My Power is Connected to the Church
Notes
Transcript
My Power is Connected to the Church
Introduction
Grandpa’s farm- pond with green slime- closed system.
Dead Sea= no life- closed system.
Laodicea was a church in a closed system. - Didn’t allow Holy Spirit to refresh.
City: wealthy- manufactured eye salve and glossy black wool cloth.
Revelation 3:14-22
14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.
15 “ ‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!
16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.
17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.
19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”
Jesus: AMEN= God= Truth- true because He is faithful and true Witness.
he is telling church the truth of its spiritual condition.
Church was blind to its own needs.
Unwilling to see the truth- they were fine and ready to fight anyone who didn’t agree.
“beginning of God’s creation”= origin of creation, not part of it.
4 Needs of the Church
1- Power (15-16)
1- Power (15-16)
Revelation 3:15-16
15 “ ‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!
16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.
3 Spiritual Temperatures
Burning Heart
Luke 24:32
32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”
Cold Heart
Matthew 24:12
12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.
Lukewarm Heart
Comfortable and complacent
At least cold can be felt.
ILL- City had spent lots of money building aqueducts.
hot water from Hieropolis
Cold water from Colossae
So far away that Laodicea only received lukewarm water.
ILL- Hot coffee and iced tea.
Waitress has to keep adding hot or cold.
2nd Law of Thermodynamics
A “closed system” eventually moderates so that no more energy is being produced.
Without fuel hot becomes warm/
without electricity refrigerator gets warm.
A church must not become a closed system.
John 15:5
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Laodicea church was independent, self-satisfied, and secure.
Didn’t need anything.
Yet, spiritually dead.
Wealth and great statistics do not prove life.
Jesus was outside trying to get in.
A church must have God’s power.
2- Eternal Values (17-18a)
2- Eternal Values (17-18a)
Revelation 3:17-18
17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.
Smyrna thought itself poor when it was rich.
Laodicea boasted about being rich when they were poor.
They used wrong standard of measurement.
Human standards
Attendance, finances, structure.
Laodicea was a banking city.
Spirit of marketplace crept into church.
The church is not a business- it’s a ministry.
Measure lives changed not money in bank.
Impressive statistics didn’t keep Jesus from wanting to vomit.
Solution= value eternal investments over wordly investments.
“gold tried in the fire”= that which survives for eternity.
1 Corinthians 3:12-15
12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—
13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.
15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
A church must value eternal over temporal.
3- Sight (18b)
3- Sight (18b)
Revelation 3:18
18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.
Blind to their own condition
Reality- proud church about to be rejected.
2 Peter 1:5-9
5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,
6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,
7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.
See your own failures
Stops you from judging others.
ILL- My contacts.
Choice- see perfectly at a distance and use readers or sacrifice distance so I can see up close.
Blind to other’s condition
Church was so worried looking at self that they couldn’t see others.
See others the way Jesus sees them.
Solution: Use spiritual eyes by applying heavenly eye-salve.
Laodicea was known for manufacturing eye salve.
It takes spiritual to fix spiritual problems.
A church must see the way God sees.
4- Righteousness (17-19)
4- Righteousness (17-19)
Revelation 3:17
17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
Saw self clothed in splendor- yet really naked!
Naked= defeated and humiliated
Our own righteousness is filth.
Isaiah 64:6
6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
They needed God’s righteousness for clothing- not own righteousness.
Sanctification= process of allowing God’s righteousness to clothe us. He changes our character.
Justification leads to sanctification which leads to glorification.
Romans 6:22
22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
CONCLUSION
Revelation 3:19
19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
Discipline= not punishment. Discipline is out of love to help someone become better.
Zealous= stir up the fire- from coals to flame -- GET HOT!!!
Repent= surrender to Jesus. Give up!
Revelation 3:20
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Jesus takes the initiative to come to us.
But he does not force himself into our lives.
Will you allow Jesus to take control of your life?
Will you allow Jesus to take control of your life?