Podcasts about laodecia

Join Pastor Karla and RO Smith as they have a conversation unpacking the mysteries and misconceptions of revelation and how it applies to our lives today. In this week's episode, we begin looking at the seven letters to the churches in Asia Minor. This week, we will wrap up the discussion with John's letters to the churches in Philadelphia and Laodecia. Resources Referenced in this Series: Reading Revelation Responsibly by Michael Gorman Reversed Thunder by Eugene Peterson Voxology Podcast Word Biblical Commentary: Revelation 1-5 by David Aune Our vision at Point Loma Community Presbyterian Church is to Love Everyone to LIFE with Everything we Have. We strive to become an authentic community who seeks to EXPERIENCE Jesus, JOURNEY into deeper faith, STRENGTHEN the Church, and TRANSFORM our world. For more information, visit www.pointlomachurch.org. We have three worship opportunities for you to experience: 9:00 a.m. - Sanctuary Service 9:30 a.m. - Online Service10:30 a.m. - Chapel Service Please consider joining us for one of these services.  If you would like to give to the ministry: http://pointlomachurch.org/give/ or Venmo: @Point-Loma-Church To view worship services along with other digital content, go to our Youtube Channel @PointLomaChurchOnline.

Sermon 2-16-25 // Dr. Jim Ayers

MARILU HAYES [BEHAVIORAL SCIENTIST, CONSULTANT, and ASPIRING NEUROPSYCHOLOGIST] is back again and we take a DEEP DIVE through Revelation Chapter 2 & 3! Website: ⁠www.mariluhayes.com⁠ IG: mariluluhayes Verse of the week: "Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You." Psalm 56:3 Thumbnail art by David Mansfield (Christian rock artist) Have you heard about our NUTRITION PODCAST? Carnivore Coaches Corner is the #1 bodybuilding podcast in England, hosted by professional bodybuilding coaches Colt Milton and Richard Smith. Listen to these crazy gentlemen on Spotify or any podcast platform

How important is intensity? In this message Pastor JD explores the letter in Revelation sent to the church in Laodicea. This letter contains one of the strongest rebukes in all of Scripture, yet, it is not for a sin like murder, theft, or physical abuse. Why was Christ so intentional about correcting something seemingly simple? We hope this message blesses you and helps you live better.   For more about ConnectCommunity, visit: https://www.connectcommunity.org

Revelation 3:14–22 is a letter from Jesus to the church at Laodicea in Asia Minor. It was given to John in a vision and had the purpose of saving the church from lukewarmness and possible destruction. It's a message that every church needs to hear. These are solemn words of counsel and love to a church that is content with itself, and feels need of nothing.

Pastor Stephen Harmon's message from Revelation and the Letter to the Church of Laodecia given at Kingdom Life Community Church on June 9, 2024. Music by scottholmesmusic.com.

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This week, we're wrapping up the Seven Letters Mini-Series! Hear Pastor Micheal, as he preaches out of Revelation 3:14-22 on the letter to the church in Laodecia. From the cultural context of what Jesus meant by "lukewarm" and why it should be avoided, to earnest repentance, consider how we can learn today from each of the letters presented in this book.

Father, we thank you that you with the great God of the universe, created us in your image and you gave us desires, the ultimate of which is only satisfied with your presence. And Lord, we do take time now to confess that we have loved things, creature, creation more than we have loved you, and that misordered desire is the root cause of sin, of our fallenness, of our depravity. And we pray, Lord Jesus, that you focus our attention on the cross today, the work of Christ. And Christ, through the gospel, I pray that you turn our hearts to you, deepen our affection for you. Before calling us to allegiance to you, you give us new hearts and you deepen our affection for you. And we pray that you deepen our affection and love for you. We pray by the power of the spirit that you minister to us from your holy scriptures.Help us understand the scriptures, help our souls be satiated of the scriptures, and help us live in a manner worthy of the gospel. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. We're continuing our sermon series through the gospel of Mark called Kingdom Come. And the idea is that Jesus has come, the king of the universe, to inaugurate his kingdom, to establish it. And he says that we are to pray. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So we are to pray, Lord. We want more of your will in our life. And as we pray and as we seek his will, he establishes his kingdom in our lives. The title of the servant today is What Do You Want? Your life story is a history of your competing desires. Each one of us is a creature of desires.We want, we long, we dream, we desire, and we act on those desires for good or ill. And then we must live with the consequences of those desires. And there are, of course, different orders of desire, all competing for our attention, our resources, our energy. And which one wins out? Well, the greatest desire, of course, wins out. And so we are to rank our desires. And how should we do that? By the value of the objects of those desires. The longer I'm a believer, the longer I am a pastor, I'm more convinced that the battle for faith is the battle for desire. We've all heard the imperative fight the good fight of faith. Well, how do we do that? How does one battle in the arena of faith? Well, you battle for desire. You strive to desire the greatest and the most noble object of desire.And that, of course, is the Lord, is God. He alone is glorious enough to satisfy your greatest desire. His very presence is greater in value than anything in all of creation, which makes sense because he's the creator. He created you, and he created you with desire, a desire that cannot be satisfied with anything in creation. It's a desire that he alone can satisfy. And you might know this theoretically, but do you know this experientially? And the only way to really understand this experientially is to come to the realization of just how, really, how little you want God. When you're absolutely honest with yourself and you look at your life, you look at the scriptures, and you say, "Lord, why is it that I don't love you with all my heart, soul, strength? And my why is it that that's not natural?" What's impeding this desire for the Lord? It's sin. Sin suffocates your desire for God.And then what's the antidote for sin? It's repentance. Lord, I repent that I've desired creation more than creator. I repent that I've acted on desires that have transgressed your will. Lord, I want to desire you. I want to desire your presence. Lord, I pray that you give me a grace to do that. Lord, thy will be done. May your desire be done in my life. I desire what you desire. And that's what our text is about today, where Mark chapter 10 verses 32 through 52, would you look at the text with me? And they were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the 12 again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, "See, we are going to Jerusalem. And the son of man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, and spit on him, and flog him, and kill him. And after three days he will rise."And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." And he said to them, "What do you want me to do for you?" And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory." Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I'm baptized?" And they said to him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink, you will drink." And with the baptism with which I'm baptized, you will be baptized. But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared." And when the 10 heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.And Jesus called them to him and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles Lord it over them, and they're great ones, exercise authority over them, but it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples in a great crowd, Bartimaeus the blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside.And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, son of David have mercy on me." And many rebuked him telling him to be silent, but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me." And Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." And they called the blind man saying to him, "Take heart. Get up. He's calling you." And throwing off his cloak, he's spraying up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" And the blind man said to him, "Rabbi, let me recover my sight." And Jesus said to him, "Go your way. Your faith has made you well." And immediately, he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts.Three points to frame up our time. First, Jesus set his face like Flint upon suffering. Second, James and John set their sights on glory. And third, Bartimaeus set his sight upon Jesus. First, Jesus set his face like Flint upon suffering. And I get that phrase from Isaiah. And Isaiah promises that the king will come, the Messiah will come, the son of David will come, and he's going to come like a suffering servant. And it speaks of his steeled resolve to fulfill his mission and obey the father's will until the very last drop. Isaiah 50, verse 7, "But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore, I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame." Flint is a very hard dark rock and it's used figuratively to express hardness. And here, this phrase is used to describe Jesus' unwavering determination to persevere in the face of his excruciating mission given to him by the Father.In the beginning of our text it says they were on the road, verse 32a, "Going up to Jerusalem, Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid." Jesus going up to Jerusalem to fulfill his ministry. And the phrase to go up to Jerusalem, it's not just a phrase of geography, no. Jesus is here depicted as fulfilling his destiny. He's set his face like flint. He's walking ahead of his disciples in a crowd. And the disciples were afraid, it says. They were amazed, and most likely because they remembered Jesus' two previous prophecies about his suffering and death. They foresaw the consequences of an irrevocable decision to go to Jerusalem and face the inevitable hostility. Pain is on the horizon.Verse 32b, "And taking the 12, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, 'See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the son of man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. After three days, he will rise.'" Notice that Jesus says we. We are going to Jerusalem. He's including the disciples and the prospect of the terrible days ahead. Following Jesus means having a share in his suffering in life, and here in particular with the disciples. Jesus foretells at least four details here about his death. First, he predicts that he will be delivered. Delivered how? Well, he will be betrayed, and he will be betrayed by one of his disciples, the treasure, Judas. And this probably includes the fact that Jesus will be deserted by the other disciples. Jesus also tells the 12 that he will end up at the mercy of the Sanhedrin, which in part may explain the solemn nature of the procession to Jerusalem.Second, Jesus makes it clear in this prophecy that he will be sentenced to death, that they will kill him. And this is the plan of the Sanhedrin was to charge Jesus with the capital offense. But it wasn't just the religious Jews, it was also the Gentiles. He'll be handed over to the Gentiles, including the Romans. And this is new information hasn't been mentioned in the previous prophecies. And this, of course, is tough for the disciples to accept the Romans. Jesus, you could calm a storm. Jesus, you could bring people back from the dead. Why can't you protect yourself from the Roman oppressors? And fourth, Jesus tells them that after he will be put to death, he will be raised on the third day. The bad news has so overshadowed the mood that this doesn't even register the fact that he will be raised. The resurrection is the ultimate and determined of reality, but they can't grasp how significant it is, and it seems to be dwarfed by the massiveness of the suffering that precedes it.Jesus knew all too well what he was walking into, the excruciating pain and suffering that would be ahead, and even the fact of the resurrection wasn't enough for the disciples to really understand what's happening. How does Jesus feel in this moment? Well, he doesn't reveal here in the text, but he's struggling. There's weight in every single step. He knows exactly what he's doing. The garden of Gethsemane scene in Matthew 26 reveals what was happening on the inside. Matthew 26, "Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, 'Sit here while I go over there and pray.' And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. He said to him, 'My soul is very sorrowful even to death. Remain here and watch with me.' And going a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed saying, 'My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass for me, nevertheless not as I will, but as you will.'.And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, 'So could you not watch with me one hour? Watch him pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing and the flesh is weak.'. Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, 'My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.' And again, he came and found them sleeping for their eyes were heavy. So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time saying the same words again. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, 'Sleep and take your rest later on. See the hours at hand. And the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.'"What did Jesus want? What did the Son of God want? What did Jesus desire? Did Jesus desire betrayal? Did he desire being condemned to death? Did he desire to be mocked and spat at? Did Jesus desire to be flogged? Did he desire to be scorched, crucified? Did he desire to drink this cup of God's wrath down to the dregs? No, he did not. It was not his will. In Gethsemane, he's wrestling with the father's will. "Lord, I know this is my mission, I know this is my destiny, but if there's any other way, let this cup pass from me." It was not the father's will for the cup to pass. It was the father's will for the son to die. And why was it the father's will? Well, it was the only way to save us from our sins. It was the only way to save us from desiring our will more than the father's will. The son puts down his will and takes up the father's to save us from desiring our own will more than the fathers.This brings us to point two. After his solemn conversation, James and John set their sights on glory in verse 35. And James and John, the sons of Zebedee came up to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." Now, contextually, this is hard to understand what's going on because it's like, weren't you guys listening? He just told us he's going to be crucified. And then all of a sudden, you come up and you start asking for positions of power. And the gall, the audacity is kind of striking. They attempt to manipulate Jesus. "Jesus, please give us whatever we..." It's like a little kid coming up to my mom and dad. "Just say yes. Just promise to say yes, whatever I ask." And then Matthew 20, it's even more ironical. They send their mom. It's not even them asking.They're like, "Mom, you're really nice. Jesus likes you. Can you go ask for thrones, please?" It's ridiculous because it's like they don't understand what the kingdom is all about. They don't understand that the king has come to serve, and he's come to serve by suffering. And when he calls us to follow him, he does call us to follow the path of the cross. And what scripture here is doing is showing is that after every single one of the predictions of his suffering and of his resurrection, there's an idea of glory. And the disciples have caught onto that idea, and they want to capitalize upon it. In here, you do see that they are themselves battling for faith, and Jesus is helping them battle in their faith in the Lord, but it's a faith that needs to be clarified with spiritual vision. In verse 36, he said to them, "What do you want me to do for you?"Jesus wisely doesn't say yes. He says, "Ask. What do you want?" And this is a tremendous question. Imagine if Jesus came up to you and he said, "Ask whatever you want." It's like when God comes to Solomon in a dream, and he's like, "Ask whatever you want and you'll receive it from me." And Solomon asked for a heart of wisdom and a heart of understanding so he can discern what is right and wrong. So what do these gentlemen ask for in verse 37? They said to him, "Grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left and your glory." Now, on the face of it, this isn't a bad request. They love Christ, clearly, and they want to be as close to him as possible. They do believe that he's the king of kings. They have seen his glory in the mountain of transfiguration was Peter, James and John, and they got a taste of that glory, the glory that satisfied their souls, and they want to be as close to Jesus as possible in the resurrection, they say in your glory.And then in the text, they have heard that Jesus says in the kingdom of God, the first shall be last and the last shall be first. And they have heard that Jesus said that there are those who are greater in the kingdom of God, and then there are those who are least in the kingdom of God. So they understand that there's a hierarchy, and they understand that there's a reward system. And Jesus did say clearly, there are thrones. In Matthew 19:27, the parallel passage. "Then Peter said in reply, 'See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?' Jesus said to them, 'Truly, I say to you in the new world when the son of man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also stay on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundred fold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.'"So they heard about the thrones, and they decided, you know what? Jesus did say ask and you shall receive, and they waited until Peter was out of the conversation. They understood with Peter, they're the big three, but there's only two thrones, Peter. Sorry. The brotherly relationship takes precedence. And they come to the Lord and they say, "We want the thrones." And this is talking about prominence. It is talking about the presence of the Lord, but it is talking about authority. A throne is a place of authority. From the throne, you exercise authority. And in their mind they say, "Jesus, we followed you so we should get some kind of authority to represent our sacrifice." And verse 38, Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you were asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I'm baptized?"So what's the connection here between thrones and suffering? Jesus here by talking about the cup, the cup that I have to drink, what's he talking about? He's talking about the poison chalice of the Lord's wrath. In the Old Testament, there are occasions where the Lord says, "The cup of my wrath is full. Now, it's time to meet out justice." It's a cup of suffering. It's a cup of disgrace. And what's the connection between authority and suffering? Well, they want authority, and they think that the way to get authority and position of authority is to claim it. Jesus, we're going to ask for it, or they think this is where we jostle for it. I have to go around the other disciples to get this, or you demand it. And Jesus says, "No, no, no, authority in the kingdom of God is completely different than authority in the world." So he talks about the cup of bitter suffering. In the book of Isaiah, the book of Jeremiah, the cup of God's holy wrath and condemnation is mentioned.Often, it's God's indignation at our sin in the cup that Jesus will drink, and he will drink it to the bitter end. And he'll take our place and he'll become our substitute in the sin bearer. And as he takes our sin upon himself on the cross, God the father's holy righteous reflex is poured down upon his son and we see a separation between the father and the son upon the cross. The eternal son is separated from the eternal father. In Gethsemane, he's praying three times. How does he address God? "My father, my father, my father." And then we see Christ on the cross, and he doesn't say my father, he says, "My God, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"It's as though the consciousness of his native sonship has been obliterated from him, and all that he was conscious of now was his frail condition as a servant of the Lord. So he tells James and John, "Can you take that cup? Can you take the cup which is your own sin and your own guilt? Can you bear that cup? No, of course not. You can't even bear it for yourself. Can you bear that cup for hundreds of people? How about thousands? How about millions of people?" And Jesus bore that sin, that collective sin and shame and guilt upon the cross as he stood before a holy God. He says, "Can you be baptized with the baptism with which I'm baptized." And baptism in the Old Testament is a picture of undergoing the wrath of God. It's often seen in terms of getting caught in a storm.And we've seen that acceptance by Jesus of John's baptism may have been the symbolic acceptance of his judgment, but what Jesus here is referring to is to the negative side of baptism, the sign of the curse of the covenant. For a covenant to be made, there was the blessing of the covenant, and there was the curse of the covenant, and Jesus' baptism was baptism into death, is talking about the fact that he will die. And for him to offer baptism to us, baptism as a symbol of the fact that we have died with Christ been raised with him, it's a sign that our sins have been washed away, for that to happen, Jesus had to die. He had to drink the cup. He had to be baptized and to death. In verse 39, "They said to him, 'We are able.' And Jesus said to them, 'The cup that I drink, you will drink. And with the baptism with which I'm baptized, you will be baptized. But to sit in my right hand or my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.'"We are able. The two men were not named Sons of Thunder for nothing. And they did suffer. James lost his life in Jerusalem later on after the resurrection. He won't make it past the 12th chapter of the book of Acts. Roman soldiers will come to him, church history tells us. And if he died according to tradition, three soldiers come to him. Two would hold up his hands, and the other would thrust a sword into his abdomen and pierce his solar plexus. James died first, and then John, after losing his brother, continued to serve the Lord. He did suffer himself, was whipped by the Sanhedrin and the acts of the apostles.And then ultimately, he was banished to the island of Patmos dying somewhere around AD 95. It will cost them something to follow the Lord, just like it costs each of us. And Jesus does say that the Father does prepare the thrones. There are thrones, there is authority, there is a hierarchy. But the way to work your way up isn't just to claim it or just to ask. No, it's service. Mark 10:41, The 10 heard it, and they began to be indignant at James and John." I think Peter was probably the most mad, like we're the big three. We're supposed to be together. We were on the mountain. And the fact that they're angry shows that they themselves didn't really understand. It reveals that the 10 are very much concerned with their status, as were James and John. So Jesus has to do a little more spiritual eye surgery. Verse 42. "And Jesus called them to him and said to them, 'You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles Lord over them, and they're great ones, exercise authority over them.'"Those who are considered, he says, 'so-called rulers, they think authority is given, it's demanded, it's claimed. And then it's exercise. It's top down. But in Mark 10:43 he says, "But it shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all." So there clearly is a hierarchy. There's a way to progress in the hierarchy. There's a way to grow in authority and power, but the path isn't seeking personal gain. No, it's service. It's service to the king in God's economy of redemption, those who wish to be great must renounce all claims of greatness.They must seek to serve others, not claim authority and seek control. He's saying if anyone wants to be great, you're going to be a servant. But if you even want to be greater than that, if you want to be first, you got to be everyone's slave. And really, what he's getting at is, you guys asked for the wrong thing. You guys want the thrones. I promise the thrones. You want proximity to me. If you want that, then you need to come and say, "Lord Jesus, how can we serve you? Lord Jesus, give us opportunities to serve. Wherever we are, we want to bring glory to your name." And he says... Look at the example of Christ verse 45, "For even the son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." He's the son of man. He's the one with all authority. And what does he do with his authority?He uses his authority in service. He's the servant king. Therefore, service doesn't nullify authority. Authority assumes just a greater level of service with more implications. The more people that you serve, the more authority the Lord and trusts to do what? To serve more. And the fact that Jesus calls each of us to serve doesn't mean that we all serve with the same authority. He says the son of man came. He doesn't say the son of man was born. He says the son of man came, and the emphasis on the fact that it was his choice. He chose to come. He chose the life, he chose the death, and he came to serve. This is his kingly service. Jesus the Son came as the servant of the father, serving the father's will and serving the elect and to give his life. This is a phrase that's used to describe a soldier giving their life for fellow soldiers or for those that they protect.So Jesus came to serve. How? By giving his life. Why? That's the only way to provide ransom. And the word for ransom here is to release. It's used for sums being paid to secure the freedom of prisoners of war or return of captives or slaves. One of the most famous erroneous interpretations regarding the death of Jesus Christ is some look at this ransom language and they think, well, Jesus is paying ransom to Satan in order to get souls, and it's erroneous because God owes Satan absolutely nothing. No, the language of ransom is illusioned to the Old Testament where ransom, the price was paid to free slaves. And this has to do with our spiritual economy in the sense that in order for us to be freed, someone needs to atone for our sins. A guilt offering needs to be brought. And that's what Jesus is. Jesus is the great Passover lamb, lamb of God that had no blemish, and he alone can represent us on the cross.And he pays the price, he pays the ransom for whom? And he says, as a ransom for many, a ransom for many. The Bible says that He died for many. Jesus died for many, not all. The Bible says he died for his elect because our God is a God who accomplishes his purposes. He is nonfrustratable, He does not try and fail in any of his atoning work. He accomplished precisely what he intends to accomplish. One theologian writes, "For whom it, the ransom, for whom it is intended, to them, it is applied. For whom it is intended, for them, it is applied, but not to all is it applied, therefore not to all is it intended. And you say, well, how do I know I'm elect? How do I know that Jesus died on the cross for me, that he paid the ransom for me. If you believe that Jesus Christ died for you, then Jesus Christ died for you.If you believe in him, Christ died for you, that's the easiest way to confirm your election. And there is no other way. This is the way scripture presents it, that Christ died for you. You know Christ died for you because you believe that he died for you. And we do have a responsibility to believe. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes, whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." Christ gave himself for believers. That's it. If you are a believer, you're one of the elect. And this puts us right in the place where we ought to be, that we do have a responsibility to believe.And if you're here today and you hear my voice and you feel desires in your heart, desires for God, desires for salvation, desire for election, desire to know the truth, well, I'm here to tell you that those desires are not natural. Those desires are from the Lord. It's a sign that the Holy Spirit already working in your life. And if you've recognized that you're lost, if you're recognized that you're a sinner, if you recognize the guilt and the shame, well, trust in Jesus Christ today, believe in Christ today and know that he has died for you. And when you come and when you receive his grace and you receive him as your savior, well, that settles the question. Point three is Bartimaeus set his sight upon Jesus in verse 46, and they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus was sitting by the roadside.Jericho is important biblically. If you remember, this was the first city that Israel, as they entered the promised land, this is the first city that they captured. And then from this city, they took conquest of the rest of Canaan. And who was their leader at the time? It was Joshua. Joshua was the leader of the people of God. Joshua was the one that brings the freed captives into the promised land. Joshua's name in Hebrew is Yeshua, which is the same name as Jesus Christ. Jesus is Yeshua. Jesus is the new Joshua. Likewise, he begins his climactic invasion evasion of Jerusalem, so to speak. Jesus Christ, the son of God, the son of man, the Son of David marches through Jericho like the new Joshua on his way to free people from sin. And on the margin of this battle, as he's going down the road, sits a blind man who has lived in the realm of darkness.But now he is heard a rumor of a liberator, a liberator that's come to free him. And he thinks, who might this be? This might be the son of David. This might be the Messiah. And Isaiah 35, it's promised that when the Messiah comes, he's going to open the eyes of the blinds. So Bartimaeus realizes he has an opportunity. He has one weapon, one weapon, and he's been honing this weapon. It's his voice. And he realizes, "You know what? I can't see him. I hear there's a commotion, and I am going to make the biggest scene ever. I'm going to scream at the top of my lungs, and no one's going to stop me." And that's what he does. Verse 47, when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, son of David have mercy on me."He isn't claiming his rights. He isn't claiming his status. He isn't claiming any privileges. He doesn't have any. He doesn't come to Jesus and say, "Jesus, you owe me something. You're the son of David, meaning you've been sent by God. Why have you allowed me to suffer as much as I've been suffering? Why this life that you've given me?" He doesn't come with a list of complaints. He doesn't bring him a list of how hard life is, how unfair things have been. No, he just recognizes, I need mercy, and he can give it to me. Verse 48, "And many rebuked him telling him to be silent, but he cried out all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me.'" He sees this one shot, and he'll do absolutely anything and everything to prevent his chance for delivering slipping away. The blind man's unwavering persistence is exemplary.How does he confirm his election? He cries out to the Lord. He knows that his cause is hopeless apart from the Lord. One commentator says what Bartimaeus lacks in eyesight, he makes up for in insight. He understands Jesus is the Son of David, the promised one, the Messiah figure who will come to deliver his people. In Mark 10:49, "Jesus stopped and said, 'Call him." And they called the blind man, saying to him, 'Take heart. Get up. He's calling you.' And throwing off his cloak, he's sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, 'What do you want me to do for you?" And the blind man said to him, 'Rabbi, let me recover my sight.'" I find it fascinating that Jesus asked him, "What do you want?" It's like it's obvious. Jesus, I want to see. I want what they have. Lord, isn't this clear?Why does Jesus ask him the question? I think it's partially because he wants Bartimaeus to articulate it, say it, because it takes faith to say something as crazy as this out loud. Lord, this is what I'm praying for. I pray that you heal me. I pray that you give me eyesight. And to speak to articulate is to express the faith. And Jesus said to him, verse 52, "Go your way. Your faith has made you well.' And immediately, he recovered his sight and followed him on the way." He says, "Your faith, your faith in me is what made all the difference and made you well." It's the Greek "σοζο". It means not just healing, it means salvation. You have been saved. It's the same phrase that Jesus uses when he heals the woman with the issue of blood. He says, Your faith has healed you or saved you.And the Lord Jesus Christ here gave the gentleman a physical eyesight, but he also gave him spiritual eyesight. He enlightened him. And the placement of this miracle right after Jesus' teaching section of the disciples is important. The disciples, they know about Christ. They've walked with him for three years, but they still haven't seen clearly. They still haven't comprehended the truth. Their eyesight spiritually needs to be healed. And healing of spiritual blindness happens when your eyes are open and you see things as they are. When you see God as he is, you desire him as you ought to desire. You desire to do his will because doing so delights him and clears your vision to see him purely what made the difference in Bartimaeus life? It was faith in Christ. Faith is the beginning, the middle, and the end of salvation and the Christian life. It's the beginning because it is by faith that we receive forgiveness of our sins and peace with God.Faith is the middle of our walk with the Lord, because as Paul says, we live by faith, and in the son of God who loved us and gave himself for us. And faith is the end of everything we do, as Hebrews 10:35 says. "Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward, for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised. For yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay, but my righteous one shall live by faith. And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls." The Christian walk begins with faith, continues with faith, ends with faith. One saved always persevering.As one writer said, faith is the hand of the soul by which we take hold of Christ. It is the mouth of the soul by which we feed on Christ and are nourished by him. It is the foot of the soul, which as we read, the righteous runs to the Lord and find safety. And faith is the eye of the soul by which we look to him and live. Faith is what makes you a disciple of Christ and what keeps you a disciple of Christ, and what sustains you as a disciple of Christ to the end. Faith is the knowledge that certain things are true. The man knows things about himself. He knows things about Jesus, but he doesn't know much. But he does know the most important things. What does he know? Well, first, he knows that he's blind. He knows that others have something that he does not have, and he wants that eyesight.And I think the reason the majority of people do not come to Christ, hold on to Christ, ask for forgiveness from Christ is because they don't see themselves as they really are. Th ey don't see themselves as disabled, blind, needing to be healed. In the book of Revelation, Jesus is speaking to the church in Laodecia, a group of people who consider themselves believers. And he says to them, "You think you are rich, but you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked." They weren't physically blind, but they were spiritually blind. And here, Bartimaeus, he knows exactly his situation. "Lord, I need healing." And he also knows something about Jesus. He calls Jesus rabbi. In the original, it's the emphasis on these Lord, that you are in a position of authority over me. Lord, you have power to heal me. I've heard it. Lord, I know that you are the son of David. You're the Messiah. Lord, I want you to be my messiah. And I want you to notice that Jesus does put the emphasis on the personal pronouns. Your faith has made you well.Your faith has saved you. And Martin Luther commenting on this text, he says, "But who is this me?" Your faith has saved you. "Who is this me?" Martin Luther writes, "It is even I, Martin Luther, a wretched and a condemned sinner. This word me is full of saving faith. He who will utter or write this little word, me shall be a good advocate and a disputer against all the accusations of the law and of his own conscience, for Christ delivered up for me. Neither sheep nor ox, nor gold, nor silver, but himself, and that entirely in holy for me. Yes, even for me who am such a rich and miserable sinner, say me with all your might and print this pronoun me indelibly in your heart." There's a difference between saying the Lord is a shepherd and saying, the Lord is my shepherd. There's a difference between saying Father God and saying, you're my Father, heavenly Father, you're my father. It's an extraordinary statement of personal commitment that Bartimaeus makes to the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus heals him, gives him what he wants, and says, "Go your way."And Bartimaeus, at this point, it's expected, he's, okay. Thank you. I'm going to go home. God bless you. And he follows Jesus. He follows Jesus on Jesus' way. What's he doing? He's committing his life to Jesus Christ. It's an extraordinary statement of personal commitment when he calls Jesus, rabbi, my master. And what we see here is that Bartimaeus above all else, didn't just want physical vision. Above all else, he wanted Christ. He wanted to be with Christ. He wanted to follow Christ. And Bartimaeus, with his life, what is he doing? "Jesus, you gave me eyesight." And twice in this text and our text, Jesus asked, "What do you want me to do for you? What do you want me to do for you?" He says, James and John. He says it to Bartimaeus. And now Bartimaeus with his life, what does he do? He's saying, "Lord Jesus, what do you want me to do for you? Lord Jesus? How can I serve you?" Freely pardoned, he gives himself to Christ's service. But at so mighty of Christ as the blood of Christ, he devotes himself, heartily and thoroughly to the one who redeemed him.And this isn't what grace does. When you get a glimpse of grace, a taste of grace, you want to say to Lord Jesus, "Lord Jesus, what would you have me do?" And this is the love of Christ. The love of Christ is what changes your desires to want to obey Christ. Second Corinthians 5:14, "For the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died, and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised."Bartimaeus, the first days of his life where he sees are days where he follows Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. The very next text is Jesus Christ going to Jerusalem and the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday. And Bartimaeus went with him. So with his eyes, he's beginning to see for the first time. What does he see? What is he an eyewitness too? He's an eyewitness. To the last week of Christ's earthly ministry. As he was mocked, spat at, scorched crucified, he got to witness that with his eyes.But above all else, he received the salvation that the Lord Jesus Christ offered him. At this time, we're going to transition to celebrating holy communion. And holy communion is for whom? Holy communion is for repentant believers in Jesus Christ. So if you're not a Christian or you're not sure if you're a Christian, we ask that you refrain from this part of the service. Or if you are living in unrepentant sin as a follower of Christ, we ask that you refrain. Instead, take time to repent. But if you do repent as a believer in Christ, you're welcome to partake. If you have not received the elements and you would like to participate, please raise your hand and one of the ushers will bring you the elements. And as they're dispersed, I'm going to pray over Holy communion.Heavenly Father, we thank you for the incredible text today that reminds us of the battle within the heart of the Son of God. We thank you, Jesus, that you saw exactly what you were going into and you set your face like Flint. And even, Lord, when you wrestled with the father's will in the garden of Gethsemane, ultimately, you said, "It's not my will, but yours be done." Lord Jesus, today we are reminded of your sufferings. We remember your suffering in our behalf. This is the price that you paid to ransom us from our sins and to atone for our forgiveness. Lord Jesus, we thank you that you offer us salvation by grace through faith. It's free to us because you paid for it with your suffering. And Lord, we take some time now to repent of sin, repent of transgression, repent of pride, repent of lackluster desire for you. And we pray that as we partake in communion, that you use this as means of grace to stoke our hearts to love you ever more. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.

Father, we thank you that you with the great God of the universe, created us in your image and you gave us desires, the ultimate of which is only satisfied with your presence. And Lord, we do take time now to confess that we have loved things, creature, creation more than we have loved you, and that misordered desire is the root cause of sin, of our fallenness, of our depravity. And we pray, Lord Jesus, that you focus our attention on the cross today, the work of Christ. And Christ, through the gospel, I pray that you turn our hearts to you, deepen our affection for you. Before calling us to allegiance to you, you give us new hearts and you deepen our affection for you. And we pray that you deepen our affection and love for you. We pray by the power of the spirit that you minister to us from your holy scriptures.Help us understand the scriptures, help our souls be satiated of the scriptures, and help us live in a manner worthy of the gospel. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. We're continuing our sermon series through the gospel of Mark called Kingdom Come. And the idea is that Jesus has come, the king of the universe, to inaugurate his kingdom, to establish it. And he says that we are to pray. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So we are to pray, Lord. We want more of your will in our life. And as we pray and as we seek his will, he establishes his kingdom in our lives. The title of the servant today is What Do You Want? Your life story is a history of your competing desires. Each one of us is a creature of desires.We want, we long, we dream, we desire, and we act on those desires for good or ill. And then we must live with the consequences of those desires. And there are, of course, different orders of desire, all competing for our attention, our resources, our energy. And which one wins out? Well, the greatest desire, of course, wins out. And so we are to rank our desires. And how should we do that? By the value of the objects of those desires. The longer I'm a believer, the longer I am a pastor, I'm more convinced that the battle for faith is the battle for desire. We've all heard the imperative fight the good fight of faith. Well, how do we do that? How does one battle in the arena of faith? Well, you battle for desire. You strive to desire the greatest and the most noble object of desire.And that, of course, is the Lord, is God. He alone is glorious enough to satisfy your greatest desire. His very presence is greater in value than anything in all of creation, which makes sense because he's the creator. He created you, and he created you with desire, a desire that cannot be satisfied with anything in creation. It's a desire that he alone can satisfy. And you might know this theoretically, but do you know this experientially? And the only way to really understand this experientially is to come to the realization of just how, really, how little you want God. When you're absolutely honest with yourself and you look at your life, you look at the scriptures, and you say, "Lord, why is it that I don't love you with all my heart, soul, strength? And my why is it that that's not natural?" What's impeding this desire for the Lord? It's sin. Sin suffocates your desire for God.And then what's the antidote for sin? It's repentance. Lord, I repent that I've desired creation more than creator. I repent that I've acted on desires that have transgressed your will. Lord, I want to desire you. I want to desire your presence. Lord, I pray that you give me a grace to do that. Lord, thy will be done. May your desire be done in my life. I desire what you desire. And that's what our text is about today, where Mark chapter 10 verses 32 through 52, would you look at the text with me? And they were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the 12 again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, "See, we are going to Jerusalem. And the son of man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, and spit on him, and flog him, and kill him. And after three days he will rise."And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." And he said to them, "What do you want me to do for you?" And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory." Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I'm baptized?" And they said to him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink, you will drink." And with the baptism with which I'm baptized, you will be baptized. But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared." And when the 10 heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.And Jesus called them to him and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles Lord it over them, and they're great ones, exercise authority over them, but it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples in a great crowd, Bartimaeus the blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside.And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, son of David have mercy on me." And many rebuked him telling him to be silent, but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me." And Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." And they called the blind man saying to him, "Take heart. Get up. He's calling you." And throwing off his cloak, he's spraying up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" And the blind man said to him, "Rabbi, let me recover my sight." And Jesus said to him, "Go your way. Your faith has made you well." And immediately, he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts.Three points to frame up our time. First, Jesus set his face like Flint upon suffering. Second, James and John set their sights on glory. And third, Bartimaeus set his sight upon Jesus. First, Jesus set his face like Flint upon suffering. And I get that phrase from Isaiah. And Isaiah promises that the king will come, the Messiah will come, the son of David will come, and he's going to come like a suffering servant. And it speaks of his steeled resolve to fulfill his mission and obey the father's will until the very last drop. Isaiah 50, verse 7, "But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore, I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame." Flint is a very hard dark rock and it's used figuratively to express hardness. And here, this phrase is used to describe Jesus' unwavering determination to persevere in the face of his excruciating mission given to him by the Father.In the beginning of our text it says they were on the road, verse 32a, "Going up to Jerusalem, Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid." Jesus going up to Jerusalem to fulfill his ministry. And the phrase to go up to Jerusalem, it's not just a phrase of geography, no. Jesus is here depicted as fulfilling his destiny. He's set his face like flint. He's walking ahead of his disciples in a crowd. And the disciples were afraid, it says. They were amazed, and most likely because they remembered Jesus' two previous prophecies about his suffering and death. They foresaw the consequences of an irrevocable decision to go to Jerusalem and face the inevitable hostility. Pain is on the horizon.Verse 32b, "And taking the 12, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, 'See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the son of man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. After three days, he will rise.'" Notice that Jesus says we. We are going to Jerusalem. He's including the disciples and the prospect of the terrible days ahead. Following Jesus means having a share in his suffering in life, and here in particular with the disciples. Jesus foretells at least four details here about his death. First, he predicts that he will be delivered. Delivered how? Well, he will be betrayed, and he will be betrayed by one of his disciples, the treasure, Judas. And this probably includes the fact that Jesus will be deserted by the other disciples. Jesus also tells the 12 that he will end up at the mercy of the Sanhedrin, which in part may explain the solemn nature of the procession to Jerusalem.Second, Jesus makes it clear in this prophecy that he will be sentenced to death, that they will kill him. And this is the plan of the Sanhedrin was to charge Jesus with the capital offense. But it wasn't just the religious Jews, it was also the Gentiles. He'll be handed over to the Gentiles, including the Romans. And this is new information hasn't been mentioned in the previous prophecies. And this, of course, is tough for the disciples to accept the Romans. Jesus, you could calm a storm. Jesus, you could bring people back from the dead. Why can't you protect yourself from the Roman oppressors? And fourth, Jesus tells them that after he will be put to death, he will be raised on the third day. The bad news has so overshadowed the mood that this doesn't even register the fact that he will be raised. The resurrection is the ultimate and determined of reality, but they can't grasp how significant it is, and it seems to be dwarfed by the massiveness of the suffering that precedes it.Jesus knew all too well what he was walking into, the excruciating pain and suffering that would be ahead, and even the fact of the resurrection wasn't enough for the disciples to really understand what's happening. How does Jesus feel in this moment? Well, he doesn't reveal here in the text, but he's struggling. There's weight in every single step. He knows exactly what he's doing. The garden of Gethsemane scene in Matthew 26 reveals what was happening on the inside. Matthew 26, "Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, 'Sit here while I go over there and pray.' And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. He said to him, 'My soul is very sorrowful even to death. Remain here and watch with me.' And going a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed saying, 'My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass for me, nevertheless not as I will, but as you will.'.And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, 'So could you not watch with me one hour? Watch him pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing and the flesh is weak.'. Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, 'My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.' And again, he came and found them sleeping for their eyes were heavy. So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time saying the same words again. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, 'Sleep and take your rest later on. See the hours at hand. And the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.'"What did Jesus want? What did the Son of God want? What did Jesus desire? Did Jesus desire betrayal? Did he desire being condemned to death? Did he desire to be mocked and spat at? Did Jesus desire to be flogged? Did he desire to be scorched, crucified? Did he desire to drink this cup of God's wrath down to the dregs? No, he did not. It was not his will. In Gethsemane, he's wrestling with the father's will. "Lord, I know this is my mission, I know this is my destiny, but if there's any other way, let this cup pass from me." It was not the father's will for the cup to pass. It was the father's will for the son to die. And why was it the father's will? Well, it was the only way to save us from our sins. It was the only way to save us from desiring our will more than the father's will. The son puts down his will and takes up the father's to save us from desiring our own will more than the fathers.This brings us to point two. After his solemn conversation, James and John set their sights on glory in verse 35. And James and John, the sons of Zebedee came up to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." Now, contextually, this is hard to understand what's going on because it's like, weren't you guys listening? He just told us he's going to be crucified. And then all of a sudden, you come up and you start asking for positions of power. And the gall, the audacity is kind of striking. They attempt to manipulate Jesus. "Jesus, please give us whatever we..." It's like a little kid coming up to my mom and dad. "Just say yes. Just promise to say yes, whatever I ask." And then Matthew 20, it's even more ironical. They send their mom. It's not even them asking.They're like, "Mom, you're really nice. Jesus likes you. Can you go ask for thrones, please?" It's ridiculous because it's like they don't understand what the kingdom is all about. They don't understand that the king has come to serve, and he's come to serve by suffering. And when he calls us to follow him, he does call us to follow the path of the cross. And what scripture here is doing is showing is that after every single one of the predictions of his suffering and of his resurrection, there's an idea of glory. And the disciples have caught onto that idea, and they want to capitalize upon it. In here, you do see that they are themselves battling for faith, and Jesus is helping them battle in their faith in the Lord, but it's a faith that needs to be clarified with spiritual vision. In verse 36, he said to them, "What do you want me to do for you?"Jesus wisely doesn't say yes. He says, "Ask. What do you want?" And this is a tremendous question. Imagine if Jesus came up to you and he said, "Ask whatever you want." It's like when God comes to Solomon in a dream, and he's like, "Ask whatever you want and you'll receive it from me." And Solomon asked for a heart of wisdom and a heart of understanding so he can discern what is right and wrong. So what do these gentlemen ask for in verse 37? They said to him, "Grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left and your glory." Now, on the face of it, this isn't a bad request. They love Christ, clearly, and they want to be as close to him as possible. They do believe that he's the king of kings. They have seen his glory in the mountain of transfiguration was Peter, James and John, and they got a taste of that glory, the glory that satisfied their souls, and they want to be as close to Jesus as possible in the resurrection, they say in your glory.And then in the text, they have heard that Jesus says in the kingdom of God, the first shall be last and the last shall be first. And they have heard that Jesus said that there are those who are greater in the kingdom of God, and then there are those who are least in the kingdom of God. So they understand that there's a hierarchy, and they understand that there's a reward system. And Jesus did say clearly, there are thrones. In Matthew 19:27, the parallel passage. "Then Peter said in reply, 'See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?' Jesus said to them, 'Truly, I say to you in the new world when the son of man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also stay on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundred fold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.'"So they heard about the thrones, and they decided, you know what? Jesus did say ask and you shall receive, and they waited until Peter was out of the conversation. They understood with Peter, they're the big three, but there's only two thrones, Peter. Sorry. The brotherly relationship takes precedence. And they come to the Lord and they say, "We want the thrones." And this is talking about prominence. It is talking about the presence of the Lord, but it is talking about authority. A throne is a place of authority. From the throne, you exercise authority. And in their mind they say, "Jesus, we followed you so we should get some kind of authority to represent our sacrifice." And verse 38, Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you were asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I'm baptized?"So what's the connection here between thrones and suffering? Jesus here by talking about the cup, the cup that I have to drink, what's he talking about? He's talking about the poison chalice of the Lord's wrath. In the Old Testament, there are occasions where the Lord says, "The cup of my wrath is full. Now, it's time to meet out justice." It's a cup of suffering. It's a cup of disgrace. And what's the connection between authority and suffering? Well, they want authority, and they think that the way to get authority and position of authority is to claim it. Jesus, we're going to ask for it, or they think this is where we jostle for it. I have to go around the other disciples to get this, or you demand it. And Jesus says, "No, no, no, authority in the kingdom of God is completely different than authority in the world." So he talks about the cup of bitter suffering. In the book of Isaiah, the book of Jeremiah, the cup of God's holy wrath and condemnation is mentioned.Often, it's God's indignation at our sin in the cup that Jesus will drink, and he will drink it to the bitter end. And he'll take our place and he'll become our substitute in the sin bearer. And as he takes our sin upon himself on the cross, God the father's holy righteous reflex is poured down upon his son and we see a separation between the father and the son upon the cross. The eternal son is separated from the eternal father. In Gethsemane, he's praying three times. How does he address God? "My father, my father, my father." And then we see Christ on the cross, and he doesn't say my father, he says, "My God, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"It's as though the consciousness of his native sonship has been obliterated from him, and all that he was conscious of now was his frail condition as a servant of the Lord. So he tells James and John, "Can you take that cup? Can you take the cup which is your own sin and your own guilt? Can you bear that cup? No, of course not. You can't even bear it for yourself. Can you bear that cup for hundreds of people? How about thousands? How about millions of people?" And Jesus bore that sin, that collective sin and shame and guilt upon the cross as he stood before a holy God. He says, "Can you be baptized with the baptism with which I'm baptized." And baptism in the Old Testament is a picture of undergoing the wrath of God. It's often seen in terms of getting caught in a storm.And we've seen that acceptance by Jesus of John's baptism may have been the symbolic acceptance of his judgment, but what Jesus here is referring to is to the negative side of baptism, the sign of the curse of the covenant. For a covenant to be made, there was the blessing of the covenant, and there was the curse of the covenant, and Jesus' baptism was baptism into death, is talking about the fact that he will die. And for him to offer baptism to us, baptism as a symbol of the fact that we have died with Christ been raised with him, it's a sign that our sins have been washed away, for that to happen, Jesus had to die. He had to drink the cup. He had to be baptized and to death. In verse 39, "They said to him, 'We are able.' And Jesus said to them, 'The cup that I drink, you will drink. And with the baptism with which I'm baptized, you will be baptized. But to sit in my right hand or my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.'"We are able. The two men were not named Sons of Thunder for nothing. And they did suffer. James lost his life in Jerusalem later on after the resurrection. He won't make it past the 12th chapter of the book of Acts. Roman soldiers will come to him, church history tells us. And if he died according to tradition, three soldiers come to him. Two would hold up his hands, and the other would thrust a sword into his abdomen and pierce his solar plexus. James died first, and then John, after losing his brother, continued to serve the Lord. He did suffer himself, was whipped by the Sanhedrin and the acts of the apostles.And then ultimately, he was banished to the island of Patmos dying somewhere around AD 95. It will cost them something to follow the Lord, just like it costs each of us. And Jesus does say that the Father does prepare the thrones. There are thrones, there is authority, there is a hierarchy. But the way to work your way up isn't just to claim it or just to ask. No, it's service. Mark 10:41, The 10 heard it, and they began to be indignant at James and John." I think Peter was probably the most mad, like we're the big three. We're supposed to be together. We were on the mountain. And the fact that they're angry shows that they themselves didn't really understand. It reveals that the 10 are very much concerned with their status, as were James and John. So Jesus has to do a little more spiritual eye surgery. Verse 42. "And Jesus called them to him and said to them, 'You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles Lord over them, and they're great ones, exercise authority over them.'"Those who are considered, he says, 'so-called rulers, they think authority is given, it's demanded, it's claimed. And then it's exercise. It's top down. But in Mark 10:43 he says, "But it shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all." So there clearly is a hierarchy. There's a way to progress in the hierarchy. There's a way to grow in authority and power, but the path isn't seeking personal gain. No, it's service. It's service to the king in God's economy of redemption, those who wish to be great must renounce all claims of greatness.They must seek to serve others, not claim authority and seek control. He's saying if anyone wants to be great, you're going to be a servant. But if you even want to be greater than that, if you want to be first, you got to be everyone's slave. And really, what he's getting at is, you guys asked for the wrong thing. You guys want the thrones. I promise the thrones. You want proximity to me. If you want that, then you need to come and say, "Lord Jesus, how can we serve you? Lord Jesus, give us opportunities to serve. Wherever we are, we want to bring glory to your name." And he says... Look at the example of Christ verse 45, "For even the son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." He's the son of man. He's the one with all authority. And what does he do with his authority?He uses his authority in service. He's the servant king. Therefore, service doesn't nullify authority. Authority assumes just a greater level of service with more implications. The more people that you serve, the more authority the Lord and trusts to do what? To serve more. And the fact that Jesus calls each of us to serve doesn't mean that we all serve with the same authority. He says the son of man came. He doesn't say the son of man was born. He says the son of man came, and the emphasis on the fact that it was his choice. He chose to come. He chose the life, he chose the death, and he came to serve. This is his kingly service. Jesus the Son came as the servant of the father, serving the father's will and serving the elect and to give his life. This is a phrase that's used to describe a soldier giving their life for fellow soldiers or for those that they protect.So Jesus came to serve. How? By giving his life. Why? That's the only way to provide ransom. And the word for ransom here is to release. It's used for sums being paid to secure the freedom of prisoners of war or return of captives or slaves. One of the most famous erroneous interpretations regarding the death of Jesus Christ is some look at this ransom language and they think, well, Jesus is paying ransom to Satan in order to get souls, and it's erroneous because God owes Satan absolutely nothing. No, the language of ransom is illusioned to the Old Testament where ransom, the price was paid to free slaves. And this has to do with our spiritual economy in the sense that in order for us to be freed, someone needs to atone for our sins. A guilt offering needs to be brought. And that's what Jesus is. Jesus is the great Passover lamb, lamb of God that had no blemish, and he alone can represent us on the cross.And he pays the price, he pays the ransom for whom? And he says, as a ransom for many, a ransom for many. The Bible says that He died for many. Jesus died for many, not all. The Bible says he died for his elect because our God is a God who accomplishes his purposes. He is nonfrustratable, He does not try and fail in any of his atoning work. He accomplished precisely what he intends to accomplish. One theologian writes, "For whom it, the ransom, for whom it is intended, to them, it is applied. For whom it is intended, for them, it is applied, but not to all is it applied, therefore not to all is it intended. And you say, well, how do I know I'm elect? How do I know that Jesus died on the cross for me, that he paid the ransom for me. If you believe that Jesus Christ died for you, then Jesus Christ died for you.If you believe in him, Christ died for you, that's the easiest way to confirm your election. And there is no other way. This is the way scripture presents it, that Christ died for you. You know Christ died for you because you believe that he died for you. And we do have a responsibility to believe. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes, whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." Christ gave himself for believers. That's it. If you are a believer, you're one of the elect. And this puts us right in the place where we ought to be, that we do have a responsibility to believe.And if you're here today and you hear my voice and you feel desires in your heart, desires for God, desires for salvation, desire for election, desire to know the truth, well, I'm here to tell you that those desires are not natural. Those desires are from the Lord. It's a sign that the Holy Spirit already working in your life. And if you've recognized that you're lost, if you're recognized that you're a sinner, if you recognize the guilt and the shame, well, trust in Jesus Christ today, believe in Christ today and know that he has died for you. And when you come and when you receive his grace and you receive him as your savior, well, that settles the question. Point three is Bartimaeus set his sight upon Jesus in verse 46, and they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus was sitting by the roadside.Jericho is important biblically. If you remember, this was the first city that Israel, as they entered the promised land, this is the first city that they captured. And then from this city, they took conquest of the rest of Canaan. And who was their leader at the time? It was Joshua. Joshua was the leader of the people of God. Joshua was the one that brings the freed captives into the promised land. Joshua's name in Hebrew is Yeshua, which is the same name as Jesus Christ. Jesus is Yeshua. Jesus is the new Joshua. Likewise, he begins his climactic invasion evasion of Jerusalem, so to speak. Jesus Christ, the son of God, the son of man, the Son of David marches through Jericho like the new Joshua on his way to free people from sin. And on the margin of this battle, as he's going down the road, sits a blind man who has lived in the realm of darkness.But now he is heard a rumor of a liberator, a liberator that's come to free him. And he thinks, who might this be? This might be the son of David. This might be the Messiah. And Isaiah 35, it's promised that when the Messiah comes, he's going to open the eyes of the blinds. So Bartimaeus realizes he has an opportunity. He has one weapon, one weapon, and he's been honing this weapon. It's his voice. And he realizes, "You know what? I can't see him. I hear there's a commotion, and I am going to make the biggest scene ever. I'm going to scream at the top of my lungs, and no one's going to stop me." And that's what he does. Verse 47, when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, son of David have mercy on me."He isn't claiming his rights. He isn't claiming his status. He isn't claiming any privileges. He doesn't have any. He doesn't come to Jesus and say, "Jesus, you owe me something. You're the son of David, meaning you've been sent by God. Why have you allowed me to suffer as much as I've been suffering? Why this life that you've given me?" He doesn't come with a list of complaints. He doesn't bring him a list of how hard life is, how unfair things have been. No, he just recognizes, I need mercy, and he can give it to me. Verse 48, "And many rebuked him telling him to be silent, but he cried out all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me.'" He sees this one shot, and he'll do absolutely anything and everything to prevent his chance for delivering slipping away. The blind man's unwavering persistence is exemplary.How does he confirm his election? He cries out to the Lord. He knows that his cause is hopeless apart from the Lord. One commentator says what Bartimaeus lacks in eyesight, he makes up for in insight. He understands Jesus is the Son of David, the promised one, the Messiah figure who will come to deliver his people. In Mark 10:49, "Jesus stopped and said, 'Call him." And they called the blind man, saying to him, 'Take heart. Get up. He's calling you.' And throwing off his cloak, he's sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, 'What do you want me to do for you?" And the blind man said to him, 'Rabbi, let me recover my sight.'" I find it fascinating that Jesus asked him, "What do you want?" It's like it's obvious. Jesus, I want to see. I want what they have. Lord, isn't this clear?Why does Jesus ask him the question? I think it's partially because he wants Bartimaeus to articulate it, say it, because it takes faith to say something as crazy as this out loud. Lord, this is what I'm praying for. I pray that you heal me. I pray that you give me eyesight. And to speak to articulate is to express the faith. And Jesus said to him, verse 52, "Go your way. Your faith has made you well.' And immediately, he recovered his sight and followed him on the way." He says, "Your faith, your faith in me is what made all the difference and made you well." It's the Greek "σοζο". It means not just healing, it means salvation. You have been saved. It's the same phrase that Jesus uses when he heals the woman with the issue of blood. He says, Your faith has healed you or saved you.And the Lord Jesus Christ here gave the gentleman a physical eyesight, but he also gave him spiritual eyesight. He enlightened him. And the placement of this miracle right after Jesus' teaching section of the disciples is important. The disciples, they know about Christ. They've walked with him for three years, but they still haven't seen clearly. They still haven't comprehended the truth. Their eyesight spiritually needs to be healed. And healing of spiritual blindness happens when your eyes are open and you see things as they are. When you see God as he is, you desire him as you ought to desire. You desire to do his will because doing so delights him and clears your vision to see him purely what made the difference in Bartimaeus life? It was faith in Christ. Faith is the beginning, the middle, and the end of salvation and the Christian life. It's the beginning because it is by faith that we receive forgiveness of our sins and peace with God.Faith is the middle of our walk with the Lord, because as Paul says, we live by faith, and in the son of God who loved us and gave himself for us. And faith is the end of everything we do, as Hebrews 10:35 says. "Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward, for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised. For yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay, but my righteous one shall live by faith. And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls." The Christian walk begins with faith, continues with faith, ends with faith. One saved always persevering.As one writer said, faith is the hand of the soul by which we take hold of Christ. It is the mouth of the soul by which we feed on Christ and are nourished by him. It is the foot of the soul, which as we read, the righteous runs to the Lord and find safety. And faith is the eye of the soul by which we look to him and live. Faith is what makes you a disciple of Christ and what keeps you a disciple of Christ, and what sustains you as a disciple of Christ to the end. Faith is the knowledge that certain things are true. The man knows things about himself. He knows things about Jesus, but he doesn't know much. But he does know the most important things. What does he know? Well, first, he knows that he's blind. He knows that others have something that he does not have, and he wants that eyesight.And I think the reason the majority of people do not come to Christ, hold on to Christ, ask for forgiveness from Christ is because they don't see themselves as they really are. Th ey don't see themselves as disabled, blind, needing to be healed. In the book of Revelation, Jesus is speaking to the church in Laodecia, a group of people who consider themselves believers. And he says to them, "You think you are rich, but you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked." They weren't physically blind, but they were spiritually blind. And here, Bartimaeus, he knows exactly his situation. "Lord, I need healing." And he also knows something about Jesus. He calls Jesus rabbi. In the original, it's the emphasis on these Lord, that you are in a position of authority over me. Lord, you have power to heal me. I've heard it. Lord, I know that you are the son of David. You're the Messiah. Lord, I want you to be my messiah. And I want you to notice that Jesus does put the emphasis on the personal pronouns. Your faith has made you well.Your faith has saved you. And Martin Luther commenting on this text, he says, "But who is this me?" Your faith has saved you. "Who is this me?" Martin Luther writes, "It is even I, Martin Luther, a wretched and a condemned sinner. This word me is full of saving faith. He who will utter or write this little word, me shall be a good advocate and a disputer against all the accusations of the law and of his own conscience, for Christ delivered up for me. Neither sheep nor ox, nor gold, nor silver, but himself, and that entirely in holy for me. Yes, even for me who am such a rich and miserable sinner, say me with all your might and print this pronoun me indelibly in your heart." There's a difference between saying the Lord is a shepherd and saying, the Lord is my shepherd. There's a difference between saying Father God and saying, you're my Father, heavenly Father, you're my father. It's an extraordinary statement of personal commitment that Bartimaeus makes to the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus heals him, gives him what he wants, and says, "Go your way."And Bartimaeus, at this point, it's expected, he's, okay. Thank you. I'm going to go home. God bless you. And he follows Jesus. He follows Jesus on Jesus' way. What's he doing? He's committing his life to Jesus Christ. It's an extraordinary statement of personal commitment when he calls Jesus, rabbi, my master. And what we see here is that Bartimaeus above all else, didn't just want physical vision. Above all else, he wanted Christ. He wanted to be with Christ. He wanted to follow Christ. And Bartimaeus, with his life, what is he doing? "Jesus, you gave me eyesight." And twice in this text and our text, Jesus asked, "What do you want me to do for you? What do you want me to do for you?" He says, James and John. He says it to Bartimaeus. And now Bartimaeus with his life, what does he do? He's saying, "Lord Jesus, what do you want me to do for you? Lord Jesus? How can I serve you?" Freely pardoned, he gives himself to Christ's service. But at so mighty of Christ as the blood of Christ, he devotes himself, heartily and thoroughly to the one who redeemed him.And this isn't what grace does. When you get a glimpse of grace, a taste of grace, you want to say to Lord Jesus, "Lord Jesus, what would you have me do?" And this is the love of Christ. The love of Christ is what changes your desires to want to obey Christ. Second Corinthians 5:14, "For the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died, and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised."Bartimaeus, the first days of his life where he sees are days where he follows Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. The very next text is Jesus Christ going to Jerusalem and the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday. And Bartimaeus went with him. So with his eyes, he's beginning to see for the first time. What does he see? What is he an eyewitness too? He's an eyewitness. To the last week of Christ's earthly ministry. As he was mocked, spat at, scorched crucified, he got to witness that with his eyes.But above all else, he received the salvation that the Lord Jesus Christ offered him. At this time, we're going to transition to celebrating holy communion. And holy communion is for whom? Holy communion is for repentant believers in Jesus Christ. So if you're not a Christian or you're not sure if you're a Christian, we ask that you refrain from this part of the service. Or if you are living in unrepentant sin as a follower of Christ, we ask that you refrain. Instead, take time to repent. But if you do repent as a believer in Christ, you're welcome to partake. If you have not received the elements and you would like to participate, please raise your hand and one of the ushers will bring you the elements. And as they're dispersed, I'm going to pray over Holy communion.Heavenly Father, we thank you for the incredible text today that reminds us of the battle within the heart of the Son of God. We thank you, Jesus, that you saw exactly what you were going into and you set your face like Flint. And even, Lord, when you wrestled with the father's will in the garden of Gethsemane, ultimately, you said, "It's not my will, but yours be done." Lord Jesus, today we are reminded of your sufferings. We remember your suffering in our behalf. This is the price that you paid to ransom us from our sins and to atone for our forgiveness. Lord Jesus, we thank you that you offer us salvation by grace through faith. It's free to us because you paid for it with your suffering. And Lord, we take some time now to repent of sin, repent of transgression, repent of pride, repent of lackluster desire for you. And we pray that as we partake in communion, that you use this as means of grace to stoke our hearts to love you ever more. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.

In this episode Josh and Nate continue in their Revelation series as they look at the last letter to the church and this one is written to Laodecia. This was the worst of all the churches for Christ refers to them as lukewarm. They had deceived themselves into thinking they were saved but in reality they were not. A warning for all people and churches today that needs to be heard. 

Recently, I have had several conversations with people who describe their spiritual lives as mundane, listless, or even lukewarm. The concern is what to do when we just do not seem spiritually awake or alive. Thankfully, Jesus addresses the precise issue in his letter to the Church of the Laodecians in Revelation 3, the only church of seven churches to receive no commendation from the Lord because of its lukewarmness. The beautiful thing? We need not remain in our listless state! Jesus offers specific prescriptions to become "hot" in our walk with Christ. Join me for a special edition of R&R today! (RAR2024EP07) --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/carol-eskaros/support

Gregg

Midweek Study on Revelation

Watch Woman 4 Christ

The church at Laodecia had become lukewarm in the faith because they took on a worldly perspective of what it is to be rich. On this broadcast, Dr. Robinson, talks about abiding under the spirit of the Lord as our only means of staying fervent in the faith and on fire for the Kingdom of Christ. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/abideforever/message

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Sometimes younger believers will try to see how close they can get to sin without actually sinning. This mindset is dangerous and it doesn't come from a desire to truly know God. In today's message, Pastor Johnny will be sharing with us how God will use correction in our lives to protect and bring us back to him!

Sometimes younger believers will try to see how close they can get to sin without actually sinning. This mindset is dangerous and it doesn't come from a desire to truly know God. In today's message, Pastor Johnny will be sharing with us how God will use correction in our lives to protect and bring us back to him!

One of the callings for all believers is to serve the local church. God has given all of us unique gifts, talents, and abilities. Some people choose to squander them and never use the gifts they have to serve God. In today's message, Pastor Johnny will be encouraging us to serve our churches with the gifts God gave us.

One of the callings for all believers is to serve the local church. God has given all of us unique gifts, talents, and abilities. Some people choose to squander them and never use the gifts they have to serve God. In today's message, Pastor Johnny will be encouraging us to serve our churches with the gifts God gave us.

In the Book of Revelation, we get a look at Jesus that is very different from what we saw of Him in the Gospels. We see Him not as a man but as God coming down and showing us His fullness. In today's message, Pastor Johnny is going to be talking about the interaction that The Church of Laodecia had with Jesus. 

In the Book of Revelation, we get a look at Jesus that is very different from what we saw of Him in the Gospels. We see Him not as a man but as God coming down and showing us His fullness. In today's message, Pastor Johnny is going to be talking about the interaction that The Church of Laodecia had with Jesus. 

Did you know you can have a big bank account and still be bankrupt? In this episode, you will discover the dangers of being spiritually bankrupt despite having wealth, title, status, and worldly success.Are you struggling to balance your financial success, building your business or career with your spiritual growth? If so, this episode of the podcast is for you.You have a mandate to build, expand and steward in every area of your life. At the same time, you must be aware of the dangers that accompany accumulating natural resources. We see clearly in scripture that there is a spirit attached to money and that the love of money is the root of all evil.So what do we need to watch out for?In present-day culture, we are comfortable and live in abundance; we don't really ‘need' anything. In Revelation chapter three, Jesus confronts the church of Laodicea and quotes them as claiming they are rich and are in need of nothing.It is possible to be a believer and put your trust in earthly wealth, Laodecia did.Discover the test you need to pass if you are to be trusted with stewarding wealth and resources.Learn how to live generously and receive blessings you can be a blessing with the prosperity entrusted to you.Meet the man in the Bible who could have remembered in an entirely different way if he had learned the secret of the open hand.JOIN THE FREE EMAIL CHALLENGEUnlock The Power Of Your Full Potential with THE UNFAIR ADVANTAGE CHALLENGE: This is a FREE 11-day email training that will equip you with the tools, mindset, and strategy to BE THE MAN God created YOU to BE. Learn to Access His Presence, Purpose, Power and Promotion.https://www.standard59.com/unfairadvantageOwn THE STANDARD Today, Get the breakout Bestseller THE STANDARD, Discovering Jesus as The Standard for Masculinity on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Standard-Discovering-Jesus-Masculinity/dp/1734549300/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 Listen to THE STANDARD on Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/B095J62CW2/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-259076&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_259076_rh_usFollow Josh on Social Mediahttps://www.instagram.com/kingdomathlete/ https://www.tiktok.com/@kingdom_athletehttps://www.facebook.com/kingdomathlete https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7YKo7liiUJ1jW6eCLVkJlQ

Christ's Letter to the Church in Laodecia

When we sin, we should feel a burning sense of shame that keeps us from sinning again, at the same time, we should never feel ashamed of the Gospel. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - This morning as we look one last time to the end of this chapter, Mark 8, and we're zeroing in on this one verse, Mark 8:38, and as we do, we're looking at one of the most powerful forces that shapes human experience, and that is the issue of shame. Shame. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's 19th century novel, The Scarlet Letter, that terrible symbol of sin, the scarlet letter A, representative of adultery was commanded by the magistrates to be stitched onto the dress of Hester Prynne, the young woman who was discovered to have born a child by adultery. The sentence was combined with the command that Hester should stand on a raised platform holding her infant daughter and displaying the scarlet letter for all to see. Clearly the goal was her public shaming in front of the entire population as a warning to all. She was required to wear this public emblem of her personal shame for the rest of her life. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, I think had an agenda concerning New England puritanism. He did tap into a very powerful force, and that is a fear of public shame. In our culture, public shaming takes a very different approach. It still powerfully exists, because anyone who doesn't fit into the popular narrative of morality in our day and our age will be shamed, publicly shamed, at least in the digital universe, forever. Made to stand up and bear public ridicule on some social media platform. But the moral code behind it has dramatically changed. Christians will become more and more ostracized if we don't agree with the world's views on all the most controversial societal issues, whether it's sexuality or gender, feminism, race relations, politics, climate change, sexual harassment, child abuse, undocumented aliens, or what have you. Shame is one of the most powerful forces shaping human personality, and that's the topic of today's sermon. It starts with a shame that Jesus mentions that we should never feel, ministered by a world that ought to be ashamed and isn't. Look at Jesus' words, one of the most convicting passages in the Gospel of Mark, indeed, really in all of scripture, Mark 8:38, "If anyone is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in His Father's glory with the holy angels." Years ago, I memorized that scripture by itself, so that I would not ever be ashamed of the gospel, in a workplace setting or in my neighborhood. Because I feel the temptation to be ashamed of Christ and His words, I feel it acutely. Jesus is severely warning His disciples against any feelings of shame about Him and about the gospel. They are going to be His messengers to a wicked and hostile world, and the world will hate them for it, because it hated Jesus first. But Jesus warns them that no true disciple of His should ever feel ashamed of Him or of His words in such a wicked world. So for me, as I look at this, I wanted to expand and look more generally at the topic of shame to try to understand it, because I think it needs a lot of biblical instruction. There's a lot of confusion about it. So with Jesus's statement as a starting point, and really is the center point, I want to expand and learn what the Bible teaches about shame in a number of ways. It's going to expand into five points. First, the world ought to be ashamed and isn't. Secondly, Christians ought to be ashamed and are. Third, Jesus is not ashamed of Christians. Fourth, Christians ought never to be ashamed of Jesus. And fifth, Christians in heaven will feel no shame at all. Let's walk through these. The context here, Jesus is training His apostles for their future ministry of the Word to the ends of the earth. He elicits from them the world's faulty, inadequate assessment of Him. Who do people say that I am? And they give their answers. Some say this, some say that. Then He asks them the most important question any of us will ever face, "What about you? Who do you say that I am?" Peter speaks as their spokesman and ours, saying with his full testimony, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Then Jesus declares His future death, which is the core of His saving mission, that He will be rejected, despised, mocked, beaten, condemned, publicly shamed and killed, and then His future glory completely vindicated by His glorious resurrection. Peter cannot comprehend this, cannot accept it, and rebukes Him privately for saying this. So Jesus turns and rebukes Peter publicly in front of everyone as a spokesman for Satan. Then He strongly charges His disciples with the cost of following Him. You must deny yourself, you must take up your cross. You must follow Jesus. He exposes the core affections of a saved heart. If you love your life, you'll lose it, but if you lose your life, you'll save it eternally. Then He reveals a proper evaluation we should have of our souls relative to the world. The soul is worth infinitely more than anything there is in the material world. With one last verse in this section, He gives a warning against currying the world's favor by aligning ourselves with its value system concerning Christ, so we can avoid the shaming mechanism it's going to heap on us. "For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man, also, be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." I. The World Ought To Be Ashamed . . .and Isn’t Let's start with the first point. The world ought to be ashamed and isn't. Look at Jesus' evaluation of the world in a very potent statement, "This adulterous and sinful generation," He calls it. This world is deeply immersed in sin. Jesus calls it adulterous. The image is one of the deep, intimate love every single person should have for God. It's likened to the intimate love between a wife and her husband. God likened Israel to His bride in many places. For example, Isaiah 62:5, "As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you." But Israel has gone after idols. She was spiritually adulterous, both Ezekiel and Josiah liken Israel's lust for idols to a wayward and promiscuous wife running after other lovers, committing adultery. All sin therefore is ultimately spiritual adultery. We are an adulterous and sinful generation. The entire world is adulterous in the same way. "Israel has gone after idols. She was spiritually adulterous, both Ezekiel and Josiah liken Israel's lust for idols to a wayward and promiscuous wife running after other lovers, committing adultery. All sin therefore is ultimately spiritual adultery." Jesus highlights the great wickedness of this world, a world that ought to be ashamed of itself, but it isn't. It isn't. So what is shame? Let's take a minute and define it. Shame is a painful emotion caused by a consciousness of guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety. It's a painful emotion caused by a consciousness of guilt or a shortcoming or impropriety. Shame always involves an audience, an onlooking audience, a sense of public censure, a stripping of honor before an onlooking crowd of disapproving people. There's disgraced, dishonor, reproach, the crowd being shocked, pouring out disapproval. Fundamental to shame is the sense of the respect and affection that we desire in the eyes of others, especially God. That God Himself and that other people would see us well, honor us, think well of us, speak well of us. To have the exact opposite, to be despised, to be publicly stripped of all honor is among the greatest fears of the human heart. God Almighty, definitely in many places, includes shame in judging sin. There are many verses I could use to prove this, but when speaking of Israel's forsaking of the true God to fall idols, he says in Jeremiah 2:11-13, "My people have exchanged their glory for worthless idols. Be appalled at this O heavens, and shutter with great horror," declares the Lord. "My people have committed two sins. They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water." When He says, "Be appalled at this, O heavens," He's calling on the heavens to witness His people in their shame in what they've done. To look on Israel's sin with horror and to shutter. Isaiah does the same thing, "Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth!" The first mention of shame in the Bible appears very early, and it's mentioned negatively. “The man and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame.” They wouldn't have known what the word was at that moment, but it's ominous, because Moses, writing centuries later, knew exactly what it was to feel shame, and the first experience of shame came in the very next chapter. Tragically, Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and they felt shame. First, horizontally toward each other and then vertically toward God. The eyes of both of them were open and they realized they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. The word shame isn't mentioned there, but it's clearly implied, especially since it was just mentioned a few verses before that. Then all the more when God comes and calls to the man, "Where are you?" and he answered, "I heard you in the garden. I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid." But tragically, the disease of sin, specifically, attacks the sense of shame, and after a while, sinners feel no shame whatever for their sins. The world corrupts shame. As sin progressed in the world, people became more and more hardened concerning their sins. Genesis 6 says that before the flood, the thoughts of men's hearts were only evil, all the time, continually. The general principle in redemptive history has been the greater the evil in the hearts of the people, the more they throw off shame entirely and actually boast in the evil things they do. Jeremiah 6:15, "Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all. They do not even know how to blush." Or again, at the end of Romans 1, when there's a terrible catalog of sins, twenty-one sins listed, Paul says this, "They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity." Then verse 32, "Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things, but,” listen, “they also approve of those who practice them." The word “approve” means “to have pleasure in”. They actually delight in things that they ought to be ashamed of. Paul talks about this in Philippians 3:19, speaking of lost people, "Their destiny is destruction, their God is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame." Paul means that these depraved people actually glory in what should be making them feel feelings of shame. People then boast with great glee over sexual promiscuity or getting away with the perfect crime or fits of rage as demonstrations of power, that kind of thing. This defective shame is part of what the Bible calls a “seared conscience". 1 Timothy 4:2, Paul mentions, "Hypocritical liars whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron." A seared conscience means they have no feeling in their conscience. To some degree they are like lepers. Leprosy is a nerve disease which manifests in a lot of ways, but one of them is that you lose the sensation of pain. You could walk the entire day with a rock in your shoe that's just gouging your flesh, and you never feel it. The end of the day you take off your shoe and your shoe is filled with blood, your own blood, but you never felt anything. I think that's what it means to have a hard heart, a seared conscience, you don't feel anything, but actually they're still aware of the existence of a sense of guilt and shame as a reality. They're aware of that. Thus, they often try to make righteous people feel ashamed of not joining with them in their own sinful actions. They want everyone to join their party with them. 1 Peter 4:3-4 says to Christian people, "You've spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do, living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry. They think it's strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation and they heap abuse on you.” “Why aren't you joining in what we're doing here?” They heap abuse on anyone who won't join in their sins. Our culture will become even violent toward people who don't agree with them, who don't, for example, in Pride month celebrate homosexuality. They don't get on board with LGBTQ, et cetera. If you don't get on board, they'll heap shame on you. Or on other topics, make you try to join their crusades on those topics, and if you don't join with them in the same way, they will heap abuse on you. They'll try to make you feel ashamed. The world fundamentally wants us to dance to their tune. Jesus talked about this in reference to John the Baptist not dancing to anybody's tune. Matthew 11:17, "To what can I compare this generation? They're like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others, 'We played the flute for you and you didn't dance; we sang a dirge. And you didn't mourn.'" In other words, "We're calling the tune, you need to dance to our tune." Concerning the LGBT, et cetera, Paul actually calls it in Romans 1, "Shameful lusts." That phrase is not going to go anywhere, it's not going to disappear, and yet the whole thing has been turned around now, where it's shameful to oppose. It's shameful to tell the truth. In love, to say, "This like all the other sins are sins that Jesus, the great physician can heal you from." Now the whole thing's turned around. Isaiah said in Isaiah 5:20, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." Who call things that are shameful good and try to put shame on people who are doing actual good in God's eyes. Turn the whole thing around. So fundamentally, the world rejects the healthy shame they should feel for their sins. Without it they cannot repent and be saved. "The world rejects the healthy shame they should feel for their sins. Without it, they cannot repent and be saved." II. Christians Ought To Be Ashamed . . . and Are Secondly, Christians ought to be ashamed and are. In order to be saved, sinners must repent of their sins. Genuine repentance is essential to salvation. Jesus said in Luke 5, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." But what is repentance? The puritan pastor Thomas Watson in his masterpiece, The Doctrine of Repentance, defined repentance as, "Repentance is a grace of God's spirit whereby a sinner is inwardly humbled and visibly reformed. He then breaks out that inward humbling in six ingredients of true repentance. First, sight of sin. You see it as God does. Secondly, sorrow for sin. You have a genuine grief or sorrow over your sin. Third, confession of sin. Vertically, you agree with God that that is sin, that you are a sinner, and that specific thing is sin. Fourth, shame for sin. A sense, a burning sense of how repulsive that sin is in the sight of a holy God. Fifth, hatred of sin. A moral revulsion over the sin. And then that results in sixth, a turning from sin, a genuine transformation of life." That's what repentance actually is, and shame for sin is in the middle of it. The Holy Spirit comes in His marvelous powerful work, and He works repentance in us. Thanks be to God, if you're a Christian, the Holy Spirit has done this deep work of convicting in you. John 16:8, "When the spirit comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment." Therefore, part of that is the Holy Spirit works in us a healthy shame for our sins, a reasonable healthy shame for the sins we've committed. Ezekiel 16:63, "'Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, then you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth, because of your humiliation,' declares the sovereign Lord." That's powerful, and that's in the spiritual adultery chapter of Ezekiel 16. But we see it all over the place in the New Testament. If you know what to look for, you can see it. The parable of the prodigal son. Remember, he's out there having squandered his father's money, slopping pigs, comes to himself, comes back, and he says this to his father, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” Or again, in Luke 18:13, in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, "The tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'" What do you think he's feeling there? Jesus said, "I tell you that man went home justified." Or again, in Luke 7:37-38, "When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisees house, she brought an alabaster jar perfume. And as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and poured perfume on them." I don't think we can fully capture all the feelings she's feeling at that moment, but deep repentance for her sinful life is part of it. Justification by faith in Christ frees us from ultimate shame. Hallelujah! It sets us free. Now, I'm going to develop more on this in a moment, but shame is essential to our salvation, and I want to borrow a phrase from John Newton's Amazing Grace, “'twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved.” Same thing with shame, “'twas grace that made us feel healthy shame for our sins, and it's by grace our shame is relieved.” Even after we have been forgiven for all of our sins, past, present, and future, I don't know if you've noticed, but your career in sin isn't over yet, unless somebody of you wants to claim that it has. But you know it hasn't. We're all wrestling with sin. Romans 7, "The very thing we hate, we do and the good things we want to do, we don't do, and so we commit new sins." We're not done with healthy shame yet. Sanctification involves an ongoing work of repentance and therefore an ongoing work of healthy shame. This is pretty controversial. Many Christians think that we should never feel ashamed. Jesus has taken away all my shame. I get all that, but I don't think that's carefully nuanced enough. I don't think it's even biblical. They fail to deal properly to the fact that we're not done being saved and that there's this ongoing work of necessary repentance. We're not done repenting. And therefore, according to Watson, we're not done with shame. In justification, all of our sins have been forgiven, past, present and future, and we're positionally perfect in Christ. That is true. But in sanctification we have this ongoing battle with sin. And when a Christian sins, what is the healthy response we should have toward that new sin, other than shame? Paul openly uses shame for past sins in the sanctification verse, in Romans 6:21, to me that just proves that shame is a healthy part of the ongoing Christian life. He says, "What benefit or what fruit did you reap at that time from those things you are now ashamed of?" Now ashamed, you're a Christian, and it's healthy to be ashamed of those things you used to do. Those things result in death. What do you think Peter felt that terrible night that Jesus was arrested, and Jesus predicted his denial, three times denial, "Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times." Peter swore he wouldn't, "Even if all fall away in account of you, I never will." But as he was being led into the courtyard, a slave girl at the door said, "You're not one of his disciples, are you?" "No, I'm not," off and running. And then he is warming his hands with God's enemies, Jesus' enemies, "I don't know him." "You don't know... You're not one of..." "No, I don't know him." By the end of that evening, he was literally calling down curses on himself if he knew Jesus. Then the rooster crowed for the second time. Then in Luke's Gospel, Jesus was going from one place to another in his trial, and he had the opportunity to look right at Peter, just at that moment, and Peter went outside and wept bitterly. What do you think he was feeling? If you don't like the word shame, then come up with a new word. But that's what he was feeling. Shame therefore is like physical pain. We will not feel it in heaven, I'll get to that in a few moments, but we need it now, so that we don't keep touching the hot stove, so that we stop sinning. Christians ought to feel shame and do. III. Jesus Is Not Ashamed of Christians Thirdly, Jesus is not ashamed of Christians. Now this should blow you away. Jesus Christ openly associated with sinners. He was a friend of tax collectors and sinners. He had no problem sitting with them, eating meals with them. He had no fear of guilt by association, none. He was a friend of sinners. And we need a friend, don't we? Jesus, we're told in Hebrews 2:11, is not ashamed to be called our brother. He's not ashamed to call us brothers. It's incredible given who we are and who He is, but that just mirrors God Himself. It says in Hebrews 11:16 that God is not ashamed to be called their God for He's prepared a city for them. God doesn't mind having his name associated with us. He's not ashamed of us. Why is that? Because Jesus, by His atoning work, by His blood, has removed all of our sin, has atoned for all of our sins. Jesus is willing, based on the blood He shed on our behalf, to stand next to a sinner who has repented and believed. Like the father of the prodigal son, who's still wearing nasty pig clothes, he gives him a hug, puts his arm around, he owns him. He puts a ring on his finger as an heir and a robe on around him. He's willing to stand in front of all the angels and say, "He is one of mine. I know her. I vouch for him. I vouch for her.” Romans 8:33-34, "Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?” It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns Christ Jesus who died-more than that, was raised to life-and at the right hand of God interceding for us?" Owning us, He is saying, "She belongs to me. He belongs to me," advocating for us. He's not ashamed of us. He's not ashamed, because atonement removes all of our sin, all of the shame for sin. "Atonement removes all of our sin, all of the shame for sin." Romans 10:11, as the scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." So by his atonement, the death penalty for our sins has been paid. By the miracle of imputation, His righteousness is credited to us. His righteousness is given to us, picture it like a beautiful robe to cover our shameful nakedness. That's the open language used in Revelation 3:18, Jesus says to the church at Laodecia, "I counsel you to buy from me white clothes to wear, so that you can cover your shameful nakedness." The white robe to wear is the imputed righteousness of Christ. It's faith in Christ, and it's pictured like a white robe. The ultimate shame in the universe, there is no greater shame than this, before the angels, before all the redeemed to be condemned to hell, to be condemned to hell. "If anyone is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in His Father's glory with his holy angels." What is He coming in His Father's glory with his holy angels to do? He's coming to judge the earth. He's the judge of all the earth. Another passage openly talks about that moment, Matthew 25:31-32, "When the Son of Man comes in His Father's glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory. And all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from the other as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He'll put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left." Therefore the ultimate shame is to hear those dreadful words spoken that I spoke last week, "Depart from me, you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and as angels.” That's the shame we Christians will never feel. Anyone who trusts in Him will never ultimately, eternally be put to shame. If we repent of our sins now and trust in Christ now, we will never know that ultimate shame. IV. Christians Ought Not Be Ashamed of Jesus Fourth, Christians ought never to be ashamed of Jesus. Now, this is obviously the home base of this scripture, but I've sought to show the context of why this would even happen. Why would we be tempted to feel ashamed of Christ and of His words? It's because the world seeks to make Christians ashamed of Christ and of the gospel. The world in its sin attacks people who point out their sins. No one did that more perfectly than Jesus. Jesus said to his, at that point, unbelieving brothers in John 7:7, "The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil." Did you hear that? The reason the world hated Jesus is because He told the truth about their sin and they didn't want to hear it. "The reason the world hates me is I testify that what it does is evil." And again, John 3:20, "Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." Therefore, in His death the world heaped abuse on Jesus, they heaped shame on Him. Mark 15:17 and following, "They put a purple robe on Him, they twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on Him. And they began to call out to Him, 'Hail king of the Jews!' Again and again they struck Him on the head with a staff and spit on Him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to Him. And when they had mocked Him, they took off the purple robe and put His own clothes on Him. Then they led Him out to crucify Him." Jesus told His followers to expect the same treatment if they follow Him in proclaiming the need that sinners have to repent and believe. John 15:18, "If the world hates you, keep in mind it hated me first." The world will try to make all Christians feel ashamed of Christ and His words though they are the ones who ought to be ashamed of their sins, so that they can be saved. But Jesus says, "If anyone is truly, at your core, ashamed of me and of my words, you're not a Christian, and I will disown you on that day." He will be ashamed of you at Judgment Day, that's what He's saying. This verse is fundamentally a warning to all of us. The shame Jesus is referring to here is the total rejection of Christ and his incarnation. If anyone does that, Jesus is going to reject them on Judgment Day, saying, "I never knew you, away from me, you evildoers." People have to come out from the world and join with Jesus by faith, as He is crucified. We have to make our stand with the crucified and bloody savior and not be ashamed of Him. The cross itself was designed to maximize every form of torture, including public shame. Isn't it amazing that Hebrews tells us that Jesus said, the shame they heaped on Him, He considered a small price to pay to save us, a small price to pay to save you and me. Hebrews 12:2, "Let us fix our eyes in Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God.” What does that mean? He thought little of it, the shame. It's a small price to pay. Marvel at that, because shame is one of the most powerful feelings there is. For Him, it's small, "I know they're going to shame me. I know they're going to keep abuse on me. I know they're going to mock me, and they're going to spit on me, and they're going to strip me out in front of all the people. It's a small price to pay to win you," to win His bride. But then the author to Hebrews urges us Christians to stand with Jesus, under the cross bearing the shame He bore. In the next chapter of Hebrews 13:12-14, "When the sacrifices were made, the carcasses of the sacrifices were taken outside the camp and burned, refuse." The author then says, "Jesus also suffered outside the city gate," as though He's garbage, “to make the people holy by His own blood." Listen to this, "Let us then go to him outside the camp, bearing the reproach he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we're looking for the city that is to come." So what does he mean? Go outside like your garbage, stand next to Jesus, own Him like He's willing to own you, and stand under that reproach, and bear the reproach He bore. That's what the author of Hebrews is urging us to do. Be willing to join him, to stand under the bloody cross, to preach the bloody cross, to not be ashamed of it in any way. That is our mission in the world to testify to Christ and to his words. We are sent as witnesses to a lost and dying world. Jesus said, "We should expect to be hated and shamed.” Paul was constantly. The shaming mechanism was dumped on Paul again and again. Think about Paul and Silas in Philippi. They were stripped publicly and beaten publicly and then thrown in the inner dungeon and their feet were put in the stocks as though they were maximum criminals, complete public shaming. In our generation, unbelievers will try to shame us as well. In America at this present time, it just means being mocked on social media, or on the news programs, or the brunt of standup comedian jokes or late night talk jokes, things like that. It's going to get worse though I think. I don't think it's going to get better. I think it's going to get worse. In more oppressive cultures and at different times in history, Christians have been more openly shamed. In the Chinese Cultural Revolution, 1966, Chinese Christians were made wear dense caps and had insulting signs put around their necks. They were paraded through the streets with gongs, and the crowds were expected to hurl insults and mud and stones on them to shame them. Now in our setting, the bolder and more faithful we are on witnessing, the more likely we're going to kick into that shaming mechanism the world's going to try to do. If we stay quiet, if we "stay in our lane", so to speak, and don't make waves, we're not likely to experience a lot of shame. But if we share the gospel, we will. And we know it, that's what's holding us back. What you need to realize is what we're talking about here, Christ is the most glorious thing there has ever been on planet earth, and His words are equally glorious. How could we be ashamed of Christ and of his words? How could we? Let's turn that whole thing around. Let's openly proclaim the glories and excellences of Christ. That's the best kind of evangelism you can ever do. Talk great about Jesus in front of lost people. So we can say, as Paul said in Romans 1:16, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." V. Christians in Heaven Will Feel No Shame Fifth, Christian in heaven will feel no shame. Dear friends, you Christians, brothers and sisters, this whole thing's temporary, praise God. You will feel zero shame in heaven. I believe you'll remember everything, for how could you thank God for your salvation, if you didn't remember from what you were saved? You won't feel any shame, just like you won't feel any pain. There'll be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain of any type, including emotional pain. You'll be set free [Revelation 21:4]. No shame whatsoever, so beautiful. The Book of Revelation again and again portrays the redeemed in heaven as wearing white robes. There's five different white robes verses in Revelation. For example, Revelation 7:9, it says, "There was a multitude greater than anyone could count from every tribe, language, people, and nation, and they were wearing white robes and saying, 'Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne.'" That's the covering of our sins with Jesus' imputed perfect righteousness. You know what's so beautiful, there won't be any scarlet letters on our white robes. You're not going to present as former blasphemer, former adulterer, former anything, just radiant beauty. You're going to shine like the sun. The backstory is necessary just to tell history, but you'll be able to say, "It is no longer I who do it, but sin that lived in me back then that did it, but I am done. I'm different. I'm a new creation. So tell the story, I have no fear in the matter.” It's beautiful. We'll be set free. VI. Lessons Lessons, first and foremost, all I can do is plead with you. If you have not yet trusted in Christ, come to him. Believe in him. You don't want that ultimate shame of being condemned on judgment day, so trust in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Now to Christians I would say, let the shame of past and present sins fire you up toward personal holiness. What fruit or what benefit did you reap at that time from those things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death. Think about those shameful things and the shame you should feel for those in and of themselves, apart from the atoning work of Christ, and don't do those sins anymore. That's the point. Nothing good comes from sin. That's what Paul's saying there, “be holy." Secondly, be bold in sharing Christ in this hate-filled wicked world. Your eyes are open. You know what's going to happen. They're going to try to shame you. Don't be surprised when they do. Boldly share Christ, expect them to try to publicly shame you. Be willing to stand with Christ outside the camp and bear the disgrace He bore. Be warned here, take the warning, do not be ashamed of Christ or of His words. We constantly face that fleshly, cowardly, tendency that we have. We tend to hide... Think about what happened to Peter. Peter got this warning, he heard it, and then he was later ashamed of Jesus. But he's a genuine Christian and so God reclaimed him, got him back, all right. The problem was he was masquerading as an believer. He was masquerading as somebody who didn't know Jesus. He was masquerading as someone who hated Christ. It wasn't his true nature. Thank God He can rescue us from those kind of false masquerades. Let's not, this week, masquerade as though we don't know Jesus, and keep quiet when we could say something of His glories, something of His greatness. Ask the Lord, just go to Him in prayer, be honest with Him, say, "Lord, I know you know me, but I want to tell you I am a gospel coward. I would say a lot more about Jesus than I do, but I'm just afraid of what's going to happen. I'm afraid of people's reactions. Would you cure me?" Just be honest. Isn't it the truth? Just be honest and say, "Lord, be the physician of my soul. Help me to be bolder than I've ever been before. Help me to not be afraid what people will say. Help me to be willing to speak the truth for their salvation and for your glory. Help me to be willing to speak of your glorious Jesus. You're not shameful, you're glorious. You're pure and powerful and radiant and wise and good and loving. I want to tell people about you. I want to declare the excellences of Him who called me out of darkness into His marvelous light." Gospel witness as worship is the best way to go. It drives out fear for me. It's like I'm not afraid what they're thinking. I'm just going to say some awesome things about Jesus in front of lost of people, whether they want to hear it or not. I'm going to fish for them and at some point somebody's going to like, "Tell me more. I want to hear more about Jesus." Like, "I bet you do. I can't wait to tell you more. Hey, let's get together and study the Gospel of Mark and let's spend three weeks on two verses in Mark, something like that." It's incredible the things that we can learn. So just ask the Lord to move in you. As the scripture is written, "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord." Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for the powerful warning that we've had from Jesus here to not be ashamed of you, of your words. We thank you for a day that we'll be free from all pain, any manner of pain. We thank you that you protected us from the ultimate shame of being condemned on judgment day. In the meantime, Lord, because we continue to sin, we know that we need shame to warn us. We need to feel a burn when we confess our sins to you. But we know that you love us, you're tender with us, that even that feeling of shame is temporary. If we just genuinely repent, you'll work in us. Lord, thank you. Thank you for the beauty of the gospel. Thank you for the beauty of the words of scripture, and for all we can learn from it. In Jesus' name, Amen.

20230108-Sun-AM - Rev. 3:14-22 - Bible Baptist Church - www.bbc-kjv.com

20230108-Sun-AM - Rev. 3:14-22 - Bible Baptist Church - www.www.bbcbyesville.com

One Single Story: Day 362 Today the topic is the letters to the churches in Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodecia. Why were these letters written to these churches? When do we need to repent and return? How important is perseverance? Pastors Stephen Mizell, Jay Rivenbark and Zack Unkenholz talk about these churches. December 28th: Revelation 1-5 For more on One Single Story, visit onesinglestory.com.

“You aren't horrible, you just aren't good.” That's how Pastor Greg summarizes Jesus' words to the church in Laodecia in Revelations. Of course, this passage is more commonly referred to as the “lukewarm” passage: “neither hot nor cold - I will spit you out of my mouth.” Not a pretty picture, especially when you compare the context of Laodecia to the content of America. Stay tuned for a healthy, uplifting warning about complacency. We're so glad you joined us for this message of purpose! Any music performed live is performed under all appropriate licenses from CCLI, and all musical rights remain reserved by their respective artists; license details are available upon request. No other rights are reserved; share this message of hope, light, direction, and peace with anyone and everyone who needs to hear it. If you cannot find a shareable copy, reach out to tech@lotwchurch.org and we will make one available for you. God bless.

Have you ever put together a piece of furniture without looking at the instructions? Sometimes the assembly is intuitive enough that you can get away with it, but often it leads to frustration. You get to assemble the furniture twice: once the hard way, and once the easy way. The same is true in life. Although we've been given an instruction manual on how to live, many choose to try it their own way first. Pastor Ken warns us though, that you don't get to do life twice. You only have one chance. Will you look at the instructions?

Christ calls us to put off self-reliance, submitting ourselves to his Lordship and care.

Christ calls us to put off self-reliance, submitting ourselves to his Lordship and care.

Think about your church and its current state. Think about the good and the bad, and what if Jesus wrote your church a letter. How would your church react, how would your church respond? Here's the thing, Jesus actually did this in the final book of the Bible, Revelation. This new series is focused on the seven letters to the seven churches, As we unpack the letters to the churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea I want you think about this question: How can these letter help us understand and challenge the church of today? Welcome to Episode seven of To Whom it May Concern: To Whom it May Concern: Lukewarm Distractions (The Church of Laodecia).

May 1 sermon at LifeSpring Church from Damon Baudoin. In this sermon, the letter to the church at Laodecia in Revelation 3 is read and applied.

I was just an ordinary country girl from the Ozarks of Arkansas, living in the Laodecia wilderness of modern day Christianity. But then God got ahold of me… and I discovered that I serve an extra-ordinary God that had so much more in store for my life! And you serve this same God too, the God who wants to take you out of the lukewarm church of Laodecia and set your heart on fire for Him! It's probably obvious that this podcast is my very first (better recording equipment will be used on the next episode!) However, I didn't want to wait to share a little about the beginning of my journey with Jesus as I want you to understand why I'm so excited to share and help YOU go deeper in your own walk with God! Time is running out, but God still is knocking at your door, begging entrance to your heart! If you don't know God and are thirsty and hungry for purpose and meaning in your life, or if you are a Christian and you recognize that you've been living a wilderness Christianity experience, and you want MORE, this first podcast is for YOU! In John 10:10 Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Don't wait any longer… go after the life He's calling you too! Ephesians 3:20

John Vandervelde, Simone Halpin and Matt Marron discuss issues of faith and respond to questions from John's sermon on Oct. 24, 2021

Taught at COMMUNITY Covenant Church on 8/15/21