Family, sermon audio family, and all the friends and loved ones that have tuned in, thank you for coming with us to the throne of God. The very first song, I don't know, am I gonna let y'all sit down much tonight? I probably oughta let you sit down a little bit. It's a song that we know and it says, it's no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me. It's from Galatians 2. 20, is Jesus alive in you tonight? there were at least two people that said Amen, so let's go ahead and sing this song. It's no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me. No, it's no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me. He lives, He lives, O Jesus, You're alive in me. And it's no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me. One more time. It's no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me. No, it's no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me. You live, you live. Oh, Jesus, you're alive in me. And it's no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me. God bless you all. It's good to be here tonight. I'm going to Psalms 27 and it'll be verse 5 and 6. And it says in verse 5, For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble. Wow. He will conceal me under the cover of his tent and he will lift me high upon a rock. God, please, thank you for that promise. And verse six says, and now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me. And I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy, and I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Oh, thank you, Jesus. Amen, Father. Thank you for this opportunity that we have tonight together, Father God. Lord, there are so many busy days and so much that goes on, but Father, that we should prepare for our gathering so that we can have a sacrifice of praise and worship, Father, with joy in our hearts. and to raise up our voices, Father, knowing that you are with us always, always. Never leave us, never forsake us, Father God, we thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen, amen, amen. All right, y'all have to stand up for victory in Jesus, because that's a good song to sing. and we're gonna sing a few verses of that. I think that it's in the hymn book on page 426, if you're not able to keep up with looking at the words up above. Let's sing this song. ♪ I heard an old, old story ♪ How my savior came from glory ♪ How he gave his life on Calvary ♪ To save a wretch like me I heard about His groaning, of His precious blood's atoning. Then I repented of my sins and won His victory. Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. He sought me and he bought me with his redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew him, and all my love is due him. He plunged me ♪ To victory beneath the course of a cleansing flood ♪ Oh victory in Jesus my savior forever ♪ He sought me and he bought me with his redeeming blood He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him. He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood. Y'all may be seated, we're gonna offer up that beautiful song that is He Hideth My Soul. I think it's in the gray hymn book on 120, but I cannot guarantee you. I just know the words are up here on the screen behind me. ♪ A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord ♪ ♪ A wonderful Savior to me ♪ He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, Where rivers of pleasure I see. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, That shadows a dry, thirsty land. ♪ He hideth my life in the depths of his love ♪ And covers me there with his hand ♪ And covers me there with his hand I love that chorus where it says, he hides my life in the depths of his love, because part of the message tonight is gonna be about Jesus speaking to people and telling them that he loves them. We want to be aware of how much He loves us, and we want to know what kind of love He's loving us with. So let's sing the chorus one more time. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths of His love. and covers me there with his hand, and covers me there with his hand. We're going to be singing, He Looked Beyond My Fault, because part of the message tonight is about Jesus looking beyond faults. It's a good thing to be able to think about that, about Him looking beyond faults. Amazing grace shall always be my song of praise, for it was grace that bought my liberty. I do not know just why he came to love me so. He looked beyond my fault and saw my need. Forever lift mine eyes to Calvary, to view the cross where Jesus died for me. How marvelous And when we're talking about the last of the seven churches in Revelation this evening, we're gonna be talking about a Savior who looks beyond faults. And some of us on Facebook and on Sermon Audio and some of us gathered here tonight need to know that our Savior looks beyond our faults. We're gonna sing the next song, You Are My All In All. You Are My Strength When I Am Weak. You are my strength when I am weak. You are the treasure that I seek. You are my all in all. Seeking you as a precious jewel. Lord, to give up, I'd be a fool. You are my all in all. Jesus, Lamb of God, worthy is your name. Jesus, Lamb of God, of God worthy is your name. Taking my sin, my cross, my shame, rising again I bless your name. You are my all in all. When I fall down, you pick me up. When I am dry, you fill my cup. You are my all in all. Jesus, Lamb of God, worthy is your name. Jesus Lamb of God worthy is your name Everybody has to stand back up because we're gonna sing the song we are standing on holy ground Yeah, I like this one. We are, well that's not the right key. Let me think about it for a second. We are standing on holy ground. And I know that there are angels all around. Let us praise Jesus now. We are standing in your presence on holy ground. Why did Jesus give the revelation to John, the revealing of himself to John? He wanted the churches to know. He wanted them to know. They were invited to come stand in his presence. What is he doing for everybody tonight? He's making intercession. We had prayer before. Not very many people were here for prayer. And whenever he was praying, we were praying. We were joining ourselves to who he is. And tonight when we hear the word, we're going to be joining ourselves to who he is. So let's offer up this chorus one more time and then we'll get into the message this evening. We are standing on holy ground. And I know that there are angels all around. Let us praise. Jesus now, we are standing in his presence on holy ground. Amen. Thank you, Lord God, for calling us to your holy ground. Y'all may be seated, let's get on with the message this evening. We're gonna be looking into the revelation, the revealing of Jesus. I think we've been putting on there that it's the revelation of Jesus, and it's the revealing of Jesus, because in here, we find that God gave this to Jesus to give to his fellow servants, the revealing of Jesus Christ. And so we want to be aware of this marvelous thing that God has planned to do, that every church through every age, and the time's very short, people. I don't know if you all are aware of it, the church will not be in this world a whole lot longer. I can't tell you whether it's five years or 15 years or 50 years, but I believe that we are so close to being out of this world and God playing out his plan in other ways, and we'll be getting into that later on as we go through the book of Revelation. This is the last time in the book of Revelation until we're way down the way that we hear about the church. After this, we don't hear about the church. It's like, where did the church go? Well, we might wonder, where is the church going to go? How is that going to be accomplished? Is it silent here when it gives us this last church to look at? And we don't hear about it anymore after that for a reason that heaven has chosen to let us know that in every situation that happens on the face of this earth, Jesus will be revealing himself. And so we want to be looking at it as we see in this last church. We want to see the ways that Jesus is being revealed in this. I have a thing that I made up for myself. In the church at Ephesus, which is in chapter two, Jesus is seen as the one with great love for a church that has fallen. Ephesus was a church that had fallen. In the second chapter, the church at Smyrna, Jesus is seen as a comforter of a church that is suffering. And in the church, we always find those who have fallen, and we always find those that are suffering. He also tells them that they think that they're poor, but he says, you are very rich. We find out in the second chapter that Smyrna is a poor, rich church. And we find out in a little while when we get into Revelation, the third chapter, that Laodicea is a rich, poor church. And Pergamos in the second chapter of of Revelation, we see Jesus as a rewarder of faith and a corrector of doctrine. Now have we got some problems in the church doctrine-wise? Is that something that we're dealing with? Are the churches in the land dealing with a doctrinal problem? Then if we are in a living relationship with Jesus, He will correct doctrine. He's a corrector of doctrine. He's calling them to repentance before judgment can come upon them, even in the church. Judgment comes and Jesus wants us to know before judgment would come that He would rather that we have a reward and that we allow him to come and to correct the doctrinal problems. In Thyatira, we see Jesus as him who calls the church out of the destruction of spiritual adultery, mixing into the church the things of this world, mixing in the ways that people say, well, this would make the world a better place. And this is how we can make everything work better and he's calling them out of spiritual adultery. Also he warns his own through the Church of Thyatira about the corruption of sexual adultery and what it can do to us whenever sexual sin comes among us. And so then he also calls his own at the church of Thyatira, no matter where they have been in the spiritual adultery or the sexual adultery, to become overcomers. You see what Jesus is doing? He's revealing himself as the one who makes the church a place that is an overcoming church. And then in the church of Sardis, We see Jesus is the one who calls his own out of the dead back into the abundant life. Have you ever been in a church that was just as dead as a burnt boot? Well, we want to pray, Lord, never let that happen here. We want to be those that are being called to life. And then the Church of Philadelphia, there's several things here. Jesus is seen as the one who opens the door, and no one can shut it. And we're going to see in chapter 4 that John saw an open door in heaven. And if that door was open, it was Jesus that opened it, and nobody can shut it. Jesus is the one who tells his church that their little strength and Keeping the word will become power He tells them the Philadelphia church that their little strength and keeping the word Will become power and he tells his his own that he will keep them from the tribulation That is to come and we need to know that God has plans to keep us From the tribulation that is to come and now we get to the laodicean church And we want to go as deeply as we can into this remember It's about seeing Jesus. If we understand all of the Greek words, and we suss out every little detail that there is of them, and we never get to see Jesus when we're looking at this, or as we get into chapter four, or chapter five, we don't see Jesus, then we've missed what revelation is all about. It's to let us know no matter where we are in life, It's always possible to see Jesus. So let's start in Revelations chapter three and we're going to begin with verse 14 and we're gonna go through verse 22 tonight. Verse 14 and through verse 22. Let's just read verses 14 through 22 and then we'll come back and we will get into this. Unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation. I know your works. This is something he tells to every church. I know your works. Here's the deal. Is it our works that we're coming like those that Jesus talked about in chapter seven of Matthew when we come and say, Lord, Lord, we did many wonderful things in your name. Or is it his works where we come to him and say, Lord, Lord, I suddenly understand you've used me again and you've done your wonderful works. And so he says, I know your works and that you are neither cold nor hot, And I would that you were cold or hot. So then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. I will vomit you out of my mouth. Verse 17. Because you say, I am rich. And I'm increasing goods, and I have need of nothing. And you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. And he goes on to say, I counsel you, verse 18, to buy of me gold tried in fire. that you may be rich." Wow, they said they are increased with goods back in verse 17. But he says here, I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in fire that you may be rich, and white raiment that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness does not appear. Does this sound like somebody who's wanting to take this church and smack it around? Because I want you to know there have been times whenever I have read this before and I've heard messages before where they made out like it was Jesus was very angry and wanting to get a hold of this church and deal harshly with them. But he says here he does not want them to be filled with shame because of their nakedness or to be miserable and wretched. poor and blind and naked. And I counsel you to anoint your eyes with eye salve that you may truly see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. And if any man, anyone, hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me. Does this sound like a standoffish Savior? What in the world are you doing? Don't you understand? No, he's tenderly calling this church. He's been tenderly calling all of the churches. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne. And the scriptures say if we suffer with him, we will reign also with him. Even as I overcame and am set down with my father in his throne, he that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Now then, there's two things that Jesus says to every church. I know your works. I know whether they're mine, or I know whether they're yours. And the other is that he that has an ear, If you've got ears, if you're able to perceive, you're supposed to be able to be having a relationship with the Spirit so that you can hear what the Spirit says. Would you bow with me in prayer? Father, we want to hear what the Spirit is saying to this particular church. We've heard what he said to the other churches. We've heard how tenderly the Spirit has reached out to each church to encourage them, to woo them, to bring them into a better position. Lord, is it possible tonight that we're in a situation where we need to be in a better position, a better walk, a better understanding, being under the feathers, under the wing of Almighty God and of His Messiah. Father, speak to us tonight as we look at these Scriptures and as we consider these things that are said in here to the church of Laodicea. I want to stop for a few seconds to tell you if you have not picked up one of these recent mission reports from Mexico, there are a bunch of them out there on that table. I want to advise you if you think that anybody might not come in in the next week or two to pick one up, you know that they've not been coming to church to pick up an extra. And take it to them because you will hear things in this report that you will never hear on ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, or any other news network. You just won't hear it. This is from the mission field. And we need to be hearing what's happening on the mission field. Amen? So if you can, pick up, I have two of them up here. If you wanna pick up one of these, you can come and pick up one here. There's a bunch of them out there on that table on that side right there. Now then, let's get into the scriptures. I want you to go back to chapter two, verse one, and I want you to see how the wording is here so that you'll understand how Jesus speaks differently to the Laodicean church, not out of anger. He's letting them know that they have a problem right off the bat. And so in verse one it says, unto the angel of the church of Ephesus. Do you see that it says that there? You should be able to see it up above. That's all I'm needing for you to do is to see it. And then we're gonna skip down to the, let's see, to Smyrna, verse eight. And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna. Do you see how that's worded there? He's speaking directly to them and he's not saying anything about that particular church. And then if we skip on down to verse 12 where it says, and to the angel of the church in Pergamos. Do you see how that all of these greetings are basically in the same form? And then we're going to skip down from there to verse 18 where we see, "...and unto the angel," or to the messenger, "...of the church in Thyatira." Do you see that all of these greetings are in that same form? And then it's the, I think, did we get all four of those that were in there? Yes, we did. Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, and Ephesus. Now then, coming over to chapter three, and in verse one it says, and unto the angel of the church in Sardis write these things. And then in verse seven, it says, unto the angel of the church in Philadelphia, now then, Jesus is, what is the relationship of the church to Jesus? Jesus is the head, is the head of the church. So we see Jesus speaking directly to all of the church, but he, let's see, we do that at Philadelphia to Sardis, but when it comes to the Laodicean, he says, unto the angel of the church of Laodicea. the Laodicean. This is a church that's more the church because of what the Laodiceans do instead of the church that is the church because of what Jesus does. Do you all see that possibility there in the reading of those words of the Laodiceans? And the word Laodicea means the rule of the people. They were a good, democratic, congregation. But they weren't doing, they didn't have the rule of God, they had the rule of the people. And all the way through here we want to be thinking, am I under the rule of Jesus? We sing that song that says, seek ye first the kingdom of God. and his righteousness, and all these things. And yet we sometimes wonder, well if I've been seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness, have we really been seeking for Jesus to be Lord? Because if we are, we're not going to be lukewarm. We're going to be hot. It'll happen to us one way or the other. So we see here that this is the church of the Laodiceans. It's not the church of Laodicea. It's not like it was the church of Sardis, the church of Philadelphia, the church of Thyatira, the church of Pergamos, the church of Smyrna, the church of Ephesus, all of these he was exerting his lordship over. This one he's letting them know, will you let me be lord? and speaking to them in the very first thing that you see here. Right, and he says, right, these things says the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. Now we want to know, if he's the amen, what is he the amen to? And we want to go to 2 Corinthians. chapter one, and look at what we know that Jesus is the amen to. And we're going to look at verse 20, 2 Corinthians chapter one, verse 20. so that we can see what is said there. There we go. For all the promises of God, in Him, Jesus, in Him, the Messiah, the Christ, are yea, and in Him, amen. So we see here that the amen, the one who says all of the promises are yours for the claiming. says that these things writes the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. And then he speaks those words that he speaks to every church. I would ask you to go back and to circle, I know your works in every church that he speaks to here. And then you want to say, are my works actually what Jesus is doing in me? Are the works of this church actually what Jesus is doing in this church? When we come together and we gather together, I'm missing Brother Paul very much this evening, I know that you all are too. He took a medication this evening, it's something new that he's taking and he said, I'm just not able to be there. And so we need to pray for him, for him to be able to be here because he brings such a sweet, sweet spirit when he comes here. And I want you all to know something. Every one of you all bring a sweet, sweet spirit into this place. We're blessed that we have one another, that Jesus is able to use us here in this place to work his works. I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. Now then, there were four sources of water that they were able to use for this particular city. There were two rivers that flowed by that did not have water that was, it could be drunk, But it was not water that was for a long term that was good for them. And then there were two springs that they were able to get water from. But there was nothing refreshing or invigorating. about the water that they had there. Now I want you all to think about that. He's saying to them, you're neither cold nor hot, nothing refreshing or invigorating about the water that they had there. He's saying you should have a spirit of being refreshing, not always needing somebody to refresh you, but you should be refreshing and you should be invigorating. What? Did you not know that your body was made to be the dwelling place of the Spirit of the Most High God? And if His Spirit from the throne of God, where there is a continuous celebration going on, is pouring into us, it should lift us up above the circumstances of this life. What kind of circumstances does it get for people to have where they're just lukewarm? I guess it's whenever life is good enough. And I'm telling you, God never wanted any of his people to be living a life that was just good enough. And if you ever wondered why your circumstances changed, to where suddenly you had a life that was just good enough. You weren't really doing anything, you weren't really being anything, but it was just good enough, and then your circumstances changed, and you say, what has happened? Why has this happened to me? Well, God is in one way probably reaching down and letting you know, I never intended for you to live the good enough life. And so we want to be aware of that. So he says here that because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth. There are a couple of things we need to think about whenever, about the church being in the mouth of God. because in the mouth of God, he is speaking directly to the hearts of every person that is in that church. And he says, if you're lukewarm, you're gonna have a hard time hearing me. And he says, not only that, if you're lukewarm, I will, he's also making intercession for us at the throne of God. Have you ever thought what it would be like if suddenly in his intercession he just began to stop talking about you or about us? Because what he's saying here is I will make it to where my mouth does not say anything to you or about you. And I want you to know that I believe as a church we should be wanting God to speak directly to us and to be speaking about us, Jesus to be speaking about us at the throne of God. Amen? And so we see here, he says that I will spew you out of my mouth. And then he goes on and he's talking to them and he says, because you say I'm rich and increased with goods. Well, this was one of the most amazing things about the Laodicean church. They were well situated. Commerce flowed there. way and they had a lot of good businesses that were located in their city so there was always money that was flowing into them and he says because you say I'm rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and know not that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Do you see what the good enough life can do for you? It can make you wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Now one of the things that Laodicea was known for was for their fine fabrics. Their fabrics were very, very, very fine. And he's saying to them, you need the kind of fabric to where you will never be naked. Do you know what the Bible says about all of our righteousness? They are as filthy rags. And so he's speaking to them and he says, you've got the place where you are, you have the good enough Fabric that is produced right in your area, but you do not have this spiritual fabric. You're not enjoying this spiritual covering that I have for you. And so he's saying to them that you say you have need of nothing and you don't know that you're wretched and you're miserable and you're poor and you're blind. Later on he's gonna say to them, let's go ahead and read the next scripture here. He says, and I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in fire. You know, it's our faith that becomes like gold tried in fire. He's saying you all need to know. there is going to come some, it's like Jesus said, in this world you shall have tribulation. And Jesus wasn't telling them that because he was saying, be careful, watch out, you don't know when you're least expecting it, it'll come upon you. Because he went on to say, in this world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. For I have overcome this world. Is there anybody that would like to say that with me this evening? Anybody at all? Well, if you do, say it with me right now. In this world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. Do you all know where that's at in case you're taking notes this evening? That's in John 16, 33. John 16, 33. And he says, I counsel of you to buy gold, trident, and fire, that you may be rich, and white raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness does not appear, and to anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. Now in this area, I don't know if Laodicea was where they made this eye salve, or if the area around Laodicea was known as a place that had a certain type of mineral that did add a little bit of help for people who had troubled eyes. Whenever I get up first thing in the morning, I don't know if any of y'all have this problem or not, whenever I try to open my eyes, it seems like they're glued together. And then whenever I finally do get them up, I go and look in a mirror and it looks like I'll say, what happened to your eyes during the night last night? And so every one of us knows how to go to the local drug apothecary and buy those little drops you can put in your eyes. and they will take the red away from your eyes and basically what he's saying to them here is you live in an area that has an eye salve but from me you will acquire that which will open your eyes to really see the reality of life and to see me at work in it is that not a marvelous idea what he's saying to them here because he's telling them something very, very powerful. Now then, I'm really excited to get down to this next verse, verse 19. As many as I love. How many different words are there in the New Testament Greek that are for love? Well, actually, I think there's four, but there's three that are generally used, and this one is not agape love. He's not saying, as many as I have loved with a sacrificial love. He's not saying that here. This is a friendship love. He's telling them, you all are in bad shape, but I'm still your friend. You see how tenderly he's speaking to them? I'm thinking that maybe we're needing to think about, as a church, do we go to other people who are in bad shape and tell them, I'm your friend. I'm willing to walk with you in the midst of this. Because he's telling them, I have been here all along. I'm willing to walk with you in the midst of when you thought it was the right thing for the people to decide what should be done instead of listening to my spirit or submitting yourself to me. I have been here all along. with you to lead you into the things that I have planned for you. As many as I love and rebuke and I rebuke and chasten and be zealous therefore. You know, back when we were in verse 15, if you'll go back to verse 15, it says, I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot, and I would that you were cold or hot. Really, you know what Jesus wants? He wants us to be hot. That's what he wants. He's not actually saying here, if only just, if you just were cold. He's saying, I want you to be hot. And I want to tell you today, two men, and I'm going to take you to a scripture in Luke 24, and we're going to look at two men in Luke 24 who got hot again. And I want to commend you tonight because your being here has put you in a position, your being here has put you in a position to become hot to have a life that is filled with fire because in Revelation chapter 19 it says, as many as I love and rebuke and chasten, be zealous therefore, the word for zealous here is hot, be hot therefore and repent. Repent, I'm here. And he's gonna go on and he's gonna talk about that a little bit. We wanna go back to Luke the 24th chapter and we want to be in verse 30. Let's see, let's start in verse 27 and look at this very quickly. Now, Jesus has been walking along with, there's a man named Cleopas, and there's another man who's unnamed here, and he's been walking along them for a while. When he comes up close to them, he hears them moaning and groaning as they have been in Jerusalem during the three days of after Jesus has died, and they've heard the women come and say, he's not there, the tomb is empty, but you know something? They are as lukewarm as you can get. Now, I want you to see what Jesus does. He doesn't hide off down the road and throw rocks at him and chase him down He comes and starts walking with him If tonight you in this message, I'm probably speaking more to myself than to you all If tonight in this message you begun to realize am I am am I lukewarm? Maybe I am what am I going to do about it? I want you to know he is so close to you. He's the one who said I will never, never leave you and I will never, never, never forsake you so that we will one day boldly say the Lord is my helper. So let's read here. And beginning at Moses, Jesus is speaking to them, and he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. I had an amazing telephone call today. A woman called me who lives in Edmond, who at one time graduated from Shawnee years ago. And she called me today and wanted to know if she could talk to me and ask me some questions. And she said she was having a hard time understanding whether or not she was giving herself to Jesus. She said, I'm a believer, but I don't know if I'm giving myself to Jesus in the way that I should be giving myself to Jesus. And we talked for a long time. about 35 or 40 minutes on the phone. I believe in the time that we were doing that that I was being given the opportunity to speak into her such amazing things from the word itself that Phil Thompson has never had in and of himself. But somehow that word begins to work, wants to work in all of us. And she began to, she began to be, began to be more filled with confidence and with hope, and I encouraged her to call again and to reach out even though she's in Edmond so that we might be able to speak the word to one another. And he expounded in them all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village where they went, and he made as though he would have kept on going. Do you ever feel like that sometimes in your life that maybe Jesus is making as though he's gonna keep on going? Well we're going to talk in a few minutes about how he's going to say, behold I stand at the door and I knock. Maybe he's getting ready, maybe he's made as though he's going to get ready to leave if you don't come and answer the door. And they constrained him saying, stay with us for it is now towards the evening, time for the evening meal and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them and it came to pass as he sat at the supper, at the most leisurely time meal of the day, when people would come sit down, and further he spoke words of life and hope into them. Because what did Jesus come to talk about? Well, what do you all think, boys? Do you think maybe it's going to rain tonight? That sure is a cold wind that's blowing out there. Can you hear over there on that side of the church up there high, how that maybe the wind blowing across there, it sounds as though something's going, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee. I don't know if it's gonna get quiet enough for y'all to be able to hear that in here after a while. But you know, we have a lot of things that we talk about that don't really mean anything at all. And Jesus came to speak to hearts. He came to speak to us so that the word could do something in us. And it came to pass, as he said at meet with them, that he did take of the bread, and he blessed it, and break it, and gave it to them, and their eyes were opened. Why were their eyes opened? Because they had been with Jesus. Facebook family, Sermon Audio family, thank you for being with us. We've been with Jesus. We want you to be with Jesus too. Because if you're in the middle of a situation, Jesus has a solution for you. He wants to speak into your life His very essence. And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him, and He vanished out of their sight. And they said to one another, here we get to the thing where He says, I would that you were hot or you were cold, but I want you to be zealous. I want you to be hot. And they said to one another, did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us? by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures. And so they were hot again in their lives. So there had been three days where they had become very, very lukewarm. Let's finish out this time in the word tonight. Let's start back with verse 19 in Revelations chapter three. And he says, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, be hot, therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Now I want you to notice, he doesn't say, if any church will open the door. He says, if anyone. I know he's speaking to the church, because he's speaking to the church of the Laodiceans, which believed that the people called the shots. But he's speaking to them, and now he's saying, if anyone Anyone, do you know how desperately every church needs an anyone? And how you may be that person and you would discount it and say, well, no, it couldn't possibly be me. There's no way that that can be me. I'm not the one. That would be somebody who's a super saint or that would be somebody who is on fire. And this whole time he's been talking to a group of people who are lukewarm. He knows that they can be on fire again. He knows that they should be on fire again. Do they know that they need to be on fire again? And so he says, if any man hear my voice, oh Lord, please let it be that tonight in some way that we have heard Jesus and will open the door, I will come into that one and I will sup with that one and with all that are with that one. And they with me to him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame. I'm so thankful that we have a savior who was more than a conqueror for us. Because he's saying here to him that overcometh. How am I going to be able to overcome? How? Unless I'm following as close as I can and some of the time I'm walking in his footsteps. Because if I'm following as close as I can, I'm going to be walking in the overcomer's footsteps. Y'all remember back when we had all that snow? Some places it was halfway up to your knee or maybe a little bit higher and you were stepping along. Were you glad when you could see where someone else had stepped? so that you weren't stepping down in that snow and it wasn't clinging to you and you were able to walk along and get a little bit further down the way. And he says to them, to him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne. He's talking to lukewarm people. He's telling them if you will become warmer, if you'll become hotter, you're gonna sit with me in my throne. He's wooing them back. He's willing them back to a life. Many of them are, if they weren't saying, well, we are rich and we're increased with goods. I'm thinking in America, how many churches are there that don't come together and don't talk about being rich and increased with goods? and have need of nothing, have need of nothing. Oh Lord, may our needs be deep. May they be amazing to where we're pierced because I have needs and I know Jesus can supply every need. And so they say to him, he says to them, to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne. I don't deserve to sit on a throne, people. And yet I'm pretty sure that one of these days, whenever I see him face to face, there's going to be a place that's going to be there for me and I'm going to look at it and I'm going to say, why? How did this happen for me? And I'd love for every one of us to be able to look at that throne that has been reserved for us to be able to say, why? Why did this happen for me? I know what I am. I know who I am. I know what I'm not. And I've been too much lukewarm and he was speaking to lukewarm people and he was giving to them such an opportunity. And I'm a set down. And even, well, to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame. And sit down and sit down with my father in his throne he that has an ear Let him hear what the spirit says would you mind bowing with me in prayer? And then we're going to close out with one verse and the chorus of is you're all on the altar father these people thought that whatever they decided in their democracy that was good enough and God had to agree with them. After all, they were the church of Laodicea. Well, they were the church of the Laodiceans. They believed the people could rule. Oh God, have we decided that we can rule? That we don't need to hear what the Spirit says? That we don't need to hear what Jesus says? That we don't need to be aware of the fact that if our hearts, if we've gotten used to the good enough, that it's not enough, and that God wants more? Oh, Father, be with us in these things that we've been able to gather together before a throne of hope and a throne of glory and a throne of joy this evening, Father. And we can hear this Savior who spoke so tenderly to a church that was so far away from Him. and speak to our hearts, Lord Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. If y'all will stand, we'll offer up the first verse and the chorus of Is Your All on the Altar. You have longed for sweet peace and for faith to increase and have earnestly, fervently, prayed. But you cannot have rest or be perfectly blessed until all on the altar is laid. Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid? Your heart, does the Spirit control? You can only be blessed and have peace and sweet rest as you yield him your body and soul. Father, I want to thank you to people that are lukewarm. You called to them and kept calling to them. Won't you give me yourself so that you can have all of me? Oh, Father, what words we have to speak into people that we don't understand, but we know that you want to use us to speak to those people. Father, be with us as we go into our ways and as we consider, have I gotten used to the good enough life? And I'm definitely not getting enough of Jesus if I've gotten used to the good enough life. Save me, Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen, amen, amen. Thank you, Facebook family, Facebook friends.