have such prosperity today, and we'll get to that when we get to the final church, which I believe is the final message to the church of this hour.
But all of this, I believe these whole seven, number of perfection, number of completion.
I believe this is a total message.
I mean, many Bible scholars break these churches down in the different eras of time in history, which is fine.
And I accept it partially, and it's not a bad thing.
But I'll tell you this, I believe this message, I believe the word of God is the message for the church today.
This whole book is God's will and God's word and truth is found in it as we study it in its totalness.
So here's what he's saying.
Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, repent, do thy first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick, the church, out of his place, except thou repent, to move back, to think differently, to turn away, to reconsider.
And they had cooled towards Jesus.
They had forsaken an intimacy with him.
And oh, as I've studied, I hope to teach some of Matthew 7 to you.
This intimacy is what he wants.
He tells the church people there in Matthew chapter 7.
You know, he says, you'll know them.
You'll know them by their fruit, not works.
See, this church has works.
And what's the fruit?
The fruit of the Spirit.
Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness.
And he said, when Jesus then said to them, I never knew you.
And these were people who would cast out devils.
These are people that did wonderful works, which is Deutemas in the Greek.
They did marvelous miracles and great preaching and all the things that they did wonderful works and all these things.
He went right on the line and said, we cast out devils in Jesus' name.
We did miracles in Jesus' name.
We did all these things.
We prophesied even in Jesus' name.
And what does Jesus say to them?
I never knew you.
Depart from me.
What is this about?
Jesus knew them.
Jesus knows everybody, right?
He knows.
That's why you have to study the word of God.
So you look that word no up in the Greek, and that word no is not perceived with the sight.
That's what Peter said.
The word no with the eyesight is when Peter says, I never knew Jesus.
I don't know the man.
But the word here that is used there in Matthew 7 is the same Greek word that Mary used when she said, I've never known a man.
Meaning, I never had marriage relationship with a man.
I never had intimacy with a man.
I never had an intimate relationship.
So what was Jesus saying in Matthew 7 to those who cast out devils in his name, prophesied in his name, did wonderful works in his name?
He says, this is what Jesus is saying to them.
You never had an intimacy with me.
You never had an intimate relationship with me.
You are just working in the flesh.
You had a gift and you function in that gift, but you weren't intimate with me.
And what is he saying here to the church at Ephesus?
He's saying, I want you to do your first works.
I want you to be in love with me.
And that's what God's looking for in the last days.
And that's the kind of church I believe we're going to have.
And I think it's going to take some shaking to bring us to our knees.
The Anointing Misunderstood 00:03:44
Because when I heard the statistics today, brand new statistics, 90% of the boys in our churches, 80-some percent of the girls, have sex before marriage by the time they're 18.
We have a higher divorce rate in the church.
Jesus said, I'm going to have to shake the church.
I'll have to remove or store your church out of its place except thou repent.
A church can be big.
A church can be what we call successful without intimacy with Christ.
We can have music that will tingle our spines until we just feel like, boy, that's the anointing.
No, that's soul.
That's soullish.
A lot of what we call the anointing today is soullish.
You can hear country music here if you love country music and it'll, boy, they can play it until you just tingle if you love that kind of music.
You can go to a rock concert and go out of your mind.
That's not the anointing.
You can go to church and they can roll Leslie on a hamming organ and make it sound, boy, that's the anointing.
Man, I've seen the devil play hamming organs in church.
People filled with the devil.
I've seen people play instruments that I'm telling you, they go backstage and they live like the devil.
I've seen people sing like angels and live like demons.
And we say, oh, isn't that the anointing?
No, it's not the anointing.
We don't even know what the anointing is.
God wants an intimacy with you.
Oh, we want the glory of God.
I want to tell you the glory of God sometimes comes when you're sacrificing something on an altar.
The glory of God may have to come when you're being stoned to death, like a young man in the Bible.
You ought to look that up sometime and see where the glory of God comes.
We think it comes with music and shouting.
But they had cooled towards Christ.
And God says, I'm going to have to put you out of business if you don't repent.
We're living in a scary hour, folks.
Verse 6 of chapter 2 of the book of Revelation.
But this thou hast, that thou hatest, detest the deeds of the Nicolasians, which I also hate.
This was a sect from Nicholas.
I believe it came from Nicholas.
And they taught impure doctrine.
They followed impure practices.
And Nicholas was one of the seven deacons mentioned in Acts 6:5.
You know, people can be in the church and have false doctrine.
Motivational Teaching Gone Wrong 00:03:36
I can't even say the Nicolothedians.
I can't even say it.
My tongue won't work around it very good.
But they taught that adultery and fornication was okay.
They taught that eating meats given to idols was okay and lawful.
And they mixed pagan rites with the scriptures, with Christian ceremonies.
And this is what we're doing in the church today, people.
We have brought the world into the church and we've mixed it all up.
We have taken motivational teaching and mixed it with the Bible today.
Most of what you hear today being taught in motivation and prosperity is a doctrine that comes from motivational teachers.
And it's teaching that tells you, oh, you're good.
You're wonderful.
You're powerful.
You're a person of greatness.
And somehow you are to be arrogant and you're to be proud and you're to be able to take control of your life and all of these things that are in the motivational teaching.
Think and grow rich.
So, you know, one man, great famous man, wrote a book called Think and Grow Rich.
And so we take the scripture then, as a man thinketh in his heart, so that he'll be.
And we mix them together.
And we're teaching people to literally swagger.
I mean, just walk around and say, boy, we are so awesome.
We are so wonderful.
And yet it's opposite of the gospel.
The gospel said, unless we humble ourselves, even become as little children, we're not going to see the kingdom of God.
He tells us that he will bring down the pride.
The thing God hates is pride.
Discord among the brethren.
Why, you listen to some of them teach today.
They'll say, oh, don't hang out with losers.
Don't hang out with people who aren't successful.
Only hang out with successful people.
I know Christian groups, I'm telling you, you can't even go to visit in their home unless you reach a level of sales and a level of pyramid in their group structure.
And then you get to go to their home and they'll say, oh, don't hang out with people who are negative.
Don't hang out with those losers.
Don't hang out with poor people.
I'm telling you, then Jesus was wrong.
Jesus hung out with poor people.
He hung out with sinners.
He hung out with losers.
He hung out with liars.
He hung out with people who betrayed him.
We have another gospel being preached today.
And this is the warning that is coming to me through this message to the seven churches.
And this church was practicing the evil doctrines that had been brought in from pagan worship and just mixed in.
Eat From the Tree of Life 00:12:15
The Old Testament's filled with it.
The Old Testament is filled with the kings.
They wanted to flirt with and marry into the world and have the world's success and all.
And they mixed all that together.
And every king that did this failed.
The only kings that ever survived are the ones who burnt the idols.
They didn't just put them out in the dump.
Any guy who put them out in the dump and didn't burn them up, they were out picking them up later on.
I mean, God wants you to burn the idols.
He wants you to destroy the idols.
He that hath an ear, verse 7, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
He that overcometh, what does it mean, overcometh?
It means in the Greek to subdue sin.
He that subdues sin.
How are we going to stop it?
Just like we talked on our TV show today to the young people.
How are you going to avoid having sexual sin in this world where it is propagated in all the movies on television and it's the thing to do?
I'm telling you, you have to purpose in your mind.
I am not going there.
Like Smokey the Bear, don't give sin a place to start.
Don't give fire.
He says a place to start.
But don't give sin a place.
Sin is like a fire in your bones.
You have to make up your mind.
I am not going to sin.
I am not going there.
If Delilah comes to your door, don't answer it.
Send Jesus.
I'm telling you, you've got a purpose.
It says you've got to subdue sin.
You that overcome faith without works is dead.
You must act.
Young people today are listening to each other.
Oh, it's nothing wrong.
Everybody's doing it.
Well, I'll tell you, not everybody's going to heaven because the Bible says, narrow is the way to heaven, and few there be that find it.
You say, Jim, why would you teach a Bible class in a restaurant?
I could be out speaking to tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people in great Coliseums.
I've turned my back on all of it.
Why?
Because they want me to preach the old stuff.
They want me to preach how to get rich.
All the things.
I could go that same way and be rich and prosperous.
But I tell you, I would rather stick with a handful of people who want to hear the truth of God, that want to abide by the word of God, than live the life of prosperity and have the world's acclaim.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
To him that overcometh, subdued sin, will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
Listen to this.
Here we're hearing the tree of life in the book of Revelation.
Go back to the first book in the Bible, Genesis.
Genesis chapter 3, quickly as we get ready to close now.
Genesis 3:22.
And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us.
Did you notice that?
This is God the Father and God the Son, I believe, talking together.
Jesus was there at the beginning.
Nothing was made that wasn't made without Jesus.
And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil.
And now, lest he be, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever.
Therefore, the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken.
So he drove out the man and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life.
Wow.
Quickly, go to Revelations 22, verse 1.
We'll go back a little bit into the book quickly as we close.
And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
And in the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river was there the tree of life, which bare 12 manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month.
And the leaves of the trees were for the healing of the nations.
So there was the tree of life again.
We find the tree of life in the Garden of Eden for eternal life.
We find it up in heaven now on the bank of this great river.
Oh, we're going to have fun when we get down to some of this to study.
Revelation 22, 14.
Blessed are they that do his commandments, That they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city.
The tree of life, the tree of eternal life.
The right to eat of the tree of life symbolizes our entrance into that fellowship with God that existed before sin came into the world by the Garden of Eden.
We today have the privilege of one day.
He listens to what he says.
I close out with our final verse.
I figured we'd get to about three churches today, and we only got to one.
Verse 7: He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, to him that overcomes, him that subdues sin.
There is something to do.
I don't understand this.
People think you can somehow pray a prayer, and that's it.
You just don't do anything.
You just sort of drift along.
We have all these kids out living in sin, and they came to altars, they prayed sinners' prayers, and they're thinking somehow they can go along.
I'll tell you, these messages to the churches, the seven churches, are a warning, I believe, to this generation, to this church right now.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.
To him that overcometh, to him that subdues sin, I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
Oh, people, it's worth living for Christ.
It's worth the price to pay for intimacy with Christ.
Oh, to live with him forever, to eat of the tree of life, to have eternity.
Oh, people, today, I wish I could just say, you know, you can pray that simple prayer and everybody goes to heaven.
But I don't believe it.
I believe we have to mean it in our heart.
I believe we have to obey the word of the living God.
I believe we have to love him, to walk with him.
That's what he's saying to the churches.
So except they repent, except they repent, he says, I will remove thy candlestick out of place, except you repent.
Father, I pray in the name of Jesus.
Oh, God, as we reveal more and more, as you reveal it to us, and as we teach and we search your scriptures, Lord, Lord, the more I've studied these churches, God, the more I realize that you are a holy God.
And you ask holiness of us.
And you ask of us to be obedient and to forgive and to work and to overcome.
God, we are saved by grace.
But after we are saved, you have told us that we must be obedient.
That you ask us to be faithful and that you want an intimacy with us.
That we can walk with you, that we can talk with you.
As you told them in Matthew 7, who said, I've cast out demons in your name, Jesus.
I've prophesied in your name, Jesus.
I did wonderful works in your name, Jesus.
And you said to them, Depart.
I never knew you.
Oh God, may we never hear those words.
But God, this day I pray that we will hear the words.
Well done, my good and faithful servant.
Oh God, help us to turn.
Help us to repent.
Help us to be faithful.
Oh God, I pray.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
I want to thank you for being with us.
I pray that you don't think I'm going too long with each part, but I thought for sure I'd get to three churches today and only got to one church.
I've studied in depth on these churches and there's so much more to try to break it down into one-hour segments.
But we're going to learn so much.
And the exciting thing is, as we go along in the churches, you're going to realize some more points that are God points.
And as you start seeing a pattern, God doesn't change.
His words don't change.
His speech doesn't change.
And you'll recognize God in the Old Testament, in the New Testament.
You'll recognize God's ways.
And as we study this, we are going to see some awesome revelation as we find out where we're living now.
We're going to find out these four horsemen of the apocalypse.
We're going to learn about them.
And so I hope that you will keep coming back.
And we're just going to be here every Tuesday night for an hour's Bible study on the Revelation.
And as we get further into the last days, we'll have two-hour Bible studies because then people will want more time, but we'll do that later on.
But right now we'll have one hour.
And I know, I know God's going to reveal himself to you.
Take time to read Daniel.
Take time to read some of Ezekiel and start asking for revelation.
Read whole books at a sitting.
You read novels.
You know, if anybody can read this book of mine with 700 pages in it, you could sit down and read several books of the Bible at one setting even.
I did that in prison.
Revelation started to come when I spent time in the Word and that intimacy with Christ.
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