 All right, here we are we're in chapter 3 and we're going to have a real cheery Bible study today We're looking at Laodicea a church that is not a single believer in it not a single believer in Laodicea So beginning at chapter 3 verse 14 reading to verse 22 Jesus speaking to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, right? These things says the amen the faithful and true witness the beginning of the creation of God I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot I could wish you were cold or hot So then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will vomit you out of my mouth Because you say I am rich have become wealthy and have need of nothing And do not know that you are wretched miserable poor blind and naked I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire that you may be rich And white garments that you may be clothed that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed Anoint your eyes with eye salve that you may see as many as I love I rebuke and chasten Therefore be zealous and repent behold I stand at the door and knock if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into him and dine with him and he with me to him overcomes I will grant to sit with me on my throne as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches And so let me begin as I've been by reminding you of some of the basics I'll give you a background give you some information then we'll move into the interpretation application of this particular portion of Scripture So I've been saying that each of these letters and you have seven letters this is the seventh letter the last letter You have seven letters and each one has at least three applications you have what is called the primary It has direct bearing on the churches that are represented It has the personal each person in the church each church has people in the church that need to take heed to what the Spirit is saying And you have the prophetic and the prophetic element is that it outlined seven stages of the life of the church from Pentecost to the rapture As we've been going through these these churches we've looked at Ephesus the church from Pentecost to AD 160 It's a church that's leaving its first love we looked at Smyrna the church from 160 to 312 which is the persecuted church We looked at Pergamus representing the church from 312 to 600 we called it the compromising church We looked at Thyatira the church from 600 to 1500 we refer to it as a church in apostasy We looked at Sardis the church from 1500s to 1750s the church of dead orthodoxy and Philadelphia this is the truly regenerated church It's the faithful church throughout the ages but today we look at the church of Laodicea And if you gave Laodicea a name it would be the lukewarm church Laodicea is the last it's the worst of the churches that Jesus is addressing You see the downward trend that started with the church leaving its first love is produced Laodicea Losing your fire for the Lord results in compromise it can result in apostasy and it can result in an external kind of religion You see when the pastor loses his fire it results in a church being filled with unbelievers In the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 13 Jesus gave a series of parables He spoke of the kingdom and he said for example the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed He said the seed grew it became like a tree that birds of the air nested in He spoke of the kingdom of heaven being like leaven He said that a woman took and hid leaven in dough until all of the dough was leavened He gave a parable of the wheat and the tears he said a sore went out to sow good seeds in his field But while men slept an enemy sowed tears among the wheat And when the wheat sprouted the tears appeared along with the wheat All of those parables spoke of the church and how it has been infiltrated with unbelievers You think of the mustard seed the mustard seed is the smallest seed in Israel But this mustard seed had a large growth it grew large it harbored birds The birds were a symbol of evil nesting in an unusually large mustard plant In Scripture we know that leaven is used as a type of sin And so the picture of the woman that put the yeast or leaven in the dough Well leaven permeated the dough sin permeated the church And then you have that parable with the wheat and tears growing alongside of one another And that once again speaks of infection The tears are part of the visible church but all along they're not genuine In reality they're unbelievers who have somehow become comfortable going to church And that's the picture of the church in the last days How did that happen? How is it that the church in the last days In the days we're living in right now How is it that unbelievers have become comfortable going to church? They did it because a fire of faith went out And it was replaced with acceptable unbelief Now we saw that Philadelphia was a church that worshipped the one who is holy and true Philadelphia knew that Jesus was holy They knew that he's the truth and that he gave truth And the result was that Jesus promised to return and save them from the tribulation But on the other hand the Laodicean church is a false church filled with unbelievers It's interesting that Laodicea considers itself strong and wealthy and influential But Jesus says their self-assessment is completely wrong In fact he says you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and you are naked Laodicea represents the apostate church, a Christ-rejecting church The churches throughout the ages that call themselves by the name of Christian But in fact don't worship the Christ And prophetically this is today's Christ-rejecting church Notice that Laodicea coexist with the Philadelphian church during this church age So as we study the churches, we've noted that Jesus has words to each church And out of the seven churches, all but two, Smyrna and Philadelphia, were rebuked sharply Five of the churches were departing from God, they were called to repentance Ephesus in chapter 2 verses 4 and 5, Jesus said, I have this against you You've left your first love, remember therefore from where you've fallen Repent, do the first works or else it will come to you quickly And remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent When he spoke to Pergamus in Revelation 2, 14 through 16 He said, I have a few things against you because you have those You have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam Who taught Balaik to put a stumbling block before the children of Visceral To eat things sacrificed idols and to commit sexual immorality Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaedans Which thing I hate, repent or else it will come to you quickly And will fight against them with the sword of my mouth When he spoke to Sardis he said in Revelation 3, 2 and 3 Be watchful, strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die I have not found your works perfect before God, remember therefore How you have received and heard, hold fast and repent Therefore if you will not watch I will come upon you as a thief And you will not know what hour I will come upon you To Thyatira, Revelation 3, 19 He said as many as I love I rebuke and chasten Therefore be zealous and repent And to Laodicea, well Laodicea has become guilty She's departed from the Lord, this is again the lukewarm church It describes the condition of the church at the end of the church age The church age is a period of time from Pentecost to the rapture It's called this because it covers a period of time that the church is on earth It ends when the church is raptured to be taken with Jesus Christ So as we look at Laodicea let me share a little bit about this particular city The city of Laodicea was founded by Antiochus II around 250 before Christ It was located 40 miles southeast of Philadelphia on the road to Colossae The church was in a prosperous city at the intersection of three major highways It was a very successful financial and commercial center It was filled with wealthy bankers and financiers It was known throughout the ancient world for its black wool that was woven into beautiful clothing It had one serious problem, poor drinking water Its main water supplies were hot springs which were filled with impurities It could be that Jesus was referring to the Laodiceans as lukewarm Being neither hot nor cold as a reference to these springs It had a huge stadium, theaters, lavish public baths and shopping centers There's no word in Scripture of how it was when the church was planted But Paul did send greetings to believers who lived in Laodicea Colossians 415 it says, salute the brethren in Laodicea Now here's something as I was going through this that I found interesting The word Laodicea is translated rights, rights of the people And that describes the church in the last days The people demanded their rights and as a result of demanding what they wanted They ignored God's word, they ignored the commands of God And when you demand your rights and reject the things that God says The result is a church in a state of anarchy A church that is morally apathetic, a church that is lukewarm It's not even really what you would call a church And how does Jesus feel about this? He's very clear He says this, Laodicea, you make me want to vomit You make me want to throw up You see in today's do what you want, it's all okay world Such words can be shocking to people that Jesus would actually say that The thought that Jesus who is grace incarnate could say this Is rejected by people and even though they read it or hear it They still refuse to believe him The sad thing is they're living in Laodicea and they don't even know it They're like that proverbial frog in the kettle You know how you can place a frog in a kettle of cold water And you can place it on the fire And the frog will stay there in that kettle of water Because the frog doesn't have the capacity to know that the water is heating up And the frog will stay in that water until the water boils the frog to death And there are a lot of people who are living like that frog in the water Boiling to death as the temperature rises and not even noticing it And so Jesus is speaking in verse 14 and notice how he begins These things says the amen, the faithful and true witness The beginning of the creation of God He doesn't identify himself with any of the descriptions that are found in chapter 1 Instead he gives what is called a three-fold description of himself It's intended to contrast the sovereignty and faithfulness of Christ with the church's unfaithful witness So he begins by simply saying these things says the amen Now the word amen is a word that speaks of that which is fixed and unchangeable And the Bible, the word amen is often used to emphasize the truthfulness of a statement Like it says in Psalm 41-13, blessed be the Lord God of Israel From everlasting to everlasting, amen and amen Or Romans 11-36, for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever Amen Or 2 Timothy 4-18, the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for his heavenly kingdom To him be glory forever and ever, Paul says, amen So that reveals his sovereignty His word is final His will is performed He is the ultimate authority He is the amen He is the final word And in Jesus all of God's promises of mercy, grace, hope and life are fulfilled He's that amen He's the one who has guaranteed the fulfillment of all God's promises So in 2 Corinthians 1-20 it says all the promises of God in him are yes and in him amen to the glory of God by us So in this context Jesus is God's last word There is no improving on Jesus Christ He speaks of himself as the faithful and true witness Which refers back to chapter 1 verse 5 and chapter 3 verse 7 What does that mean? Well it means every promise he makes he keeps And every word he says is true And that stands in contrast to the unfaithful and false witness of the Laodiceans They think that they're outstanding They think that they're faith-filled believers But Jesus says you are self-deceived Proverbs 20 verse 6 says it like this Most men will proclaim each his own goodness But who can find a faithful man? Jesus is faithful and true because he is the truth And he is the true witness He keeps his word he fulfills his promises because he's trustworthy We need to remember that right now He keeps his word he fulfills his promises you can trust him He's trustworthy his testimony is consistent with what is true He can be relied on because he never lies And he never shades the truth You see Proverbs 14 verse 5 simply says a faithful witness does not lie So he speaks the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth And Jesus demonstrated this attribute for us Well he stands before Pontius Pilate And as Pilate is trying to judge him Jesus in John 1837 said it like this He said for this reason I was born And for this I came into the world to testify to the truth Everyone on the side of truth listens to me Well that contrasts with the Laodiceans unfaithful witness They haven't remained faithful But Jesus has he is completely faithful In John 829 he said it like this He who sent me is with me The Father has not left me alone I always do those things that please him He is faithful and he is true And then third I'll develop this with you for just a moment Because it needs to be developed He says I am the beginning of the creation of God The beginning of the creation of God Now I begin by saying this doesn't mean that he is the first thing that God created There are false religious cults that teach that Jesus is God's first creation This has been a verse that false teachers Who attempt to undermine the deity of Jesus Christ has used They've said see it says right here I'm the first creation of God Let me give you a little history to take you a moment Very early in church history false teachers began to rise up Who denied that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh There was a guy by the name of Arius Some of you perhaps have heard of Arius Arius was a priest in Alexandria Egypt He lived from 256 to 336 And Arius denied that Jesus was God in the flesh He taught that Jesus was created by God as the first act of creation And that the nature of Christ was unlike that of God the Father And he began something that is now referred to in church history as Arianism Arianism is the view that Jesus is a finite created being with some divine attributes But he is not eternal and he is not divine in and of himself He is not God When that particular heresy invaded the church A council was called together There was a man by the name of Athanasius His nickname is Athanasius against the world Because Arius' heresy had infected much of the church world And so Athanasius stood up And someone said to Athanasius, Athanasius, Athanasius The world is against you And he said it is not the world against Athanasius It is Athanasius against the world And so he was called Athanasius against the world And he stood up And he withstood areas and the error The church was beginning to believe that Jesus was a created being But Athanasius rose in opposition And they had a council called the council of Nicaea In 325 AD And at the council of Nicaea the Nicene Creed Some of you have heard that you were taught that when you were younger Nicene Creed was formulated to preserve the Christian faith And the Creed said we believe in one God, the Father Almighty Maker of heaven and earth And all things visible and invisible And one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God Begotten from the Father before all ages God from God, light from light God from true God, begotten, not made Of the same essence as the Father Through him all things were made For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary Was made human, he was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate The third day he rose again according to the scriptures He ascended to heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead His kingdom will never end We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life He proceeds from the Father and the Son And with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified He spoke through the prophets We believe in one holy Catholic and apostolic church We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins We look forward to the resurrection of the dead And to life in the world to come, amen And so that is called the Nicene Creed Where Jesus Christ is begotten, not made But there are those today who teach that he's God's first creation And they point to Jesus calling himself the beginning of the creation of God So what does that mean? Well beginning is used to say that he began This is the source of all creation In Revelation 1-8 that verse spoke of Jesus as the beginning and the ending Jesus in other words is the one who created all things And this lines up with Scripture In John 1-3 in the beginning was a word The word was with God, the word was God The same was in the beginning with God All things were made by him Without him not anything made was made In Colossians 1-16-18 By him were all things created that are in heaven And that are on earth, visible and invisible Whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers All things were created by him and for him He is before all things And by him all things consist He is the head of the body of the church Who is the beginning, the first born from the dead That in all things he may have the preeminence All things were created by him, the Scripture says And so in Hebrews 3-4 every house is built by some man He who built all things is God And so Jesus Christ is referring to himself as the beginning As the originator, not the first to be created You may not think that's important But that's a cardinal doctrine I just gave to you In verse 15 it says, I know your works That you are neither cold nor hot I could wish that you were cold or hot So then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will vomit you out of my mouth What an appetizing thought I know you I know your works, he's saying to this church You're neither cold nor are you hot You're lukewarm When he says I know you, remember Hebrews 4-13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight All things are naked and open Until the eyes of him with whom we have to do I know your works Jesus is aware, he's seen And they're not commendable Remember that works reveal your spiritual state Remember that salvation results from grace and faith But works confirm or deny true salvation A person who claims to know the Lord is going to have a company in works And that will demonstrate whether or not they really know him So Jesus knows Jesus knows or works, he's saying And notice how he says, I could wish you were cold or hot To wish is to have a great desire How I wish It's like what the Psalmist said in Psalm 81-13 Oh, that my people would listen to me That Israel would walk in my ways I wish that you would listen to me I wish that you could be either cold or hot Cold coffee is not good And hot water can be good for a bath But not to drink We need to remember that Laodicea was located between Hierapolis Which was famous for its hot springs And Colossae known for its cold refreshing mountain water Laodicea had water piped in It was known for being dirty and unpleasant to drink Cold is refreshing, hot is useful But lukewarm induces vomiting I don't like lukewarm coffee I don't like lukewarm soda, lukewarm soup Or lukewarm tea, I don't like any of that It's not satisfying But the church was filled with lukewarm hypocrites Professing to be Christian But being unsaved They were Christian in name only It's like what it says in Matthew 15-8 These people draw near to me with their mouth And honor me with their lips But their heart is far from me It's like what he said in Matthew 7-21 Not everyone who says to me, Lord Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven But he who does the will of my Father in heaven There are a lot of people today I've encountered them Who claim to be Christian Who in fact are not Who only say they are But have no accompanying works that demonstrate That they've been regenerated Jesus is speaking about that And he's saying that in the last days At the churches, there will be churches That are laid seen That are filled with unbelievers So the question has to be asked How does that happen? How does a church become lukewarm And filled with unbelief? It may be the result of a heritage of poor pastoring When you read your Bible 30 years earlier Paul wrote an exhortation to one of the pastors It's found in Colossians 4 Verses 16 and 17 Now when this epistle is read among you See that it is read also In the church of the Laodiceans And that you likewise Read the epistle from Laodicea Say to Archipus Take heed to the ministry Which you have received in the Lord That you fulfill it The church drifted from its biblical moorings And the church lost its fire The pastor didn't hold fast to Jesus Who was the amen and faithful and true witness He allowed the church to direct him Instead of the spirit directing him Charles Feinberg, one of the commentators That I use said This church boasts of wealth Methods and organization But it fails to realize its absence Of spiritual life Jesus informs them They are utterly insensitive To their condition Prophetically in these last days Many professing Christians Are lukewarm Jesus gave the warning to the pastor Because the pastor leads And sets the tone for the church And some churches Are led by consistently ungodly And carnal pastors Many of these men lead congregations And some of them are well known I was invited many years ago now To a meeting with local pastors It was years ago And there was an issue That was called Proposition 8 Some of you might remember it It was an issue that California voters Were dealing with at that time Whether or not that homosexual marriage Should be legalized And so many of the pastors Were brought to meet with one of our assembly women Who wanted to hear from the religious leaders In her community And so I went to this meeting And there were quite a number of others Who were there And as I was seated there listening And there were a number of pastors Who were voicing opinions This and that When I go to meetings I don't take over I don't try and run the show I just listen I want to see what they're saying Something then I will Most of the time I feel very comfortable Just listening and hearing And all that's what I do Until the Spirit says you need to speak And on this particular occasion There were, like I said, a number of men Who were pastoring churches in our area And one of the men said I don't see what the big deal is He said in the Bible Homosexuality is only mentioned Around four times And I turned I couldn't stop myself I turned and I looked at him And I said, how many times does God Have to tell you something until you listen Because God only has to say it once, guys He doesn't have to repeat himself If my father says something once to me I better listen That's how it is in my house That's how it was When my heavenly father speaks You better listen And he doesn't have to say it more than once So I told this quote, unquote pastor How many times did God have to talk to you Until you listen And everybody got all weird and all of that But you know what, it's true It's true When God says it, you better believe it And the church of Laodicea is a church That is not listening to what the Spirit Has to say Church services today In many places have become Carnal gatherings filled with Carnal people The pastors aren't pastoring their sheep Now I'm going to speak as a pastor to you I hope you don't mind me doing that for a moment The pastors are not pastoring their sheep The pastors have become public speakers But the church is filled with unsaved people The people attending church Focus on what they can get out of it Not worship of God A friend of mine, a pastor friend of mine Was mentioning that a church in his town Has what they call whiskey nights Where they come and they drink their whiskey That's to encourage people to invite their neighbors To come to church He told me of a church that has small groups That watch videos in the small group And end up drinking wine after they watch the video And he said they're getting drunk In a ministry seminar One children's minister said that Ministry stresses him out so much That when he gets home he unwinds With a couple of glasses of wine One very well known pastor was just removed From his church for moral failure Pastors who are like me Are told not to judge others To accept people as they are But the fact is spiritual leaders Are held to a higher standard We are judged more strictly In James 3 verse 1 my brethren Let not many of you become teachers Knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment And a pastor who doesn't tell you the truth Should get out of the pulpit He shouldn't pollute the minds of the people With false teaching And that's what the Bible teaches That's not harsh judgment That's what Jesus said He said judge with a spiritual discernment That we're supposed to live according to the word of God That's not legalism That's liberty in Christ That's a freedom God gives to us And that's how you live You want your life to be blessed Listen to what God has to say You want to be blessed Follow what he has to say And if you don't want to Then don't call yourself a Christian Because you're not Jesus said if you love me Keep my commandments That's what he said Why do you call me Lord, Lord And do not the things that I say Now that's Christianity We need to understand that And we need more pastors Who are not afraid of the people We need pastors who are afraid of Jesus Christ The fear of God is what drives out The ignorance of spiritual things And I'm speaking to myself guys I want to be a man who finishes well I want to be a man Who teaches you the word of God I don't want a church of Laodicea I want people who are the church of Philadelphia Who love Jesus Christ And are waiting for his return That's what we're supposed to be Not a Laodicean church He says This is a church that's not faithful It's not a true witness Churches that are not faithful And true Attract and develop others Who are the same way They preach a message that people want to hear But it doesn't develop them spiritually In Jeremiah 531 It said the prophets prophesied falsely The priests ruled by their own power My people love to have it So The interesting thing is When asked if the church is solid The answer was yes He says in verse 17 You see I'm rich Wealthy Have need of nothing That was their self-evaluation The church Had a self-estimate Of greatness For them Success is determined by statistics Regarding membership And attendance of giving staff Facilities, activities Being well known But not faithful to God Laodiceans are carnal and lukewarm They're caught up with a reputation For success On the church self-esteem scale They are top notch They have it all They are proud of their church And they're proud of themselves But Jesus in verse 17 says My evaluation is your wretched Miserable poor blind and naked Now often these are the hardest to reach Because they think they're fine Just as they are Jesus speaks to them in verse 18 I counsel you To buy from me gold refined in the fire That you may be rich White garments that you may be clothed That the shame of your nakedness May not be revealed Anoint your eyes with eye salve That you may see as many as I love I rebuke and chasten Therefore be zealous Repent is what he says to them Buy from me the things that are real The things that are genuine That demonstrate redemption He says buy gold that is refined When he says buy gold that is refined This represents riches of true salvation In first Peter 1.7 Peter spoke of faith that is more precious than gold He speaks of white garments That you may be clothed That speaks of righteousness In Revelation 19.8 To her was granted that she should be arrayed By the fine linen Clean and white for the fine linen Is the righteousness of saints He says anoint your eyes with eye salve That you may see Your eyes need to be healed You need to see clearly Leah to see it had expensive powder For eyes and they were proud of it So he says you need eyes that see What I'm doing In Psalm 146 verse 8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind The Lord raises those who are bowed The Lord loves the righteous And then he goes on to say something In verse 20, behold I stand at the door and knock If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into him and dine with him And he with me This has what is called a two fold application One, I want you to notice this Jesus is waiting for an invitation To be Lord of the individual As well as Lord over the church It seems obvious there are No true Christians in this church If only one opened his heart to Christ Jesus would enter into the church But second He's saying I'm bringing judgment In Luke 12, 35-40 Listen to what it says Be dressed, ready for service Keep your lamps burning Like men waiting for their master To return from a wedding banquet So that when he comes and knocks They can immediately open the door To the church When he knocks they can immediately Open the door for him It will be good for those servants Whose master finds them watching when he comes I tell you the truth He will dress himself to serve Will have them recline at the table Will come and wait on them It will be good for those servants Whose master finds them ready Even if he comes in the second Or third watch of the night But understand this If the owner of the house had known Or the thief was coming He would not have let his house be broken into You also must be ready Because the Son of Man Will come at an hour when you do not expect him A lot of times we speak And we use this scripture Behold I stand at the door and knock Here my voice opened the door I will come into himself with him And he with me That's the scripture that you hear very often In crusades In invitations To make sure Jesus at the door knocking But the application The actual context of that passage Is it can be applied to Let's welcome the Lord But it's really a warning to a church That locked the doors to him The church didn't want Jesus inside of it The church is supposed to be hungry For the word of God The church, two believers Say that they long for the word of God More than their necessary food We're supposed to Desire the sincere milk Of the word that we may grow Thereby like newborn babies do We're supposed to see that The value of relationship With Jesus is greater Than the value of anything else But the laodicean church Because it was popular Because it was apparently Well known As a large church And considered themselves to be just On top of things Had taken the standards of the world And used them To have a self-estimate Of greatness When Jesus is saying You locked me out of the doors You may have the name Jesus somewhere on the door Or on the title of the church For that matter he's saying But you haven't welcomed me in It would seem that the pastor For fear of offending sensitive Heirs Had watered down things To the point Where it became a social club Of unbelievers When you got them all together They would speak concerning How great they were But Jesus said It's not the way you see yourself It's how I see you And I see you As being filled with Unbelievers So I speak first to the messenger To the pastor And I'm saying to him You need to remember who I am And you need to remember What I've said And this is what is to be given To the church There are many places And some of you know this Some may not believe this But there are many places Where a Bible study is given Where you'll empty the church I had a lady write me a letter Saying if I could pray For her church Because she said my pastor Decided to teach us through The gospel of Mark And they fired him Because he's teaching the Bible She said would you pray For my church and my ex-pastor Because he wanted To simply teach the word Of God Many years ago I had a young woman Who Contacted me and wanted to Have some counsel I was sharing this recently I hope it wasn't with first service And I like to repeat myself too much But she said she called a church This is when I was an assisting pastor And she said can I Meet with one of the Men there and so I met with her after a Sunday morning She was supposed to bring her boyfriend And now it's just This young woman there Sitting with me speaking to me And as we were speaking I said I thought your boyfriend was supposed to be with you I thought you were having Relationship problems and wanted to talk And she said he didn't want to come I said where is he Oh he's playing some football With his friends right now I said so he's playing football While you're sitting in here What can we speak about And she starts to share And as she shares She begins to tell me that She and he were having physical relations And I said well you realize of course Well and secondly I said is your boyfriend Is he a professing Christian She says no I said okay let's begin With that one the scripture says You are not to be unequally Yoke together with an unbeliever Are you a believer in Christ I said there's your first mistake Second the Bible teaches us That we're not to fornicate Do you know what fornication is She says I don't think I do So I shared it's what the scripture calls Unlawful sexual intercourse With someone who is not your husband I said you're involved in sexual sin You're with an unbeliever You're involved in sexual sin I said have you ever heard this before And she says no I said you go to church Has your pastor ever taught you That before And she says I've never heard this How long have you been in the church She says I basically grew up in it So you've grown up in a church Where your pastor has never taught you the word And she says yes I said listen honey This is what God's word says This is what you should do If your boyfriend really cared about you He'd be here right now But he cares more about his friends Or you Do you think he may be telling you something About your relationship She says I think he is I said then you know what to do You need to turn away from your sin You need to not be with this guy And you need to follow Jesus Christ And I prayed with her and left it at that A short while later within a year or two I planted this church And as I was planting this church Within a year of the existence of this church I got a letter She said you may not remember me But I was that young girl crying in your office Who had a boyfriend Who had been And she explained her situation She says I never saw you again Let me share with you what happened She says I broke up with him I got right with Jesus Christ I went to college To become a nurse I became the president of the Christian club I met a great Christian young man He asked me to marry him And I'm asking you to come to my wedding Because I'm that girl Who's been transformed by what Jesus Christ Can do in somebody's life And that's why you preach The gospel That's why So that people's lives are changed I could have said oh don't worry About it here do this do this do this It's fine but the bible doesn't teach that And I have to tell you There's more than one church That doesn't teach the word of God Even this morning Even in this city Even in this city There's more than one church That doesn't teach the word of God And Jesus said You may think you're fine But you're not You're naked, you're miserable, you're wretched You've locked me out of the church He says open the door I stand at the door and I knock And if you open up And have a believer there I can do something amongst you The church of Laodicea The church of the last day To him who overcomes He says I will grant to sit with me On my throne As I also overcame And sat down with my father on his throne He who has an ear Let him hear what the spirit says To the churches All two Christians Will share in the authority that Jesus Exercises for we will reign with him In 2 Timothy 2 verse 12 If we endure We shall also reign with him But if we deny him He also will deny Us and he says If you have an ear Listen to what the spirit Is saying And that goes for us too If you have an ear to hear Hear what the spirit says We do not want to be The church of Laodicea We want to be the church of Philadelphia Where Jesus says I will save you from the tribulation I will come receive you to myself That where I am There you may be also So we hear what he says And we obey That's what the church does And that's what we're to do Amen, that's what we're to do