Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Somewhat Against You Pt.2

I shared with some of you on Thursday night that the Lord had blessed us and the deal went through on the land, praise God. That which we have been believing for and praying for a long time has finally materialized. Tonight you will get to see it on video. We are excited about that. Richard has been working hard taking 12 hours of video and condensing it down into about 48 minutes. You will have to watch real quickly, because if you want to see 12 hours in 48 minutes, you have to really hurry. We are looking forward to seeing all of that great footage. As you know, it is a lot of work, and we're thankful for all of the effort that Richard has put in there. You will also be able to see in the video tonight the property that we will be renting, the new facility in Eldoret that will hold us until we are able to build on the other property. You will be able to see down into that lush area of Maasai land in Taragwiti. Some exciting things are taking place there.

Let me just read a couple of the highlights here of a three-page e-mail from Tony. Continue to pray and believe God to strengthen Tony. He is moving in grace right now, and God is sustaining him. He has been burning the candle at both ends for six months. Since he has gone back, there hasn't been one moment without something abnormal and of great importance taking place. Lift his hands up. I want to get him on a little bit of a break there, but we just couldn't until this Cha Cha thing is remedied. We are believing God for that.

Let me give you a couple of the highlights. "The church of Eldoret is the strongest it has ever been. The sanctuary continues to pack out every Sunday with people coming hungry for the Word of God. [Their midweek service right now is running 155, with around 80 in Discipleship Training (DT).] Pastor, since you were here and dropped that word into our hearts, I have been ministering out of Corinthians, Chapters 1 and 2, exposing the wisdom of the world and how it has bound us to traditions, humanistic philosophy, the idols of education, and ancestral superstitions. We have been taking this to the people practically, believing to change marriages, family, education, and the order of our homes. The people have been rejoicing in this message and receiving it with gladness. We had almost 50 of our young adults, an outstanding time, constantly growing and thanking God for the ministry team that was here and the emphasis and push that it gave us. [He goes on and says that they have now established seven pastoral care teams and they are raising up deacons.] Again, I want to underscore the reviving of our hearts and the momentum that the mission's team, and Pastor, your presence, brought as you came to visit. I shared with them that we are being sent more gifts to Kenya. Everyone moved to the edges of their seats. Then I said, 'Pastor Forbe and his wife Mama Ruth are coming to Kenya.' The whole sanctuary was filled with our folks shouting, clapping, and even doing some of that Arabic yodeling. Then I announced, 'Not only are they being sent to Kenya, but actually to Eldoret.' Dear goodness, the folks burned the house down! They just erupted in praise, shouting, and praising God. This really blessed my heart to see their response and appreciation for the gifts from their Pastor. The Eldoret church as a whole is the strongest it has ever been. We have many needs to grow, much purging to take place, but there is great pursuit in the momentum of the people: the stability of the captains, the youth, DT, young adults, and now the deacons that will be set into place. [We're very excited about that. Chuck said that something really blessed his heart as we were looking at this. He said we miss it here sometimes, in the States especially. He said that watching their response gave him an even clearer understanding of the Ephesians passage about Jesus giving gifts to the church. We see their appreciation for the ministry gifts, the realization that it is a gift. This is at the hands of the Head of the church, Jesus, as He is moving in our midst. We take certain things for granted. As Americans, we all want to be rugged individualists. To see that these are people thankful for those that are coming to give oversight, set order in all of the chaos of this nation, and how thankful they are for that, it just makes the Ephesians passages really come alive to us.] I met with Charles today dealing with Robert's marriage, and the fellowship we had together for six hours seemed like just moments. The opposition they're receiving in tribal tradition and ceremony started to bog them down, but I built a fire under them, and the wedding will take place July 2."

Be prayerful for Robert and the family there. This is not a small thing. As we have shared with you, the power of the culture and traditions that have been there for antiquity are not easily broken. The Scripture says very clearly that the traditions of men make the Word of God of no effect (Matthew 15:6). God's Word works regardless of the culture. The Word of God and the truth of the Word of God are universal. The Africans have to accept it, the Americans have to accept it, the Russians have to accept it, and even the rednecks (some of us around here) have to accept it. We are a people all being admonished to do the same thing across cultural and economic lines. God set it up. There are no exceptions. The poor think they're too poor to give, the rich think they're too good to give, and God transcends all of that. Here in America, we are in the tradition of our individualistic approach to life and our transient society. Here, everybody has cars, and we can run to and fro. As we have been studying in these last few sessions, God is calling us to corporate ministry, to a body, to come together in preparation for His coming. It goes against the grain of what is happening in our society, but God's Word is true. "Let God be true, but every man a liar" (Romans 3:4).

We are seeing that there in Africa. It is working. The people are being set free, and it is bringing a real stability. Aggrey, who will pastor one of our new churches, is beside himself. He so appreciated the fellowship of the mission's team and the privilege of sitting in on the pastors' meetings in Nairobi. We are looking forward to going to Buhuru to lay hands on him and see set in order one of the new Calvary Temple Ministries of Kenya. That is pretty exciting.

[Letter from Tony continues:] "Saving the best for last, I called the state Counsel and inquired how far he had come on this situation. His response to me was, 'I've completed it, and I've made a ruling.' For a moment, time stopped. I asked him, 'What is the ruling?' He said, 'I've ruled not to charge Cha Cha.' This means he is planning on throwing out the case. It could be as early as his hearing on Thursday. I want to be present to make sure that the paperwork is walked through between Monday and then so that he can head back and begin to oversee the church. I can't write anymore. I'm exhausted, yet there is so much more to be said. [Is the time listed on this e-mail our time? So, back seven hours out of 5 p.m. and that is when he was writing. What is that, 2 o'clock in the morning?] We could never say thanks enough for all the wonderful things that have been done, for the work of the mission's team, for all the love and prayers that you all send."

A lot of exiting things are taking place. We will get to watch some of the video tonight of the mission's team and the work that took place. We are excited about what is ahead for us.

Let's turn to the book of Revelation and pick up where we were in our study. I had an opportunity to meet with a lot of the young adults the other night. Everyone was having a good time of fellowship. We were trying to clarify the vision and make real to each and every one of us that having the proper doctrine (as we are reading here in the book of Revelation Jesus' letters to the seven churches) isn't sufficient, but there has to be relationship. If we are not careful, we can become over-confident in the fact that we have good doctrine and say all the right things. The question that He asked the church of Ephesus (as we saw Wednesday night) is, "Are you still pursuing Me with all of your heart, panting after My presence as the hart does the brook, for that refreshing? Do you still have Me as your First Love? You have known Me. You have actually become a little too familiar with Me. You know about Me, but do you know Me? Are you intimate with Me every day? Am I Lord, or have you taken your life back and added Me as an addendum to your life, a Santa Claus to whom you look to bless you, but other than that you want to have control of your life?"

He is writing to the Ephesians church and He begins to bring that reproof to them. We saw that He said, "Repent, and do the first works" (Revelation 2:5). In other words, you have to do something. Repentance means a changing of course. I make the decision that I'm no longer going this way with my life, I make Jesus Lord, I choose to reject self-rule, I turn and say, "Jesus, You're the Lord; You direct my life." That is what it means to be a Christian. But when you lose your First Love, you turn and take that back. You may still have changed morally (you used to be a dog, and now you have cleaned up your moral act), but you have assumed lordship of your life again. He said, "You've lost your First Love." You have learned to discipline yourself. You have learned how to conduct yourself sociologically, and now you can function. You used to be dysfunctional as it pertained to relationships. Then you were born again, you fit into the body, and you learned how to relate with people. The problem is now you are relating with the world, and you are being seduced by the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches. You have turned back. You have taken what God gave you by grace and are using it for your own gain. You have lost your First Love. Return to your first works. Everything God has done in each of our lives is to bring Him glory, not to be used on ourselves. As He is speaking here, He begins to give us this admonition.

As I was talking to the young adults, I was saying that we really need to understand why Jesus is writing these letters. Each of these churches was at a different place of maturity, and each of these churches had different spiritual problems that it was combating. As we shared Wednesday, I believe that it is the cycle that most of us go though in our own personal lives, because churches only represent the people. Where we are as a fellowship today is primarily based upon two things: the leadership and where the majority of us have chosen to live. That is what makes us who we are.

We're looking at ourselves today and asking, "Do I still have my First Love? Is there still the zeal, the burning in my heart that nothing else satisfies me but the visitation of God, the Spirit of God, or have I been seduced, vexed by the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of our riches, and the insatiable lusts of other things?" When it comes to that in America, there is no end to things. It never ends. Everything that could possibly distract you and me from preferring Jesus, from being content in His presence, is available to us in our shopping malls, our magazines, and on the Internet. How much time do you spend surfing, watching television, in recreation, and pursuing your vocation? I know these are things that we all do. Here is the question I want to ask. There is nothing wrong in any of those things if they're not blatantly sinful. The question I want to present to us is this: Has that increased and your pursuit of God decreased?

The percentage will always be greater over here for those of us that are not in full-time ministry. Those of you that have to go work 12 hours a week--that is a full workweek now, isn't it?--that is something we do. It is part of the curse. We live "by the sweat of our brow" was the curse that came upon us because of Adam's sin. We know we have to work, we know that we have family responsibilities, we know that there is nothing wrong with certain forms of recreation. The question that we are asking ourselves in this study is, Is that increasing while our ministry to the body and our pursuit of God is decreasing? Now, here is the kicker. Here is what we shared with the young adults on Friday night: It is not just a legalistic approach, it is not mathematical. You may still be spending equal time, but here is the question I want to ask this morning: You are still spending the same amount of time, but where is your heart? "I'm still praying the same amount of time. I'm still attending the same amount of services. I'm still involved in the same things." But where is your heart in it? Is it being done because you have to, because it has become habitual, because it is expected of you, because you wonder what others in the body will think if you don't do it, etcetera, etcetera; or are you doing it in love for Jesus? Do you count it as a privilege? This is what He is saying. Return to your first works. Why did you do it in the first place?

He that is forgiven much (say it), loves much. The problem is we just forget how much we have been forgiven. We are debtors. If we had a show of hands, probably a good portion would raise their hands to agree with this next statement. Many of us could present different arguments to defend our cases. Most of us would say, because it is doctrinally the thing to say, that we perceive ourselves as "chief of sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15). Some of us here would say, "No, not me. You easily have me beat." That kind of response puts you way up there in the running based upon your pride and self-righteousness. "I've never taken drugs, committed adultery, or been a drunken bum like you [talking about me]. And I'm so proud of it!" Pride is just as ugly, if not more so, than adultery, fornication, drunkenness, and reveling. We have the socially acceptable sins and the socially unacceptable sins, and in God's eyes, it is all sin. In man, there is no good thing. Here we are, all of us debtors, equally. It doesn't matter how moral you may have been or how immoral somebody else has been. We are all equally debtors. None of us can obtain righteousness by our own worth. Our righteousness is as filthy rags.

With this all being set by Jesus, His statement to the Philadelphia church is what I was trying to emphasize and want to emphasize this morning: "Behold, I come quickly." That is what this is all about: Jesus is coming back. The Word of God makes it very clear He is coming "as a thief in the night" (2 Peter 3:10). No man knows the day or the hour, the Scripture says (Matthew 25:13).

We talked about the fact that our doctrine, just like the Ephesians' doctrine, is right on. As a church, we have been taught proper eschatology (the study of the end times). We believe, as the Bible teaches, in a pre-tribulation rapture of the church, a catching away of the church first, the judgment of the world, the literal appearing of Jesus to set His feet upon the Mount of Olives. He is coming and His saints--you and I that have been raptured--are coming with Him. He will rule and reign for one thousand years with a rod of iron. Satan will be bound for that thousand years. When Satan is loosed, those that follow him, the Scripture says, will be as the sand of the sea. The final judgment will come as the sword of His mouth (that two-edged sword) comes out and brings judgment upon all of the nations. He will establish a new heaven and a new earth. That is what we have to wait for.

First John says that every man that has that hope does something. What is it? He purifieth himself even as He is pure. The real question is: What are you doing to make yourself cleaner? It is not enough to have the right doctrine. What are we doing with our lives to make ourselves cleaner? There are only two ways to be purified: the washing of the water of the Word and the purging process of the fire of God. One of the major purging processes is the iron that sharpens iron as we commune together, brothers and sisters that are bringing us reproof, rebuke, and instruction in the way of righteousness. That is why a lot of us don't like to hang around that much, because somebody is in our face. That is God's gift to you, that is God's love to you. That is why so many of us have changed the term koinonia to mean going out, hanging out, getting pizza, and watching a movie instead of getting in one another's faces, talking about eternal things, and holding one another accountable to the standard of a daily cross, denying ourselves, and preferring others. That's where we are living. That's what it is all about.

The real question is this: Are we living like Jesus can come back at any moment? Are our decisions made in light of eternity or temporal pleasure? If it is not for sensual pleasure, then it is for temporal gratification or relief. We make decisions that will take the pressure off. We'll say what we need to say just to get those people off our backs, so we lie. We just nod our heads and grin rather than confront that person with false doctrine who says they are a Christian, because we don't want conflict; because in society today, the greatest sin is intolerance. I want to tell you something. I don't tolerate sin. I don't tolerate it in my life, your life, or in anybody I see out on the street that calls himself a Christian and isn't living according to the Word of God. That makes us kind of weird, but it is exactly what the Bible says we are supposed to do: light reproves darkness. We are the light of the world. We are the salt of the earth.

So here is the mission that we have been given, and He is saying, "I come quickly. I can come at any moment. I am coming as the thief in the night." What do you do if you know a thief is coming? You make preparation so that he won't take you unawares. I have preparation in my house in case a thief breaks in at night. Do some of you? I have an alarm system. You say, "Well, is it hooked up to the police?" No, I wouldn't bother. By the time they get there--I can say that because I think Kevin is on vacation, isn't he?--your house is empty. If you need quick response, call the pizza place. They'll get there faster than the cops. You make preparation. I'm prepared. I have an alarm system. I want to know if somebody is coming into my house, and then I'm ready. Are you ready? If the trumpet of God were to sound right now, are you ready?

If you are ready, if you make it, what will remain? Even we Christians, when we are caught up, still have to stand before the judgment of God. Our sins will not be judged, but our works will. I have already shared with you, a lot of the stuff I've done will burn up. There is no question in my mind. I've done a lot of good things for the wrong reasons. I've done a lot of things just out of obligation. I've done some stuff just because I'm the preacher and I'm supposed to. When you have been doing this for 32 years, you can do a lot of things for the wrong reasons. There are a few things that will remain, and I want more. I'm better now than I used to be, and I want to be more like Him tomorrow. The more I determine, the greater the opposition, but His grace is sufficient. Where iniquity abounds, grace does much more abound (Romans 5:20). When you push into those areas to drive sin out of your midst--out of your life personally, out of our community of believers--there will be opposition. People won't like it. There are decisions that have to be made for the good of the whole. Are you jealous for the glory of God?

I had forgotten, but this is Father's Day. Happy Father's Day to all of you dads. Thank God for the men we have here. People have said to me the thing they notice about our church is it is not a ladies' church. I said, "I'm not a lady's man. I'm a man's man." We believe in men as the head of their homes. We believe that men need to take back their roles in our society. When we study these churches, we will find that one of the problems was disorder: the pastor was being run by his wife Jezebel. We need a jealousy for order and the glory of God. Every one of these letters to these seven churches cuts across popular opinion of the day. I want to make this very clear to you, and it will cause us to be able to see ourselves clearly. In every one of these letters, the problem that Jesus was addressing was the majority opinion of that day. Just like today, the churches were taken up with public opinion--the majority rules, the majority must be right. We have shown you and studied in the Scriptures that the fact of the matter is when it comes to spiritual things, the truth of God's Word, the majority is always wrong, 100 percent of the time. If you want to know what not to do, look and see what everybody is doing, don't do that, and you will be in pretty good shape.

As He writes this letter to the Ephesians, He says in verse 5, "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen." Can you even remember back to when it was good, to when you were on fire? Can you remember back to the best time in your life? For some of us, it is right now. Then what I would say is, rejoice in the presence of God, stir up that gift that is in you, and continue to let that grace work in your life. Others need a rekindling.

"Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent [change your direction], and do the first works." Just go back to what you know you are supposed to be doing. It is a very simple admonition. Part of the question was, about young adults especially, "We have Sunday morning church, Sunday night church, and Wednesday night church. Most churches just have Sunday morning now, and we still have Sunday night. Some churches have Sunday morning and Wednesday night. We have all three. Then we have prayer on Tuesdays, prayer on Thursdays, Young Adults on Fridays, and on Saturdays we have the different functions, and on and on." The question we need to be asking is not how many services we are having. The conclusion I would draw is we are not having enough, because the ones we are having aren't affecting us enough. We need more! Some of you are saying, "Oh, dear God! We need more?" Well, let me ask you if we need more. Hebrews 10: "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together...and so much the more, as ye [what?] see the day approaching." Let's take a vote. How many of you believe the day of the Lord is approaching and is sooner than when you first believed? Okay. "...and so much the [say it] more."

We addressed one of the laws of physics. Everybody has to be somewhere. Isn't that profound? We all are, and since we are, we have to occupy time and space somewhere. For some of you it is the sofa. When the kids want to find dad, they know exactly where to go. "Where do you think dad is?" "Are you kidding?" They walk in, "He's not here!" They're pretty sure it wasn't the rapture. They touch his spot and it's still warm. "Oh, he went to the fridge." Everybody has to be somewhere. Where do you spend your time? What are you going to do if you're not with the body of Christ? What are you going to do with your time if it is not spent honoring God and building the body?

"It seems like what is behind all of this is that we just want to come together because we're afraid the world will take over." We want to come together to prepare to take over the world, but it takes preparation. We are in the world, we are not of it. We have to go out there. We have to go to work. Most of you have to go to the grocery store. When you go through the line, you get to see Star, As the Stomach Turns soap opera magazine, "I Married an Alien" headlines, all of the different magazines, and whatever is there. The question is, What is it that makes us want to seek more of that? The real issue is, as I shared the other night, Why don't the presence of God and the fellowship of the body satisfy?

We shared about this: don't be missing Young Adults to go to a movie. "We went to the movie." "We went to the opera." "We went to watch Minnie Pearl yodel," or whatever. (That is for the old people.) Some of you don't even know who Minnie Pearl is, with her little hat and its tag hanging off, "Howwww-deee!" Don't miss this to go to that. As we talked to the younger people especially--and I'm just trying to throw out some principles, because this is very real as we look at the Ephesians church. Okay, so legalistically, here I am; I'm obligated; I don't want to be seen as backsliding; I don't want to be seen as not committed, so I'll come. So I come to the service. "Come on, Pastor Jeff, the movie starts at 9!" We run off to the movie, and--phew!--now we're doing what we want to do. This is what I've been looking for! The body of Christ doesn't satisfy me, but this is what I've been waiting for tonight. Then the movie is over. "Now what are we going to do?" What do you mean, "Now what are we going to do?" The movie didn't satisfy you either, huh? You have to do something else?

For you not-young people that have to stay home from the meeting because you're remodeling the house or you have this new--who is the lady that went to jail? [Martha Stewart.] Isn't it funny how you remember people? "I just got this new Martha Stewart sofa and I want to put it over here by my new Martha Stewart drapes so it will disappear." The whole wall looks floral, we have camouflage carpet, we cover it with plastic, and we threaten our kids with an inch of their lives, "Don't you even enter that room! It's called the living room!" God forbid we would live in there. "Don't touch it!" Family time. Family time: "Sit over here. Watch me paint. This house is for you! We're doing this for you!" We have our standards of perfection. We won't even let our kids help because they can't do it to our satisfaction, and we say it's "for them."

Some of us bought land and we have to go see it, others have to prove oxen, and some of us took wives, the parable says. The fact of the matter is we are making light of this Supper that we are preparing ourselves for, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. We are making light of it. We are putting temporal things as more important. Well, when will this stuff get done? When will I get my new Martha Stewarts hung? I have a question for you: Who said you have to have Martha Stewarts? Who told you that? Where in prayer did God speak to you and say, It is the Lord. Buy Martha Stewart draperies, skip church, and hang them tonight. That wasn't God. It was a god. If you look at these churches, that is what He is addressing idolatry and fornication. The fornication He speaks of is physical fornication, but it is also spiritual fornication.

"Do you mean we're just supposed to hang around at church all the time and hang around with each other?" Yeah! Now let me ask you something. When you have done that, and you have done it in the right spirit, have you ever been happier in your life? The house doesn't do it. The movies don't do it. The new car doesn't do it. The motorcycle doesn't do it. The vacation doesn't do it. The groomed yard doesn't do it. You all know that you've never been more content than when you have totally yielded to God, and have been free from self-will, self-exaltation, and selfishness. When you were free from that, you have never been happier. "Why do I keep going back?" Because your flesh never gets better. There is no end to this war, and if we don't constantly battle daily to walk in this thing, it will overtake us. We are all the same. Return to your first works, the things that got you that peace in the first place.

"I haven't really been affected that much. I've backed off some, but I really haven't been affected." We talked about that, the Samson mentality: "I'll just shake myself, and the anointing will come upon me." You know what? Some of us here have had our hair cut and don't know it. We have given away the secret of our strength and don't even know it. We think of ourselves, see ourselves, as other than what we are; but by our fruit we are known, the Scripture says. The admonition to us is, "Repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlesticks out of his place, except thou repent." Many of you probably read the epistle to the Ephesians or read through the rest of these seven churches as I had encouraged you to. We saw that the outline of the letter to the Ephesians had to do with, number one, setting proper doctrine. They were still living that. Number two, then, he said this doctrine should produce these works: the care for the body, the preference of the body, unity, community, ministry gifts, perfecting of the saints to do the work of the ministry until we all come to that perfection, the unity of the faith and the bond of peace. Frankly, that's what it is all about.

The tragic thing is, we admonish you in this and, like happens so often, you think you know better. I encouraged many of the young people--this is one of the vexations of our society today too. In this society today more than ever, we exalt youth, and many of the young people think they know better. Adolescents have always thought they knew better and were more mature than they are. That is just a part of the chemistry. But along with that has come a philosophy. We live in a society today that is so deceived and where image, rather than substance, is everything.

We were in a restaurant, and this little T-ball team came in. If you don't know what T-ball is, it's pretend baseball. The kids are not coordinated enough to play, so they put the ball up on this stand. They hit it, and all the little kids run and jump on the ball. Nobody is on first base to throw it to because everybody is jumping on the ball. It's kind of like beehive soccer where they buzz around the ball and no one is in their position. These kids came in the restaurant. I looked at them and I couldn't believe it! They have these $100 uniforms, batting gloves; one kid has the paint under his eyes to stop the glare. We used to use charcoal when we played football or if we were out in a field to help take some of the glare off. It was a rainy day. They had on warm-up jackets and all this. I'm looking at these little kids--they have hundreds of dollars of equipment, batting gloves, and all this stuff--and I thought, "You can't even hit a ball thrown to you! Who is this guy in his mind? Who does he think he is, Ted Williams?" Some of you are thinking, "Who's Ted Williams?" He is Derrick Jeter and Mark McGuire without steroids, the last man to ever hit 400 in the major leagues. He is the greatest hitter that ever lived. That's what is wrong with our society today. We forget where we've been and we think today is the best, forgetting that there are people that have gone and done. Be followers of those who through faith and patience are inheriting the promises of God.

How is it that our way is better than the apostle Paul's? How did we get there? How is it that we have found a better way than the Wesleys? How have we surpassed the Ralph Riggses, the Frank Boyds, the Willard Cantellons--the undistracted, the fully committed, the foundation of our faith? And we say our way is better? Let's not forget the rock from which we've been hewn as we establish the value of the eternal and the pursuit of the kingdom of God. (I thought we had a lot of time left; it says ten minutes to nine. That's what is wrong with these cheap watches: you leave them in the safe for a few days, and they don't wind. I thought we had three hours left!

"Even more." We are not just talking about the quantity of time but the quality, our hearts being here, the awareness of the dangers, the vexations that are there, the ability to really discern our gods and to pull down every stronghold that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. He speaks to the church. I don't want to get real far into this, but I hadn't expected to take that much time in review. To the church of Pergamos, he writes, "These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate. Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against [you] with the sword of my mouth. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it" (Revelation 2:12-17).

Isn't that interesting? That white stone, the intimate name, the pet name that God has for us, the pet rock that says on there how God sees you: a name that no man knows, just you and Him, an intimate relationship. He says in the midst of this church was a doctrine of Balaam: the seduction of the world that caused the men of God to speak other than what God had said, a lowering of the standards of their living while still saying it was acceptable Christianity. That was the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, a form of Gnosticism. They said your walk in faith is not diminished in any way by what you do with your natural bodies, your thoughts, your pursuits of position, power, or pleasure--probably the purest form of Gnosticism. He says that we need to be aware of this and begin to work on purging this out of our midst.

We will pick up here in our next session. Then I want to skip a couple of churches as we bring the Laodicean in and use that to find out where we are and who we are. We are still looking for our identity here as we look at all of these churches. As a fellowship, where are we today? What we are as a community is what we are predominately as individuals. He tells us take up this mirror, James says, look into it, and not forget what manner of man we are.

Father, we thank You for your Word this morning. We ask that You would purify us for Your soon coming, that You might present us to Yourself a chaste virgin, without spot, wrinkle, or any such thing. We can't do it in our own strength, Father. We are helpless, but our eyes are upon You. We look for that grace that is sufficient, that anointing that breaks the yoke of bondage, that causes us to make the right choice: Jesus is Lord; for me to live is Christ; not my will, but Your will be done. Father, we just thank You for that grace given that gives us that new heart, that new pursuit, that understanding. Help us to pursue it with all of our might. Father, on this day that we have set aside culturally to recognize fathers, we just want to say thank You, Father, the giver of every good and perfect gift that comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning (James 1:17). You have given us good things, Father: Your presence, Your grace, Your faith, Your blood, Your name, that we would be called sons of God, heirs, and joint-heirs. Words can't express it, so we just want to say we love You and we are thankful, Father, for all You have done in our lives, in Jesus' name, Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord. We will take just a moment as Gary plays for us. As he plays, let's just be conscious of the danger in this society, the distractions. Do the first works: taking up a cross, preferring others, seeking first the kingdom of God. Nothing else will satisfy you. Let's sing it together and worship Him. "Take me into the Holy of Holies..." That we might honor You, Lord, is our hearts' desire, in Jesus' name, Amen. Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "He is coming quickly." Go in peace. God's love go with you.

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