In The Beginning

The Suffering Church

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This episode explores the resilience of the Smyrna church, the significance of enduring suffering for faith, and practical ways to walk in the Spirit amidst challenges. It emphasizes the importance of spiritual growth, prayer, and steadfastness in the Christian journey.

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SPEAKER_01

Hi, my name is Timmy. And I'm Keisha.

SPEAKER_00

Welcome to In the Beginning Podcast, where we call you back to your first love, Jesus Christ. So we welcome everybody to show number three. The topic of this show is the suffering church. We're going to journey 40 miles north of Ephesus and we're in on the Smyrna sermon because Jesus gave them all their sermons this week. So we're going to go to Revelation and we're on chapter two. We're going from verse 8 to 11.

SPEAKER_01

The church in Smyrna, and unto the angel of the church in Smyrna, write, These things have the first and the last, which was dead and is alive. I know thy works and tribulation and poverty, but thou art rich, and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, for are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days, be thou faithful unto death. And I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He that overcometh shall not be heard of the second death.

SPEAKER_00

Amen. And so we're just gonna go into a quick prayer before we get started with the discussion. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for this day that you've blessed us with. Another day with new grace and new mercies from you, Lord. And we want to say thank you and we're grateful.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Lord.

SPEAKER_00

Lord, we love you and we honor you. In today's lesson, Lord, help us to get understanding, a new perspective, Lord, for the people. We ask you to open up our eyes and our ears and our hearts to what you're saying, Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. The letter to the church, if there was ever a category of saint to be in, it would be a Smyrna saint. And I think it was Philadelphia who also didn't get a rebuke. So we should aim to be a Smyrna. I don't know if I want to be a Smyrna saint, because these people went through some stuff, but I'm gonna love them regardless. So if there's ever a saint to want to aspire to be, it'll be a Smyrna saint or Philadelphia. Because these saints, we say there's no perfect saints walking around here, but Smyrna is proving us wrong. So there's a type of saint for each one of these today. So I know there's some Smyrna saints out there that can teach us some things.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, walking in the spirit will make us a Smyrna saint. Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_00

I like the way that this letter opens. The words of the first and the last. He who died and came to life. I don't think that's mentioned in Isaiah 44, I believe. But I appreciate the way he's opening each one of these letters because the way he opens these letters pretty much tells the church what he's about to say. Because these people were going through so much. Oh my goodness. Ephesus was going through some things, but Sperna was getting killed, and they were going through it, it was a whole new level for them. And so by saying he was the first and the last who died and came to life, I think to them back then and to us now, especially saints who are feeling like they're going through some things. And then you have saints in other countries who are getting killed today, who have died just for having faith in Jesus. And so the words of the first and the last, he's just pretty much reminding them I'm everything. I'm the beginning and I'm the end. I'm the first and the last. And everything in between. You don't have to worry about what's going on. You just work on staying with me. And I have something for you at the end that you're gonna love. And that is escape from hell's fire. You don't have to go to hell. They're getting ready to die for this. And that was something that stood out to me. I don't know, it's just Smyrna, I my heart goes out to any saint in another country that's facing these things.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Um Smyrna went through Smyrna is a church that they walked in the spirit. They walked in love. We know that because when God introduced himself to Smyrna, he acknowledged that he knew their poverty. He knew the trials and tribulations that they were going through. He didn't rebuke them like he did Ephesus. Ephesus led the uh relationship with God, that first love. And he told Ephesus to go back and renew that first love. But with Smyrna, he's telling them, I know thy works, thy tribulation, and poverty. He tells them, he reminds them that they are rich and that for them to endure the hard times that they're going through. So that means they were walking in the love of God. They had that relationship. During that time, they went through several Roman leaders that hated Christians at during that time. They forced Christians to serve their God. And if they did not serve their pagan God, they were either exiled or executed. They faced being thrown to wild animals. They were tortured by fire. They lost their land, their property. They could not even get together and have a church gathering. They were not allowed. So they they faced a lot of disgrace, disrespect, death. And that makes me think about us today as Christians in the United States. We can serve God. We can serve God without our property being taken, our homes, our rights. We can serve God without being in prison. These people were in prison, and God saw their suffering, but he told them to endure until the end that they will receive the crown of life. And he lets them know, and he lets us know, because when we read the word, God's not only talking about Smyrna, but he's talking to his Christians today. He's telling us he that has an ear that can hear the spirit, hear what the spirit said unto the churches. God wants us to hear him in the spirit. He that overcometh shall not be hurt by that second death. And we all know what the second death is, just like Keisha said, it was hellfire. That is the second death, if you don't know. But we as Christians, we endure suffering today. We endure sufferings on our job. And I'm sure many of you can respond and relate to what was just said. We suffer through uh on the job, through uh our work peers, our loved ones, our families being mistreated. It makes me think about Galatians 4. I'm gonna read Galatians 4. 29. It taught if you go up to 28, it talks about Abraham. We know that Abraham had two wives. He had Sarah, he had Hagar. Sarah was Abraham's wife, joined by God, and she her her line was the line that God had given the promise. But through Sarah's disbelief, per se or mistake, she gave her maid to her husband Abraham. Her maiden name was Hagar, which Hagar had Ishmael. And if you know the word, you know there is two covenants. There are covenants of the promise, and then your covenant of the flesh. Hagar uh produced the children that walk in the flesh. Sarah produced Isaac through the children of the promise, and that is the children that walk in the spirit. And the children of Hagar persecuted the children of Sarah. That means people that are not saved, they don't know God, they have a natural instinct to fight against or persecute Christians today, if you can relate to that. So Galatians 4 and 29, it says, at that time, the sons born according to the flesh persecuted the sons born by the power of the spirit. And that's Galatians 4 and 29. And you can also read up to Galatians 4 and 28, but it is what we go through as Christians today. So when I read the information about what the Christians went through in time in the in the past, it says to me, those people really suffer for God. We're not going through anything what they're going through. We have the option to freely serve God in truth and his spirit.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that is true. And and I and in case you didn't hear her, we know that Jesus is the one um saying, telling John to say this. And if you notice, Timmy referred to him as God. So if you have a problem with us referring to Jesus as God, I can't apologize for that because that's just who he is.

SPEAKER_01

That's who he is. That Father's Son and the Holy Ghost.

SPEAKER_00

Another version of God.

SPEAKER_01

And some people may say Jesus, but guess what?

SPEAKER_00

God is He's who He is. So just to get that out the way. And I that's a good point you make. Hear Him in the Spirit. That's very important. Holy Spirit is very, we need him to hear. We need him to hear what the scripture is telling us. We need him to understand what the scripture is telling us. That's a good point. I've never heard anyone say it like that. So thank you for that. And I just to Smyrna saying, I mean, I don't think I could have been a saint back then. I'll, girl, they'd have killed me. I don't know. I can't even say I'm not gonna stand up here and sound like a Peter. I don't say that until it's in the heat of the moment. Right. When you're actually sitting there, this is why we say just to think about what they were going through and how they were being killed, and like you said, fed to animal. Oh my goodness, just for serving. There's a cost to following Jesus.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

And that's something to hold on to when you're saying yes to them. And you know, just thinking about why you said yes. If you're saying yes to them because you want good things to happen in your life, uh, that's probably not because the minute you say yes, you become the devil's number one target. And he let good things do happen, and he lets bad things happen to happen to us to help us to grow and to get us stronger in him.

SPEAKER_01

Let's claim, let's clarify that. God don't let bad things happen. He used what happens is we have an enemy, uh, an adversary, the adversary, the devil, that he targets God's peace. He can't do any more than God allows.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, when God, uh, and then when the Lord is allowing you to go through it, it's because he's already giving you what you need to overcome it. Right, that's right. We're supposed to be taking authority over the devil. But a lot of us get slammed with these problems and these issues, and instead of taking authority over the devil and blaming who's doing it, we get mad at God and we turn our back on him because now we wonder why you didn't save me. It's because he's giving you the authority over that devil. And he's that authority, walk in it and use it, and he's causing you to grow.

SPEAKER_01

And it's and it's all for your good. Fill us up as Christi Christians to grow from faith to faith and to clarify that God don't make bad things happen. That he what he does is what what the enemy comes to just uses to destroy your life, God uses it for our good. That means he used it to make to increase our faith, make us stronger. Well, he could just be bragging though.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, like Joe. Now forget Joe, because you know he didn't follow it. And the devil didn't ask for Job. God said, What about Job? He said, the devil, all I was on earth doing this and doing that. And God said, Well, have you considered Joe? So, you know, it was just that he was bragging. It was like, you know, Joe, but he already knew Joe wasn't gonna break, but the devil didn't know. And since the devil, from what it sounds like, he sauntered in, like, oh, I've just been to and fro, like, you know, I've done got more of your people. Like he just he it sounds like he was peeking to me. So yeah, he he might not, he he allows bad things to happen, but it's not done to hurt you. It's done to help us. To increase our faith. Increase our faith, get us stronger in him.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_00

The only way to get through the hard times is to have hard times. You can't play pray for strength, and then when hard stuff comes at you, you get mad at them and you can turn your back on them.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_00

Because you asked for it. You gotta watch how you pray. You you pretty much asked for it when you asked for that because that's how to make you strong, to put pressure on you. But guess what? You win. You win.

SPEAKER_01

And God says you win. You come out stronger. It's hard work, but guess what? It builds you up. And as Christians, we're being built up on faith to faith until Jesus calls us home. We're gonna fight as long as we're living in this earth. We're gonna we're gonna go through a spiritual warfare, whether in our bodies or around us, our jobs, or whoever is, our loved ones. But know that God is with you. He said, I never leave you, but I'll always be with you. So knowing that Christ is with us, we definitely overcome.

SPEAKER_00

We will always come through the blood of the Lamb. And Smyrna, they were going through some hard things. Yeah. And he was explaining to them, he was letting them know, you just endure it. Just put up with it, don't give up. There's something at the end. There's something good for you at the end.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

But a lot of us don't make it to the end. We've already given up.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. And another thing is it had to be hard for them. They had to trust God and have faith. Because can you imagine pressure put being put on you time and time again? They had to live through several Roman emperors. They had to live from one evil emperor to the next, went during one hard thing after the next.

SPEAKER_00

And they are, and you're looking at them, and and they're, and by the way, this was no broke city. The people in this city had money. You seeing all these all these people and got nice things around you, and you don't have any of that. And and the Lord is telling you, I know what you're seeing, I know what's going on around you, but you're really rich. You have something that they don't have. Jesus Christ promise that they don't have. You got these people claiming that they love God, but they don't. And that's just what we're going through today. You look around, this person don't even, they won't even say, Lord, help me just to be playing. And they're walking around with the best things on, and they got all these diamonds, they got all this money, all these bagger. And Lord, I'm serving you faithfully. And saying, I know how you feel, but you're truly, you're the rich one. With us, we have everlasting life. It's not saying yes to Jesus has never been about getting things in this world. It has never been about that. It should never be about that. No. The end goal is eternal life. You seek to get your spiritual self right, seek to make your spirit stronger. You chase those spiritual things. Chase God. Keep your eyes focused on Him. I know it's hard because if you're sitting there and you don't have a car and you're walking, you got home in the same.

SPEAKER_01

So just stick with it. But guess what? The enemy attacks the mind. That's exactly what the battle is. Feelings coming through people that love you, people that you trust.

SPEAKER_00

These people mean well. They just the enemy using it. You just have to stick with it, is what he's telling us.

SPEAKER_01

And you know what? That is why it's important for us to have fellowship. Just like you said, spend time with God every day. Every day. Go into his presence and just release. Let go and just surrender. Not care about what your neighbor got going on. When I stand in the presence of God and I just start praising him and talking to him about what's happened to me for the day and just giving him the praise, asking him to just bless me, help me, Lord God. It's like he pours his strength into me. He refreshes me. He renews me. So I'm able to clock in at work and smile at the young lady that. And smile at my boss. And when he asks me to do something, do it. That's endurance. Messing up my schedule.

SPEAKER_00

We can behave badly, but we don't. Overcome evil. Gotta remember exactly. We gotta remember who it is we serve. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And he's with us every day. We put in our mind that God is with me, he's watching me. That'll help us make good decisions. You know, like, oh, I can't act that way. Because God sees me. He's with me right now.

SPEAKER_00

That's right. And if you if you've received the Holy Spirit, he's sitting right there looking at all the bad stuff you do. Every time you do something bad, he's sitting right there looking at you. And he's telling you, and don't do that.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. And he dwells in your skin.

SPEAKER_00

If you just sit quiet long enough, you can feel his unction. You can feel what he's pushing, what he's saying. You can even, it got to a point. I remember, you know, the world star videos on Facebook. I used to look at those a lot because it's funny to see people getting beat up at that time. Okay. And I remember after being saved, I remember looking at a world star video and seeing these girls fight each other. And my heart just fell. I felt so I felt sad. I almost cried. I'm like, I don't even want to see this. And then just after a heartbreak, I got pissed off. Lord won't you just strike them all down? Strike them feel right. Strike them down. And you know, but it just hurt me to see that them hurting each other like that. Yeah. And even today when I see people fighting or I see people arguing and just being horrible to each other, it hurts me. Like my heart fought. I get I get so heavy, but I also realized that I feel the way about it, that God feels. Like we're connected. So when he's seeing that, his heart is breaking at seeing us go at each other like that. His heart is breaking at seeing us talk to each other like that and treat each other badly. So I realized that as I got stronger in my walk with God, that the way I reacted to those situations, I realized that's the way he felt about it. And that's being connected to, that's just being connected to him. Staying in relationship with him. But if you're missing those prayer sessions, it's gonna be easy to look at people fighting. It's gonna be easy to hear people cussing and cutting eye down and gossiping and creating all this chaos among people. It's gonna be easy, and you're just gonna laugh with it, you're not gonna feel it because you don't miss too many prayer sessions.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

And if you are a saint who don't think that you drifted, the way that you can know that you've probably drifted too far from God is if those type of things don't bother you. If you've gotten to a place where those type of things don't bother you, and you can actually ignore it without having, without praying for those persons, that those people, or without coming against the demons that we know or treating them like puppets, then you've you've gotten too far. That should be your first clue to get back in prayer. Lord, I'm liking what I'm saying. Can you help me? Ain't no need in in hiding your feelings. He knows how you feel. So however you feel about it, go ahead and just admit that. But I want to feel the way you want me to feel, Lord, because we all want to feel the way Jesus wants us to feel. But on a lot of situations, we just don't. And it's not easy when you get it. Can you imagine how these people were with how these people were treating them? I couldn't imagine.

SPEAKER_01

I imagine some of those things probably would, you know, they like, Lord, we have no excuse, people. Good grief. Um, Stephanie Opifer, I just randomly watched a short session of one of her um uh sermons today, and she striked an interesting conversation. She made an example. She called three people to come on stage. One represented the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, one represented the soul, and the other represented the body. And she was saying that we are three part being. Mm hmm. We're spirit, with soul, and we're and Body and the spirit. He dwells in our spirit. And he refreshes the soul, in other words. He strengthens the soul. He gives us clarity. And then by by listening to the Holy Spirit, then this the spirit in us, the Holy Ghost controls our spirit and our body. But when we're not walking in the spirit, she did a reversal. She calls the God that represents the spirit to walk to the end of the line and the flesh to the beginning of the line. And she says, when we're not walking in the spirit, and we have drifted away from God, she said, then the flesh takes control. And the flesh affects our emotions, our feelings, our thoughts, and our desires. And in that flesh, there is no good thing, as the word said. The flesh wants to fight, cuss, do everything that's not pleasing to God. So it is hard for us to hear the spirit if the flesh is in control and it's controlling our mind, our thoughts, and our emotions. Then God is talking to us all the time, but we can't hear. Exactly. Because he's at the end. We need to walk in the spirit.

SPEAKER_00

Yep. We have to die and let him take control. Yeah, the more we surrender to the seed, the more that seed grows, and the more you're yielding to what his instructions, and the more you're letting him make those changes in you, the stronger he gets. And then eventually he's controlling your spirit. Right. Then he's controlling your flesh.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00

But that starts in that prayer room. That prayer room trickles over into reading the word. Reading the word spills out into studying. Studying spills out into meditating. Meditating spills out into going right back into that prayer. And by doing all those things, you're just, all you're doing is just strengthening your spirit so that you're so that the Holy Spirit can just be the driving force in your life.

SPEAKER_01

And we have to make that a habit.

SPEAKER_00

You have to make it a habit. It's a conscious effort. It's a conscious effort to purposely tell yourself, no. No, I'm going to do this God's way. Holy Spirit, can you help me? Holy Spirit, I'm about to make a bad decision. Holy Spirit, if you talk to him openly, I'll guarantee you, you're going to hear or feel something as his response. That's just what that is. He will respond when you're addressing.

SPEAKER_01

As children of God, our desire should be to run into Jesus Christ and run into his presence because then we get restoration.

SPEAKER_00

Restoration. But what I try to make a habit of doing is if I can't, because every morning, we we do our meeting every morning, but then in the evening times, I try to make a point to get by myself at least five or ten minutes. Sometimes that'll span out into a couple hours. But if I'm really tired or exhausted or just ill from the whole day, I don't always go, which is what we should be doing. What you're saying is just going into that prayer and just, you know, taking your rest with Jesus. But I try to take, force myself to take at least a couple minutes in silence to just focus on something about Jesus that has wowed me. That usually helps me get in the mood to pray or to read. Sometimes I'll just pick up the Bible and start reading. I need to read anything in red right now. And then I go to Matthew, Martin, just something in red is what I need to read. And I pick that up and read, depending on how I'm feeling.

SPEAKER_01

We have family and God says that.

SPEAKER_00

But we got time to sleep, though. Yeah, but he's just to sleep. So just before we go to sleep, we can say a couple words to them is what I'm saying. Well, that's okay. You can fit them in.

SPEAKER_01

That's a lot of distractions that you know, but the the important thing is spending that time and floating. Spending that time for our time.

SPEAKER_00

I notice too. You know, if you engage, like if you just press your way through to just that first eight minute, thank you, Lord, that usually spans out into something else. And the Holy Spirit takes over. It takes over. Yeah. But you just put you you just put forth that effort too. And then next thing you know is you you do have your little worship session going, the church going all by yourself.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, and don't forget fasting and praying. Fasting, that is very important. Strip that flesh down.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, we got to make the flesh weak. And we that's right. God says, have I not come and praying when and doing stuff when we don't feel like doing it. When you don't feel like praying, you pray anyway. When you don't feel like reading scripture, you read it anyway. When you don't feel like it, that's when you especially need to do it. Because that is bringing that flesh into subjection and the spirit can take over from there.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, and the word says, has he not called up here, call forth a fast that he might break yokes and bondages in our lives. Yes. So addictions and things that we're struggling with. We can go to our Father and just take a take a fast and talk to him, read and talk and pray in your word and seek him. But everything moves God by faith. It is faith that we are saved, it is faith that that we obtain our salvation, trusting him. And God does reveal hiself, people. He sure does. He lets you know he's real. That is not a doubt in my mind. Reading that word renews our mind and it strengthens our soul in that time of temptation. Because many times the word has come across me, and I wanna my flesh wanna take control, and the word of God will bubble up, overcome evil with good, or whatever the Holy Spirit gives you. Whatever he gives you. It's not a religion.

SPEAKER_00

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is a lifestyle. This is it.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

But those man of saints, you know, that they were going through, and that's just a perfect example. Jesus you need to know right now that you don't ruin to Jesus when you want your life to be easy. As a matter of fact, it's gonna get harder because he requires us to do hard things. So, that and people are gonna you're gonna lose friends. You're gonna, you might even lose jobs. You know, you never know. They probably don't want you acting like a Christian at work. You know.

SPEAKER_01

He said he keep that in mind. He opened doors that no man can shut, and he closed doors that no man can open. You know, meaning whatever tragic in your life, God has a blessing for it. Just like Job. Joe went through everything, but he God blessed him and restored him more than what he had in the beginning. Whatever trauma or whatever situation you're going through, just know that whatever you're going through, God has a bigger plan, a bigger blessing for you. Yes. If you lost that job, you got a better job.

SPEAKER_00

So don't stay gone. Don't stay, come back. Just come back because you're missing out on some good things. You're missing out on a lot of good things. He's he's amazing. And these Smyrna saints, they had a way harder than us, and they were still enduring. They were still doing good and on their way to heaven. But you get us today, and the least little thing, we're turning our backs, we're mad, nothing to do with them, or we're, we're just it, it don't take much to sway for the saints today. And and that's not that's not the way he wants you to be. He wants you to be strong. He wants you to know that those struggles came for a reason. He was building your muscle. And the only way you can get strong is to have weight pressure put on you. You gotta work the muscle. Right. So if the smaller saints could do it, and they were getting killed, by the way. He says, some of you about to get crit thrown into prison. You're gonna be tested for 10 days, you're gonna have tribulation. These people be faithful unto death. I'm pretty sure their first question was, okay, but you're God, why won't you just not let us die?

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_00

But the point is, he was telling them to endure. You know, they were putting up with way more than we have to put up with today. We got it easy compared to them. We got it easy compared to other countries.

SPEAKER_01

Gather together.

SPEAKER_00

Other countries right now, saints are getting killed.

SPEAKER_01

Prison. Can you imagine being thrown to wild animals because you're Christian?

SPEAKER_00

It's crazy. It's crazy. And then you're looking around, society is booming, and you're just you you you're suffering. You you're hungry, you you're poor physically. So the end game ain't is not worldly game. It is heaven. That's the end game. I want to spend my eternity with Jesus.

SPEAKER_01

That's right, because everything shall pass away in this world.

SPEAKER_00

And I want to see him smiling at me. I don't want to see him with tears in his eyes. Right. Because he loves us. God loves everybody. And I'm pretty sure there's gonna be tears in his eyes when he's condemning people to hell. That's just like a parent. I gotta, I gotta let you go. You didn't. I love you. Remember, you're not living this life for you, you're living it for him. Your the per the whole purpose of being on this planet is for God.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_00

You're living your life is not even yours. The very breath in our bodies are not ours. They belong to God because he gave us the very breath. That breath that he put in Adam, we're still using today. That's not even ours. So your life is not yours, it's his. But the thing is, the quality of life that you experience when you come to Jesus versus what you had when you were out in the world, it is unmatched because it's a whole new level of living. When I think about when I wouldn't say, I just think about how much I done missed out on. And I'm like, Lord, I missed out on a lot. I could be way further down the road. I could have been a wise capsule to somebody by now. But I can't help but think about all them times where I done wasted a lot of time.

SPEAKER_01

You had an expected date.

SPEAKER_00

I'm pretty sure he knows. I know he knows.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

But I still think about my life before him, and I think about my life now. And I will choose this life over and over and over again because I don't care how poor I am physically, how sorry my bank account looks. We're rich. I feel so good and I feel rich. And I tell people that I feel like it's rich. Yeah, girl, you should see my Amazon card. And she got so much stuff. And I tell people I feel like I can buy this stuff. I know my Amazon card got like a million some dollars in my sable. I feel like, and I feel rich. I beat. We are rich with Richie Cross. Oh we richie cross. They can be wearing that stuff anyway, because my new body. We're not hungry. Showing with her. We ain't home. You wait till we turn that camera on. We ain't hungry. Lily Floyd and Somewhere. But yeah. Smyrna Saints had it hard. And if they had it that hard and could still endure, why can't we today? Why do we make it so hard to serve God? I I don't know. Another thing I want to point out was verse 9, I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you're rich and the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. And I just want to point out that who say they are Jews, that is your heart posture. It's not a race of people that he's referring to in that verse. He's saying that those who claim to love God and don't. So these people were having to deal with fake Christians theirselves. And I'm pretty sure it was irking them like it irks us today. These people playing with God and playing with his money when you know he's supposed to be helping these people.

SPEAKER_01

You could view when you actually had, when you actually experience conversion of the heart.

SPEAKER_00

Right. It's a heart posture. And that takes us to Romans 2, 28 and 29. That's the that's the Jew that we're talking about. That's that's that's really God's chosen people. It's these people who are in love with him. He's looking at heart. He's looking at our heart. He reacts to our heart, he responds to our heart. You want your prayers answered, let your heart cry out. Don't let it cry for no material stuff. Be sincere and be honest. So I just want to read Romans 2, 28 and 29. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God. So it's your heart that makes you one of God's chosen people.

SPEAKER_01

It's not works, it's not makeup, nothing. Your heart.

SPEAKER_00

He wants to know that you, just like he wear the apple of his eye, he wants to be the apple of yours.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_00

And if your heart is in love with him and wrapped around him, like you got it wrapped around that special person, like you got it wrapped around your children, you wrap it around God, and you watch God move in your life, and you watch how he brings you back from that drift. He can get you back, is all I'm saying. Just let him get you back. The Holy Spirit, I'm gonna tell you something. It's a whole person. That's a whole man, and he is he's talkative, he has a lot to say, and he is just an awesome person to get to know. So make sure that you welcome him into every area of your life and accept those changes that he's given. Accept those changes that he's given. Because those changes are gonna make you look in the mirror one day, and you're not gonna know who you're looking at. You're gonna be so impressed by what you see. You're just gonna feel good about yourself. Jesus sent us out here to call y'all back. Remember, me and Timmy are Naoi. Okay? But when that bell rang and you ain't got up, we're gonna leave you sitting there because we gotta go. The bridegroom is coming. Kingdom of heaven is still at that, is still at hand. So we're gonna do this. Okay. So Romans 2, 6 through 11, and then verse 13. Let's jump down to verse 13. He will render to each one according to his works to those who by patience and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first, and also the Greek, for God shows no partiality. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. So we can't just take in all this word and listen to all these teaching and preaching and don't do nothing with what we're hearing.

SPEAKER_01

But when he says do, or he means walking in his fear, be a spirit lead, not just, you know.

SPEAKER_00

The world today leaves not the Holy Spirit. He's not being advertised enough for me.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So the Holy Spirit that that's your that's your lifeline, that's your connection to the throne. Talk to him, interact with him, because he's waiting to interact with you. We got an invitation to everyone to come to Christ. We're not just calling the lost saints, the saints who have fallen away. We're also calling those who have never known Jesus. You just hear about him. And we're welcoming you to the family. If you're you're wanting to come to Jesus, he's waiting to save you. He's just waiting on you to ask.

SPEAKER_01

But what God says, if you confess with your mouth and you believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He came into this world as a flesh and was risen again by God His Father, you shall be saved. And God gives us His Holy Spirit to make us strong so that we will stay safe.

SPEAKER_00

I want you to I want you to read chapter um Psalms 51. That's a good prayer, that's a good repentance off. But if you're if you're wanting the Lord to come into your life and you want to experience what we're talking about so far, we have so much to share with you all. But we want you to experience God for yourself. There is nothing like experiencing Him for yourself, He shows up for you just the way that you need to see Him.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, some people have already experienced Him and just probably backslid and repent and come back home.

SPEAKER_00

So come back home. And for those who haven't been, come, come, come. You're always welcome to the family. And have this prayer when you're ready. And if you feel like you know you're curious about Jesus and you want to know more about Him and you want Him to be your Lord and Savior, just repeat after me. Lord Jesus, I come to you now to repent of my sins. Lord, your word says, if I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart that you are Lord and that God raised you from the dead, I will be saved. Jesus, I make that confession right now. I am a sinner and I have sinned against you. I believe that you are Lord. I believe you died for my sins and God raised you from the dead. Save me, Jesus. I am in need of a savior. And I ask you, Lord God, to be my savior. I accept your Holy Spirit and I welcome Him into every area of my life. Thank you, Jesus, for saving me. Now, when you say that prayer, just have faith that it's happening and that you're saved. Because through that faith is where you're saved. And your next steps is to pray, study, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray. Stay in that prayer. Matter of fact, pray, let every Abraham be an example. Everywhere Abraham went, he he worshiped God, he made space for God, he made these altars and stuff. We're gonna do that. He made altars everywhere he went. So make space for God in your life and watch him change your life because he loves you. All right. So for those who said the prayer of repentance, welcome to the family. I would love to hear your salvation stories. And we're gonna say a closing prayer. And just know that we're praying for you. We're praying for you. Time is winding up. We don't have much time. This is about to be over. Time is winding up. Let's go.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you, Heavenly Father. Thank you, Lord. Hallelujah to your name, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Praise. We give you glory. We give you honor. We'll thank you that you're here, Lord God. We thank you, Father God, for touching our audience.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, Lord.

SPEAKER_01

In every area of their life, Father God, draw them back, Father God.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, Lord.

SPEAKER_01

Father, we thank you right now for the word. We ask you to let it let it penetrate deep within our hearts. See on the good ground, Lord. That growth will come. Strength will come, Lord God. Change us, Father God, that we walk in your love. We thank you for the love that you spread abroad in our hearts. And anything, Lord God, that blocks that love for flowing, we ask you in Jesus' name to remove it in the name of Jesus, that we might feel your love and walk in your love. And we thank you right now for touching every heart that is listening right now. Their families, Lord God, wherever they're having issues, Father, give them deliverance in Jesus' name. And God strengthen them where they're weak, Lord God. And we give you the praise, the glory, and the honor. And we thank you that it is so. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Next week we might get.

SPEAKER_00

Who's the next church? Um Pergamas. And then Laodicea, that's the lutewarm Christian. Well, we got a lot of lukewarmers out there, don't we? I think the Church of Ephesus.

SPEAKER_01

The lute warmers come to the front of the building.

SPEAKER_00

Let's pray right now. I think the Church of Emphasis and Laodicea, those are two main things, dominating society today.