The Tolerant Church: Truth vs. Compromise

• Definition of Tolerance 00:00:00 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor defines tolerance as disagreeing with someone without hating or attacking them, distinguishing this from the church's need to reject false beliefs.
• Equality of Beliefs 00:03:13 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor refutes the idea that all beliefs are equal, citing theological differences between Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and other groups regarding the nature of God and salvation.
• Judgment in the Church 00:07:42 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor argues that while Christians should not judge unbelievers, the church must judge belief and behavior to correct sin and uphold truth.
• Peace vs. Truth 00:11:51 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor distinguishes between 'peacekeepers' and 'peacemakers,' arguing that truth sometimes requires conflict and that the church must not prioritize peace over truth.
• Christian Witness and Distinctiveness 00:12:37 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor argues that believers must be distinct from the world, acting as a 'voice of conviction' so that non-believers notice differences in behavior (e.g., not swearing or gossiping).
• Jesus as the Son of God vs. Pagan Idols 00:13:59 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor highlights that Jesus identifies as the 'Son of God' only in the letter to Thyatira to counter the pagan title given to Apollo, establishing Jesus' supremacy.
• Jesus' Omniscience and Care for Small Churches 00:14:38 ▶️ 📄
  > Using the imagery of 'eyes like a flame of fire,' the pastor emphasizes that Jesus sees even small, overlooked churches and their members.
• Trade Guilds and Religious Compromise 00:16:01 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains how Thyatira's trade guilds required participation in pagan feasts and worship of Apollo, creating a conflict for Christians between career survival and faith.
• Modern Tolerance vs. Celebration 00:19:11 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor draws a parallel between ancient Thyatira and modern America, noting that culture has moved from tolerance to demanding celebration of sin, labeling non-participants as bigots.
• Faithfulness in Career and Faith 00:20:15 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor asserts that believers do not need to compromise their faith to be successful, citing Lydia from Thyatira as an example of a faithful believer who was also successful in her trade.
• Acceptable vs. Unacceptable Teaching 00:23:07 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor distinguishes between virtues the world accepts (love, faith, service, endurance) and the specific doctrines of the gospel that cause people to leave when preached.
• Pastoral Responsibility to Preach the Whole Counsel 00:25:27 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references Acts 20 to argue that leaders must not 'shrink' from difficult truths and must declare the whole counsel of God, unlike those who only preach what is popular.
• Pastoral Responsibility and Truth-Telling 00:25:07 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor asserts his responsibility to declare the whole counsel of God without shrinking from difficult truths, citing Paul's example in Acts and Ezekiel's warning about requiring the blood of the wicked if the prophet fails to warn them.
• Critique of Tolerant Church Culture 00:28:47 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor argues that modern churches tolerate worldly teachers and 'tickling ears' rather than sound doctrine, leading to a lack of tolerance for truth and the silencing of true beliefs.
• The Spirit of Jezebel and False Teaching 00:31:04 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor identifies the 'spirit of Jezebel' as self-appointed teachers who seduce believers into sexual immorality and idolatry by promoting a false sense of tolerance and compromising biblical standards.
• Rejection of Gnostic Dualism 00:36:00 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor debunks the modern heresy of Gnostic dualism (the idea that the body is irrelevant to the spirit), arguing that this view leads to moral compromise and ignores the sanctity of the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit.
• False Christianity vs. True Confrontation of Sin 00:39:29 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor defines false Christianity as a system that majors on compassion while refusing to confront sin, contrasting it with the biblical mandate to confront sin to save souls.
• Rejection of Modern Gnosticism 00:38:21 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor argues against the idea that physical location or body status is irrelevant to Christian faith, asserting that the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and rejecting the notion that one can be a Christian without church attendance.
• The Nature of God's Wrath and Patience 00:41:18 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that God's patience is not permissiveness but a period for repentance, and that God's wrath is revealed by handing sinners over to their own desires, contrasting this with the 'soft' narrative of Jesus.
• Discipline as Love 00:43:20 ▶️ 📄
  > Using the analogy of a father disciplining a child, the pastor argues that God's discipline is a loving act intended to bring believers back to righteousness, and that feeling 'spanked' by God is a sign He has not given up on you.
• Cost of Discipleship and Christ vs. Career 00:49:07 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor illustrates the immediate cost of following Christ through the story of a former Muslim pastor who lost his job for refusing to prepare an LGBTQ spread, emphasizing that choosing Christ often results in temporary career loss but eternal reward.
• Salvation and the Lord's Supper 00:50:09 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor concludes by stating that no one is good enough for heaven on their own, emphasizing salvation by grace through faith in Jesus' death and resurrection, and invites the congregation to pray and receive this gift before partaking in the Lord's Supper.

• Sermon Illustration 00:06:34 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the analogy of a 'bait and switch' to describe how people might be invited to church for coffee and music but are actually there to hear about Jesus and hell.
• Sermon Illustration 00:12:17 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references Neville Chamberlain's attempt to keep peace with Nazi Germany versus Winston Churchill's decision to fight back to illustrate the difference between keeping peace and making peace.
• Sermon Illustration 00:20:32 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the historical example of Lydia from Thyatira, a seller of purple goods and the first European convert, to illustrate that one can be successful in their career while remaining faithful to God.
• Sermon Illustration 00:25:27 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the biblical account of Paul's farewell to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, where Paul declares he is 'innocent of the blood of all' because he did not shrink from declaring the whole counsel of God.
• Sermon Illustration 00:31:57 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the biblical account of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, noting that Ahab married a foreign pagan woman and erected an altar for Baal, leading the nation into immorality and the killing of God's prophets.
• Sermon Illustration 00:38:21 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the analogy of 'bedside assembly' with 'sister sheets and pastor pillow' to illustrate the absurdity of modern Gnosticism, which claims God's presence is in one's bedroom during sexual intimacy, thereby dismissing the need for church or biblical morality.
• Sermon Illustration 00:43:20 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the analogy of a father disciplining a child to explain God's discipline, stating that just as a father smacks a child to correct them out of love, Jesus disciplines His church to bring them back to righteousness.
• Sermon Illustration 00:46:44 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares the story of a pastor named Mehdi, a former Muslim from Morocco, who was fired from his job for refusing to prepare an LGBTQ spread for Pride month, only to later receive a better job offer from his former employer that respected his faith.

• Pastoral Charge 00:03:00 ▶️ 📄
  > Write down the definition of modern tolerance in their notes.
• Pastoral Charge 00:13:46 ▶️ 📄
  > Underline and circle the phrase 'I am the son of God' in their notes.
• Pastoral Charge 00:12:50 ▶️ 📄
  > Self-examination of one's lifestyle to ensure it prompts questions from non-believers, implying a call to live a distinct, holy life.
• Pastoral Charge 00:19:58 ▶️ 📄
  > Make a conscious decision to prioritize Christ over career advancement, specifically regarding participation in secular/pagan cultural events.
• Pastoral Charge 00:30:08 ▶️ 📄
  > Stop shielding unbelievers from the truth and instead bring them to the Word to let the Holy Spirit work.
• Pastoral Charge 00:32:51 ▶️ 📄
  > Establish and maintain strict standards against dating or romancing non-believers to avoid compromising faith.
• Pastoral Charge 00:50:34 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor invites non-believers to bow their heads, close their eyes, and verbally accept Jesus as Savior before the Lord's Supper.
• Pastoral Charge 00:50:47 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor leads the congregation in a specific prayer of salvation, instructing them to repeat the words aloud.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:00] I want to talk to you on the tolerant church and the word is from Jesus there in Revelation chapter 2 20 you tolerate that woman Jezebel you tolerate that woman let's talk about the word tolerance because this has become some manner of um the ultimate virtue of Americana is tolerance and tolerance has changed tolerance by definition means and by the way keep your bibles open to the book of Revelation chapter 2 and tolerance by definition means that though you might
[00:00:30] disagree with somebody, you will not, you know, hate them or turn on them or attack them for their belief, which might differ from you. That's tolerance. That's a good tolerance. And every church, every Christian has to have a lot of tolerance. We do. We have to have a lot of
[00:00:48] tolerance because we live in a world, and listen to this very carefully, that the majority of the world are unbelievers. Jesus said, many will find the path of destruction. It's a wide path. But then he said, the few find the narrow door to salvation. So if you're going to be a Christian,
[00:01:08] if you're going to be a follower of Jesus, you have got to learn that you are more often than not going to be in the minority group in your world. Are you following that? You're going to be in the
[00:01:21] minority. And I don't understand this. The counsel of God, I leave that in his hands of why. That's his deal, not mine. My job as a pastor is to teach his church. So you've got to understand that some
[00:01:34] of the things that we talk about in Waters Church, you're not going to have friendly audiences to talk about outside of the church. And you've got to have tolerance. So what that means for you at
[00:01:43] your workplace is it doesn't matter if your co-worker is Muslim. You love that co-worker in the name of Jesus. It doesn't matter if they're atheists or agnostic. You love them in the name of Jesus because the scripture says, love your neighbor with no qualifier. Love your
[00:02:01] neighbor as you love yourself. And some of that is to not hate on them and attack them and viciously assault them because they believe and think differently than you. But if there is one thing
[00:02:13] that is absolutely unacceptable from the words of Jesus in this text is when worldly ideas of tolerance come into the church. And so what we practice, and this is a very important foundational, I hope I'm creating boundaries for what we're going to be talking about today. What I'm talking
[00:02:34] about today is about the church. But to understand tolerance that is unacceptable in the church, we have to understand today's tolerance that is in the world. And what is passing for tolerance as the ultimate virtue in our world is absolutely unacceptable when it comes to the church.
[00:02:52] So number, letter A, B, and C in your notes, I want you to write this down. Today's tolerance says all beliefs deserve equal acceptance. All beliefs deserve equal acceptance. They will tell you this maybe at your corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion seminar. Yeah, I'm going there that
[00:03:13] quick this morning. Are you ready? They will tell you this in whatever political statement needs to be made by the powers that be. All beliefs are equal. Maybe you might be living with a non-believer. You might be in unavoidable fellowship or community with non-believers,
[00:03:33] and this is what they believe. Oh, that's good for you. I'm so glad Christianity works for you.
[00:03:39] How many of you ever heard that? You've heard that. But don't force your beliefs, because your beliefs are not any better than the Muslims' beliefs and the Hindus' beliefs. And I want to say something, and this is so important for everybody to hear. Anybody who makes the claim
[00:03:51] that all beliefs are equal betrays the reality that they have not studied all the beliefs.
[00:03:59] They are not equal. They don't even believe in the same things. On the very basics of the faith, who is God, Muslims and Christians cannot and do not agree. On the very basics of the faith,
[00:04:12] how do we attain salvation? Listen to this. Jews and Christians do not agree. Are you hearing me?
[00:04:20] On the basics of the faith, on the simple stuff, we are not in fellowship with Hindus and Buddhists.
[00:04:31] and let's get a little bit even more closer to home, Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons.
[00:04:38] We are not in fellowship with them. We are not in agreement with their beliefs.
[00:04:44] There is to be no tolerance for anybody who denies the preexistent deity of the Son of God.
[00:04:51] Okay, so there is no tolerance in the church, in the church. Outside the church, love your Mormon neighbor. Outside the church, love your Muslim neighbor. By the way, the best way you can love them is to tell them that Jesus Christ died for them. That's the best way he can love
[00:05:07] them, because it's really intolerant, it's really hateful to let somebody go to hell without telling them who can bring them to heaven. Let's get there right away. Let's talk about what real hate is.
[00:05:22] Hate is apathy for people's eternal destiny. That's hate. You've got to love people to tell them about Jesus. And Jesus said it in John 14, verse 6, I am the way. I am the, definite article,
[00:05:37] the way, the truth, the life. And in case you weren't clear, he says, no one, somebody say no one, no one comes to the Father except through me. Okay, Jesus is the way to the Father. Waters
[00:05:55] church, I got to tell you, we do not have a right to exist if we believe that all beliefs are equal.
[00:06:03] We might as well close up shop. I might as well find another job. You might as well not even be here on Sunday. It doesn't matter because all beliefs are equal. No, all beliefs are not equal.
[00:06:15] Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And we exist as a church. We say this all the time.
[00:06:20] We are here for those who are not yet here.
[00:06:23] Our church exists.
[00:06:24] Make no bones about it.
[00:06:26] If you were invited by a friend today because we have a cafe and cool music, I got news for you.
[00:06:31] They tricked you.
[00:06:34] It's total bait and switch, friend.
[00:06:36] I am here to tell you about Jesus because the coffee might keep you awake.
[00:06:42] Jesus keeps you out of hell.
[00:06:43] Come on, somebody.
[00:06:45] The music might be cool.
[00:06:48] Jesus keeps you cool by keeping you out of hell.
[00:06:51] Come on, somebody.
[00:06:53] All right. The disciples got the message in Acts chapter four, when standing before the authorities and being threatened to shut up, Peter says, we can't shut up about this because there's no salvation in anyone else. There's salvation in no one else. No other name is given under heaven
[00:07:08] by which men must be saved. It's the name of Jesus. Buddha is still in his grave. Muhammad is still in his grave. Hare Krishna is still in his grave. John Smith of the Mormons still in his
[00:07:22] grave, but Jesus' grave is empty. He's the way, the truth, and the life. Letter B, tolerance. Today's tolerance says no one should judge another's belief or behavior. This one is seeping again into your DEI classes at work and your conferences and your sessions and your side meetings and all
[00:07:42] of these things about diversity and equity and inclusion and how you must be accepting and you must tolerate. And really, you can't make right or wrong. You can't judge people for what they believe. Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. We all know abusing a child is wrong.
[00:07:58] We don't sit there and say, don't judge. We all know punching a random stranger in the face is wrong. Right? We all know that speeding is wrong. Some of us still do it. I understand.
[00:08:14] Speed suggestion, not limit. Come on, somebody. With this right and wrong, right? And I understand in the world. That's the tolerance idea. Not in the church. I don't have a problem when non-believers say, don't judge me. Do you know why? Because my Bible tells me I'm not to judge the non-believer.
[00:08:30] Did you know that? Did you know that Christians were not called to judge the non-believer?
[00:08:36] Paul says that in 1 Corinthians chapter 4. He says, who am I to judge the non-believer? They aren't my concern. My relationship to a non-believer is very simple. I am here to tell them about Jesus. That's my job toward a non-believer. I'm not here to tell them how to
[00:08:50] live. I'm not here to tell them what to do. I'm not here to tell them, you know, what's right and wrong. I'm here to tell them about Jesus. Because until you come to Jesus, you will not receive
[00:08:58] God's word. Now, what I do have a serious problem is when this do not judge mentality comes into the church. And then we say to one another, don't judge me. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Absolutely not.
[00:09:15] do not bring that nonsense into the house of God. The church absolutely judges belief and behavior.
[00:09:24] It's what the New Testament is written for. All over the New Testament, Paul making judgment calls.
[00:09:30] All over the New Testament, Paul telling the church, stop that. Do this. That's wrong. This is unacceptable. And all over Scripture is judgment, judgment, judgment, not condemnation.
[00:09:42] instruction instruction to walk in the ways of god and to save your soul from destruction galatians chapter 6 paul says if anyone is spiritual i'm sorry if anyone's caught in a transgression you've got to restore them in a spiritual gentleness i need help with that
[00:10:00] gentleness thing but you know you know i'm talking about we've got to help encourage each other to come out of sinful activity sinful behavior and my friends we are our brothers and sisters keeper Now, there are debatable things in the church.
[00:10:14] There are debatable things.
[00:10:15] We can debate about tongues, and we can debate about predestination and the nuances of that.
[00:10:24] These are very mystical realities that we'll never fully comprehend.
[00:10:27] We can debate even about when you should be baptized as an infant or as an adult.
[00:10:33] We can debate some things.
[00:10:34] We can debate about the second coming of Christ.
[00:10:37] When is he coming?
[00:10:38] Is he coming after the tribulation, in the midst of the tribulation?
[00:10:41] before the tribulation? Is there a millennial kingdom? Is there not? All these things, these are not, what I'm saying, these are not essential doctrines that save your soul from hell, but there's actions, and there's attitudes, and there's beliefs and behaviors that we absolutely
[00:10:55] have to judge. We absolutely have to correct. That's why Paul instructs Timothy to raise up elders in the church who will give watch over the souls of the church, who will take authority in the word of God over what is right and wrong behavior.
[00:11:12] Paul says in Ephesians chapter four, verse 15, we must speak the truth, how?
[00:11:17] In love, not just speak loving words.
[00:11:21] Speak truth in love.
[00:11:25] The number one way you love your fellow believer is by speaking truth to them, not sugarcoating it, not avoiding certain topics because the world is very uncomfortable.
[00:11:37] we're not concerned with what the world thinks. We're concerned with what God thinks. Letter C, today's tolerance says peace is more important than truth. Some of you are misguided about one of the Beatitudes from Matthew chapter five. You think that Jesus said, blessed are the
[00:11:51] peacekeepers. He didn't say blessed are the peacekeepers. He said, blessed are the peacemakers.
[00:11:58] Sometimes peace is made through conflict. I mean, we couldn't, Neville Chamberlain tried to make peace. He tried to keep peace with Nazi Germany. He tried to keep peace. And all that happened got worse. Hitler got more and more emboldened. Winston Churchill, thank God, stepped up and said,
[00:12:17] we're not keeping peace. We're going to make peace. We're going to fight back. And in life, we've got to make peace, not keep peace. And that means that sometimes our faith is going to shake
[00:12:27] up the apple cart of peace. Sometimes we're going to be a voice of conviction in the life of non-believers. Yeah, we don't judge them, but sometimes just our presence is enough to judge.
[00:12:37] Come on, you know what I'm talking about? If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're not walking right with the Lord, because you look just like the world, and they don't notice the difference. Your presence in the workplace should, in some way, shape, or form, get people asking
[00:12:50] questions. Well, why don't you swear? Why don't you gossip? Why don't you cheat? Why don't you drink excessively? Why don't you do that? And there should be questions. If you're not getting questions, I would question whether you're following Jesus. I'm just saying we should be
[00:13:08] the light. We should be different because a church that's like the world cannot influence the world.
[00:13:14] And you're quiet already. That's okay. This message is going to pinch. I told you that in the beginning. You had a chance to leave while we were worshiping. You chose to stay. It's on you
[00:13:24] now. Peace at all costs. No, no. In today's culture, this is the definition of tolerance and I understand when non-believers believe that, but I am here to tell you the church must not embrace that. To that end, we come to the church in Thyatira. There we go. Thyatira.
[00:13:46] To the angel of the church in Thyatira write, Jesus introduces himself with three phrases, underline them, circle them in your notes. I am the son of God. The only time in the book of Revelation Jesus calls himself or is referred to as the son of God is in this one letter to the
[00:13:59] church in Thyatira. Isn't that interesting? This very Jesus-centered, heaven-centered book, the only time he says, I'm the son of God, is here. Why? Well, in Thyatira, they had one pagan temple to the god Apollo. He was the patron god of the trade guilds in that city. And the title
[00:14:23] that they gave to Apollo was the son of God. And Jesus is, he's just, he's setting the, he's setting the stage for truth right away. Apollo is not the son of God. I am. And then he says, I've got eyes
[00:14:38] like a flame of fire. Eyes like a flame of fire. Fire is a purifying, illuminating agent. And Jesus has eyes like that. He has eyes that pierce. He's got eyes that probe. By the way, the church in
[00:14:52] Thyatira, out of the seven letters to seven different ancient cities in the ancient world, Thyatira is the smallest city. It's probably 20,000 people. By comparison, Ephesus had 240,000 people. Pergamum had 120,000 people. Thyatira was a little town. It was a gateway to Asia.
[00:15:11] It was the home of a military base for many years, and it was conquered by many, many different kingdoms. And Alexander the Great came in and conquered Thyatira to get to Pergamum. But it was
[00:15:20] a very small town. And I just want you to see that Jesus sees the small town churches. Anybody in Waters Church know what I'm talking about. You don't have to go to New York City for Jesus to see
[00:15:29] your church. He's got his eyes on the church in North Attleboro and in Tiverton and Woonsocket and Norwood and in Apollo Beach, Florida. Come on, somebody. Jesus is watching us.
[00:15:41] The good news is Jesus sees us. The bad news is Jesus sees us because his eyes penetrate.
[00:15:50] He has feet like burnished bronze.
[00:15:52] Another descriptor.
[00:15:54] Only to the church in Thyatira.
[00:15:56] And here's why.
[00:15:56] I just mentioned it.
[00:15:58] Thyatira was the home of the trade guilds.
[00:16:01] The trade guilds.
[00:16:03] These are like labor unions.
[00:16:05] They were, it was a blue-collar town.
[00:16:08] It was where the plumbers and the electricians lived.
[00:16:11] Only it wasn't plumbing and electrician.
[00:16:13] It was coppersmiths and tanners and bronzers and these people who worked in the trades and they were they would um to belong in thyatira you had to join one of the guilds think labor unions today labor unions you join the union and you get all
[00:16:30] the benefits of the union you get the opportunities you get the work you get the hours you get the benefits all those things well that's what thyatira was blue collar town lots of trades jesus references one of those trades bronze burnishing and he says listen my feet are
[00:16:45] burnished bronze. In the ancient world, your feet were always dirty because they didn't have closed-toed shoes. They had sandals. And Jesus says, my feet are already cleaned up, beyond cleaned up. They're burnished. They're precious. Come on, somebody. The feet of Jesus are precious even to
[00:17:00] us. Some of you think about this. The ugliest part of you is your feet. Jesus has burnished bronze feet. But he's referencing the trades. Now, here is the problem that the trades created for the people in Thyatira. It was not just the labor union that you belong to.
[00:17:20] It was the worship religious cult that you belong to when you joined the trade guild.
[00:17:29] So what they would do is on a monthly basis, after a good long hard month of work, they would go to the temple of Apollo as a trade guild. They would light incense. They would burn it to worship the
[00:17:39] god apollo and to belong to the trade guild you had to do this and then they would have a feast lots of good food they'd have a big old barbecue and then they would have lots of wine and alcohol
[00:17:50] one thing would lead to another and usually these trade guild feasts would lead to sexual immorality and all kinds of hookup culture and all kinds of pagan revelry nothing new under the sun so you had to do it if you were a trade good member you had to do it so this presented a
[00:18:09] problem for Christians. This is a problem that is growing increasingly challenging for you today in America, in the age of tolerance. Okay? What do you do? Do you participate or not? A lot of Christians in Thyatira didn't participate. They did not go to the pagan feasts. Now you say, well,
[00:18:30] why would that be a problem? Here's how it would go down. You're a member of the coppersmith guild and you're a Christian and you say, and they say, oh, you come into the feast and you say, no, I'm
[00:18:38] sorry. I'm a Christian. I only worship one God. His name is Jesus. Oh, okay. We understand. They go to the feast. They burn incense. They celebrate. They revel for a couple hours.
[00:18:48] Feast over. Seems like you got away with it. You're all fine. But then the coppersmith guild has a terrible month. Financially, they struggle. They aren't making as much money as they did last month. Guess who they're coming to blame? Why didn't you show up at the feast? Apollo is mad
[00:19:05] at us. Our business has suffered because you don't participate. Are you hearing this?
[00:19:11] this is modern day America right now, because tolerance has moved from tolerance to celebration.
[00:19:19] Now you don't just tolerate. Now you must celebrate. And if you don't celebrate, you're a bigot. You're a whatever phobe. And shame on you. You're backwards. You're outdated.
[00:19:32] You're old-fashioned. You're intolerant. You don't belong. This is today. Anybody feeling Thyatira? All right. So here was the question. Christ or your career? Yeah, I know you say that, but get ready. It's going to get worse. In this country, it's going to get worse. Potentially,
[00:19:58] it's going to get worse. What are you going to choose? Christ or your career? So here's the thing. And I got to say this loud and proud. You don't have to compromise to be successful.
[00:20:15] Some of you say, I know if I don't join in, I'm not going to make as much money.
[00:20:20] Maybe temporarily, but give God time.
[00:20:25] Give the Lord a chance to show himself faithful.
[00:20:29] I want to show you why I believe that.
[00:20:32] In Acts chapter 16, there was a woman who meets Paul at a river.
[00:20:37] Her name's Lydia.
[00:20:38] Guess where she's from?
[00:20:40] Thyatira.
[00:20:41] Scripture calls her a worshiper of God.
[00:20:43] She was already looking for God.
[00:20:45] she was already following the Lord. She was probably Jewish. She was already looking for the Lord. This is the first convert in Europe. In the history of Europe, this is the first convert.
[00:20:53] She's a worshiper of God, and she's a seller of what? Anybody see it? A seller of what?
[00:20:58] Purple goods. Purple goods were the high-class Saks Fifth Avenue outfits. Because purple is a very rare dye. You got it from these tiny little shells in the Mediterranean, or you got it from this tiny little rare root of a tree. And you had to squeeze the root, and you'd get a drop of purple
[00:21:13] dye, and then you would dye the fabric, and if you had purple clothing, you were, I mean, you were dressed to the nines, and Lydia, a worshiper of God, was also working for Saks Fifth Avenue,
[00:21:26] and the Lord opens her heart. She receives the gospel, and she becomes the first European convert in history, friend. This is so important. The European continent gave us the Reformation, gave us the printing press, gave us Martin Luther and the Reformers, gave us the preaching of the
[00:21:42] gospel rescued the church from pagan revelry and we are here in america because of christianity in europe it all started with a woman named lydia come on ladies let me think i'm anti-lady i am not thank god for faithful worshipers of god amongst the ladies at
[00:22:05] waters church she's successful in her purple clothing trade as a worshiper of god so when you faced that conflict, career and Christ, and you choose Christ and your career suffers as a result. I'm just trying to tell you, give God some time. He will prove himself faithful in the end.
[00:22:33] But they had a problem and a lot of Christians were falling into it. Let's just go to the feast because our careers are at stake. I can't afford, I got to feed my family. I can't afford to have a
[00:22:42] bad month of business. I'm already in debt. I need to make ends meet. And so a lot of Christians were just going with the flow. They were going along to get along. And that's the context to
[00:22:52] which Jesus writes that he had met. And as he always does with these seven letters is he first admonishes the church. And he says, I know your works, your love, your faith, your service and
[00:23:02] your endurance. Circle all three, all four of these words, love, faith, service and endurance.
[00:23:07] Okay, here's point number one. Write this down. A tolerant church will accept acceptable teaching.
[00:23:16] A tolerant church will accept acceptable teaching. There's not an unbeliever in the world that has a problem with love. There's not an unbeliever in the world that has a problem with faith. Oh, that's good for you. Yes, faith. Even faith in the general sense of
[00:23:34] believing and being positive. And that's a good thing. Service. Anybody going to complain if you serve? Anybody going to complain if you clean up the local park or, you know, wipe the graffiti off of a building? I mean, yeah, they're serving. And patient endurance. These, I'm saying, these
[00:23:52] things are the acceptable. Even non-believers have these. And the church in Thyatira didn't just have them, but Jesus says, your latter works exceed the first. In other words, you're getting more loving. You're getting more serving. You're growing in faith and endurance. And I commend you
[00:24:06] for these things. But ladies and gentlemen, there are things that the world agrees with about our faith. And what you have to understand is that there are things that the world does not agree with about our faith. And so this is what happens at Waters Church. It happened last week. So I just
[00:24:22] want to let you know that you're all on the same page with me. People will come and they will love us for a while. Because I'll talk about good things like love. I mean, even the Beatles said
[00:24:36] It's all you need. And faith, who can argue with that? Yes, I need to believe more. And service, we should be serving people. Servant leadership, yes. Endurance, no one's against that. But then I will stand on the stage, and I will talk about the things that they don't agree with,
[00:24:57] and then they will leave. And this is going to happen all the time. It's okay. Can I tell you?
[00:25:07] every location. Listen to me. It's okay. I have a responsibility to tell you everything God has said and not hide from you the things that you might not want to hear. Let me tell you about a passage
[00:25:27] of scripture that scares the life out of me, scares the life out of me. It's found in the book of Acts. In the book of Acts, Paul is saying goodbye to the Ephesian elders. He's on his way
[00:25:41] out the door. He's left the church in the hands of elders. And here's what he says. I testify to you this day, verse 26, that I am, everybody say this phrase with me, I am innocent of the blood
[00:25:50] of all. What a powerful statement. How is he innocent of the blood of all? He tells us how.
[00:25:57] For I did not, what's that word? Shrink. I did not back, back, back, back away. I did not backpedal.
[00:26:04] I did not get shy around certain topics in the Bible. I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole, somebody say this word, counsel. Hey, counsel comes from God, not from man.
[00:26:18] The reason why some of you cannot get your life straight is because you go to secular counsel.
[00:26:23] Only God has true, genuine, life-giving, life-redeeming counsel. And he says, and I did not shrink. In other words, there's some people who are going to shrink. Hey, there's some popular pastors on YouTube that are going to shrink. They're not going to tell you the whole deal.
[00:26:39] Oh, they'll talk about faith. They'll talk about love. They'll talk about all the things that secular people can agree with, and their churches will be flooded with people. But they are not faithful to the whole counsel of God. And Paul says, I'm innocent because I didn't shrink. I
[00:26:53] told you everything this book has to say, and your soul is now not on my back. That's what he's saying. Are you hearing this? I know it's strong preaching, but it's got to be strong sometimes.
[00:27:08] Where did he get this idea? I'll tell you where he got this idea. From a guy named Ezekiel.
[00:27:14] Ezekiel, the prophet in the Old Testament, God says to his prophet, hey, friends, listen to me.
[00:27:18] Before I get to this passage, it's a scary thing to stand before people and claim to speak for God.
[00:27:26] It's a scary thing. Here's what he says to the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel 3.18. If I say to the wicked, you shall surely die. And you, my prophet Ezekiel, give him no warning, nor you speak to
[00:27:41] warn the wicked from his wicked way in order to save his life. The result is the wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood, Ezekiel, I will require at your hand. By the way,
[00:27:56] God is so serious about this to the prophet Ezekiel. He doesn't just say it in Ezekiel chapter three. He says it later on in Ezekiel chapter 33, the same exact phrase, the same exact phrase.
[00:28:07] Verse eight of chapter 33, if I say to the wicked, oh, wicked one, you shall die. And you do not warn him. And you don't tell him what I said. That wicked person shall die, but his blood,
[00:28:17] I required your hand, but if you warn him and he doesn't turn, that person shall die, but you will have delivered your soul. Hear what the Lord is saying to his prophet. You better say everything
[00:28:29] I've said, or I hold you accountable for what they're doing. This is on me. You want a pastor that fears God more than he fears you, that is concerned with pleasing the Almighty way more
[00:28:47] than pleasing you. Paul says in the last days, there'll come time when people will have tickling, itching ears. They'll want people to say what they want and only what they want, and they'll have no
[00:28:57] tolerance for truth. And these days are upon us, friend. These days are upon us. And I got news for everybody at Waters Church. I'm going to tell you the truth. I'm going to tell you what God's Word
[00:29:08] says. Whether you like it, whether you love it, whether you wouldn't want to have anything to do with it, I'm going to tell you what this Word says, because this is the truth that sets your heart
[00:29:16] free from the laws of sin and death. Jesus Christ died for you and shed his blood for you, and I'm not ashamed to speak for him, whatever comes my way. I don't want this message to be about me,
[00:29:28] but I just want to tell you, I hope that we can get out, maybe finally, some of you who are questionable about Pastor Tim, maybe you can finally just be like a little bit understanding
[00:29:35] of why sometimes I come across offensively to people you want to bring to church.
[00:29:43] Because I know what happens. I know. I'm not stupid. Yeah, man, I'd like to bring my neighbor to church this week, but Pastor Tim might be talking about something I don't want them to hear.
[00:30:01] it's amazing how often we think we can play God and when he chooses to save people.
[00:30:08] You do not need to shield unbelievers from truth. That is not your job. Your job is to bring them to the feeding trough and watch the Holy Spirit go to work. Number two, a tolerant church will
[00:30:22] endorse worldly teachers. They'll endorse worldly teachers. They'll find, Paul said this to Timothy, the time is coming when men will not put up a sound doctrine, but will gather themselves together, a great number of teachers. This is YouTube Preachers 101 right here. And I know I'm
[00:30:38] a YouTube preacher too, but there's a whole ton of them out there. They don't tell God's people the whole truth because they're far more concerned about numbers and nickels than they are about the blood of men's souls. And here's what's happening in Thyatira. He says, I have something
[00:31:04] against you. That you, what's the word? Tolerate that woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess.
[00:31:15] This is a self-appointed teacher in the church, and she's seducing Jesus' my servants to practice sexual immorality and eat food sacrificed to idols. Again, this is referencing the pagan idolatrous feast to Apollos. That's what he's talking about here. And she's teaching them that
[00:31:36] they can do it. Let's talk about Jezebel, because I guarantee you, you've never met a little girl named Jezebel. Nobody's naming their kid Jezebel. And the reason why is because of the Bible. That's why. Because of the Bible. Jezebel appears in the book of 1 Kings. The nation is descending
[00:31:57] into complete immorality. It's led by successive kings that are worse than the one before them.
[00:32:02] One king after another, one king after another, one king after another. It all culminates in the house of Omri. Omri is this wicked pagan king. He has a son named Ahab. Ahab reigns in Israel in the
[00:32:13] northern kingdom, and he seduces Israel by being married to a woman named Jezebel. Look at it, 1 Kings chapter 16 on the screen. It says this, and Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the sight
[00:32:23] of the Lord, and he did more evil than those who were before him, and here's what he did.
[00:32:27] He took for his wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ephbaal, king of the Sidonians. This is a foreign pagan, non-God-fearing woman. And he went and served Baal and worshiped her. Notice he took a foreign pagan wife, and then he was worshiping her foreign pagan God. Single people, please hear me.
[00:32:51] Do not lower your standards when you're shopping for the significant other of your future.
[00:32:59] Have these standards now before the... You've got to learn the principle of conviction. Conviction is deciding beforehand. That's what conviction is. Conviction is to decide before you have to decide and make the conviction. I will not date an unbeliever. I will not date. I will not romance.
[00:33:17] I will not even, I will not even put myself out there for a non-believer to love me because I will not sacrifice my most precious possession, Jesus Christ on the altar of their acceptance.
[00:33:31] So he says, it says that he did more evil because he married the wrong woman and he erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which we built in Samaria. That's the capital of Israel. And Ahab
[00:33:39] made an asherah. This would be a phallic structure made of probably ancient concrete. And he worshipped it, and he did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel. And by the way, the Bible says in 1 Kings
[00:33:49] 18 that Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord. She didn't just, she didn't just, this is, this is the spirit of tolerance in our age. They don't just introduce different beliefs. It gets to the
[00:34:06] point where they start to silence true beliefs. This is where we are. What used to be, hey, everybody's the same. Everybody's equal. All the beliefs are valid. It's amazing. Those people now are in charge, and they have no tolerance for anybody who disagrees with them. This is the
[00:34:24] spirit of Jezebel. And where was she? She was in the church. Oh, it's bad enough that she's in the world. Let's not invite her into the church. Now, the chances are that this woman's name is actually
[00:34:37] Jezebel are very slim, but she represents that same spirit. By the way, I was thinking about that today, and I was thinking, you know what? If the Lord had to put an ancient Bible name on my
[00:34:47] life, what would it be? I think maybe you got to think about that. What do you want to be?
[00:34:55] Anyway, Jezebel, and she calls herself, she self-appoints. Listen, understand the order of the church. The pastors are appointed and ordained by authority before them. I was ordained back in 2001 we have ordained and appointed to eldership and pastorship other men under me there
[00:35:15] is a process by which authority transmits from one generation to the other and when you and this is why i have to tell you the tiktok theologians the instagram theologians all these self-professed call themselves a prophet or prophetess people you've got to have your radar up in the like and
[00:35:32] subscribe economy you gotta have your radar up because some of these people are not teaching they're seducing. And they're saying, just get along to go along. So what she was doing was she was coming to the church. She was saying, listen, you don't really have to take, you don't really
[00:35:43] have to take that law about sexual morality so seriously. So you can go to the feast. You don't have to compromise your Christian value. Go to the feast, worship Apollo, burn the incense, maybe even engage in a little revelry. God will forgive you. And why did she, what was it based
[00:36:00] on? Here's what it was based on. It was an ancient, later heresy called Gnosticism, which was actually rooted in Platonic dualism, the idea that your body and your spirit are separate entities. Your body and your spirit are separate entities. And some of you, this might sound old and ancient
[00:36:16] and outdated. It's absolutely relevant. Listen to me. Dualism is still alive and well. Here's the idea. Your body doesn't matter because, you know, it's just flesh and it's going to the grave, but your spirit matters. So just cultivate the spirit with God. And, you know, your body,
[00:36:29] you can do whatever you want because it's just the body. It's just the body. This is alive and well today. This is alive and well in the culture of abortion. It's just a fetus. It's just a clump
[00:36:46] of cells. What? Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Your hands wove my body together in my mother's womb, Psalm 139. What you're touching in that woman's body is a precious soul created
[00:37:08] by God. This is, how about a lighter version of modern-day Gnosticism, modern-day dualism?
[00:37:17] Well, God knows my heart. I know we're living together outside of marriage, but God knows our heart. That's the problem. He does know your heart, and he knows your heart is finding ways to circumvent his laws to do what you want. The idea that God knows your heart should never be
[00:37:39] comforting to anybody. In fact, when I confess my sins to the Lord, the first thing I say is, you know my heart. I'm horrible, Lord. Jesus said, out of the heart of man comes evil thoughts,
[00:37:52] wickedness, fornications, adulteries, greed, jealousies, envy. That's what's inside of me.
[00:37:57] Jeremiah said, the heart of man is desperately wicked and beyond cure. And some of you young people are going to follow your heart? Are you insane? Modern day Gnosticism says, I don't have to go to church to be a Christian. That's modern day Gnosticism. You think that, well, the Lord
[00:38:21] is everywhere, so his presence is in my bedroom as I'm attending bedside assembly, getting snuggled by sister sheets and pastor pillow. It's just modern-day Gnosticism that where your physical body is does not matter. Wrong! God created your body. And your body, 1 Corinthians chapter 6 says,
[00:38:44] your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. And it's not your body. Can we put this on the screen?
[00:38:52] Please put this on the screen. 1 Corinthians 6, 18. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man commits outside his body, but sexual immoral person sins against his own body. Do you not know
[00:39:02] that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? Underline the next line. You are not your own. My body? No. Not your body. His body. His body. If you're a Christian,
[00:39:16] it's his body. And all this modern day Gnosticism stuff, this has to be smacked out of the church because I know the world gets it. It can't be in the house of God. There's a form. I'll just write
[00:39:29] this down. I know you're begging for this line, so here we go. I'll put it in. I'll put it on the screen. False Christianity majors on compassion while refusing to confront sin. Why did they not
[00:39:39] confront Jezebel? I think Jesus already hinted at why. Because they were a church filled with love and faith and service, and they were so loving, they tolerated evil. There's churches just like that on the landscape of modern American Christianity all over the place. You find
[00:39:59] yourself in a church that believes, here's a big tell of these false churches. Here's a big tell.
[00:40:07] They'll say, well, the Bible contains the word of God, but it's not the word of God.
[00:40:12] You ever hear a pastor say that? Run. Run as fast as you can out the doors of that church.
[00:40:19] That's a pagan lie. Okay, number three, the tolerant church is examined by Jesus. What does Jesus say to this church in verse 21? I gave her time. Somebody say time to do what? There's that
[00:40:31] word again. Every church except two are called to repent, turn around, but she refuses. Time to repent, and she refuses. And I just want to say, I hope this helps some people. This is one of the
[00:40:45] attacks on our faith. Why doesn't God just judge all the evil people? Why does he allow it? If God judged all the evil in the world right now, every single one of us would be dead, including me.
[00:41:02] It's patience that God expresses towards sinners. He's giving them time to repent.
[00:41:12] They're not getting away with it. Hear me. They're not getting away with it.
[00:41:18] The Lord is giving them time. He is long-suffering. He is patient. He's way more patient than I am, and you should all be happy about that. So he says, listen, what I'm going to do,
[00:41:29] I'm going to throw her onto a sickbed. This is kind of poetic. And those who commit adultery with her, where do you commit adultery? On a bed. Some of you need to know what the wrath of God
[00:41:44] really is. The wrath of God is you getting what you want. This is from Romans chapter one. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteous and wickedness of men who suppress the truth in their unrighteousness, who know that there's a creator God, but refuse to worship him.
[00:42:01] They worship the creation rather than the creator who is forever to be praised. And then it says this, therefore God hands them over to what they want. Some of these pride parades that I know you
[00:42:14] don't want to watch, and I know you don't want me to talk about this on Sunday. Get over it.
[00:42:20] Some of these pride parades, they dress up as dogs and cats and animals, and they parade naked in front of children. This is an abominable practice. You start to understand why God told the Israelites
[00:42:34] to wipe out entire nations in the book of Joshua, because the culture can get so utterly corrupted.
[00:42:42] Shame has been wiped off the map in our culture. He says, I'm going to cast her onto a sickbed.
[00:42:49] She's going to get exactly what she wants, and I will throw her great tribulation unless they repent, and I will strike her children dead. Kind of blows away the Jesus's soft, kind, meek and mild narrative, doesn't it? He's a warrior who fights passionately for his church.
[00:43:13] And I know that some of you don't like this side of Jesus. I don't understand why.
[00:43:20] If you have children, you know that sometimes you got to be so tough on those children because you love them, because you know that folly is bound up in the heart of a child, so they are stupid and they don't know what's right and wrong and you know what's right and
[00:43:39] wrong and because you love them you will smack them back onto the road of righteousness they hate it but they don't realize it's the most loving act you can give them in that moment and so jesus is like that he's a godly father he he he disciplines those whom he loves
[00:43:59] and this is what he's talking about here i am not going to let you live in sin i'm not going to let you live in destructive patterns. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches
[00:44:10] heart and mind. I've got the blazing eyes of fire. And I will give to each of you according to your works. I'll bring you into the place where you will wake up and realize what's right and what's
[00:44:22] wrong for your life. And whenever you get to that point where you feel that God is spanking you, man, rejoice and be glad. That's a sign he's not giving up on you. He still wants to save you.
[00:44:33] and so he goes but to the rest of you verse 24 who do not hold to this teaching so this church as every church this church is a mix of righteous and unrighteous this is that every church including
[00:44:44] waters church is a mix of those who hold to truth and those who don't which is why we encourage people to come to christ at the end of every service because we never know who's sitting in
[00:44:54] the seats if you don't hold to this teaching and you have not learned what some call look at this the deep things of Satan. These false teachers of dualism, it's not just wrong, it's satanic.
[00:45:10] And then he says, I will not lay on you any other burden. In other words, I understand that it's hard enough to hold the line. I'm not going to make it any harder for you. In fact, he's going
[00:45:21] to say, I'm going to reward you. So number four, write this down. A biblical church values truth above tolerance. A biblical church values truth above tolerance. You might not want to hear it, but I have to say it or God holds me accountable. And one of the best compliments that you can pay
[00:45:40] any preacher is to say, I didn't want to hear what you had to say, but I needed to hear that.
[00:45:46] And any clown can get up here and appease you. I'm not here to appease you and I'm not here to please you. I'm here to disciple you. And disciple comes from the word discipline and that's okay.
[00:45:59] That's good. And so what does he say to this church? Hold fast to what you have until I come and to the one who conquers and who keeps my words until the end. I will give him authority
[00:46:09] over the nations. This is beautiful because the Christian, the faithful Christians in Thyatira were thinking that they were under the authority of their culture. Their culture was so pervasive and influential that they had to get along to go along. Jesus says, no, if you hold fast to me in
[00:46:30] truth. I'm going to put you over them. So we have a pastor named Mehdi. He preached a couple of weeks ago here. I love this man, by the way, former Muslim from Morocco who came to Christ.
[00:46:44] The moment he came to Christ, his whole family wrote him off. Still to this day, stands for Christ. He's a chef. He worked at a company a few years ago. And during June, our annual
[00:47:01] celebration of intolerant tolerance, his company said, we need you to make this whole big old LGBTQ spread. So get on it. He said, I can't. I'm sorry. I can't do that. I'm a Christian.
[00:47:17] They said, you're fired. Christ or career? Out of a job. How am I going to feed my family?
[00:47:28] How am I going to take care of my kids? See, those questions don't acknowledge that Jesus has the eyes of fire and he's watching his church. And so he went and got himself another job
[00:47:43] and that job paid him more money. And then a couple of months go by and his old job calls him up and says, Medi, we miss you. So we'd like to give you more money than you're currently
[00:48:03] making now. And we will never require you to do anything that your faith restricts you from doing. I will give you authority, and you will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earth
[00:48:26] and pots are broken to pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. You see, some of you, it is a no-brainer when you choose Christ, because he sees it, and he has the
[00:48:37] authority to give you himself the morning star. Who's the morning star? Jesus is the morning star.
[00:48:44] That's who's the morning star. What did we sing today? You're my promised land.
[00:48:49] And if you're not with me, don't go.
[00:48:53] I don't want to go anywhere, Lord.
[00:48:54] I just need you.
[00:48:56] Paul says to Timothy, if we endure, we will reign with him.
[00:49:01] 2 Timothy chapter 2.
[00:49:02] If we endure, we will reign.
[00:49:04] Now, here's where some of you got to see it.
[00:49:07] Christ or career, you choose Christ.
[00:49:09] It's going to cost you the career.
[00:49:11] Maybe, maybe, for a moment.
[00:49:16] When you follow Christ, there's always an immediate cost.
[00:49:18] By the way, when you obey Christ, there's always an immediate painful cost.
[00:49:22] but there's a long reward ahead. You got to keep your eyes on that so that you can get through the temporary cost. He says, I'm going to give you myself. Is there anything better to have than
[00:49:37] Jesus? That's what we get. So biblical church, write this down, serve it in a sentence. Ready?
[00:49:43] A biblical church values God's truth above the world's tolerance because only truth sets people free. Only truth sets people free. Today, we're going to go before the Lord in the Lord's Supper.
[00:49:54] some of you need Jesus in your life you're not walking here in righteousness and I got I got bad news but I also got good news the bad news is you cannot be good enough to get to heaven on your own
[00:50:09] I'm not good enough to get to heaven on my own I'm not getting to heaven because I'm a preacher I'm getting to heaven because Jesus died for me and he rose again for me and he forgave me of all my sins
[00:50:22] in fact he took my sins on him on the cross 2,000 years ago and if you will receive it you can have the same gift of life that I have. I want to give you a chance to do that. Would you
[00:50:34] bow your heads and close your eyes before we get to the Lord's Supper today? Because this table is a table for Christians only. So right where you are, here's your chance. Say yes to Jesus. I want
[00:50:47] to lead you in a prayer to follow him. Would you say after me, if that's you, every location, say Heavenly Father. Say it quietly, but say it with your mouth. Say Heavenly Father, forgive me of my
[00:50:59] sins. I choose to follow Jesus. Save me. Make me your child. And by grace, I declare Jesus is Lord.