Rev 3:14-22
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You know, a lot of people try to fake it till they make it. They try to give the impression that they're one way when they're not that way. They're not being authentic.
You know, a lot of people try to fake it till they make it. They try to give the impression that they're one way when they're not that way. They're not being authentic.
Yeshua challenges the Messianic Synagogue at Laodicea to authenticity, to no longer fake the religious thing, but to be really committed disciples. This was the lukewarm messianic synagogue that needed an in your face challenge from the Savior, and that's exactly what they got, so that's exactly what we're going to try to give in today's message.
Jesus challenges the church at Laodicea to authenticity, to no longer faking the Christian thing, but to be really Christian. This was the lukewarm church that needed an in your face challenge from the Savior, and that's exactly what they got, so that's exactly what we're going to try to give in today's message.
Ha-foke Bah
Ha-foke-bah
To the angel of Messiah’s community in Laodicea write: “Thus says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Originator of God’s creation:
I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. Oh, that you were either cold or hot!
So because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spew you out of My mouth.
For you say, ‘I am rich, I have made myself wealthy, and I need nothing.’ But you do not know that you are miserable and pitiable and poor and blind and naked.
I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white clothes so that you may dress yourself and so the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed, and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore, be zealous and repent.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
To the one who overcomes I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I myself overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Ruach is saying to Messiah’s communities.”
Our final messianic synagogue is the Laodicea Messianic Synagogue . Laodicea was a wealthy city known for three things. Some miles southeast of Philadelphia, our last city and last church, Laodicea was known for its finance industry, its banking industry. It would be akin to our common day Wall Street.
Our final messianic synagogue is the Laodicea Messianic Synagogue . Laodicea was a wealthy city known for three things. Some miles southeast of Philadelphia, our last city and last church, Laodicea was known for its finance industry, its banking industry. It would be akin to our common day Wall Street.
It was a very wealthy place to live, work, and raise a family. It was also known for its fashion industry. In New York, you would call it the fashion district, where they made fancy clothes that would go out to the retailers to sell to the general public.
Not only was it a financial district and a fashion district, but the city of Laodicea was a pharmaceutical district. It was known for its medical industry, particularly when it came to eye diseases. It was specializing in this salve for the eyes to improve the sight of those struggling with seeing.
That is why you will see these three areas, finance, fashion, and pharmaceuticals, referred to in Revelation chapter 3, verses 14 to the end of the chapter. Yeshua, as he does in each one of these churches, introduces himself as he wants you to see him now.
And he says in
To the angel of Messiah’s community in Laodicea write: “Thus says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Originator of God’s creation:
To the angel of Messiah’s community in Laodicea write: “Thus says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Originator of God’s creation:
So, before he gets into what he wants to say, he wants you to know who's doing the talking. He says to the messianic synagogue at Laodicea and our congregation today, "I am the amen." Amen means so be it, it is so, that’s the way it is. Can't you hear? Amen means the final word on the subject.
So, before he gets into what he wants to say, he wants you to know who's doing the talking. He says to the church at Laodicea and our church today, "I am the amen." Amen means so be it, it is so, that’s the way it is. Can't you hear? Amen means the final word on the subject.
So, when Jesus says, "Listen because the amen is talking," he's basically saying, "I don’t care what anybody else said to you. I don’t care what other folk told you. I don’t even care what you're telling yourself. I am the AMEN. I am the faithful and true witness. So, I'm going to give you the testimony."
A witness is a testimony. "And whatever I tell you is going to be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God. Something you need to say AMEN to." And you'll see in a moment why he defines himself this way.
He says, "I am the beginning of the creation of God." Now, if you're the beginning of the creation, that means you existed before the creation that you began. So, Yeshua the Messiah declares himself to be the pre-creation, existing prior to creation. That is because he has always existed as the second member of the triune Godhead. And the one who's responsible for how history operates.
So, what he's saying before he ever gets into what he is saying is, "Pay close attention 'cause I know what I'm talking about. I am the AMEN, I am the final testimony and witness, and I am the one who existed prior to you even being here." Having established himself to the messianic synagogue at Laodicea, he now makes his complaint, his condemnation.
He says in verse
I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. Oh, that you were either cold or hot! So because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spew you out of My mouth.
I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. Oh, that you were either cold or hot! So because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spew you out of My mouth.
He addresses the problem at Laodicea Messianic Synagogue of lukewarmness. You are lukewarm. Now, to understand why he is saying this, you have to understand Laodicea's unique location.
Then I saw another great and wonderful sign in heaven: seven angels who have seven plagues—the last ones, for with them God’s wrath is finished.
And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had overcome the beast and his image and the number of his name standing by the sea of glass, holding the harps of God.
And they are singing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and wonderful are Your deeds, Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations!
Who shall not fear and glorify Your name, O Lord? For You alone are Holy. All the nations shall come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed!”
After these things I looked, and the Temple of the Tent of Witness in heaven was opened.
Out of the Temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, dressed in pure bright linen and wearing wide gold sashes around their chests.
Then one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever.
And the Temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power. No one was able to enter the Temple until the seven angels’ seven plagues were finished.
I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. Oh, that you were either cold or hot!
He addresses the problem at Laodicea Bible Fellowship of lukewarmness. You are lukewarm. Now, to understand why he is saying this, you have to understand Laodicea's unique location.
On one side of Laodicea the city was Hierapolis, which was akin to Hot Springs, Arkansas. If you’ve ever been to Hot Springs, Arkansas, you know the heated water that comes up from the earth, the steam that shows up because of the heat, and that water is used for healing and refreshing. Hierapolis was the Hot Springs, Arkansas of the day, and that hot water flowed down to Laodicea. Unlike Arkansas the Hot Springs of Hierapolis were said to have healing properties.
But on the other side of Laodicea was the city of Colossae, where we get the book Colossians, and cold water came down from the mountains into Colossia. Those cold waters were refreshing. The kind of refreshing cold waters like we have up in Austin in the rivers. The kind of cold that chills you when you step in because of the Texas summer heart but once you are in, you don’t want to come out.
When the hot water came down from Hierapolis and the cold water came down from Colossae, they met at Laodicea.
And when the hot and cold water met, the water now became lukewarm when it reached Laodicea. So, Yeshua the Messiah uses this geographical reality to express a spiritual reality operating at Laodicea Messianic Synagogue.
He says, "You are neither hot nor cold." Yeshua writes this church through its pastor and he says, "You tell them I know about them. They are neither hot, they don’t offering healing to anyone. They're not cold, they don’t refresh anyone. They are lukewarm." In other words, they are unacceptable, of no real use to anyone in this world. They don’t bind up the wounded and they don’t refresh the weary.
Yeshua says I would like a Messianic Synagogue that can heal and one that can refresh at the same time but if I can’t have that I would at least like you to be one or the other. But you are neither and I don’t want lukewarm.
He says their lukewarmness, that is their stagnant spiritual state, their in-between Messianic commitment, their mixture that has made them unusable, unspiritual, is unacceptable.
How unacceptable is it Yeshua? "I want to spew them out of my mouth."
So because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spew you out of My mouth.
Notice they “are” currently lukewarm. I am sure no one thought this of themself. We never do, do we. He says because you are currently lukewarm, he uses a rather vulgar expression that has been tamed down in the TLV. The phrase "to spew out of the mouth" means to vomit chunks. So, it's possible to be a church that makes Yeshua just sick to his stomach, disgusting to the taste.
We watch this show on Netflix called “Nailed It.” Amateurs like me trying to make professional level cakes based on Instagram recipes, ha, ha. One guy read the ingredients wrong and put two cups of salt instead of two cups of sugar. When the judge put the cake in her mouth, it took two seconds and she began gagging and it spewed out on the floor.
Yeshua says, “your ingredients, your lukewarkness” makes me sick like that.
What was it exactly about the Laodicea Messianic Synagogue that made Yeshua sick? Here's what Jesus says was the problem.
For you say, ‘I am rich, I have made myself wealthy, and I need nothing.’ But you do not know that you are miserable and pitiable and poor and blind and naked.
For you say, ‘I am rich, I have made myself wealthy, and I need nothing.’ But you do not know that you are miserable and pitiable and poor and blind and naked.
He says, "I have a problem with how you view yourself. You say, 'I am rich, I am self-sufficient.'" They were measuring the spiritual by the physical. Let me say that again. They were measuring the spiritual by how things looked in the physical. The fact is the physical and the more of it you have camouflages the spiritual. He says, "Let me tell you what you really are."
Verse 17, "Because you say, 'I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing.'"
For you say, ‘I am rich, I have made myself wealthy, and I need nothing.’ But you do not know that you are miserable and pitiable and poor and blind and naked.
For you say, ‘I am rich, I have made myself wealthy, and I need nothing.’ But you do not know that you are miserable and pitiable and poor and blind and naked.
He says, "I have a problem with how you view yourself. You say, 'I am rich, I am self-sufficient.'" They were measuring the spiritual by the physical. Let me say that again. They were measuring the spiritual by how things looked in the physical. The fact is the physical and the more of it you have camouflages the spiritual. He says, "Let me tell you what you really are."
Second half of verse 17, "You do not know you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." The worst thing in the world is to believe folk in your ears who are lying to you and not telling you the truth.
Second half of verse 17, "You do not know you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." The worst thing in the world is to believe folk in your ears who are lying to you and not telling you the truth.
Second half of verse 17, "You do not know you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." The worst thing in the world is to believe folk in your ears who are lying to you and not telling you the truth.
Yeshua says, "I don’t play those games. I'm going to tell you what I see, and what I see is not good. I see you playing religion as lukewarm Messianic Jews and Gentiles. You coming to fellowship, you part of Laodicea Messianic Synagogue, but you're playing games with this thing. You're not--you're not committed to me. You're not dedicated to me. What you're doing is coming to show time at the church."
What do you want me to do Lord? He tells us what to do.
I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white clothes so that you may dress yourself and so the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed, and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
He is going to give us some advice: Buy gold because it is a gold district, clothes because it is a fashion district....and eye salve because it is a pharmaceutical district.
I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white clothes so that you may dress yourself and so the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed, and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
He is going to give us some advice: Buy gold because it is a gold district, clothes because it is a fashion district....and eye salve because it is a pharmaceutical district.
Guess what I want to do? Make you truly rich but the only way you can get any of it is to buy from me. I am the only who can truly give you what you truly need to be authentically who you are meant to be all this other stuff is making you lukewarm.
Guess what I want to do? Make you truly rich but the only way you can get any of it is to buy from me. I am the only who can truly give you what you truly need to be authentically who you are meant to be all this other stuff is making you lukewarm.
They did not want the spiritual treasure they wanted the world’s treasures. They did not want Kingdom status they wanted the World’s status.
Yeshua says, “I can’t do anything with you if you are like this.” He says I got some advice. Listen to me, when Yeshua says he has some advice he would like to give you. Umm, I would think this is more than just “here is my opinion, take it or leave it.”
No, he is saying, “We need to have a consultation and just in case you forgot who I am, I am “the Amen” so we are going to need to have some “amening” going on and the faithful and true witness” and by the way if you are thinking of judging my credibility “I am Lord of all of History!”
Noah bought gold from me, Noah got some new clothes from me, Noah got some eye salve from me and guess what, he built an arc and he and his family was spared. Everyone else, thought “I am okay. I don’t need anything.”
Solomon bought gold from me, got some new clothes from me, got eye salve from me and I gave him wisdom to build the greatest Kingdom. But his head got big, his pockets got fat, his bedroom got full, his kingdom got large and he thought he needed nothing. But, he thought my gold was of no value, thought my clothes not splendid enough, thought my eye salve not healing. I had to discipline the lad, the boy, the King so he and my people would learn that the glory is not the Temple but the One whose footstool is the Temple, the wealth is not this dusty Kingdom but the Kingdom to come.
Isaiah bought gold from me, got some new clothes from me, got eye salve from me and I gave Him visions of the throne, oracles about the Messiah, told him “how beautiful are the feet who bring good news.” He never stopped coming to me and I never stopped supplying for Him. But Israel and the World did not want my goods and that is why Isaiah shouted, “Who has believed our report? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
He says, so, as the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Lord of Creation, we need to have a meeting to discuss your future and how you plan to get further on down the road.
He says, I want to make you truly rich. I am the only who can you what you truly need to be rich. You got to get this from me. Not from the Television, not from the Pundits. Therefore
Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore, be zealous and repent.
I am going to bring some discipline into your life to let you know that all that stuff the world is telling you makes you important, gives you status, makes you have special influence is not going to cut it.
I am going to bring some discipline into your life until I get your undivided attention. You see, we know he is quoting
My son, never despise Adonai’s discipline or dread His correction. For Adonai loves those He reproves, even as a father, the son in whom he delights.
But he is referring to the story of David’s first bringing up of the ark when he says
Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore, be zealous and repent.
“be zealous and repent. “ Remember, the first time they brought up the ark it says that the oxen stumbled they thought the ark might come loose and and Uzziah reached out and touched the ark with his hand and
Then the anger of Adonai was kindled against Uzzah. God struck him down there for his irreverence, so that he died there beside the ark of God.
Uzziah did not think that God could take care of himself. He thought he was God’s supporter and not his. Uzziah and the boys were playing religion. They were careless in their approach to Jerusalem and careless in their heart. But, David repented of this spiritual poverty, nakedness and blindness and he zealously repented and it says:
Then it was reported to King David saying, “Adonai has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought the ark of God up from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with joy. Now when the bearers of the ark of Adonai had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. Meanwhile, David was dancing before Adonai with all his might while he was wearing a linen ephod. So David and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of Adonai with shouting and with the sound of the shofar.
The first time they only had 30,000 men, now everyone is in attendance. Before it was a show, now it was worship. Before it was wretched now it was a celebration, joy, praise, and worship.
That is what it looks like when we
Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore, be zealous and repent.
He says, “I am not doing this because I am mean or because I hate you.” He says, “I am doing this because I love you and I don’t want to vomit you out of my mouth.”
He says, “I am not doing this because I am mean or because I hate you.” He says, “I am doing this because I love you and I don’t want to vomit you out of my mouth.”
Just like he needed to discipline David, he is doing it not because he hates you but because he loves you.
So what do we do. Do we dance like David? Shofar? Watch this
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
He says, “I am knocking.” He is at the door of Laodicea Messianic Fellowship knocking. Do you get it. He is outside the doors of Laodicea Messianic Fellowship. You are not following me.
They are in there doing liturgy, some davidic dancing, reading Hebrew, preaching and he is not even a part of the service. You can be doing “synagogue” and he not even be present.
What keeps him out of the sanctuary, this is scary, is lukewarmness. Believers who are not all in. Believers who don’t care to heal nor do they care to refresh. They just came to get their worship on, get their praise on, get their sermon on.
It’s not the style of their music or whether they are or are not keeping all the dietary laws or feasts it is their lukewarmness that is keeping them out. He is knocking on the door of the lukewarm who just want some religion to make them feel good about themselves but do not want the Amen, the Witness, the Lord of History. They want to feel good about themselves but they don’t want to submit to a Lord.
Yeshua is saying, “Do you mind if I come to synagogue today?” He goes on to say
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
“if anyone hears my voice..”
He says, “does anybody inside of their hear me?” I know you are making lots of noise in their but I am out here “do you hear me?” Notice he goes from corporate to individual “anyone.”
How do you know if you are hearing him knocking on the door?
I am just guessing you would like to know that information. Why miss it? You want to know how you know? If you feel convicted right now, you know that feeling like either I don’t want to make eye-contact or I am not going to break eye-contact because I know this is me. You feel that conviction, that sense of your beating a little louder, a little faster. “Knock, Knock, Knock...”
You feel this tug of Yeshua on your heart and he is saying to you, “You are playing games with me. You got one foot in and one foot out. You sold out. You are not hear for me, you are hear to make yourself feel good about you. You know there is not a full committment to me.”
You are squirming on the inside. That is a knock. He says
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
“if anyone hears my voice.” He says the door knob is on the inside. You are going to have to open this door, I am not going to push it open for you. I am not going to be pushy, I am not going to try sweet talk you out of your blindness.”
This is a by “invitation only.” If you don’t want him, you can have life without him. He is not going to force himself on you. He operates by invitation only. You must welcome him, He does not go where he is not wanted in a corporate body or individual.
Let me tell something about the invitation. The knock on the door is the disturbance in my heart that I am blind, I am naked, and I am poor spiritually.
The reason why he wants to be invited in is because he wants to help you with the clean-up. He knows your life is a mess right now some of it was his discipline. You thought it was just a series of unfortunate events, nope, it was not. He knows.
He does not want any more faking. He already knows how phony you are right now. Yeshua sees the real reel not just the highlight reel you show everyone else.
Watch this he says, “I want to dine with you, you with me.” Dining means “fellowship.” It is like when you say, “Let’s have lunch together.” You don’t mean lets just eat food together, you want fellowship, belonging, relationship.
He already knows the reality, He still wants to be part of the clean-up. He says, “Invite me in. Come on. Bring me in and I will take you to a deeper spiritual reality with me then you have ever known before.”
It is about spiritual intimacy. All that other stuff is extra but it is not who we are. Thank God for it but it is not me. Praise God for it but it does not define me. It is just a means, a facility it is not who I am. Who I am is a disciple of Yeshua. I am defined by the Messiah and my intimacy with him.
Maybe talk about: People thought when I was pushed out of this large messianic congregation that I worked at, that I was just going to fall apart, implode, go off the reservation. Here is what they did not know about me, “I never cared about the stuff, I cared only about the calling Yeshua put on my life.” That is why I just will not go away because I don’t care if I have audience of 1 or 10 or 500, my greatest desire is for his “yes” to be my “yes” and his “no” to be my “no.” I have learned to be content with little or much because that is just stuff, I want HIM not the stuff. Look what he says
To the one who overcomes I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I myself overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
To the one who overcomes I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I myself overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
What did Yeshua have to overcome that we have to overcome?
Do you remember the temptations of the Devil in the wilderness? His whole aim was to operate independently of God the Father.
Remember, He was hungry and the devil says “Hey you can turn these stones here to bread just do that and you will not be hungry anymore.” There is nothing wrong with bread, nothing wrong with food but when the devil is offering it to you it “Devil’s Food Cake” and not God’s. When the Devil is providing food, watch out. Yeshua basically says, “There is nothing wrong with eating food but the food you are offering I will not eat.
Oh okay, “Do your superman thing and jump from the Temple. Come on angles will lift you up, everyone will see it, they will know you are God’s Son, there will not be 2000 years of debate over your identity, Israel will welcome you as King: just jump and you can skip the cross and go right to the crown.”
But the Father had already said: you got a cross before a crown.
Then he took him to the mountain and said, “Let me open your eyes and who you how much power I got. All these kingdoms they are mine and I can give it you.” Yeshua just says, “Be gone devil, my allegiance, my treasure, my wealth, my kingdom is not of this world. My eyes are open and I see the glory of my father not the dust of your world.”
He says I Yeshua refused to be divided from the will of the Father. Yeshua overcame and in the same way we have to overcome. He is after us in the same way to divide us from the will of the Father. Yeshua was hungry, he was tired before the cross but he had to struggle like we have to struggle. Yeshua overcame.
To the one who overcomes I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I myself overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
To the one who overcomes I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I myself overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
Rev 3:2
Let’s stop playing around with religion. Let’s stop playing around and lets get all in. Make a decision, be all in. Be hot, heal someone else. Be cold, refresh someone else be both just repent and be all in. That does not mean we are perfect. It means we repent when he revelas our imperfection so we can get back on the road.
He is knocking to heal us. Because he knows what you don’t know. He knows that you are eating at the table but he knows you are sinking your teeth into Devils’ food. He wants you to spit that junk out and eat the food he is going to give you.
When you do this he says, “You will overcome and sit with him on His throne.” Oh that throne. Do you remember when Yeshua took the throne? Do you remember his coronation ceremony, it was a cross where he healed the world and refreshed us with His Spirit.
Conclusion
When I was working as an assistant coach last season for my son’s baseball team one of the little boys was very impressed with his own skills. Now, this boy was good but he was no Yordan Alvarez nor a Justin Verlander but he thought he was.
One practice he came out and talked so much smack. Commented about how he was better than that 3rd base man, better than that pitcher, better than that batter. He was better, better, better. He told the other players that he was better.
So me and the head coach told him, “You are no good to the team when you are so full of yourself.” He said, “but I am better.” We said, “Take a seat. Your benched for the next game.”
Boy was he mad. His momma was mad. Stormed off the field. Left in a huff screaming “that is unfair, unfair, unfair” and “you suck.” You know what we did, “stood there and smiled,” and said, “when you change your attitude there is place for you to play, behold I stand at the bench and knock, knock, knock.”
Next practice with his head bowed a little lower, eyes not raised so high he apologized to players and the coaches. We sat him down the next game as we said we were going to but he was still part of the team and we played him after that.
Maybe right now you are not all in, maybe you have been ignoring the knocking at the door of your heart. That does not mean you are not part of the team. You are still on the team but if you don’t repent you will not experience all that Yeshua has for your life. If you will not align yourself with Him, he just will sit you down on the bench during game time while he raises up other players. Yes, you will go to heaven but you will not experience the life you really want, the purpose you want, the rewards that are truly eternal that you want.
Or, today, like that little baseball player you drop the act, drop the attitude, realize that he is talking to you today about your spiritual poverty, nakedness and blindness and go to him and change and get back in the game.
All the letters end the same way:
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Ruach is saying to Messiah’s communities.”
All seven are saying the same thing: you can sit this thing out, this is a mess of your own making but if you will drop the act, drop the lack of love, drop the lack of discipline in your spiritual life, stop being apathetic about right and wrong and the need for sound biblical doctrine, if you will just drop this fake and phony act, we can get on with the game.