Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Revelation 3:14-21 ~ Devon Every
The Revelation
11/7/06
Ch 3 - The Church of Laodicea
Anyone need a bible?
Opening
At a church meeting a very wealthy man rose to tell the rest of those present about his Christian faith.
"I'm a multi-millionaire," he said, "and I attribute it all to the rich blessings of God in my life. I remember that turning point in my faith. I had just earned my first dollar and I went to a church meeting that night. The speaker was a missionary who told about his work. I knew that I only had a dollar bill and had to either give it all to God's work or nothing at all. So at that moment I decided to give my whole dollar to God. I believe that God blessed that decision, and that is why I am such a rich man today."
He finished and there was an awed silence at his testimony as he proudly moved toward his seat. As he sat down a little old lady sitting in the same pew leaned over and said to him: "I dare you to do it again."
How crazy it sounds to give it all to God doesn’t it!
Into Myself –
Been doing ministry with Jeff & Lisa for about 4 years. It’s an honor to stand before you all today and share what God’s revealed to me through His Holy spirit about the church of Laodicea and it’s relevance to the world we live in today. I’m a strong believer in the power of prayer and the movement of the holy spirit living inside all those that have come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior so lets begin there. Please bow your heads…
Sincere prayer inviting the HS – May we Trust in advance that which will only fully make sense in reverse.
Reading Rev 3:14-22 – give people time to open their bibles.
Real letter written to a real church
Relevant to them then and to us today - Gods Truth is relevant in all things
READ - To the Church in Laodicea Rev 3:14-22
Laodicea - Wealthiest of the 7 church’s
· Banking
· Manufacturing of wool
· Med school that produced famous eye ointment
· We can identify with Laodicea very easily if we simply take a look around. Orange county is one of the most predominant area’s in the country and world today. We are world leaders in numerous industries including Finance, surf clothing and other fashion and have hospitals that people from all over the world come out to receive their care at. I drive by no less then 50 $100k+ cars on my way to work and someone who has a little extra change in their pocket is in the top 3% of the worlds wealth.
We are the Jones, everyone’s wishing they could keep up with us! Yes, God has blessed us with many comforts and no we don’t need to feel guilty about having them, but where does that put us in our Faith and Living a life that’s pleasing to God and is all that He would have for us?
That’s what we’re going to talk about tonight.
Tonight were going to discuss:
What being Lukewarm looks like?
What causes us to be Lukewarm?
What does Jesus call us to be?
14"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation.
· Jesus identifies himself as the God of Truth(Amen- it is so; so be it), faithful and true witness and ruler over all God’s creation.
· Jesus has identified himself to each Church in a personal way that’s meaningful to them. Jeff explained it in a very clear way last week by stating that I know Jeff and we are friends and he’s my pastor, Jeff knows his wife Lisa and they are best friends and he’s her husband, he’s one Jeff that’s a different person to each of us.
· So Jesus being different to each of us yet consistently the same in who He is, is completely relevant to each of us wherever we are at and in all situation.
In John 1:1-3 were told:
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
In the beginning- when everything was created, God’s Truth was present because God is Truth, and Jesus was present because Jesus is God and through Jesus all things were made. There is No greater authority on Gods Truth and being a faithful and true witness than Jesus, because that is who Jesus is.
Jesus is the God of Truth, He is a faithful and True witness and Ruler over all God’s creation. He is that to Laodicea and He is that to us today.
What is Lukewarm?
15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
-Who’s ever heard the scripture “and Christ told them to be mediocre in their faith”
-How about a pastor say “go be lukewarm for Christ”
Lukewarm means - Lacking conviction or enthusiasm; indifferent:
Lukewarm is the middle between a Yes and a No. It’s not Hot or Cold. It’s that life that is struggling to fully fit into both Christianity and the world we live in. It’s the statement that we love God and believe He created all things but are unwilling to give up some of our worldly things to have a closer relationship with Him.
It’s a life seeking Compromise!
It’s not speaking out to others about our relationship with Christ because we believe that we’ll be shunned by many for having said such an offensive thing.. We want the full love, peace and eternity of God but not to have to let go of any of the possible luxuries that the world offers to get it. We want our cake and to eat it to.
How can we accept that God is the creator of all things and in charge of all things and ruler of all things and then question our willingness to respond to what He asks of us.
In Deuteronomy 6:5-9 told,
5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
This is a life that glorifies Christ. That receives His blessing and lives in the Peace of God knowing that God’s in control and that the true goal is Salvation.
We are to Love God with all our heart, soul and strength – that doesn’t sound lukewarm.
In Rom 12- God tells us about love:
9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
God Wants more for us….Because He Loves us.
1 Cor 13 is a popular verse used at weddings it reads:
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
*We like to use this at weddings as a verse showing our commitment and the covenant were making to the other person, but what about our commitment and covenant to Jesus Christ? Do we treat our Faith like this? Do we treat our relationship with Jesus Christ and His calling on our life even as seriously and with and much conviction and enthusiasm as we would someone we are married to or even a best friend.
Let’s look at this another way- I like stories, they help me visualize things.
What If: you without knowing it had some daily habits you didn’t know were causing you to have a painful cancer that was eating away at you heart. You have felt this cancer and it’s pain for some time but finally came to find out your going to die in 1 year, and it’s certain….. Then I came to you and told you I loved you deeply and cared for you, then touched your heart and healed you completely, you felt the healing, the pain that you lived with so long was gone and peace like you’ve never know came over you.
What do you believe your response to me might be like?
Would you ask what you can do for me in return?
What if I explained to you what was causing the cancer and said that what I want in return is for you to give up the habits that were causing you all that pain and the cancer itself. Would that seem fair?
Consider that Christ’s given us everything? Shouldn’t our response be one of great joy and adoration in living a life that glorifies Him.
- But what about all the stuff around us?? The things He’s blessed us with in this country and our lives, how can these things be bad? Good News! They’re not, if put into the right context in your life!
What causes Lukewarm, what is this struggle?
17You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
Story of Gold –
There was a very rich man who was just about to die and he wanted to take some of his wealth with him. So he started negotiations with God about the matter. God was not sure as it had never been done before and he did not want to set a precedence. Finally after long talks God reluctantly agreed to allow him to bring his wealth to heaven.
Just a few days before he died the rich man converted all his money into gold bullion. He died and the funeral home made sure that the suitcases containing the gold bullion went with him. He arrived at the Pearly Gates with his suitcases and there was Peter. Peter told him he could not bring the suitcases into heaven. But the man said he had already spoken to God and he had said it was OK. So Peter got on the God phone and sure enough it was true. So Peter was curious as to what was so valuable that the man wanted to bring it into heaven. Peter said, "Could I look in the suitcases?"
So the man opened the suitcases and Peter exclaimed, "Why are you bringing pavement to heaven!"
IN Rev 21 Jesus tells us He’s paved the street of heaven with gold,
And in Rom 1 were told that since sin began people have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever to be praised.
Yet the world consistently worships His creation here on earth and looks past the creator. The story above seems so far fetched yet our history has proven time and again that men have tried to take their worldly possessions with them upon death or consistently worshiped them above the creator himself.
Remember my first story - Can anyone think of a circumstance in which our society would understand the man in our first story actually acting on the ladies prompting and giving all his money back to a mission or church because he felt led by God to do so? They would try to lock him up.
Yet in Luke 16:13-14 - Jesus tells us:
13"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
14The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.
The proper context of the many worldly comforts God has given us is just that, they are worldly comforts that have NO long term value and God is the one who’s given them to us - so who deserves the worship…
We have to wrap our hearts and minds around the bigger picture God has for us. The selfishness in our lives is what leads us to an eternal misery. Selfishness was the first sin to ever have taken place when Adam & Eve took the fruit and ate believing they could have more than God had already given them. It was then that you and I and all mankind became separated from God because of sin. We had it all but blew it because we selfishly wanted more. It was because of that original sin of Adam and Eve that God sent His only Son Jesus Christ into the world to die for our sins so that we could once again have relationship with Him. So that we could receive His Holy Sprit to lead us to acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and as our guide to a Full life centered in Him. We must keep in perspective that, More, that we seek in our lives and whether it’s creating separation from God or closeness to His Truth, Glory and eternity.
What does Jesus call us to be?
18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
· 3 things of greatest Pride to Laodicea –Financial Wealth, clothing/textile industry and a famous eye ointment. All things to have pride in but when we give praise to the creation and not the creator is when we get into trouble.
Jesus shows them the way come back to Him and receive all that He has for them.
· Jesus asks them to put their trust in Him and stop living to their Prideful nature of the material things of their community.
· Buy gold from Him – stock up your wealth in heaven.
· Buy White clothes from Him – representing the value of His righteousness over their sinfulness.
· And Salve to put in their eyes so they can see His truth
Matt 6:19-21 says
19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
· Parable of the Rich man Matt 19:16-30
19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
· Can you love someone yet watch them hurt themselves without trying to help?
· Christ would discipline this lukewarm church (in Love) unless it turned from it’s indifferent ways towards him.
· Without conviction to live to Christ, there is No church, there is No real faith. We can’t say we love Jesus yet worship His creations above Him.
Christ says - So be earnest and repent. Christ doesn’t walk away He calls us to repentance.
· Christ chose us (those whom I love) and as His chosen children he comes to us asking for us to repent from our sin. He is standing at the door to our heart knocking, asking us to repent from our sinful ways, to come back to Him, to stop our sinful ways.
· If we respond to His knocking, His voice, He will come in and eat with us.
2 Cor 1 Paul tells us
21Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
21To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
For those who overcome what?
· The temptation to live to this world and seek status and meaning in it’s riches and it’s judgments.
· Will receive what?– EVERYTHING! The right to sit with Christ on His throne. What greater honor could there be.
· He end’s with listen to the Holy Spirit in side you, speaking His Truth in you which was created before the earth was even formed. It will guide you properly, it will not lead you astray, it is His gift to us who know Him as our Lord and Savior and are committed to living a life full of His Glorious riches.
Lukewarm –
· a life seeking compromise
· middle between a Yes and a No. It’s not Hot or Cold.
· A life that is struggling to fully fit into both Christianity and the world we live in.
- He’s given us Everything, and asks us only to stop doing that which is giving us the cancer that’s killing us!
- We have to stop trying to bring our pavement to Heaven!
If you haven’t accepted Jesus Christ into your heart or want to know more about what it means to live a Full life with Him, I would encourage you to pray with someone tonight. There will be people by the crosses during worship who would love nothing more than to pray with you.
If you have accepted Jesus Christ but find yourself, seeking more in your life with Him, are struggling with life’s challenges or simply seeking more Joy and Peace - I have a few things to leave you with.
Like the little old lady said in our first story, I dare you to do it again!
· I dare us to look at our lives and give back to God those things that He blessed us with when we came to know Him as our Lord and Savior.
· I dare us to see where we are worshiping the created and not the creator - by putting things or people in our lives above Him.
· I dare us to seek more than Lukewarm in our lives and live the full and glorious life that Jesus Christ calls us to and created us.
· He has proven He’s faithful, let’s give all to Him again!
Closing Prayer and scripture: 1Peter 1:3-9
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
11/7/06
Ch 3 - The Church of Laodicea
Anyone need a bible?
Opening
At a church meeting a very wealthy man rose to tell the rest of those present about his Christian faith.
"I'm a multi-millionaire," he said, "and I attribute it all to the rich blessings of God in my life. I remember that turning point in my faith. I had just earned my first dollar and I went to a church meeting that night. The speaker was a missionary who told about his work. I knew that I only had a dollar bill and had to either give it all to God's work or nothing at all. So at that moment I decided to give my whole dollar to God. I believe that God blessed that decision, and that is why I am such a rich man today."
He finished and there was an awed silence at his testimony as he proudly moved toward his seat. As he sat down a little old lady sitting in the same pew leaned over and said to him: "I dare you to do it again."
How crazy it sounds to give it all to God doesn’t it!
Into Myself –
Been doing ministry with Jeff & Lisa for about 4 years. It’s an honor to stand before you all today and share what God’s revealed to me through His Holy spirit about the church of Laodicea and it’s relevance to the world we live in today. I’m a strong believer in the power of prayer and the movement of the holy spirit living inside all those that have come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior so lets begin there. Please bow your heads…
Sincere prayer inviting the HS – May we Trust in advance that which will only fully make sense in reverse.
Reading Rev 3:14-22 – give people time to open their bibles.
Real letter written to a real church
Relevant to them then and to us today - Gods Truth is relevant in all things
READ - To the Church in Laodicea Rev 3:14-22
Laodicea - Wealthiest of the 7 church’s
· Banking
· Manufacturing of wool
· Med school that produced famous eye ointment
· We can identify with Laodicea very easily if we simply take a look around. Orange county is one of the most predominant area’s in the country and world today. We are world leaders in numerous industries including Finance, surf clothing and other fashion and have hospitals that people from all over the world come out to receive their care at. I drive by no less then 50 $100k+ cars on my way to work and someone who has a little extra change in their pocket is in the top 3% of the worlds wealth.
We are the Jones, everyone’s wishing they could keep up with us! Yes, God has blessed us with many comforts and no we don’t need to feel guilty about having them, but where does that put us in our Faith and Living a life that’s pleasing to God and is all that He would have for us?
That’s what we’re going to talk about tonight.
Tonight were going to discuss:
What being Lukewarm looks like?
What causes us to be Lukewarm?
What does Jesus call us to be?
14"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation.
· Jesus identifies himself as the God of Truth(Amen- it is so; so be it), faithful and true witness and ruler over all God’s creation.
· Jesus has identified himself to each Church in a personal way that’s meaningful to them. Jeff explained it in a very clear way last week by stating that I know Jeff and we are friends and he’s my pastor, Jeff knows his wife Lisa and they are best friends and he’s her husband, he’s one Jeff that’s a different person to each of us.
· So Jesus being different to each of us yet consistently the same in who He is, is completely relevant to each of us wherever we are at and in all situation.
In John 1:1-3 were told:
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
In the beginning- when everything was created, God’s Truth was present because God is Truth, and Jesus was present because Jesus is God and through Jesus all things were made. There is No greater authority on Gods Truth and being a faithful and true witness than Jesus, because that is who Jesus is.
Jesus is the God of Truth, He is a faithful and True witness and Ruler over all God’s creation. He is that to Laodicea and He is that to us today.
What is Lukewarm?
15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
-Who’s ever heard the scripture “and Christ told them to be mediocre in their faith”
-How about a pastor say “go be lukewarm for Christ”
Lukewarm means - Lacking conviction or enthusiasm; indifferent:
Lukewarm is the middle between a Yes and a No. It’s not Hot or Cold. It’s that life that is struggling to fully fit into both Christianity and the world we live in. It’s the statement that we love God and believe He created all things but are unwilling to give up some of our worldly things to have a closer relationship with Him.
It’s a life seeking Compromise!
It’s not speaking out to others about our relationship with Christ because we believe that we’ll be shunned by many for having said such an offensive thing.. We want the full love, peace and eternity of God but not to have to let go of any of the possible luxuries that the world offers to get it. We want our cake and to eat it to.
How can we accept that God is the creator of all things and in charge of all things and ruler of all things and then question our willingness to respond to what He asks of us.
In Deuteronomy 6:5-9 told,
5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
This is a life that glorifies Christ. That receives His blessing and lives in the Peace of God knowing that God’s in control and that the true goal is Salvation.
We are to Love God with all our heart, soul and strength – that doesn’t sound lukewarm.
In Rom 12- God tells us about love:
9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
God Wants more for us….Because He Loves us.
1 Cor 13 is a popular verse used at weddings it reads:
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
*We like to use this at weddings as a verse showing our commitment and the covenant were making to the other person, but what about our commitment and covenant to Jesus Christ? Do we treat our Faith like this? Do we treat our relationship with Jesus Christ and His calling on our life even as seriously and with and much conviction and enthusiasm as we would someone we are married to or even a best friend.
Let’s look at this another way- I like stories, they help me visualize things.
What If: you without knowing it had some daily habits you didn’t know were causing you to have a painful cancer that was eating away at you heart. You have felt this cancer and it’s pain for some time but finally came to find out your going to die in 1 year, and it’s certain….. Then I came to you and told you I loved you deeply and cared for you, then touched your heart and healed you completely, you felt the healing, the pain that you lived with so long was gone and peace like you’ve never know came over you.
What do you believe your response to me might be like?
Would you ask what you can do for me in return?
What if I explained to you what was causing the cancer and said that what I want in return is for you to give up the habits that were causing you all that pain and the cancer itself. Would that seem fair?
Consider that Christ’s given us everything? Shouldn’t our response be one of great joy and adoration in living a life that glorifies Him.
- But what about all the stuff around us?? The things He’s blessed us with in this country and our lives, how can these things be bad? Good News! They’re not, if put into the right context in your life!
What causes Lukewarm, what is this struggle?
17You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
Story of Gold –
There was a very rich man who was just about to die and he wanted to take some of his wealth with him. So he started negotiations with God about the matter. God was not sure as it had never been done before and he did not want to set a precedence. Finally after long talks God reluctantly agreed to allow him to bring his wealth to heaven.
Just a few days before he died the rich man converted all his money into gold bullion. He died and the funeral home made sure that the suitcases containing the gold bullion went with him. He arrived at the Pearly Gates with his suitcases and there was Peter. Peter told him he could not bring the suitcases into heaven. But the man said he had already spoken to God and he had said it was OK. So Peter got on the God phone and sure enough it was true. So Peter was curious as to what was so valuable that the man wanted to bring it into heaven. Peter said, "Could I look in the suitcases?"
So the man opened the suitcases and Peter exclaimed, "Why are you bringing pavement to heaven!"
IN Rev 21 Jesus tells us He’s paved the street of heaven with gold,
And in Rom 1 were told that since sin began people have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever to be praised.
Yet the world consistently worships His creation here on earth and looks past the creator. The story above seems so far fetched yet our history has proven time and again that men have tried to take their worldly possessions with them upon death or consistently worshiped them above the creator himself.
Remember my first story - Can anyone think of a circumstance in which our society would understand the man in our first story actually acting on the ladies prompting and giving all his money back to a mission or church because he felt led by God to do so? They would try to lock him up.
Yet in Luke 16:13-14 - Jesus tells us:
13"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
14The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.
The proper context of the many worldly comforts God has given us is just that, they are worldly comforts that have NO long term value and God is the one who’s given them to us - so who deserves the worship…
We have to wrap our hearts and minds around the bigger picture God has for us. The selfishness in our lives is what leads us to an eternal misery. Selfishness was the first sin to ever have taken place when Adam & Eve took the fruit and ate believing they could have more than God had already given them. It was then that you and I and all mankind became separated from God because of sin. We had it all but blew it because we selfishly wanted more. It was because of that original sin of Adam and Eve that God sent His only Son Jesus Christ into the world to die for our sins so that we could once again have relationship with Him. So that we could receive His Holy Sprit to lead us to acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and as our guide to a Full life centered in Him. We must keep in perspective that, More, that we seek in our lives and whether it’s creating separation from God or closeness to His Truth, Glory and eternity.
What does Jesus call us to be?
18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
· 3 things of greatest Pride to Laodicea –Financial Wealth, clothing/textile industry and a famous eye ointment. All things to have pride in but when we give praise to the creation and not the creator is when we get into trouble.
Jesus shows them the way come back to Him and receive all that He has for them.
· Jesus asks them to put their trust in Him and stop living to their Prideful nature of the material things of their community.
· Buy gold from Him – stock up your wealth in heaven.
· Buy White clothes from Him – representing the value of His righteousness over their sinfulness.
· And Salve to put in their eyes so they can see His truth
Matt 6:19-21 says
19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
· Parable of the Rich man Matt 19:16-30
19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
· Can you love someone yet watch them hurt themselves without trying to help?
· Christ would discipline this lukewarm church (in Love) unless it turned from it’s indifferent ways towards him.
· Without conviction to live to Christ, there is No church, there is No real faith. We can’t say we love Jesus yet worship His creations above Him.
Christ says - So be earnest and repent. Christ doesn’t walk away He calls us to repentance.
· Christ chose us (those whom I love) and as His chosen children he comes to us asking for us to repent from our sin. He is standing at the door to our heart knocking, asking us to repent from our sinful ways, to come back to Him, to stop our sinful ways.
· If we respond to His knocking, His voice, He will come in and eat with us.
2 Cor 1 Paul tells us
21Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
21To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
For those who overcome what?
· The temptation to live to this world and seek status and meaning in it’s riches and it’s judgments.
· Will receive what?– EVERYTHING! The right to sit with Christ on His throne. What greater honor could there be.
· He end’s with listen to the Holy Spirit in side you, speaking His Truth in you which was created before the earth was even formed. It will guide you properly, it will not lead you astray, it is His gift to us who know Him as our Lord and Savior and are committed to living a life full of His Glorious riches.
Lukewarm –
· a life seeking compromise
· middle between a Yes and a No. It’s not Hot or Cold.
· A life that is struggling to fully fit into both Christianity and the world we live in.
- He’s given us Everything, and asks us only to stop doing that which is giving us the cancer that’s killing us!
- We have to stop trying to bring our pavement to Heaven!
If you haven’t accepted Jesus Christ into your heart or want to know more about what it means to live a Full life with Him, I would encourage you to pray with someone tonight. There will be people by the crosses during worship who would love nothing more than to pray with you.
If you have accepted Jesus Christ but find yourself, seeking more in your life with Him, are struggling with life’s challenges or simply seeking more Joy and Peace - I have a few things to leave you with.
Like the little old lady said in our first story, I dare you to do it again!
· I dare us to look at our lives and give back to God those things that He blessed us with when we came to know Him as our Lord and Savior.
· I dare us to see where we are worshiping the created and not the creator - by putting things or people in our lives above Him.
· I dare us to seek more than Lukewarm in our lives and live the full and glorious life that Jesus Christ calls us to and created us.
· He has proven He’s faithful, let’s give all to Him again!
Closing Prayer and scripture: 1Peter 1:3-9
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
