Be Something

Review.

First Letter - Church in Ephesus - “Put your passion in it’s place.”

Second Letter - Church in Smyrna - “‘Who?’ Not ‘Why?’”

Third Letter - Church in Pergamum - “Win Within”

Fourth Letter - Church in Thatira - “NO Compromise”

Fifth Letter - Church in Sardis - “Perception”

Sith Letter- Church in Philadelphia - “Key Moves”

“We are finally here at the 7th letter. The last letter in our series…”

QUESTION- You ever experience something or someone that is very predictable? -You know what they are going to do based off who they are…

ILLUSTRATION- Instigating Matthew…

I love standing up here telling you who you are but I have to be real with you… Sometimes I’m not just telling you who you currently are I’m telling you who you could be…

POINT- God desires for you to be something, not anything, but something.

(NLT) — 14 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Laodicea. This is the message from the one who is the Amen—the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s new creation: 15 “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! 16 But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! 17 You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. 18 So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. 19 I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference. 20 “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. 21 Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne. 22 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.”

Laodicea was a city located in between Colossae and the springs at Hierapolis…

In the heart of Laodicea there was no direct access to water

In the heart of Laodicea there was no direct access to water so with complex aqueducts water was piped in from these two places. The water coming from Colossae was known for being very cold, the water coming from the hot springs at Hierapolis was known for being hot and at times boiling hot…

But for those who lived right in the middle between these two sources rarely expereince the extremes of temperature as the cold water warmed up from the sun and the hot water cooled down…

For those that lived on the extreme ends of the city would experience the extremes in the temperature…

KEY POINT- When you try to be balanced in your approach to following God’s plan for your life you will find yourself in a place where you are nothing.

KEY- Balance in most places of your life is good.

KEY- Balance in living for God is not balance it is compromise.

Is there a generation that would stand and say, I refuse to compromise…

CHALLENGE- Don’t compromise who you are!

POINT- Could you imagine if Jesus took a, “more balanced” approach to saving us??

MAIN POINT- God desires for you to be something, not anything but something.

Some people interpret this passage as be living for God or be living for the devil, but I believe that is not the correct interpretation… I don’t see a pattern of God saying go live for the Devil…

(NLT) — 15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”

(NLT) — 9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

This does not mean that God is alright with compromise, in fact he is calling compromise out many times throughout his whole word… I do not believe that the hot water is bad in this text, I also do not believe that the cold water is bad in this text…

KEY- The cold water on the far end of town of Laodicea was known for being refreshing… In fact people would travel far just to expereince how refreshing it was. (They didn’t have ice machines back then.)

KEY- The hot water on the other far end of town of Laodicea was known for healing purposes, it would relax muscles, people used it to bathe.

KEY POINT- Both the hot water and the cold water were good, because they both had purpose, the hot water was something and the cold water was something. God desires you to be something, not anything, something.

(NLT) — 15 “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other!

Is there anyone in CrossFire who would say I don’t want to get lukewarm, is there someone sitting here tonight who would say God I don’t want to loose my purpose!! I don’t want to forget about your word!

HOW DOES WATER WITH AN EXTREME GO TO BE LUKEWARM???

1. Water gets warm when you mix it.

POINT- When you mix up hot water and cold water you get warm water…

When you mix up God’s purpose for you life with the worlds purpose for your life you get a diluted meaningless combination…

education…

sports…

popularity…

When you mix up God’s values for mans values you get a convoluted corrupt system that can’t determine right for wrong.

When you mix up God’s word with your ideas you bring about confusion.

(NLT) — 24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

God looked at the church in Laodicea and said you are not hot nor cold…

KEY- The church had stopped being something.

(NLT) — 17 You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

KEY- Many people in the church were experiencing finical success, and they started to believe that they were self-sufficient. -They began compromising their values…

KEY- They stopped being real - they quit being honest with themselves… They saw their prosperity, but could not see their spiritual disparity.

“The people started to feel like they could get by without trusting God, so they were only receiving God’s word when it was convenient, or uplifting, or fun…”

POINT- Don’t just take God’s word when it feels convenient to you.

POINT- You can’t take God’s word in pieces.

(NLT) — 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

You can’t take his word in pieces… It is a light unto my path, I don’t need to navigate a portion of the path I need to get through the whole thing…

His word is like a sword… I can’t afford to be walking around with half a weapon in spiritual warfare…

KEY POINT- When you mix God’s word up with compromise you strip it of its power in your life. -This ultimately causes you to loose sight of your purpose.

KEY- It is likely that the church was so fixated on the church in Ephesus that they were forgetting their purpose.

2. Water gets warm when you let it sit.

(NLT) — 18 So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see.

KEY- The church was known for claiming they had great insight into God’s word, this is because at one point in time they did.

ILLUSTRATION- Talking with old friends who had service in this very room…

One day when you are thinking back on your “good times” in CrossFire will this just be the place where you USE to hear from God, will the be the place where you USE to feel his presence???

KEY POINT- You don’t want to get lukewarm, don’t just sit back and watch God move by, invest yourself in his presence!

(NLT) — 11 You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.

(NLT) — 13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.

BIB ILLUSTRATION- When God recomishened the preisthood of Joshua.

(NLT) — 3 Jeshua’s clothing was filthy as he stood there before the angel. 4 So the angel said to the others standing there, “Take off his filthy clothes.” And turning to Jeshua he said, “See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these fine new clothes.” 5 Then I said, “They should also place a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean priestly turban on his head and dressed him in new clothes while the angel of the Lord stood by.

I might be standing on the ruins of my past but if I invest myself into his presence, if I am clothed in his amazing grace, I have more than the riches of the whole world.

3. Water gets warm when its far from its source.

KEY- The water on the far ends of town still had remnants of where it came from, but the further it got from the source the more compromised it would become.

(NLT) — 20 “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.

When I was thinking about having these containers of water up here as an illustration I was thinking how am I going to keep the water hot/cold. I realized I would have to use a lot of ice in the one and we would have to wait some time before we could even put it in this container… If we put this back in the freezer this whole thing would turn ice cold… but it is far from the source of its coldness…

KEY- When you drift far from Christ you will get lukewarm.

POINT- Jesus desires for you to reconnect with the source thats why he stands at the door and knocks.

CONCLUSION…

You could be here and you are freezing cold, you are boiling hot, you could be here and say yes I am something, I’m not anything I am something…

But you might be here and say that’s great now I know how to not get lukewarm, but wonder if I already am…

POINT- It is not too late for you.

(NLT) — 16 But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!

The greek word for the phrase, “I will” is the word mello which means to be impending, about to, waiting to…

KEY- God has not rejected you

Stop the flow of compromise.

Invest yourself in his presence.

(NLT) — 32 They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”

When you are in his presence you can’t help but have things start to change.