Episodes
Sunday Nov 12, 2017
DEALING WITH PERSECUTION (Revelation 11:5-13)
Sunday Nov 12, 2017
Sunday Nov 12, 2017
The Bible says that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. If you live for Jesus, and your life is in obedience to the will of God, it is fruitful for God, and you are sharing the light of the gospel to a dark world, then the Bible says that you will suffer persecution.
To know that this is true, all you have to do is read the headlines of the news today. Christians are suffering severe persecution in countries all around the world. So, the question that we will look at today is, How do you deal with this persecution? What are the Biblical truths that we must apply to our lives, if we are to be successful in dealing with persecution on both a physical and spiritual level?
Click on the link below to learn the five factors that the Bible tells us in the book of Revelation about the two witnesses for God, and how they dealt with persecution. These are important lessons that we must settle in our hearts and mind if we are to be victorious in our witness for God.
Amen.
Sunday Jun 18, 2017
THE CURE FOR LUKEWARMNESS (Revelation 3:17-22)
Sunday Jun 18, 2017
Sunday Jun 18, 2017
Last week we began a lesson on what a lukewarm Christian is and how God feels about that type of Christian. The Lord condemns the lukewarm Christian. He tells them that I would thou wert cold or hot, meaning that the Lord would rather have you against Him than pretending to love Him with a lukewarm heart. Lukewarm Christians have done more harm to the cause of Jesus Christ than all the prostitutes, bartenders, pornographers, and drug pushers combined.
Lukewarm Christians are the alibi of sinners. They double-cross Christ. Jesus would rather have you on the wrong side of the fence, than sitting on the fence. Jesus hates this condition so much that He says in verse 16, So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. God is saying that there is a sin that is so vile that it nauseates Him. What is that sin? Lukewarmness, and it is the sin that is probably the most prevalent in the church today. God is speaking to self-satisfied, half-hearted Christians. He is speaking to most of the people who attend our churches today, and that should break our hearts.
So, how did their self-satisfaction and complacency begin? How does a person, who is so excited on the day they are saved, become a lukewarm Christian?
Do you remember the fire that burned within you for the Lord on the day you were saved? The joy that filled your heart, the earnest desire to tell everyone around you about the wonderful gift of eternal life that you had just been given by a gracious God? Do you remember that at all? What happened to that person? Are you more on fire today than you were then? If not, then you have cooled down. People cool down by degrees.
Somebody has said that an average church is so lukewarm that you have to backslide to be in fellowship with all of the other members. Was there ever a time when you loved the Lord Jesus Christ more than you do right now? If so, then to that degree you are backslidden, you are beginning to cool down, and before long, you will be room temperature. And when you do, you will look around and say, I must not be so bad, because I am just like everyone else. The sad part is that if you really get on fire for the Lord Jesus Christ, people will think that you are odd.
So, how do you become lukewarm? You begin by becoming satisfied with where you are in your Christian life. You begin by assuming that you are all right because you are becoming more and more like those around you, but instead you are cooling down by degrees. If you are not a better servant of God today than you were yesterday, then you are cooling down. Lukewarmness is caused by self-satisfaction.
Click on the link below to hear a sermon about the cause of lukewarmness, and the cure of lukewarmness.
Monday Jun 12, 2017
ARE YOU LUKEWARM? (Revelation 3:14-16)
Monday Jun 12, 2017
Monday Jun 12, 2017
When we call something lukewarm, it means that it is too hot to be cold, and too cold to be hot. Now, if I were to say that you were a lukewarm Christian, what would that mean? It means that you are too hot to be a stone-cold atheist, and too cold to be a passionate soul winner for Christ.
How many people in our churches today are room-temperature, lukewarm, Christians? Actually, in most churches today, if you are not a lukewarm Christian, you will stand out and be different from the majority of the other members.
Let me ask you another question, is it a sin to be a lukewarm Christian? G. Campbell Morgan said, “Lukewarmness is the worst form of blasphemy.” If you are lukewarm in your faith, then you are blaspheming the Lord Jesus Christ.
A lukewarm Christian says, “Jesus, I believe in you, but you just don’t excite me. I believe in you, but I just don’t get anything out of hearing your Word preached from the pulpit. There just is no message. Jesus, I believe in you, but I don’t intend to serve you with fire and fervor.” When you say these kind of things, you are saying to the Lord, who is present in every church service where two or more are gathered, “Lord, I am bored with You.”
Would you sing differently in the worship service if Jesus was standing next to you in the flesh? Would you pay more attention to the sermon, if Jesus was sitting next to you in the flesh? Would you be looking at your phone for the latest post on social media while the pastor preached? Would your mind be on the work you left undone the day before? If Jesus Christ was sitting next to you in the flesh, how would you be different in the service?
We ought to be worshipping and singing as if the Lord Jesus Christ was standing right there next to us. There is nothing pleasing to the Lord about a lukewarm service, full of lukewarm Christians, singing lukewarm songs, and hearing lukewarm sermons.
Click on the link below to hear a sermon about a lukewarm church. It is the last of the seven churches that we have been studying in chapters 2 and 3 of the book of revelation. These churches are real churches, but they are also representative churches of all the churches throughout the church age. There is not a problem in our churches today, that cannot be found in one these seven churches.
Sunday Apr 30, 2017
A FAITH FORGED IN THE FIRES OF PERSECUTION (Revelation 2:5-11)
Sunday Apr 30, 2017
Sunday Apr 30, 2017
The word Smyrna is translated from a Greek word that is also translated as the word myrrh in other parts of the Scripture. It stands for a sweet perfume that came from being crushed. It was also a substance used for medicinal purposes. What did the wise men bring to the baby Jesus? Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. It was also given to Christ when He hung on the cross. The Bible says that they gave Him wine mixed with myrrh. It was also used at the burial of Christ, where they scented His burial clothing with myrrh. Myrrh and Smyrna are translated from the same Greek word and they have the same meaning.
It is the providence of God that the suffering church would be in this city that has the name of such a perfume that was extracted by crushing it. This was a church suffering great persecution, but the Lord says I know what you are going through. It is encouraging when we are facing our darkest hours, to know that Jesus is right there with us. Jesus doesn’t promise to keep us out of persecution, but He does promise to get us through it. There is no heartache, pain, or fear that we might face that the Lord does not share. He has faced every kind of suffering, to a much greater degree than anything, that we might ever have to face. He knows about it, and He knows how to get us through it.
Click on the link to hear a sermon on a church that was poor in the eyes of men, but rich in the eyes of the Lord. The first part of this lesson we finish up our discussion from last week of the church at Ephesus, and then in the focus of this lesson, we cover the suffering church of Smyrna. Join us as God blesses the reading of His Word. Amen.
Sunday Jul 31, 2016
HOW DO YOU FACE PERSECUTION? (1 Peter 3:13-15)
Sunday Jul 31, 2016
Sunday Jul 31, 2016
Sunday May 22, 2016
OUR MISSION IS TO GLORIFY GOD (1 Peter 2:12-13a)
Sunday May 22, 2016
Sunday May 22, 2016
Sunday May 15, 2016
DOES THE WORLD SEE GOD IN YOU? (1 Peter 2:11)
Sunday May 15, 2016
Sunday May 15, 2016
Sunday Apr 17, 2016
HOW TO LIVE A HOLY LIFE (1 Peter 2:1-3)
Sunday Apr 17, 2016
Sunday Apr 17, 2016
Sunday Mar 13, 2016
HOW OBEDIENCE IS HOLY (1 Peter 1:14-16)
Sunday Mar 13, 2016
Sunday Mar 13, 2016
Friday Aug 14, 2015
HOW TO BE A LIGHT IN A DARK WORLD (Romans 12:17-21)
Friday Aug 14, 2015
Friday Aug 14, 2015