Dear Pergamus: The Confused Church // THE 7 CHURCHES OF REVELATION

(upbeat music) - We are continuing on our series, Dear Church, the seven churches of Revelation. Anybody brought your Bible study any Christians who love God's word and have the Bible amen? You can open up to Revelation chapter two. Revelation chapter two, that will be our main text. So I would say, you don't even have to worry to turn to other ones. If you want some bonus points and extra credit, you can put a marker in Isaiah five, which will be in the middle of the message. And then first Timothy six will be all the way at the end to have some powerful verses there in first Timothy six. But Revelation two is a good place to kind of hang. The series is on, the seven week series is on the seven letters to the seven churches that we find in the book of Revelation, specifically in chapters two and three. These are seven letters written to seven specific churches in these cities, each dictated by Jesus personally. We read about that week one where John has this vision. Each of these letters contains something very practical, very powerful and also very personal. From Jesus that he wants to communicate to the church, book of Revelation is a prophetic book that we have indications that not only was this good and relevant to that church that he wrote to specifically, but even to us today who are the church of Jesus nowadays.

Now he writes these seven letters because he wants his church to be ready for his return. How many know that Jesus is returning for his church? Amen. This is a promise that we believe according to the word of God, according to the book of Revelation, that he will be coming back for his church. And so Jesus is very honest, he's very truthful, he does not lie and these letters are very, very important for us. In the first week we talked about dear Ephesus, the distracted church. And Jesus told that church that he loved how much good work they were doing, how much they were working for the Lord and serving the Lord, but he said, I have one thing against you, you've lost, you've abandoned your first love. And so the lesson is don't become so distracted with living life and doing and doing that you forget to connect with God. That's the heart there. Last week, week two, we talked about dear Smyrna, the suffering church. We talked about how in this life and in this world, we will face suffering. And when we do, especially when suffering for the cause of Christ, we keep our heads up, we look ahead and we remain faithful to the Lord, even unto death. And there is a great promise, which is the crown of life

that he has for those who persevere. Today's message is entitled Dear Pergamum, the Confused Church. Dear Pergamum, the Confused Church. So let's take a moment, let's pray. Lord, we invite you into this moment and we ask you to speak to our hearts today. I pray that our ears would be opened, our hearts and minds would be open and ready to receive from you and that the seeds of truth from your word would land in good soil in each one of our hearts. We are ready and we are attentive in Jesus' name. I pray, amen. All right, so let's go to Revelation chapter two. We're gonna start in verse 12. This is the letter to the church in Pergamum. Okay, the city called Pergamum. Everybody say Pergamum. There we go. Two, verse 12 says, "To the angel of the church "in Pergamum, right." Now, again, to the angel, what theologians agree with is to the messenger of the church. So to the pastors, the leader of the church, it says, "To the angel of the church in Pergamum, right, "these are the words of him who has the sharp, "double-edged sword. "I know where you live, where Satan has his throne. "Yet you remain true to my name. "You did not renounce your faith in me,

"not even in the days of Antipas, "my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city, "where Satan lives. "Nevertheless, I have a few things against you, Pergamum. "There are some of you who hold to the teaching of Balaam." That's a false doctrine, false ideology. "Who taught black to entice the Israelites to sin "so that they aid food, sacrifice to idols, "and committed sexual immorality. "Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching "of the nickelatins." Remember they were mentioned in the first church in Ephesus as well? Another false doctrine, false belief. "Repent, therefore, otherwise, I will soon come to you "and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. "Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says "to the churches, to the one who is victorious, "to the one who overcomes. "I will give some of the hidden manna. "I will also give that person a white stone "with a new name written on it, "known only to the one who receives it." Okay, so we're stopping there in this letter to the church in Pergamum. As we've been doing every week, if we could define the church in Pergamum with one word, The church in Pergamum was a confused church. Was a confused church. Might even say a conforming church.

Some people in this church were following the teachings of Balaam, a false teaching. Some were following the teachings of the Nickelatons, which we also know would mix a lot of stuff that was not God, was not Godly, was not God's word. And within this church, it seems like they kind of accepted this whatever works for you type of theology. They easily compromised the true faith and they were tolerating all kinds of beliefs and practices or mixing them into what they believed. And Jesus is saying to them, "Hey guys, Pergamum, you have wandered from the foundation "and the truth of my word and you lost your way. "You're confused." In essence, Jesus tells this church, "I love that you have not renounced my name. "I love that you carry the name Christian "and Christ's follower. "It's not that you've abandoned me completely. "It's that you're adding to the faith things "which are not even close to the faith that I've given you. "You're embracing false doctrines "and you're tolerating all kinds of immorality "and I'm not okay with that." Now, notice what Jesus says first to the confused church. He says, "These are the words." That's what he says, "These are the words of him "who has the sharp double edged sword." Again, he's talking to a church who is listening to words from this person over here,

words from this other teaching over here, words and ideas from this other source over here. And Jesus reminds them, "Hey, hey, hey, hey. "These are the words. "These are the words that you need. "These are trustworthy and these are true. "Has anybody else ever heard that reference "of double edged sword, the Bible? "Where? "Hebrews 412, look up on the screens. "Hebrews 412. "For the word of God is alive and active, "sharper than any what? "Double edged sword. "It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, "joints and marrow. "It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." So Jesus is saying, "Guys, you've wandered away "from my word, you've lost your way. "You're all mixed up in false theologies "and false ideologies. "These are the words that are trustworthy. "My word, that knows the intentions of your heart "and judges your thoughts. "No other words will lead you and guide you like my word." Jesus always points to himself. We also see this in the book of John, John 1, verse one, where it says, speaking of Jesus, in the beginning was the word, capital W, and the word was with God, referring to Jesus.

And the word was God, he was with God in the beginning. Through him, all things were made. Without him, nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Jesus is telling the church, "A pergamum, "you gotta get back to my word." This world is covered in all kinds of darkness and chaos and confusion, and my word is light. My word is life in the midst of the darkness. God is against those practices and ideologies of the Bala mites and the Nicoleum sins. He doesn't want his church to fall into those traps. It is my word that brings light to this dark world, Jesus says. And then, in verse 13 of Revelation two, Jesus also says, "I know where you live, "where Satan has his throne." In other words, Satan has some influence over where you live. And there is no doubt, everybody, that this letter could have been written to the church in sunrise, vertical. Have you ever walked around South Florida, and there's no denying that South Florida has beautiful creation of God, right? But have you ever walked, and speaking of the spiritual tone, have you ever walked around South Florida and realized there's a heavy atmosphere? There's a lot of sin in South Florida. There's a lot of immorality and brokenness,

and there's a lot of darkness in South Florida. And one thing that we cannot doubt, God loves South Florida. Thank you for six and a half amends. God loves South Florida. Now, we can't ignore this. Satan has his eye on South Florida too, but not to bless it or see it thrive. Satan has done it to bind it, to distract it, to confuse it, and to tarnish it. The moment we wander from the truth of God's word, we lose our way. Now, there's gonna be nice sounding words. There's gonna be a lot of good looking ways and options. There will be ideologies in today's culture that sound right, maybe even seem attractive, but the moment you start to compare that ideology with God's word, you realize, oh, this doesn't match. The moment you compare those words, or those ideas with the standard of God's word, it's like, oh, these don't line up. Ideas that sound really nice, because they're so inclusive. Ideologies that sound so humanistic, because they're so tolerant of however people wanna live and identify. who have and spread it to those who don't have so everyone can be equal regardless of work ethic or responsibility or accountability. Tom familiar? Those ideologies, those ideas, even on how to do government or how to run a country. By the way, it wouldn't be a bad idea to look at countries who have opted for that and

seeing how that worked out and how millions flee from those places and those ideologies as well. Societies that have experienced moral decay after embracing these agendas, these anti-God sexually moral and gender ideologies, all these things. I almost feel like it's kind of like a wake up USA time, you might be next. The devil is going around like a roaring lion seeking who to devour and the crazy thing is that a lot of these ideologies and ideas and teachings are seeping and creeping into the church and people who call themselves Christians are falling into these ideologies and these practices tolerating ungodly immoral things as if they were okay. Ask me why, ask me why because they've wandered away from God's word. The only hope we have to see a shift back around in the right direction is if the Christian church would stand on the word of God as our foundation, is if Christians would come back and remain on and focus on and live for his word, not mixing a little word and a little bit of that. We're not making a drink at the bar, not mixing a little bit of this and a little bit of that, not a little bit of word and a little bit of world. We cannot tolerate things that are ungodly and say it's okay. We can't be tolerant or indifferent or even confused about beliefs and practices and ideologies that clearly flow in contradiction with not only God's word but God's design and creation. That's not truth, it's lie, lies bind us. We cannot compromise our faith, we cannot be wishy, washy, Mickey Mouse Christians. We can't be Christians with one foot in the world and one foot with the world. One foot with the word, one foot in the world, one foot with God and one foot with whatever I want to do, do the makarena. You can't do that, doesn't work. I don't know about you, but I want to see spiritual revival in this generation. I want to see a spiritual awakening and our families and our young people and our older people. It will only come through the powerful, infallible word of the living God by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God who is actively at work in the church and stands firm on the

Word of God. We have to overcome with truth. John 832 says, "Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." We have to lead with truth and conviction and boldness and courage. We cannot be ashamed of the gospel. We have to stand firm for the gospel even if some people don't like the gospel. Here's a good line. We must embrace God's Word and be careful not to neglect the Word or add to the Word. The Word does not need our help. This happens in today's world. We have God's Word, but then we have her words and that guy's words and these neglects and these people have an idea and the government and social media and the influencers' words. People end up adding to the Word, we have to embrace the Word as it is. Here's another line. We have to learn to discern between fact and fiction and recognize the danger of following a lie. This generation and this culture needs to hear that. We have to learn how to discern between fact and fiction and recognize the danger of following a lie. I want to unpack in the rest of our time two lies we need to be aware of. Please, please pay attention. Two lies we need to be aware of. I think this is implied here in this letter that Jesus writes to the Church and Pergamum. Number one, we need to be aware of the popular lie. Everybody say the popular lie. The reason that the Roman government in this time was so tricky and the reason it was so dangerous to Christians is because the Roman government did not say to Christians you cannot worship your God. No, no, they said you can worship your God, but you also have to fall in line with what we ask you to do.

This is very dangerous and often that was you have to worship Caesar, our government. This was dangerous because basically they were saying it doesn't really matter to us Christians what you do on Sundays, go crazy on Sunday at your church. As long as on Monday you leave that to the side and you do what we say you do. So you can serve your God. Just make sure that you also do what we ask you to do, say what we tell you to say, promote what we tell you to promote, do what we tell you to do, where will we tell you to wear. And if you compromise and you're willing to water down, then you'll be okay. We'll have no issues with you, but if you refuse to play along with our rules, then there will be consequences. could determine whether they lived or not. They weren't just being canceled, like maybe today's culture here. They actually probably could be killed too. So the popular lie, okay, the popular lie is an all-inclusive lie. It says, "You can have Jesus as your truth, and I can have something else as my truth. You can have your Jesus as long as you tolerate and embrace my values and my belief system." Here's the line, here's the line. The popular lie says, "All truth is good truth." Question is that biblical or unbiblical? That is unbiblical. The popular lie is, "I have my truth, you have your truth, she has her truth, they have their truth, and all the truths are truth." Logically, that doesn't even make sense. That's the popular lie. Here's another line. The popular lie says, "All roads lead to heaven, as long as you're a good person." Is that biblical or unbiblical? That is unbiblical. The popular lie doesn't believe in absolute truth. We believe in absolute truth, the Word of God.

The popular lie proposes that you just have to be open-minded regarding everything. And if I have a truth, that's my truth. Respect my truth. And I'll respect your truth and your truth is your truth, but all truths ultimately are good truths and all roads lead to heaven. This is a big problem for those of us who call ourselves Christians because we have something called an absolute truth. This is a big problem for Christians who follow Jesus because we believe that there are not many ways. The answer is not, "Oh, Buddha, check, Muhammad, check, go ahead and have a versionary check, all the same, check yourself because you're a beautiful God." That's the world we live in. No, lives. John 14, 6, Jesus answered, "I am the way, the truth and the life." No one comes to the Father. No one gets to heaven except through me. Jesus says there's not many ways, there's one way, there's one way. So we have this world, this culture telling us there's many ways, there's many options, there's many truths. We have Jesus, we have His Word telling us, no, no, no, there's one way. In fact, Jesus goes as far as to say, Matthew 713, check this out, Matthew 713, Jesus says, you can enter God's kingdom only through, what? The narrow gate, the what? The narrow gate, guess how that gate is? It's narrow. Now check this out, the highway to hell is broad and its gate is wide for many who choose that way, how many choose that way? Many, but the gateway to life is narrow, very narrow and the road is difficult and only a few ever find it. So we're living in a world that's lying to us saying everything is good.

Get on the highway, all that, every exit gets to heaven, to lie and those ways end in destruction and death. That's the ideology that the world is selling us, everything is good, everything is right, all truths are truth, nothing is really bad. And by the way, who do you think you are to tell me how I should live? I'm not telling you how to live, I'm telling you what the Word of God says of how we should all live. You choose what you're going to do. You choose what gate you go through. All I know is that there's one that's called the narrow gate and it's not easy, it's not fun, it's not everybody's choice but I think that's the one. In the Word we have Jesus saying to us everything is not good, there's only one way that leads to heaven, there are many ways that lead to death and destruction. According to Jesus, most people actually choose the wide wrong gate. Why? Ask me why? It's because they don't know the truth so they fall for the lie. And sometimes the lie seems good and it seems right and a lot of people are going for it. They don't know God's Word, that's why you need to know God's Word so that you're not confused about what's truth and what is lie. In your follower of Jesus you cannot accept or believe this popular lie, this all-inclusive lie. When it comes to truth to salvation there's only one way, Jesus is the way. There's only one standard, it is God's Word. Oh but that sounds so narrow, yes Jesus said it, it's narrow. Precisely the truth is that God's Word is a standard. As Christians God's Word is our standard, but we live in a world that pushes against that standard. A standard draws lines, a standard delineates boundaries so that we understand where we are, we understand how to measure.

A standard is necessary for order, for clarity and for truth. Imagine for a minute watching a football game or a soccer game and there's no lines drawn on the field. Question, would that be easy or fun? How do you know when you're in, when you're out? How do you know if there's a goal? How do you know if you made a touch? You don't because there's no standard. There's no boundaries, there's no lines. And so as much as people might feel like, "Oh, well God's word just restricts me." No, no, no, it gives us boundaries which give us the freedom to understand where I'm in and where I'm out. It gives me clarity to understand what is considered in bounds and what is considered out of bounds. What is considered good, what is considered wrong? But you need a standard because if you don't have a standard, you invite chaos and confusion. Pergamum, the confused church. Why? Because they weren't clear on their standard. They were playing on a field with no lines. And then, often we push back on God's standard. But his standard is not there to feel oppressive, it's there to free us. When a standard is rightly applied, it doesn't feel like a dumb rule, it feels like a goal line. Like, "Oh, I understand what I need to do." Without standards and without the word of God, you end up with a generation that is getting more and more lost. You end up with a generation that is more and more confused. And when you push back on God's standard, you open the door to chaos and confusion. Jesus is saying to the church of Pergamum, "You have to get back to my standard. You have to get back to my word. I am your standard. I am right here. I am with you. I've even given you my Holy Spirit to convict you rightly. Your standard is not to look like everybody else's standard.

Your life should look different than the world. You should not mix in and just do everything that the world does. You should stand out." And in those times, the Romans were constantly trying to get Christians to conform, and so they were strategically trapping them. And they would say, "Hey, we don't care what you do on Sunday as long as you fall in line with us on Monday. We don't care if you profess Jesus as long as you also profess this other thing that we want you to profess, and they would create standards and rules that would apply to everybody under their boundaries, knowing that the true Jesus followers wouldn't tolerate it or go with it, and then there would be consequences." Now everybody here in under our boundaries has to bow down to this idol. Everybody here has to sacrifice to this other idol. Everybody here has to comply and do this thing. Everybody has to wear this pin. Everybody has to put this on social media. If you're with us, you've got to kneel during the national anthem. If you do this, you've got to do this. If you're not this, you've got to inject this. You've got to do this. If you're really, then you've got to do these things. Like a pressure from the outside, from the government, from the culture. You've got to worship Caesar. You've got to bow down, knowing that those who are true and dedicated followers of Jesus with his standard aren't going to do it. And that is the same spirit of Antichrist that is at work in our world today. It's the same spirit that caused Christians like the Apostle John, in this case, to be exiled against his will to the island of Patmos, almost like a prison. Why? Because he wasn't willing to bow down to Caesar.

He wasn't willing to just fall in line with everything the government of the world said. That same demonic spirit is leading that same targeted and intentional charge against followers of Jesus today. And thank the Lord. It may not be causing every Christian their life here on this side of the world. But it is a message of, if you don't comply with our agenda, you'll be canceled. If you don't tolerant with our ideas and our ideologies, then we're going to put a label on you. If you don't practice our standards, if you don't accept our crooked and destructive and depraved and immoral beliefs and views, then we're going to label you as extreme. We're going to label you as intolerant, crazy Christian. You're anti this or you're this phobic. To try to get us to just align a bit, we don't want to be called back. So what's our standard? What's our standard? Will people call us or what God's word says? Like are we Mickey Mouse Christianity or are we like solid word of God Christianity? Like this is what Jesus is talking about. I've had conversations with a few people in the last couple of years in different industries in the workforce saying pastor, I'm very concerned about my job. Tell me why are you concerned, pray for me pastor because I don't know how I'm going to be able to keep my job. Why? Because they're telling me that I'm going to have to do these things or they're telling me that I have to promote these things that go against my faith and my stand for Jesus and we prayed with a lot of people. I remember during 2020 and 2021 and 2022, we had people come to the church asking constantly, is there a document like a legal document from the church or from a Christian organization that we could use to communicate to our employers that we are not willing to do these things that they're saying that we have to do in order to keep working there because they go

against our faith or they go against our values or we don't want to put this in ourselves. Like, we don't want, we don't want. Is this just a taste of how they're preparing everybody? Just understand, like, oh, everybody take the mark. Yeah. These are the times we're living in. So we should not be surprised as we see more and more challenges and policies that go against our values and beliefs and convictions as Christians and then they're forced upon us. The Book of Revelation points to what's to come. The grip of the spirit of Antichrist, grabbing hold of things in this world until Jesus finally and once and for all defeats him and renders the enemy defeated as well. But until then, my question is, will we cower? Will we conform? Will we wash down and water down our Christianity and our values? Will we give into the confusion of a degenerate culture? Or will we choose to stand firm in faith on the word of God that is our standard? Jesus has never moved, he's never shaken, the word of God has never shaken, never adulterated, standing firm in the faith and the one who saves and transforms and sets us free? Will we be of those commended for standing for the kingdom and for the principles of kingdom culture, not worldly culture? It's like we see in Revelation 12, 11,

it says they triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, check it out. They did not love their life so much as to shrink from death. Do you hear that? In other words, they weren't afraid to die. They were clear on what their standard was. They were clear on who they believed in and I am praying that you and I would know God's word and believe it and receive it as our standard and not reject God's word and not reject God's standard. Look what the word says in Isaiah 5. Listen to this, listen to this. I think we have the verses on the screen. Isaiah 5, verse 20 and it says, Sound familiar to these days? Let's say that dark is light and the light is dark. That bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. Whoa to those, what's sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever? Whoa to those, what's sorrow for those who are heroes that drinking wine and boast about all the alcohol they can hold. They take bribes and let the wicked go free and they punish the innocent therefore, just as fire licks up stubble and dry grass shrivels in the flame so their roots will rot and their flowers wither or they have rejected. Check it out, here it is. They have rejected the law of the Lord of Heaven's armies. They have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

The Holy One of Israel. For the love of God, do not reject the law of the Lord and do not despise the word of the Holy One of Israel. Hold on to it, stand for it. Do not bow down to the world. Because if you stand firm and you overcome there are great promises, everybody say promises. I'm gonna just list a few, Revelation 2, 17. Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious, who overcomes, I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven, that's a reference to Jesus that will be given to us. Revelation 2, 26, to those, to the one who is victorious, who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations. Revelation 3, 5, the one who is victorious and overcomes will like them be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the Book of Life, but will acknowledge that name before my father and his angels. The promise is, Revelation 3, 21, to the one who is victorious and overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my father on his throne, whoever has ears, let them hear what the spirit says to the churches. All right, this leads us to the second lie. The second lie we need to be aware of is,

number two, the pleasure lie. The pleasure lie. Now, both the balamites and the nickelatins, which are mentioned in this letter, they liked pleasure, they liked to feel good. They were practicing a very wishy, washy, worldly, carnal Christianity. Kinda like, you know, we follow Jesus, but we do what we wanna do. Kinda like, go to church on Sunday and have sex with a girl I just met at work on Monday. Singing, I love you and I worship you God, but totally ignore the rest of the standard on Monday through Friday. That kind of, anything goes, no standard Christianity, which is a false Christianity. There was a lot of, there's a lot, when you study the balamites and the nickelatins, there was a lot of sexual immorality. Not to mention just secular morality in and of itself, promiscuity and sex out of marriage, just in general. So a lot of sexual immorality in this church, they were compromising God's standards and values. They were entertaining wrong relationships. They were tolerating wrong ideologies. They were desensitized because of the culture and society they were living in. By the way, did you know that it matters to God who you hang with? It matters to God who your friends or your close friends are? Ask me why. Ask me why.

Let me give you a line here, because our faith trajectory will be most affected by the relationships we keep. That's why it matters to God and it should matter to you and me. Now this church in Perkamon, they didn't have internet. They didn't have social media, which nowadays indoctrinates and influences people from the comfort of their own home. That's why we need to be careful with our kids and ourselves. Because now you don't need to go and follow them, they're coming to your hands. And that's why there's so many ideologies in filtrating homes and families and young people and everybody, because it's coming to you. In this time, the issue with this church is that they were actually hanging with the Nicolaitians, Nicolaitians, and they were hanging with the Bala Mites from actually interacting with them, being with them, hanging with them. It wasn't just the theology those people carried, it's that they were entertaining these wrong relationships with them. Can I tell you something? Listen to me closely. There will always be somebody in your life willing to tell you only what you want to hear. You're always going to have a friend or group of friends who will never confront you with this standard. There's always going to be some people in your life that you're never going to feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit from them, because the Holy Spirit is not in them. Jesus is talking to this church and telling them, "You need to come back to my word. You need to come back to my ways. Some of you are confused and you're lost because you're allowing the wrong voices to influence your life. We all need at least one person who is willing to speak the truth to us and set us straight with God's Word, even if and when it's not what we want to hear. By the way, never follow a friend's advice blindly, no matter who they are.

Never follow social media advice blindly. Don't even follow a pastor's advice blindly. Always go back to the standard. Always go back to the Word. Okay. Okay. That person said this. Well, what does the Bible say? Oh, okay. I just read this on social media. Oh, okay. They're saying this on the news. Oh, okay. They're saying this. Pastor said that. Okay. Well, what does God say? I mean, ultimately he is our standard. The Word is our standard. Oh, the government is saying that we got to do this or the news is saying this. Okay. Okay. What does God's Word say? Oh, these people are saying that this is what we should believe in. These people are saying that this is what we should believe in. And these are the true and rightful ones. And these are the true and rightful ones. Okay. But what does God's Word say? Not what do emotions say.

Not what makes people feel good about themselves. Does it line up with God's Word? More than ever. We need people in our life who will challenge us, encourage us in our walk with the Lord, pray with us and for us and speak truth to us in love. This world and today's culture keeps getting farther and farther from God, farther and farther from his Word and his standards. And it's full of all kinds of beliefs and ideologies and humanistic positions that do not align with God's Word, but they make people feel good. They promote crazy, unbiblical, ungodly, foolish things and expect us to bow down to it. Expect us to use that terminology. I mean, has anybody run into a terry in recently? Or a furry? Do you know what they are? Yeah. The people who say, oh, she thinks she's a cat. Oh, so I have to call her a cat now? Where's the cat? Where do I buy the cat food to bless her life? And how do you, how does a cat get a license to drive? It's ridiculous, but the world is trying to make it sound like, oh, this is, no, this is truth. This is normal. But the problem is if Christians just say, oh, well, let's just let them believe they're a fairy tale. Now their myths become our reality. Second Timothy four, verse three, look at this, look at this. Tell me if this does not describe this. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine, instead to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what

their itchy gears want to hear. It sounds like a lot of universities nowadays. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to hits. But the problem is they want us to enter their fantasy world. I'm sorry. I will not bow down to Caesar. I will not bow down to Caesar. (audience applauds) No, I am Christian. I have values. I'm not going to cower into a corner because somebody in this generation is offended by it. If not, let's talk to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They didn't bow down. Even to death. A lot of people thought they were crazy. May we not fall into this? May we never conform to this world? May we never follow the crowd just because it's popular or everybody's doing it or there's pleasure in it? May we follow Jesus always? May we hold to His standard? May we stand out different because we believe? Even if we get canceled by culture, even if they call us names, even if we get labeled intolerant but God knows the truth and we do too as well. There's love for everybody, but I'm not going to bow to other idols. There's love for everybody and Jesus wants everyone to be saved and I will share the gospel every but. I'm not going to enter the fantasy world and play these myths, not when I have the truth because myths and lies bind up the truth, sets free.

So if relationships are one of the biggest determining factors that will impact the trajectory of my faith, then I need to be intentional about my relationships and my friendships. Proverbs 27, 17 has iron sharpens, iron so one person sharpens another. Ecclesiastes 4, 12, though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A chord of three strands is not quickly broken. What Jesus is saying to the church of Pergamum is be careful not to connect with the wrong people and be careful not to lose connection with the right people. Be careful not to listen and follow the wrong voices. Be careful not to embrace somebody else's standard instead of God's. So the question is where and who are your right relationships? What group are you connected to right now? Get back to your Christian family, get under a spiritual covering. Who are your Christian mentors? People that may be are some steps ahead who model life that align with God's standard and also encourage you to walk the walk. Or if you've been walking with Jesus for a long time, who are you spiritually mentoring and guiding? You've got to get back to God's word, we've got to get back to the spiritual family, we've got to get back to spiritual leaders who practice what they preach, whose lives reflect true love and devotion and commitment to God's standards and his word. You've got to get back to people who encourage you and your walk with the Lord. And they speak the truth in love because we all need the Lord and we all need the right people in our lives. Why? Because we all have blind spots. What's the problem with my blind spot? I can't see it. But if I've given a few people a green light in my life to help me, they can help me see the blind spots on that scene. So I want you to hear this charge that Paul gives to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 6.

Look at this, 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 3. If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between people of corrupt mind. Jump to verse 11. But you, man of God, you, woman of God, flee from all of this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Make the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God who gives life to everything and of Christ Jesus who, while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about his own time. God, the blessed and only ruler, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light who no one has ever seen or can see. Jump to verse 20. Timothy, and to all of you, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and in so doing have departed from the faith. And so one of the words that Jesus says in Revelation 2 to the church in Pergamum is He says to them, "Repent, therefore, repent." Last line, we have to embrace the discipline of daily repentance. Because yes, you and I may be saved in Christ Jesus, but the Bible talks about this constant battle between the flesh and the spirit. This constant battle between the new me and the old me that wants to rise back up. This battle of where my mind and thoughts could lead me away from his ways, where his spirit wants the God to be back to his ways. And so often the spirit in me is willing,

but my flesh is weak. You can be saved and have the Holy Spirit of God in you, but still be prone to wander from time to time. Or am I the only one? Yeah. We're all prone to wander in our minds, in our hearts, even in our flesh. So I have to practice daily dependence on the Lord. I have to pray like the psalmist in Psalm 139. Search me, O God. Lord, search my life, my heart, search my relationships, my words, my thoughts and my actions. God, if you see something in me, if you see something that's wrong, if you identify something that doesn't align me, Holy Spirit, show me. Holy Spirit, change me. Holy Spirit, fill me. I have to repent. Metanoia, new way of thinking that leads in a new direction. I have to turn to God. I have to turn to his standard. We're all susceptible and vulnerable to be led astray by our own desires by the culture around us. Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear, what the Spirit says to the churches. It says that we're going to get, if we are victorious and overcome, we're going to get some of the hidden man, which is a reference to, we're going to get some of Jesus. We're going to get a stone with the name out of it. Only the ones who get it will know what it means. And I, gosh, I have this feeling that when you're in Christ, there's a name that we get. And our name is written in the Book of Life. God cares about you. He has promises for you. He has a desire that you would know Him. He's a relational God. Everyone, Romans, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And I believe that with all my heart. So I want to pray two prayers to close out this message. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for the opportunity to be challenged and encouraged by your word. I pray that we would reject lies of the enemy that bind and that we would accept the truth of your word that sets free. Lord, forgive us for falling into the lie, the pleasure lie, whenever we've entertained pleasure or even wrong thoughts and ideas because it might feel good or better. We also, I also ask that you would forgive us for biting into the popular lie, maybe believing that many truths are true or believing that all roads lead to heaven. Understanding today that it's clear there's only one way. And so Lord, I pray that in the midst of any confusion or chaos in our lives, you would come in and your word would be our standard bringing the light that we need so we can see. Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. I pray that we would be sensitive and sensible to seek you and to trust you and to love your word and to read your word and to apply its principles in our lives. Help us Lord, help us not conform to the ways of this world, help us not bow to the idols that this world offers. No matter what the consequences,

maybe we will remain faithful and firm standing on your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.