Once again, it's good to have you here. Praise God. I hope and pray that this morning is a blessing. Now, what we're going to be doing, like I mentioned last week, you know, on Sunday nights, I've been preaching on the seven churches in the Revelation. What we're doing this morning is we're taking the very last church, Laodicea, and this Sunday morning and next Sunday morning, I'll be preaching on that. Tonight, I'm going to be preaching on what you're thinking. Reason why I'm doing that, well, you know what? I'll explain tonight. I don't have the time to do it this morning. So gonna be preaching on Laodicea and then Lord willing, afterwards, going to start the series, Standing on the Promises. But before we get to Revelation 3, I'd like for you to go to 2 Corinthians 12. 2 Corinthians 12. We're gonna go ahead and pray. Then I'll have us go into this and then make our way to Revelation 3. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would guide now in every way. Lord, your will be done. I pray once again that you'd give us ears to hear you. not so much the preacher, but your Holy Spirit, as he seeks to embed your word into our hearts and minds. I pray that if there's anyone who hears this message, either now or later on, that does not know you as Savior, I pray that they would come to know you. And I pray this in our Savior's name, amen. I wanted to mention something to the church this morning. And again, we've got some folks that are traveling and they'll be hearing eventually and such. But for you, welcome to hear it as well. Many of you know, this year has been quite the year. How many of you really thought that maybe, just maybe 2021 would be a better year than 2020 and gets interesting, right? Gets interesting. And so some of you know that for us, it has been interesting. Got through the surgery, got through the accident, got through the COVID, And it was kind of funny because about two or three weeks ago, I'm thinking, I don't think there's gonna be anything else that comes along, you know, just, you know, what else could the Lord do? Well, I found out there's more that he can do. I've already mentioned some of this, but for those of you that haven't, And there's a reason why, by the way, I'm not up here just asking for prayer and please help, you know, et cetera, et cetera. There's a reason why I'm sharing this. But some of you know that 11 years ago, I had kidney cancer. I'll never forget it. Literally the very week that I had kidney cancer, I found out I had kidney cancer. I had something come along called tinnitus. Now, how many of you suffer from one degree or another from tinnitus? Raise your hand. You know exactly what I'm talking about. It would come up and then it would go down, and maybe that's the same thing with you, I don't know, but up and down, and it's been doing that for the last 11 years. Then we were in the head-on collision. And ever so slowly, the tinnitus has been coming up. And about two weeks ago, it went full throttle. My ears are ringing like you can't believe. And those of you especially who have gone through it, you know what I'm talking about. When your ears are ringing like crazy, you have nowhere to go. What do you do? Take your head off? You can't do that. Now, I'm not at the point yet where it's not letting me go to sleep. In fact, this last Sunday, it did what often it has done. It settled down a little bit. When that happens, I would praise God, you know, Lord, I'm so thankful, you know, it's done that. But this last Monday morning, it just hit and it has stayed up there. It's been a rough week, especially when you're trying to study and you wanna be able to function normally, and it's rough. And you start getting a little concerned because it's like, Lord, where is this gonna lead? I remember we had Pastor John Vaughn here He was like me, he was in the Air Force and he worked on the flight line. The last time he was here to preach for us, I said, hey brother, how's the tinnitus? He says, I'm just praying it doesn't get any louder. It's rough. I have read people online that they've gone through a lot. And so it's like, so Lord, what? You know, that this is a passage I love to go to. I want us to read 2 Corinthians 12. Paul has been allowed to see and hear some things from eternity's side that were just an incredible joy. Because of it, the Lord gave him something to go through. It's amazing that this is the only place we hear about what he's gone through. We would never know it if he didn't mention it here because God gave him such victory. Look at verse 7, 2 Corinthians 12. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations that were given to me, a thorn in the flesh. A thorn in the flesh. In fact, it was so bad he called it the messenger of Satan to buffet me. Lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. Can you imagine the Apostle Paul, who has gone through much, gone through so much, winds up being in a situation where he goes to the Lord three times and he begs him, Lord, please take this away. Please take it away. Remember when Christ was in the garden? Three times. Lord, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. That was Paul's attitude. Watch this, verse nine. And he said unto me, my what? My grace. I love that word. My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect. My dunamis, my dynamite, my might, my power is made perfect, complete in your weakness, Paul. You've got to see that. So what's Paul's attitude? Most gladly, therefore, will I rather, listen to this, glory in my infirmity Why, Paul? It's painful. Don't you understand? This has changed your life. He says, most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities. Why? That the power of Christ may rest upon me. A week ago yesterday, I was in tears. This was just hammering at my head. And I have been recalling, believe me, I have been crawling to this passage and others. Philippians 4, 1 Peter 5, 7, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. We're children of God. And I think it's great, praise God, I'm gonna be starting this series on standing on the promises. But I tell you what, when the ears are going and you've got no place to go, it's like, Lord, I wanna stand on those promises, but this thing is not stopping. There's a reason why I bring this up. Number one, to encourage you. Number two, to ask your prayers. I'd appreciate prayer. I'm going to the doctor on Tuesday. There's not much they can do. Those of you that, again, you've dealt with tinnitus, if you've gone to Dr. Google, you find out that there's Joe Schmo in Evanston, Illinois, that he's got a, he's, I'm sure, fire thing. I mean, it's right there. You take this and in four minutes, You're healed. And then you go to the people that really know what they're talking about and they say, we don't have a cure. There's some things that can help a little bit. I have been resisting hearing aids. I don't want something hanging off of my ears on both sides, like I told you the last week. But again, there's a reason why I bring this up. because I believe with all my heart, and if I'm wrong, praise God, I believe with all my heart that everybody in this room and everybody under the sound of my voice now and later on is going to be going back to this passage because you are going to need to know God, is your grace really sufficient? Because there are some things we're getting ready to go through. Now, the timing might be off a little bit, but there are areas where we're going to be hit. And you know something? We can have the same attitude that Paul had. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. That's what we need. There was a church that needed that. It needed that and so much more. You know, there's two phrases, two phrases as we have gone through the series, and by the way, we're not gonna be doing this, I'm not gonna be able to finish this, so don't worry, we're not going through, I'm splitting this in two. But there's two phrases that we read as we have gone through those seven churches and we now come to Laodicea. There's two phrases that we ought to take note of. The first one is, I know thy works. Now, folks, that's to all of us. We ought to have a healthy fear of God. Now that fear of God, that's not like the world thinks of fear. This is a reverence, this is a humbling before God because he is God. And we are his children, we are called of him to be stewards of his grace, to be servants to him, in our lives in the local church. And he says every time, I know thy works. The next one is this. He that hath an ear, speaking of, he that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Who's got an ear? Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, how much are we really listening? And when we come to this church, the church of the Laodiceans, oh my, we find out how important that is. So two phrases, I know thy works, and he that hath an ear to hear, Let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Would you mind if I ask one more question? How many of you are watching less TV news in the last year and a half? Most of you. I don't blame you. I honestly don't watch TV news at all anymore. If it's important, I figure they put it on YouTube. I'll watch it on YouTube. I'll watch the condensed version. I understand. I keep up somewhat. But I tell you, this world is not my home. Amen? This world is not our home. It's gone. I think the Greek word is nutso. It's crazy. But there's good news. Behind all that, there is an almighty God that hasn't lost his power. Praise God for that. Now, there are people that are in power, and I use that in italics, that are in power, that are thinking they are bringing in a great reset, a new world order. You know, all they're doing is following the whims of the wicked one who is being controlled by the hand of the righteous one. Because God is the one that is in charge indeed. So we've got some folks, and some of them, they're driving us crazy if we let them. So then we just back off, and we read the Word of God. As we have gone through these churches, if you've been here on Sunday night, or you've listened to the messages at another time, we learned this. When it came to the church at Ephesus, they had a love for God, but it was dying. They lost their first love, the Bible says. Then there was Smyrna. Jesus said, I know your pressures. Know my promises. And then there was Pergamos. That was the church that the easiest way we can put it is they married the world. Then there was Thyatira. They gave into the world. And then of course, we wound up getting down to Sardis. Sad situation. That church, was the dead church. Thou hast a name that thou livest, but you're dead. And then praise God, we wound up at Philadelphia. This church had life, little bit, but it was life. And he said, you keep on keeping my name. And oh, by the way, I have set before you an open door that no man can shut. That's awesome. Praise God for that. But then now, we come to the church at Laodicea. Now, I don't wanna get ahead of myself when it comes to how we read this individual churches, and then different times, periods. We'll get that soon enough. But just as kind of an aside, I wanna bring up someone. This indeed is the day of the Laodicean Church. And please, let me put off the description here for just a bit. But there is someone who this last week, let me just put it like this. He has gone on to his reward. I don't glory in this, but God's will has been done. You know, we get together and we open up God's word and it's a joy and we rejoice in it because we believe in it. There are some people that have taken this and they've shredded it. There is one man that I could hardly stand reading about. His name was John Shelby Spong. And he died this last week at the age of 90. And he has learned his lesson. And that I don't apologize for saying. This man in 1988 published a book entitled Living in Sin, A Bishop Rethinks Human Sexuality. By the way, I failed to mention something. He was an Episcopalian bishop. And when they ordained him, He denied almost every fundamental doctrine in the Bible and they still took him and laid hands on him, still. He denied everything, almost everything I should say. He said this, The time has surely come, not to just tolerate or even to accept, but to celebrate and welcome the presence among us of our gay and lesbian fellow human beings. Now listen, I've had gay neighbors. They knew that I loved them. I gave them the gospel. I wanted them to be saved. I want people to know Christ. But homosexuality is a sin. And no matter how much the world pitches a fit, that will not change. Like everything else that God has said is a sin. It is a sin. That very same year that he wrote that, 1988, He went to a Buddhist temple and said, quote, as the smell of incense filled the air, I knelt before three images of Buddha, feeling that the smoke could carry my prayers heavenward, unquote. In 1991, he wrote a book entitled, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism. In other words, rescuing the Bible from people that believed it. He wrote this, quote, am I suggesting that these stories of the virgin birth are not literally true? The answer is a simple and direct, yes. Of course these narratives are not literally true. Stars do not wander, angels do not sing, virgins do not give birth, magi do not travel to a distant land to present gifts to a baby, and shepherds do not go in search of a newborn savior. To talk of a father god who has a divine human son by a virgin woman is a mythology. He also said the Apostle Paul was a, quote, self-hating, repressed homosexual, unquote. I think I'll go ahead and stop with that. I've got a few other things that he has said. But here's why I quoted him. We forget that there are literally thousands and thousands of people, leadership, in mainline denominations that believe just like that. And they're the ones that the media and others, they'll go to for their opinion. I'm sorry, I'll let my Bible be my guide. I'll wait patiently and serve Jesus Christ while they wait to realize they were so wrong, literally so dead wrong. Many years ago, there was an occasion during a presidential debate that Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln were talking about the matter of slavery in a debate. Douglas was only concerned about one thing, his future. And he made this statement to Lincoln and everybody that was there. Quote, as far as I'm concerned, I do not care whether slavery is voted up or down, unquote. Lincoln replied that if Douglas does not care whether slavery is voted up or down, I say that I care, and the New Testament cares. Now, here's the challenge. Too many people today in churches have the same attitude that Douglas had. I don't care. I don't care about sin. I don't care about lost souls. I don't care about serving the Lord. I don't care about what my brothers and sisters in Christ might be going through. I'm here to church, preacher. You ought to be satisfied with that. And I'll see you again next Sunday morning. Now, I'm not saying that people here do. I hope and pray nobody here has that attitude. But understand, that's what a lot of people are suffering from. Remember when I, you know, just a few minutes ago, I told you about the ear situation. And I wanted prayer, but I wanted us to recognize that we need to have the attitude of Paul. You know, where Paul said, you know, I glory in my infirmities. He said, most gladly, therefore, well, I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. being relieved of that pain, whatever it was, and with the wording, it must have been physical and painful and reoccurring. He's saying, rather than getting rid of that, I want the power of Christ to rest upon me. And you know, I got to thinking about that. I'm telling you, I'm gonna know when I get to heaven. A, the trumpet's gonna sound and it won't hurt my ears. It won't make the ears ring. You know what I mean? There's some of us, Sean's gonna drop, he's gonna jump up and down on real legs. Yeah, praise God. I want you to imagine something. Stop and think. What if we all had the attitude, I want the power of Christ to rest upon me, even if it costs us pain? While attending a university in London, there was a well-known man by the name of Mahatma Gandhi. became almost convinced that Christianity was the one true supernatural religion, that Jesus was who he said he was, that salvation by faith alone in Christ alone was the absolute truth. But what he did, he graduated from the university and lived for seven months in East Africa with a Christian family, or at least they professed to be Christians. As the months passed, he saw something. He saw casualness of their attitude toward Christ and his cause. heard them complain when they were called upon to make sacrifices for the kingdom of God. And he sensed their apathy. His interest, he said, turned to disappointment. And then he said this, quote, no, it is not the one true God. not the one true supernatural religion I had hoped to find. Christianity is a good religion, but just one more of the many religions in the world." Because somebody didn't have a passion for Christ. When it came to Sacrifice? It's not worth it. And I've gotten to thinking about this, that, you know, the Lord's trying to teach me, and it's not a lesson that I'm fully embracing yet, but I must. The Lord's trying to teach me the pain is worth it. The inconvenience, the distraction is worth it. I don't know where the Lord's gonna take me on this. I honestly don't. I again, appreciate your prayers. But we all need prayer because again, I'm convinced that all of us are going to wind up in this passage asking the Lord Is your grace sufficient for me? Can I come and say what Paul said? Can I wind up saying this, therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong. I strong. Now, once again, speaking of these churches, first of all, when we read them, and if you ever go back and you read them again, you can look at it practically. They're lettered at seven churches. There were seven literal churches that were having challenges. You can also, I believe, look at it prophetically. that Laodicea is a picture of the church from about the year, let's call it 1900 on. That's the church today. There are differences, there are pockets of revival, there are places where the people are really serving the Lord, but when it comes to the Philadelphia age, It's died down somewhat. If you read about the revivals then, and the movement, the great missionary movement. Nowadays, that is not happening. I don't know exactly what the numbers are now, but there was a time I heard that for every one missionary that was going to the field, five were coming back off. And we know what has happened now with churches that have been suppressed because of the situation with COVID and such. It's been a distressful time for people in general, and it has affected the church. So we need to stop and we need to ask ourselves, okay, what is it that we're doing? What is it that I'm doing as an individual believer? So we wind up asking ourselves personally, what am I? Where am I in these seven churches? Am I Philadelphia? Or am I Laodicea? Am I Philadelphia? Or am I Sardis? I've got a name that I live, but the fact of the matter is I'm dead. There were some interesting problems when it came to the city of Laodicea. The city was founded by Antiochus II sometime just before 253 BC. It was named for his wife. The city was on a very high plateau and was secure from attack. The one defensive problem of Laodicea was water. they didn't have it close by. It had to be piped in. So this is what they did. Water from the hot springs of Hierapolis, six miles away to the north, was brought in. Then cold water from Colossae, which was located 10 miles to the east, that was piped in as well. Guess what the water was, be it hot or cold, by the time it got to Laodicea? It was lukewarm. There's no difference. I would rather have good cold water with some ice in it than something that's lukewarm. Laodicea was destroyed, 61 AD, by an earthquake when my wife and I were there, we saw the evidence of what could take place when an earthquake would take place in a situation where there was concrete, but there was no rebar, there was nothing special when it came to the building and boy, it would come crashing down. They actually though had so much money, They were able to turn down any help by Caesar and they rebuilt the whole place on their own. Reason why they had so much money is they were a center of banking and finance. They were also a center for things such as wool. It was a luxury item there. They had a lot of fashion that went on there. And then they also dealt with medicines. They dealt with pharmaceuticals. When we look at the church, we immediately begin to understand what the problem was. I'm going to go just a few more minutes. Can you bear with me a little bit more? If you can bear with me, say amen. If you can't, I want someone to find out who that was. Look at verse 14, would you please? And under the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, stop right there. Stop right there. Do you see what it says? Under the church of the Laodiceans. Now you're probably in Revelation, I'm there now. It's said different elsewhere. Revelation 2.8, and under the angel of the church in Smyrna. 2.18, and under the angel of the church in Thyatira. Chapter three, verse one, and under the angel of the church in Sardis. What does it say for Laodicea? and under the angel of the church of the Laodiceans. This church didn't belong to God. It belonged to them. You know, here is something that we need to get settled. Those of us, especially that are members of the church, We need to look around and we need to recognize this. This church does not belong to us. This church does not belong to the pastor. This church belongs to God. Now listen, that means that what God says counts. What he desires matters, not what we want. When we step through the doors, we are coming in worship. We are coming before the King of kings and Lord of lords, and we are submitting ourselves to him. We're not here. Sometimes we have a situation as this, okay? I wish there were times I could get some of you, maybe what I need to do. I need to get 10 people every Sunday to come up here and stand up here with me. And you look at what I'm looking at. Now, I'm not saying that I'm seeing this this morning, but I have seen this before. where people come in and it's like, I dare you to bless me. I dare you to tell me what to do. I'm not telling anybody what to do. It's thus saith the Lord. That's where we're at. So the first thing that we see is a problem of possession. We come together, who do we belong to? Do we submit to God, to the Lord Jesus Christ, or do we come in, we see if the pastor has his act together this week, Finally. And then it's like, okay, we appreciate it. You know, 8.4 and we're gone. Something like that. Or, you know, Roger, he gets up and he teaches this class and it's like, well, I don't agree with him. You know, I mean, aren't we finding out that we're not agreeing with Roger most of the time? Is that true? No, true. Roger, that's not true. Yeah, exactly. See, we need to understand we're not here to dominate the church. We are here to submit to the head of the church. Jesus died for the church. He purchased it with his own blood, Acts 20, 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. He's speaking to the preachers. to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." That's why I told you, I have said at least twice on Facebook, pray for your pastor. The messages that he preaches for the foreseeable future weigh heavy on his heart. That's why I'm gonna be preaching a series on standing on the promises. I want us to know the promises of God, or as many as we can, to recall. I praise God for places where we can go and we realize we belong to him. He sustains it, Ephesians 2.19. Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. That's who the chief cornerstone is of this local church, in whom all the building, bitly framed together, grows unto a holy temple of the Lord, groweth unto a holy temple of the Lord. We are here for one reason. We are here for the glory of God. We glorify him in obedience, in prayer, and getting into the word and encouraging each other. That's what happens. But it's his church. It's not your church. It's not my church. It's his church. So here comes the problem. We see it. There's a problem of possession. And we find out that there's a problem of passion. Look at verse 15. I know thy works. I've already said, we have read that every time. that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou were cold or hot. It was not this church. It was another church. It was not in this area. But I was younger and a friend of mine and I were talking about the need of revival. And we went to see one of the leadership in the church. And we were talking about you know, praying for revival and seeing God work, he actually took offense to it. Took offense. How in the world can this happen? And I said, you know, we started talking about how, you know, sometimes I feel like, you know, we're the Laodicean church. He actually said this. He said, look, we're not lukewarm. Well, I think maybe we are. He says, look, we might not be hot, but we're not cold. He said it. He said it. Now, that's a laugh at his expense. But is it possible? we could look around or we could even think of our own lives and our attitude would be the same. Oh, you know, I'm not hot, but I'm not cold. I can think of the same thing. See, this is why I believe we need to be in prayer I believe the Lord is looking to ignite his church. Churches everywhere. And I would not be surprised if down the road very soon there are situations, maybe even one great situation, where we wind up going to 2 Corinthians 12 and going, Lord, Is your grace going to be really that good for me? Can I really have the attitude of Paul? Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmity, that the power of Christ may rest upon me? I tell you what, when you're in the middle of a situation that is just dogging after you, It's like, Lord, please, I need answers. And he says, you have them. It's in your Bible. It's the same thing with the church at Ephesus. We wind up in a situation where we're not listening. We're not recognizing what Christ is seeking to teach us. Do we really see Christ for who he was in all his glory? I didn't agree with everything this man wrote, but C.S. Lewis, I believe, hit the nail on the head right here. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic on the level with a man who says he's a poached egg or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was and is the son of God or else a madman or somebody worse. You can shut him up for a fool or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us." So a perception came along there in Revelation 3, and this is where I will end. Look at verse 16, verses 16 and 17. So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. That's why some people say, this is the church that made God sick. Because thou hast said, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. We'll come back to that, Lord willing, next week. And I'm not saying that we're there But could you do this, this next week, all of us, could we go to the Lord and could we ask him, Lord, how do I view myself in your kingdom? How do I see myself? Do my actions mirror somebody who doesn't believe it at all? Or am I the kind of person that could go to you and speak of you in the same way that Paul did? Therefore, I will glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. I think that'd be a good challenge for us this next week. especially in 2021. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, I pray that you would guide in our thoughts, in our hearts this next week. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to be honest with ourselves to allow your spirit to convict, to allow your spirit to show us where we have sinned, challenge us in our salvation, in our service, in our obedience, in our purity, in every place. Lord, I believe the world has so swallowed the lies of the wicked one. And the church, to a degree, has done the same. Hell is filled with people who really, down deep in their hearts, just simply wanted to live a nominally good life and felt the church could be part of that. How sad. Lord, I pray that we would have a passion. Speak to us, I ask, Lord. this next week and then next Sunday as we finish up the church at Laodicea. I pray in Christ's name, amen.