My Perseverance is Connected to the Church
Notes
Transcript
INTRODUCTION
Things COVID has made diff cult...
Education of children
2 Working Parents
Hospital Stays
Nursing Homes
Family Gatherings
Socializing
Traveling
Revelation 2:8-11
8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.
9 “ ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’
Smyrna:
Most beuatiful of Roman cities.
Birthplace of Homer- the poet (Illiad and Odyssey)
Smyrna named after it’s number one export= Myrrh- anesthetic and embalming fluid.
Started cult of Emperor Worship
Reason for persecution of Nero and Domitian- Christians refused.
Smyrna is encouraged to be faithful unto death.
No Reproach
Name of Jesus:
-First and Last- he started it all and will be here until the end. -- always with us.
-Dead and now alive- emphasizes death and resurrection because of persecution.
Christ went through persecution too -- You’re not alone.
John 15:18-20
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
5 Ways We Need Church During Difficult Days
1- So We Do Not Compromise
1- So We Do Not Compromise
Revelation 2:9
9 “ ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
They stood together to refuse to call Caesar Lord
Town of Emperor Cult- just pinch a little incense...
They were not employable.
Poverty= possessing absolutely nothing. - unlike poverty level in America
Poverty level in US still puts you in top 15% in the world.
Majority of those in Malawi Africa only have what they get from farming.
Many years they eat once every three days.
Christians in Smyrna refused to compromise and lost everything.
A small Compromise can’t be that bad…
What if 99% was good enough.
No phone service for 15 minutes each day.
1.7 million pieces of first class mail lost each day.
1.7 million pieces of first class mail lost each day.
35,000 newborn babies dropped by doctors or nurses each year.
200,000 people getting the wrong drug prescriptions each year.
unsafe drinking water three days a year.
Three misspelled words on the average page of type.
2 million people would die from food poisoning each year.
We cannot compromise. We stand together as a church upon God’s truth.
2- So We Invest in the Eternal
2- So We Invest in the Eternal
Revelation 2:9
9 “ ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
Invest in what moth and rust cannot destroy.
Matthew 6:19-21
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Earthly investments have risk and can only help you on this earth.
Spiritual investments last for eternity.
2 Corinthians 8:9
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
3- So We Stand for Truth
3- So We Stand for Truth
Revelation 2:9-10
9 “ ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Synagogue of Satan
Jews refused to claim the Christians (Therefore they were an illegal religion.)
Jews were exempt from emperor worship.
Christians were not exempt.
Jews are outside God’s will.
If you do not accept Christ you are outside God’s will.
Cannot be born into the faith.
Through the local church we stand for truth.
United by our faith in Jesus as Lord.
Church is made up of baptized believers. - Those who have chosen to follow Christ.
4- So We Persevere
4- So We Persevere
Revelation 2:10-11
10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’
A persecuted church is always a strong church.
Smyrna was given no condemnation by Jesus.
Time ticks slow when we are going through tough times.
12 months ago this last week I was skiing with a group of pastors.
It feels like 3 years ago.
How do we get through these difficult days?
vs 10 “Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer.”
God is in control.
He knows the plans of Satan.
Don’t be afraid.
Fear is opposite of faith, not courage. Courage comes from ourselves. Faith is in God.
It won’t be long
“10 Days”= symbolic for a brief time.
Daniel 1:12-15
12 “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.
13 Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.”
14 So he listened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days.
15 At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food.
Running- you don’t think about the current struggle- you think of finish line.
5- So We Have Hope
5- So We Have Hope
Revelation 2:10-11
10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’
Hope= confident assurance that God will complete what he has started.
Always looks to the future.
Keeps eyes on the reward.
The Prize
Crown of Life= Crown was reward in summer games (first Olympics)
Life= eternal life
John 3:16
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 4:14
14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
We are the overcomers. (11)
Guaranteed Victory
James 1:2-4
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
1 John 5:4-5
4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
“not hurt by second death”
First death is physical.
Hebrews 9:27
27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,
Second death is spiritual
Revelation 20:11-15
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.
12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.
14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
We have hope because of Jesus.
Lamb’s book of life.
Those who have put their faith in Jesus.
CONCLUSION
How do we go through trials?
We go through them together looking to Jesus.
Hebrews 12:1-2
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Are you an overcomer? Is your name listed in the Lamb’s Book of Life.