The ancient church father St. Augustine offers a helpful statement on any church’s shared beliefs, “In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In everything, love.”

Recognition
Romans 6:23 ESV
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Repentance
Romans 10:9-10 NIV
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Obedience
John 14:23 NIV
Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

James 1:22 NIV
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

Perseverance
James 1:12 ESV
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

If we don’t know whose we are, then we don’t know what we are supposed to be doing.

Neal Cole “The world is not very impressed with our sacred houses of worship; in fact, other religions have built more beautiful ones. We must let them see something they cannot reproduce: a new life in Christ. A transformed soul… now, that is something that the world cannot accomplish and is dying to see!”

Our world is tired of Christianity with no Christ.

Romans 12:1-2 ESV
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Revelation 1:3 NIV
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

When we read this book may it bring blessing out of our mouths and produce gratefulness in our hearts, that Christ is king!

The Gospels are also about Jesus Christ, but present Him in His first coming in humiliation; the book of Revelation presents Him in His second coming in exaltation. Every vision and description of Christ in Revelation is one of majesty, power, and glory.

Revelation 1:4-6 NIV
4 John,To the seven churches in the province of Asia:Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

Revelation 1:8 NIV
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Revelation 1:17-18 NIV
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

Revelation 2:1-7 NIV
1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Perseverance (Hupomone) constancy under trial.

We will never evangelize to the lost, unless we first have a love for the lost.

Love is relational!

Despite its outwardly robust appearance, a deadly spiritual cancer was growing in the heart of the Ephesian Church.

They had work without worship, duty but no devotion. They had labor but no love.

Outward service cannot make up for a cold heart.

Proverbs 4:23 - Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.

Remember
Repent
Respond

Has busyness stolen your love for Jesus?

Revelation 2:8-11 NIV
8 “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. 9 I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown. 11 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.

What we see is that the Church in Smyrna had every reason, humanly speaking, to give up to collapse. Instead, it remained faithful to its Lord, never (unlike Ephesus) leaving its first love.

Affliction - “to be under pressure of a heavy weight.”

Almost always, scripture links persecution and spiritual strength together.

James 1:2-4 NIV
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

1 Peter 5:10 NIV
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

Poverty (ptocheia) - describes beggars and slaves needing alms to survive.

We are called to be faithful not comfortable.

Faithfulness doesn’t look like flawlessness. Faithfulness is not having all the answers, but trusting a God who does, a God who sees, and a God who knows exactly what’s going on and gives you the strength to glorify Him.

Revelation 2:12-17 NIV
12 “To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. 13 I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives. 14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. 15 Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. 17 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.

Hebrews 4:12 NIV
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

The Word of God has the effectiveness and authority in exposing and judging the innermost thoughts of the human heart. The word of God never wields a dull edge.

While the majority of the believers at Pergamum were faithful and loyal to the truth, there were some in the church who began to let the toxic culture of their day erode their purity and earnestness for Christ.

The reason for the letter to The Church of Pergamum was while most of the church remained loyal to Christ, they were also tolerating these sins in the church and never confronting them.

The only remedy for sinful behavior is to repent. Repentance is a word used in scripture to describe a change of mind that results in a change of behavior.

Do we hear and heed this morning what the Word of Lord is?

Revelation 2:18-29

We can’t assume small means insignificant, or unworthy of careful attention.

“All of the letters deal with the theme of faithfulness to Christ in the midst of an often-threatening pagan culture”

This church has been off to a good start. It has made progress. Its latter works exceed the first. Churches, not just individual Christians, grow and mature.

May we would grow in love, and not regress, with love in our hearts for our neighbors and our city, and tangible acts of love to meet needs in the name of Jesus.

The Church of Thyatira had the wrong kind of tolerance.

“I gave her time to repent.” Jesus doesn’t rush to judgment. He gives time to repent — oh what patience and kindness!

The danger for some is they have confused patience with tolerance and compromise to sin.

Second, is Christ’s justice.

The evidence of true faith in Christ is endurance, obedience, good works to the end.

Revelation 3:1-6 NIV
1 “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. 4 Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5 The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. 6 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Isaiah 11:2 NIV
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,the Spirit of counsel and of might,the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord

Recognize

Remember

Repent

Garments symbolize character in scripture.

“Reputation is what men and women think of us, character is what God knows of us.” ~Thomas Paine

Song of Songs 2:15 NIV
Catch for us the foxes,the little foxesthat ruin the vineyards,our vineyards that are in bloom.

Revelation 3:7-13

To say God is Holy is to say that He is utterly separate from sin.

No one can shut the doors to the kingdom of blessing and salvation if Christ holds them open, and no one can force them open if Christ holds them shut.

Job 23:12
I have not departed from the commands of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.

Romans 2:28-29
28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

The first promise for those who overcome is that Christ will make him a pillar in the temple of His God. Never again will they leave it.

Christ’s second promise is to the one who overcomes is that He will write on them the name of my God.

Third, Christ promises to write on believers the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God.

Finally, Christ promises believers His new name.

We must approach these seven letters to these seven churches with great humility. Christ gives us grace so that we can humbly hear the correction of The Lord. James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Isaiah 66:2 says, “This is the one I esteem, he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at My Word.”

Revelation 3:14-22 NIV
14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. 21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.

Amen can be defined as So Be It.

Psalms 34:8 NIV
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good;blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

How does your current level of wealth affect your spiritual desire?

We must guard against the lie that personal wealth is a direct reflection of spiritual wealth.

We can dress our lives up with all the beauty and pleasure the world has to offer, and still be wretched, pitiful, poor, and naked in the sight of God.