(Timeless Doctrines) What Kind of a Church Do You Go To? - Part 6 — Denny Kenaston

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold.

You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www .charityministries .org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1 -800 -227 -7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, AFPA, 17522.

These messages are offered to all without charge by the freewill offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry.

The Seven Churches and Their Relevance to America

I want to continue on with a message that we began last Sunday morning. And the title of the message last Sunday morning was, What Kind of Church Do You Go To? I guess the reason for that message is because we are looking at God's messages to the seven churches in the book of Revelation.

And those churches and the condition of those churches is a bit definitive. And I think that we do wisely if we take a look at those churches and then take a look at our lives and take a look at our church.

I believe it's a very healthy thing for us to do, especially when you consider the fact that when the Lord Jesus wrote the message to those seven churches, that was the very motivation of His heart that they would take a look at themselves and evaluate where they are in light of the end of the age.

If you remember last week, we noted that the book of Revelation was written to the seven churches of Asia Minor. Now, we know that it's also written to us, but just like the book of Ephesus was written to the church at Ephesus, and the book of Thessalonians, first and second, was written to the church at Thessalonica, the book of Revelation was written to the seven churches.

Last week, we saw what an awesome thought that is, that the Lord Jesus spoke these words to arrest the attention of those seven churches, to cause them to think, to cause them to ponder where they were at, what their condition was in the sight of God.

And the motivation for writing those two chapters, chapter 2 and 3, was because chapter 4 through chapter 22 was to follow. And the words of our Lord Jesus were, I come quickly. These things shall shortly come to pass.

Brothers and sisters, if that was pertinent to the seven churches of Asia Minor nearly 2 ,000 years ago, how much more pertinent is it to the churches of America and to our church and the churches around us who live in 1996?

It is very important. It's very pertinent. It's time that judgment begin at the house of God. It's time that we consider our ways. It's time that we evaluate where we are as a congregation. It's time that congregations evaluate themselves, because surely these things are shortly to come to pass.

Well, we looked at the church at Ephesus, and we also looked at the church at Smyrna last week. And now we have five more that we need to look at this morning. And the first one is the church at Pergamos.

Pergamos: A Church Surrounded by Worldliness

The church at Pergamos, we're still in Revelation chapter 2. And let us read those words before we look a little bit at the church at Pergamos. We are reading in chapter 2 and verse 12. And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges.

And remember last week I told you that it's very interesting that each time Christ uses part of the description of His presence in chapter 1 to tell each one of these churches that He is writing to them.

And that which He uses to describe to the church at Pergamos is He which hath the sharp sword with two edges coming out of His mouth. Now, we know from reading a little bit further on in the book of Revelation that that sharp sword coming out of His mouth is an awesome picture.

And it's not just the Word of God, which is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. But when we see the Lord Jesus later on in the book of Revelation riding on a horse and the sharp two-edged sword coming out of His mouth, we know that it's judgment time.

And that's the words that our Lord Jesus uses to describe Himself as He's riding to the church at Pergamos. Now, I think it's good for us to look at some of the history of Pergamos and not every one of these cities' history was worthy of note.

But the history of the city of Pergamos was worthy of note. Pergamos was a wealthy city. It was one of the wealthiest cities in the whole area of Asia Minor. Pergamos was a filthy city. It was a city of promiscuity, sensuality.

It was one of the most luxurious places in the whole of the area. In fact, the rich from around the Mediterranean world traveled to the city of Pergamos. It was like a tourist attraction. That's where they went to spend their money.

That's where they went if they wanted to live in the highest of luxury for a vacation. They went to Pergamos because it was a wealthy place. A little bit like Florida or something like that. Nothing against Florida if there's anybody from Florida here today.

But that was the history of Pergamos. It was after the death of a very wealthy man who owned most of the city and most of the wealth in the city, it was given over as a state to Rome and the Roman Empire.

It is said in history that when the city of Pergamos and the state which surrounded that city was given over to the state of Rome, the spirit of Rome changed from a masculine spirit to an effeminate spirit.

If I may say so boldly, from a masculine spirit to a homosexual, sensual spirit. Pergamos was that kind of a city. And Rome lost its masculinity when it opened its heart to the sensuality of Pergamos.

Now that is the history of the city. But, praise God, just like the Bible says, where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. And God, by His grace, through the saints of those days, planted a church through missionary work in the city of Pergamos.

Alright, let's continue to read now. I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is. And I believe that is worthy of note, because the city of Pergamos, as God described and He said to the church at Pergamos, I know where you dwell.

You dwell in the place where Satan's seat is. In other words, there is high powers of wickedness in the city of Pergamos. Just like the Bible says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

And I believe that Pergamos was one of those places, it was one of those high places where there was much spiritual wickedness. And by the way, those always go together. Wherever you have a wicked city, you also have high wicked spirits that rule over that city.

And therefore, God could say, I know where you dwell and you dwell where Satan's seat is. These things are worthy of note. As we begin to see what the weaknesses of the church at Pergamos were, these things are very worthy of note.

I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is. And thou holdest fast my name and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth.

Now here we have some good things to say about Pergamos. They have kept his name. They have continued to lift up the name of the Lord Jesus. The name Christian was there in Pergamos. There was a testimony in Pergamos that there were Christians there.

They used the name of the Lord Jesus. They held fast that name. They were not ashamed of that name. And that is to their credit. And also that they have kept his faith. The faith which was once delivered to the saints.

So much so that at a time of persecution, one among them was martyred. And the Lord Jesus commends them for these things that are among them that are good and right. And we want to commend them also in the midst of a luxurious, sensual, wealthy place where Satan's seat is, where spiritual wickedness rules and reigns.

Yes, there they are standing for the name of the Lord Jesus. Standing for the faith. And yea, even have a martyr among them. God bless the church at Pergamos for these things that we find among them. But then he goes on to say, But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication.

So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Now here is where we want to just look a little bit. We want to look at these two doctrines. And I'd like us to notice that with this, the church at Pergamos, which you remember I called it last time, an acceptable, worldly church.

The problem that Christ has with the church at Pergamos, in the state that it is in right now, is with doctrine. Doctrine brings forth action. Right doctrine brings forth right actions. But wrong doctrines bring forth wrong actions.

And it appears in this church, that the church is indifferent to the subtle influences of wrong doctrines that are among them. They are indifferent to it. They don't realize the deadliness of those doctrines that are moving among them.

What are those doctrines? Well, there are two. And these are significant. First of all, the doctrine of Balaam. The doctrine of Balaam is simply this. And we can go back to the Old Testament, but we will not look at all the verses this morning.

But we know that after Barak tried to destroy Israel, he wanted to destroy Israel, but Balaam could not give a curse on Israel because God had put a blessing on Israel. Balaam told Barak and his men how he could destroy the children of Israel.

And they went and joined themselves with Israel. Same old proverb, you know. If you can't beat them, join them. And by joining them, you'll beat them in another way. And that is exactly the counsel that Balaam gave to Barak and his people.

Go and join yourself to the children of Israel and lead them in the direction that you're going. Lead them into joining you and your feasts. And soon you will lead them to commit fornication. And thus, they will be destroyed from the inside out rather than the outside in.

That is the doctrine of Balaam. You say now, how does that apply to the church at Pergamos? Simply this. There was worldliness creeping into the church at Pergamos. And the church at Pergamos was saying that it was ok.

The pastor at Pergamos was saying, it's ok, it's alright. But there was worldliness moving in, little by little, into the church at Pergamos. And that worldliness, God, knowing what worldliness would do, He saw that it would be the destruction of the church at Pergamos.

But the pastor and the people were unaware of the subtle movings of these wrong teachings among them. You see, when worldliness begins to creep in to a church, there should be a herald standing up and crying out against it.

But there was no one crying out against the doctrine of Balaam, which simply is, let the world come and join the church, and it will be destroyed from the inside. Oh, how many illustrations could we give this morning where this very thing has happened, where men, yes, have taken the counsel of Balaam down through the generations since the church was started, nearly 2 ,000 years ago.

And worldliness has come into the church. And because no one stood up to herald and cry out against the doctrine of Balaam, it has destroyed its tens of thousands. The doctrine of Balaam. Just let the world in.

How many places today are they saying these very words? Just let them in. Just take them the way they are. And just love them the way they are. And all of those kind of things. And worldliness is just moving in, en masse, into the churches.

The doctrine of Balaam. Now, the other one is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. I had to study a bit to find out what that is because, frankly, there is no clear teaching in the Word of God to explain what it is.

But I did some studying. And here, as near as I can understand, here's what the doctrine of the Nicolaitans was. They were followers of a man called Nicholas whose teaching was this. We are free from the law of the apostles.

If you remember, the apostles sent some laws to the Gentile churches. And they sent those laws as a protection. They told them that they were not to eat meat offered unto idols. They were to abstain from eating blood.

They were not to eat those things which are strangled. And they were to abstain from fornication. Now, there's a reason why those four things were mentioned and nothing else. And here is the reason. Because in the cities where the Gentile churches were started, it was a common practice there to have big feast times where the sacrifices were made unto idols and the meat was eaten and the blood was eaten and the animals were strangled.

And after a big feast was made, fornication took place and they all called it religion. They called it good and right and they called it God. And they had all those names on it. And therefore, the wise apostles sent a decree to the churches, the Gentile churches, and told them, we will not set upon you all the laws of the Old Testament, but there are four that we will set upon you.

And they were set upon them for their protection to keep them from going out into the world. So the doctrine of Balaam is that the world comes into the church. But the doctrine of the Nicolaitans was that the church was going out into the world.

And notice that both of those were there at Pergamos. And notice how concerned God was about it. So the doctrine of the Nicolaitans was simply this. You don't have to follow those laws that the apostles made.

It's ok to go to the feast that everybody else goes to. And this was the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. In other words, freedom! We're free! We're free in Christ! You ever hear that one before? I tell you, the devil doesn't have any new devices, does he?

We're free! Another one of the teachings of the Nicolaitans was a super, extra, special, spiritual experience and knowledge about God that nobody else has. That sound familiar to you? And when you put the two of those together, there were those at the church at Pergamos who were believing and even teaching that it's ok to go out into the world and join the world with their feasts.

Who knows how they justified it? Maybe they said, we can win the world while we're out there. It's ok to go to the beach? Witness while you're on the beach. It's alright to go to the place, to the sports arenas.

Just witness while you're there. Who knows how they justified it? The Bible doesn't say. But it's clear that the doctrine of the Nicolaitans was that it's ok to go out into that world and that we have a special, spiritual knowledge that the others don't have.

And you can tell our spiritual knowledge by the freedom that we have. We're free! You're not free. You're in bondage. But we're free! We have a special spiritual knowledge and we're free! And we can go out into the world and we don't have to keep the laws of the apostles.

And this was the basic teaching of the followers of Nicholas. God said, which doctrine I hate! That's what He said. Why do you suppose God hated such a doctrine as that? Because God knew that that would destroy that church faster than anything else could ever do.

I wonder if we today realize how quickly and subtly worldliness can destroy the church. It can do it. And we can see from God's perspective looking at the message to the church at Pergamos, that it was a very urgent message that God gave.

In fact, He said, thus saith He that has a sharp two-edged sword coming out of His mouth. This is an urgent thing, says the Lord. Remember, we call the church at Pergamos the acceptable worldly church.

No, they're not apostate yet, but it seems that they're apostatizing if we can say it that way. They haven't given up. They haven't thrown it all out. But they're moving in that direction. They have the seeds of disintegration planted among them by the teachings that are being allowed to be given in their congregations.

And those teachings are teachings about worldliness. That worldliness is okay. Brothers and sisters, worldliness is not okay. God is a holy God. He's still a holy God. He hasn't changed one bit. He said, Be ye holy, for I am holy.

And God hasn't changed in 2 ,000 years. He's still a holy God. And He dwells in the midst of holy people. And I don't mean perfect people. I mean people who have set their hearts to live pure lives. That's all I mean.

And listen, let us remember that this message was written to the church at Pergamos in light of the book of Revelation and the things that are to come. And it was an urgent message and an urgent burden on the Lord Jesus Christ that the church at Pergamos would purge out from among them all worldliness and all those who teach worldliness to be okay.

And I tell you, brothers and sisters, many of you that are sitting here this morning and many that hear this on a tape, you know that it's so. These teachings are allowed in the churches. They've been theologized.

They've been burst out of seminaries and people have done their theological gymnastics and now it's okay to teach these things. And I mean the church is worldly. The world is coming into the church and the church is going out into the world.

And the next step is the next church that we'll look at shortly. Now let me just make one application and then we'll go on here. Brothers and sisters, we live in a Pergamos-type society. How many of you would agree with that?

Let me see your hands. We live in a Pergamos-type society. Now I know, bless God, we're a bit out in the country. So we're a bit shaded from it and thank God for that. But if you go to New York City, I tell you, you go to Pergamos.

Or you go to Miami or all the other resort cities around this land and I tell you, you go to Pergamos. Should we not also have an alertness about us in this Pergamos-type society that we live in? Should we have an alertness?

Should there not be a watchfulness, a carefulness about us as we move in this world? Yea, may God make us in the world, but not of the world. Amen? Kept by the power of God from the evil that is in the world and here only to be a testimony of what a holy God can do in an unholy life.

But I tell you, I believe that in these last days as the society of Pergamos begins to reach out its ugly tentacles into every kind of country that this world has, you can see that the very poisoning that is going on here, going on in other places, it's so sad.

The end of the age has come and it is an evil generation and perilous times have come for men shall be lovers of their own selves and on and on it goes there in 1 Timothy. We live in those kind of days.

They are perilous days and the thing that makes them perilous is all of the evil and the sensuality and the promiscuity and the luxury and the wealth and what it does. That's what makes the perilous times.

We live in those. May we purge out worldliness from among us. May we purge it out of our own hearts. May we this morning, if we find that subtle hankering in our own hearts, you know, that desire to go play out there, if we find that thing welling up within our heart from time to time, let us see it for what it is.

God says, I hate it! I even hate the teaching of it! May God help us. I tell you, this message to the church at Pergamos is a message for our day and for our nation. And God is calling the churches to repent of worldliness and to repent of the doctrines that promote worldliness and to repent of having the teachers that teach it.

I must say, I struggle a bit to say this next statement, but if God told them to repent, I believe they could have repented. But you know, it's very hard to find a church that repents of worldliness. When you study it in history, down through the ages, you don't often find revival breaking out where there's worldliness.

And in the midst of that, the church repents of its worldliness and turns and goes the other direction. You don't find very much of it. Maybe there's an account here or there. But for the most part, when worldliness sets in, worldliness stays.

And you know why? Because worldliness sets in with wrong teaching first. And once the wrong teaching is fully settled in the hearts of those people that are hearing, then the wrong living follows in after it.

And when the wrong living finds a nice, warm, comfortable place to dwell in the midst of the wrong teaching, you can't shake that thing out of the church. The people don't want to change. They like their liberty too much.

They're free from the law. And they don't want to change one bit. Very interesting to watch and see what happens even to churches like the Russian church as it leaves the persecuted lands of Russia and comes to the lands here of America, which is a Pergamos-type society.

What that worldliness does to those dedicated, persecuted Russian Christians I tell you, it destroys them just like God says in this book. It destroys them. They don't know what to do with it. They first come and they open their hearts to the teachings.

This is okay. And that's okay. What's wrong with it? That always moves in right alongside of the teaching. What's so wrong with this? Or what's so wrong with that? And little by little, that doctrine of Balaam and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans it just corrupts that purified, suffering church.

And in one generation, you can hardly tell that there was ever a suffering church there. It happens. You can find them even in this land. Dear, sweet, old babushkas, Russian grandmas who wept their hearts out to God while their husbands were in prison walking around down the street with tight pants on, showing themselves in immodest ways, and patting their theological hearts while they're doing it, telling you that you don't know what you're talking about, and they're free in the Lord and you're in bondage.

It happens. Another place where I've seen this happen so clearly is in the last ten years watching it happen in a third world country like Africa. Now there it wasn't a persecuted nation, but it was a poor nation.

The poor nations of Africa in the last ten years. The quote, Western progress has come over there and liberated the people. Yeah, it liberated them, alright. Now they put rings in their nose again like their forefathers did.

It sure did liberate them. You can see what this Western Christianity is doing to the churches in Africa. And I tell you, it breaks your heart! And it breaks God's heart! Because what they've done is they first received the teachings from the quote, great men of God from America.

The missionaries from America went over there and gave them the teachings first. And following the teachings came the worldliness. And I tell you, the churches are a mess over there. They're a mess. One generation.

I've seen all that happen in ten years. It doesn't take long. How few do repent from worldliness after it settles into the life. Do you know very many? Think. Think through the catalog of your own memory and of the people that you know.

How many do you know that after worldliness has settled in fully well in their life, do they turn around and throw it all away and start living a holy life again? How many do you know? There aren't many.

There's one here and one there. I don't know of a church that did. Maybe there is some. I don't want to be too hard here. So that's the church at Pergamos. Let us finish. We'll read the words that He says to them.

In verse 16, Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. It doesn't sound too sweet to me. He that hath ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, to him that overcometh.

Now look here. Now that overcome has to do with the context of what we've just been looking at. To Him who overcomes, who puts away worldliness and the teachings of worldliness, to He, individual or church, will I give to eat of the hidden manna.

Amen. Would you like some hidden manna? To eat of the hidden manna. And will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. Alright, now, let's go on to the church at Thyatira.

Thyatira: When Wrong Doctrine Becomes Seduction

And under the angel of the church in Thyatira write, These things saith the Son of God, who hath His eyes like unto a flame of fire, and His feet are like fine brass. Now, it's good for us to note, I think you can get the idea by now, there's some hot things coming.

In the verses that follow, we can tell just by the way that Jesus describes Himself. I am the One whose eyes are like a flame of fire and My feet are on fire like fiery brass. I am a God of judgment that walks in the midst of the church.

That's what Jesus is saying as He's leading up to the words that He's going to speak to the church at Thyatira. I know Thy works and charity and service and faith and Thy patience and Thy works and the last to be more than the first.

So, we have some good things to say about Thyatira. There are those among them who still love. They love people. They're there serving. They're trying to help and reach out. Their faith, they've got some faith.

Their patience and their works and the last to be more than the first. So, we've got some good things going on in Thyatira. But there's also some very bad things, some very grave things going on in Thyatira.

Notwithstanding, verse 20, I have a few things against thee. Why? Because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel which calleth herself a prophetess to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

Now, I want us to notice here the progression. In the church before, there were wrong teachings. In this church, there are also wrong teachings, but the teachings have gone way beyond that and they're to the place of seduction where the teachings have seduced the servants of God to go into that which is evil.

And may I say it this way, the church at Thyatira has totally given itself over to worldliness. And you can find them just like that in this land that we live in where they've totally given themselves over to worldliness.

It's a totally accepted thing. Everybody's happy about it. Go out and knock on the doors of your neighborhood and find out what the people would like to see at church. And then you just have it there.

If you want a Super Bowl Sunday, then you have Super Bowl Sunday. That's what the neighborhood would like to have. If you'd like to have a movie star sing a few songs and give a weak testimony, we'll do that on Sunday morning.

Whatever the crowd wants, that's what we'll do. They have totally given themselves over to worldliness. Now, who's Jezebel? We all know who that is, don't we? In the types and shadows that God uses here, we know who Jezebel is.

Jezebel was the wife of Ahab. Ahab was a so-half, somewhat, heathen Jewish king. And he married a wicked woman, a follower of Baal, named Jezebel. She was a wicked woman. She was a sensuous woman. She dressed sensuously.

She lived sensuously. She was evil. She led the children of Israel. I mean, first of all, she put a hook in her husband's nose and led him around everywhere she wanted him to go. And not after she got a hook in his nose, she led the children of Israel and she led them into Baal worship.

And Baal worship had sensuality in it. And sensuality led to fornication. And the children of Israel were living in Baal worship and fornication. And they were following this Jezebel in all of her evil ways.

And it was because of all of that wickedness that God laid on the heart of Elijah the prophet to pray that it wouldn't rain for three and a half years, and it didn't rain. And there we had that beautiful account there on Mount Carmel where God became God in the eyes of the Israelite people again.

And we won't go into all of that, but I think it's good for us to look at who Jezebel was. Because Jezebel took the two and mixed them together. Jewish religion and Baal worship. She took the two and she mixed them together.

Oh my! I'll tell you if that isn't a sermon this morning how that has happened in this land that we live in. That we've taken Baal worship and we've taken Christian worship and we've mixed the two together.

And it's so mixed up now that you can't figure out what it is. And anybody who has any kind of Christianity in them at all can go to a place like that and they wonder, is this Christian? Some of the words are right, but the lives are not right.

Some of the words are right, but the actions are not right. Some of the words are right, but the activities of the service and the activities of the people and the church are not right. And it's because Baal worship and Christian worship have been mixed together.

And you say, well, Brother Denny, nobody's worshiping Baal in America. No, I know. We're not bowing down to any idols in America. We're sophisticated heathen. We don't bow down to idols. But I tell you, America is bowing down to idols.

And thus we have Super Bowl Sunday. On a Sunday morning, we move the holy desk out of the way and we pull down the screen and we put the football game up there on a Sunday morning. I tell you, it's Baal worship!

And some would say, boy, you are a fanatic. Yes, well, maybe I'm a fanatic. But I tell you what, some of these coliseums that everybody runs to and thinks so exciting, you may see Christians in those someday.

Just like they used to be in Rome and Greece and Athens and all of those places in Pergamos. Great, big coliseums where the Christians were martyred one after another to the joy and the delight of those that were looking on.

The church at Thyatira. The seeds have grown. Wrong doctrines bring wrong living. And a full bearing of a plant of worldliness and evil and wickedness. And listen to what God says. Listen to how He feels here.

And I gave her space to repent of her fornication and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation except they repent of their deeds.

And I will kill her children with death and all the churches shall know that I am He which searches the reins and hearts and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. Now those are some awesome words that we just read that God is saying to one of the churches.

But that's what God is saying. And God would be saying that today also to any who have totally given themselves over to the worship of Baal, to the worships of the world around them and mixed them together with the worship of God.

God would say the same thing to them. I give you a space to repent. And if you don't repent, I'm going to throw you in a bed and ride along with Jezebel. Remember what happened to Jezebel. And the dogs licked the blood of Jezebel.

For the Bible says God has some very strong things to say. It seems that the church at Pergamos and the church at Thyatira, they have the same problem. It's worldliness. One is just beginning to swallow the teachings of worldliness.

The other has swallowed it whole hog and they're living it out in the fullness of reality each and every day. And God is very concerned about them. And He is the One who has flames of fire in His eyes and His feet are like a brass that's on fire.

That is what God says to the church at Thyatira. I cannot emphasize this enough this morning. Worldliness. People have given it a lot of nice names today. You know that? Association evangelism. Oh, they've given it all kinds of nice names.

They've sanctified it. They've changed its name. But I tell you, worldliness, mixing the world and Christianity together, mixing Christianity with the world, God hates it! It will destroy the church. It will sap the strength right out of it.

It will take the evangelism right out of it. It will spoil the revival fires that are in it. It will spoil the next generation and they won't even be around. And He even says here, and I'm going to kill her children.

I wonder what that means. That's worthy of some study, isn't it? And I'm going to kill her children. And all the churches are going to know that I am He that searches the heart and tries to reign. That's what Jesus said there.

And all the other churches are going to know when I get done dealing with the church at Thyatira. These are not little issues, brothers and sisters. They are big ones. And as we rush toward the end, I think it's good that we take a good long look at these seven churches.

And hey, wherever the shoe fits, let's wear it! Let's wear it ahead. Just like God gave each of these seven churches the opportunity to wear the shoe ahead of time, to take a look at it, to face it, God also is giving us the same as we rush toward the end of the end of the age.

Alright, let us finish. Verse 24. Listen to these beautiful words. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine and which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak, I will put upon you none other burden.

So you see, there are those faithful ones in Thyatira. They are there. They don't like what's going on. They don't espouse those kind of teachings. They're not living that way. Some of them may be by themselves.