Dear Smyrna | The Suffering Church // THE 7 CHURCHES OF REVELATION

MUSIC Happy Sunday Church. It's good to be home. Come on, tell the person next to you, you look better than last week. You look better than last week. I'm happy you're here everybody. If you're new at Vertical Church, my name is Virg. I get to pastor this beautiful, wonderful congregation and we are happy you're here. As I ask every Sunday, any Christians brought your Bibles to church. Come on, Christians that have, are armed and dangerous. Very good. You can open up with me to the book of Revelation chapter 1 and if you're like me, I love to be able to actually go in the Bible as we're going through the message and through the service. You can put a marker in James 1 for a little bit later and also John 16 for a little bit later. Main text will be in Revelation. We'll also be in a few other Bible verses which will be on the screens. We are in a series currently entitled Dear Church, The Seven Churches of Revelation and what we're doing is we're studying during these seven weeks in the book of Revelation, specifically chapters 2 and 3, these seven letters written to seven churches, each dictated by Jesus personally and each of these letters contains something very practical, very powerful and very personal from Jesus that he wants to communicate to the church. We are his church today and so we pay attention today to this prophetic book. Now before continuing, I need to show you a video of how I feel today as I bring this challenging message to you. So in this video, all I can say is I'm the doctor. So take a look at the video. I feel like there's something I have to deliver to you as a pastor but it might be hard to receive. Are you following me? The title of today's message is Dear Smyrna, The Suffering Church. Dear Smyrna, The Suffering Church. Let's pray. Lord, we open up our hearts to you today and we ask that you would speak to us through your word. We need you and we want you and we ask that you would minister to us that we would be able to understand the message that you wrote, Lord, to the church in Smyrna in one point in history but is also here for us at this point in history. So we open up our ears, our minds and our hearts to receive your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. We're gonna be studying today the letter to

the church in Smyrna known as The Suffering Church and they were specifically The Suffering Church because they held tightly to their first love and never let go. This is ironic because as we learned last week there are some churches that abandoned their first love and and Jesus challenged them in that. Now last week we started off with a few verses and I want to go to a promise in Revelation chapter 1 verse 3. Revelation chapter 1 verse 3 and Revelation chapter 1 verse 3 says, blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it because the time is near. And we see in this promise in the book of Revelation that There are three parts to this blessing. Those who read it will be blessed. Those who listen to it and hear it will be blessed. And then those who obey it, who take it to heart, will be blessed. And I'll be focusing today on those who take it to heart and obey this message, specifically that God spoke to the church in Smyrna. The Apostle John, anybody remember where he was when he writes this letter? He was on an island. Let's read where it says that. Revelation 1 verse 9. Revelation 1 verse 9. I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Why was the Apostle John on the island of Patmos? Well, he was exiled there as a punishment because of what? Because of the Word of God and because of the testimony of Jesus. So he was experiencing suffering because of these two things. He would rightly say because I did not give up on the Word of God and because I did not deny the testimony of Jesus, I'm now suffering in exile here on the island of Patmos.

Now, let's see what Jesus says to this church in Smyrna through the pen of the Apostle John in the vision that God gives him. Here's what Jesus says. Revelation chapter 2. We're going to read verses 8 to 11. This is to the church in Smyrna. Verse 8. To the angel of the church in Smyrna, and to the angel means to the messenger and most theologians agree that this would be to the pastor, to the leader of the church in Smyrna, write, these are the words of him who is the first and the last who died and came to life again. I know your afflictions, another version says your sufferings and your poverty, yet you are rich. I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you the devil will put some of you in prison to test you and you will suffer persecution for 10 days but be faithful, he says, even to the point of death and I will give you life as your victor's crown. Whoever has ears let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death. Okay. This is pretty strong, this pretty heavy letter and Jesus begins in verse 8, Revelation 2.8, he says to the angel of the church in Smyrna, write, these are the words of him who is first and last, and then he says, who died and came to life again, referring specifically to himself, Jesus

and Jesus says, hey, I know your afflictions, I know your sufferings, and he says, let me just remind you who I am, I'm the one who died, but I'm the one who rose again. Does anybody follow me? I died but I didn't stay dead. So let me give you a good line here for today. When you suffer, don't forget the resurrection. When you suffer, don't forget the resurrection. There is life after pain and to Smyrna he says, I know about your suffering, it's a statement of empathy and understanding, I know what you've been going through and I want to encourage you to stay strong and he says, don't be afraid in the midst of your suffering, I know it's hard but don't forget that I am with you, don't forget that I am for you. In their suffering, Jesus is lovingly saying to this church, I know what you're going through, I've been there, I see you, I'm with you, stay strong. And then he says something interesting that sounds a bit like a contradiction in verse 9, the first part, Revelation 2 verse 9, it says, I know your afflictions and your poverty, yet you are rich. He says, I know your afflictions and that you're poor and yet you are rich. Now it seems like a contradiction but he's talking in fact about an external poverty or material poverty but an internal wealth that is beyond comparison. This reminds me a little bit about a few experiences I've had specifically. I remember one of my, I think it was one of my early missions trips in life, I did a few mission trips in my teenage years and then this might have been my early 20s that we had a mission trip to Dominican Republic. And I remember we were serving a very, very, very, very poor village and community in the places that we went.

And I remember just meeting these pastors in these very impoverished villages and these families and these people and just, we took medical missions, obviously evangelistic missions. And I remember, I remember we went to serve a pastor and his congregation, his community, very, very poor, very poor area. And I remember that when I met the pastor, I introduced myself to a few of them, and I met this one pastor who shook my hand, an older, a veteran pastor who had some mileage and years in ministry. And he shook my hand and then he looked at my hand and he said, oh, you must be rich. To which I didn't understand as a 20-year-old who lives in the US, and I think rich, I think people with yachts on the intercoastal in Miami Beach or Fort Lauderdale Beach, right? Like I'm not, me, that's not. And he said, oh, you must be rich. And I said, no, no, no, no, I'm not rich. And he said, oh, no, no. He says, it's just that you have no calluses on your hand, which means you don't work with your hands. And here that means you're rich because all of us have to work with our hands unless you're rich. Is anybody following me? To which I understood a truth there. It was like a truth bomb for a young adult understanding the reality of what this man is telling me. What he's saying is, hey, you've had a pretty easy life compared to some of us maybe. He wasn't doing it in a wrong way. He was just being honest. And I remember in that moment thinking he's right. He's right because I wouldn't categorize myself as the rich and famous, but man, I am rich beyond compare, compared to a high percentage of this world's population. And I think all of us who live here are. And so it was always so humbling for me to see brothers and sisters in these conditions

worshiping Jesus with so much passion, pastoring and tempering people with so much passion. Like here, an air conditioning breaks and like everybody's complaining and we're frustrated, right? And over there, there's no roof. And maybe there's a fan in the corner blowing in the direction. And seeing people passionately loving Jesus under such extremely impoverished conditions. This church in Smyrna, they're experiencing suffering and yet they're passionate about Jesus. Of the seven churches who received the letter from Jesus in Revelation, only two of them received no correction from Jesus. This is one of the two. If you notice, there was no correction from Jesus in this letter. And he says to them, stand strong. Don't be afraid. Be faithful. And by the way, he says be faithful even unto death. I know you're suffering. In life, there's a lot of reasons for suffering. We might suffer, for example, because of our own sin. Our own bad choices and decisions. Has anybody ever suffered a little bit because of your own poor decisions? Yeah, been there, yeah. Sometimes we suffer in life because of others, other people's sins or their bad choices and they hurt us or offend us or afflict us. Sometimes they're suffering in our lives because of hard circumstances that we can't control. Some of you may have suffered situations of health conditions or maybe you've suffered situations having to do with relational breakdown in a situation that you wish you could help but relationally and emotionally has affected you or maybe even just a financial circumstance that is not completely in your hands and you can suffer through that. Sometimes we suffer because of the culture that we live in, implications of the society,

the culture, government, the conditions, the things that we can't control that might happen. Sometimes they're suffering because, and we can't ignore this, they're suffering sometimes because of attacks of the enemy. We have a real spiritual enemy named Satan and there is spiritual attack. There is spiritual oppression. There is temptations that are sometimes placed in our way to cause us pain, hurt, and suffering. Sometimes we may even suffer for doing the right things. And we can see this. By the way, praise God, by God's grace that we live today in a nation where we are still free to express who we believe in and what we believe in. Praise God. But did you know that that's not the case in every country in this world? And there are people who are suffering because they love Jesus. They're suffering because they believe in the Bible, the Word of God. There are places where it's illegal to have a Bible. Let me give you a line here. Smyrna was suffering because they were not compromising and they were holding tightly to their first love. They would not do what everybody else was doing. They didn't fall in the culture trap. They weren't focused on what's everybody else doing, they were focused on what does Jesus call us to do and how has he called us to live. Smyrna was an influential port city in modern day Turkey as far as the actual city of Smyrna. Every resident, check it out, every resident in those times was required to worship Rome, worship Caesar and declare every year that Caesar was Lord. This was a... requirement of the inhabitants of Smyrna. What were they supposed to do every year? They were to burn incense and make a sacrifice to Caesar and declare out loud, Caesar is my Lord. Now, that's a problem for us as Christians. Can anybody say amen?

Because we only have one Lord and His name is Jesus, not Caesar, not the government. And so the church at Smyrna was facing persecution because they would not burn incense, make a sacrifice and declare that Caesar was Lord. Now, if you did do those things as the government of the time wanted you to do, then you could buy and sell and live freely. And if you did not do it, then you were risking your life. That's the persecuted church. Isn't it crazy how little by little you see things that kind of make you think, oh my goodness, this is kind of, seems like it's getting close. Like the government's forcing you to do something and if you don't, then you won't. And if you will, then you will. If you do this, if you don't, if you get vaccinated, if you don't. Sounds kind of crazy. Yeah. Interesting. Now, interesting, something I learned while studying about this church, Smyrna. Smyrna is the Greek word for the Hebrew word, myrrh. Myrrh. Anybody sound familiar? Myrrh? Maybe you've heard of myrrh before in the birth of Jesus when the wise men came from a distant land and they brought him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Myrrh was often used as an embalming oil for dead bodies, which makes it an interesting gift for a child, maybe foretelling that Jesus was born with a mission to someday die for us. So this city is named after an embalming oil. Myrrh comes from a thorny plant and when that plant is grinded into powder and eventually made into liquid, it carries a particular aroma strong enough to cover the stench of death. And this city was named Smyrna, in essence, myrrh. And it seems like, let me give you a line here, the more they loved Jesus,

the Lord, the more they were crushed, the more they were crushed, the more fragrant their aroma for Jesus became. And maybe this was not a coincidence because the more they loved Jesus, the more they were crushed, and the more they were crushed, the more beautiful the aroma rose to the Lord. Throughout the Bible, it paints a very clear picture for us, an honest picture about what it means to suffer for Jesus. There's no hiding that. By the way, in case anybody's having second thoughts, if you choose to follow Jesus, according to the Bible, there will be suffering. There will be persecution. The question is, do we have God's perspective on suffering? I wonder if sometimes we, as Christians, forget this. I wonder if we are truly willing to face suffering for Christ. The leaders of the early church experienced suffering for Jesus. Many of them wrote to us in order to prepare us for the same. Let me give you a few examples. James chapter 1, verse 2. James chapter 1, verse 2. It says, check this out. Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds. Pause. Does that sound right to you? Does it sound right? Consider it pure joy. Pure joy! Whenever you face trials of many kinds. Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything. Not one amen. This is one of those verses that's hard to amen.

And I'm with you. I didn't amen it either. Actually, it sounds like the Lord is telling us something here. Here's the line. The road to spiritual maturity begins with trials and hardship. The recommendation from Jesus in the Word is don't be afraid. Be faithful. Don't be fearful. Be faithful. I'm your joy in the midst of your trials. And here's an important truth about suffering. Here's a line. Suffering challenges my comfort but it shapes my character. Isn't that true? Isn't that true? Our hope, check it out, is in Jesus and that is only enabled by the Holy Spirit in us. Now, I know we don't want to amen it. I know we don't want the injection as the baby, right? But suffering is part of the process. If we are to live godly lives, if we are to become spiritually mature like Christ, it's part of the process. How are you doing with this concept in your life? Are you able to see suffering as a path that leads you to spiritual maturity and perseverance and even a closer walk with Jesus? Or is our faith so shallow that when suffering comes, we actually disconnect from Jesus and wonder where is he, I don't know if I believe anymore. Jesus prepared his followers for his own suffering on the cross and for their suffering in his absence. Look what he said in John 16 verse 19, this is Jesus, John 16, 19, Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this so he said to them, are you asking one another what I meant when I said in a little while you will see me no more and then after a little while you will see me? Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve but your grief will turn to joy. A woman, check it out, giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come. But when her baby is born, she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is

born into the world. So with you, now is your time. So with you, now is your time of grief but I will see you again and you will rejoice and no one will take away that joy. Referring, this is a reference that Jesus is making to his crucifixion, of course, but also to his resurrection. Because what? Jesus is saying suffering is coming, crucifixion, but hey, hey, hey, resurrection is also coming which means life. What a great promise to those who are suffering. Yes, there is crucifixion but even greater yes, there is resurrection. Yes, there is death but there will be life after death for those who are in Christ Jesus and that causes us to rejoice. Nobody can take away that joy. And so here's a good line. Jesus calls us to lift up our heads, lift up our heads in the midst of our suffering. In order to look up and look ahead, Jesus says, I know that suffering is difficult, I suffered for you as well. And the Bible says that when he was suffering on the cross, he lifted up, Jesus lifted up his eyes for the joy set before him so that he can endure the cross knowing what was to come, knowing that resurrection came after crucifixion. So I challenge you today, look up in the midst of any troubles, look ahead in times of difficulty. Isn't it interesting how when a woman is giving birth to all the mothers in the house, isn't it interesting that pain that you have when you're giving birth? Any women remember that pain? Any women? Yeah, yeah. Now isn't it interesting how as soon as you see that baby and hold the baby afterwards, it's almost like, it's almost like, okay, the joy of the baby is so much greater than the pain of the birthing process.

Is this our perspective on suffering or is there some spiritual maturity that needs to still happen in us to get here? John 16, verse 33, that same chapter, John 16, verse 33, Jesus says, I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth, guys, here on earth, you will have many trials, troubles, and sorrows, but take heart, be encouraged because I have overcome the world. Jesus, Jesus is so honest and the word is so honest. By the way, if anybody's ever painted a picture, become a Christian and your life will be beautiful and you won't have any other pain and problems in your life, then that person does not read the Bible or listen to Jesus' teachings. We should not be surprised. Jesus himself told us that we will experience trouble in this life. Now listen to this, Paul writes while he's in prison, Philippians chapter one, while Paul is in prison, Philippians chapter one, verse 29, look what Paul says, for you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ, anybody have that privilege of trusting in Christ? Check this other privilege, but also the privilege of suffering for him, amen, question mark? Also the privilege of suffering for him. We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past and you know that I am still in the midst of it. Wow, what a concept. I've never thought of putting those two words together, suffering privilege. It's a privilege to suffer for Jesus. And Jesus writes to the church in Smyrna, don't be afraid, suffering is coming, be faithful even to death. There is an interesting story in Acts chapters 4 and 5 about Peter and John getting some perspective on suffering. In fact, I hope that I can learn from them, because I don't know if I can do today what they did then. And the story in Acts chapter 4 and 5, it says that Peter and John, they healed this

man who was a crippled man, who was out, they healed him, he had been crippled. Everybody knew the crippled man, because everybody knew that's the crippled man, who's always there, crippled guy. They healed him by the power of the Lord, Jesus' name. He gets up, he begins rejoicing, everybody's talking about the crippled man, who had been crippled forever, and all of a sudden is around, jumping, dancing, and running. And so, the religious leaders bring in Peter and John, and they ask them, in what name did you guys do this? They had a choice to make there, do we tell the truth? And they said, in the name of Jesus Christ, by the way, whom you guys crucified, in his name. And by the way, that God raised from the dead, on the third day, in that name, Jesus. And the religious leaders gave them strict orders, under punishment of death, and said, you are to no longer talk about this person, Jesus. Stop talking, stop preaching. If you do, there will be consequences, penalty of death. And I don't know if you realize that, there really is no other name, that people get riled up about. Even in this country, and countries where there's, we have freedoms, right? Talk about Muhammad, talk about Buddha, nobody will bat an eye. Talk about Confucius, talk about any religious leader, or icon from any religion, but talk about Jesus. Hey, you can't talk about that here. There's something, now you know which name has power. There's something in the name of Jesus. And so, what, so, I love their answer. When Peter and John hear this, from the religious leaders, they said, well, well religious leaders, the Lord Jesus has called us to share this message with everybody. You say no, not to preach in the name of Jesus, yet he and God say to us, yes, what do you expect us to do?

Should we do what man says, or should we do what God says? So the religious leaders threatened them, and threw them out, and where did Peter and John go? Straight to the temple, to talk about Jesus, and preach about Jesus. They understood that there were consequences, and they were ready to remain faithful, despite the consequences, and so, when they started preaching again, they were immediately arrested by the religious leaders, and brought to the Sanhedrin, to the council, who said, we told you guys not to talk about Jesus, or preach in his name anymore. They were so furious that they wanted to condemn them to death right then and there. But a well-respected Pharisee, named Gamaliel, stood up, respected by all them in the Sanhedrin, and he said, gentlemen of the Sanhedrin council, I recommend you let these guys go, because if their purpose is of human origin, it will fail. But if it's from God, you will not be able to stop them, and you may find yourselves fighting against God. Words of wisdom, I think, there. And let's read on from that point, Acts chapter 5, verse 40, Acts chapter 5, verse 40. Gamaliel's speech persuaded them, so they said, okay, we're not going to kill him. They called the apostles in, and had them flogged. So we're not going to kill him, we're going to flog him, we're going to beat him, torture him, right? So they had him flogged. They ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go. They let him go. 41. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, pause, what just happened to them? Which they got flogged, which means what? They got beat, they got whipped, they got hurt badly. The apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name, capital N. How do you get to that point?

How do you get to that point? Would you and I respond that way under those circumstances today? Because we were found worthy of suffering for Jesus? That's a whole nother level. That's a whole nother level. Verse 42, Acts 5, 42. Day after day in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. What an example. End. How do we get that perspective on suffering? I don't know about you, but this is a challenging word for me. Look what Jesus said in Matthew 10, verse 22, a few portions of the Bible. This is Jesus, he says, you will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. Now I don't know, if I ask you honestly today, has anybody ever hated you because you love and follow Jesus? A lot of you might say, no, that's never happened to me. Some of you, it might. Talked to my parents who got divorce papers from some of our family years ago saying, please don't talk about Jesus to anyone in our family gatherings ever again. Wanting to separate. I mean, for some of us, it's happened. I wonder if we're willing to say,

all right, but we're not gonna stop preaching about Jesus. Timothy wrote in 2 Timothy 3, verse 12, yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life, does anybody wanna live a godly life? Anybody, anybody? In Christ Jesus, we'll suffer persecution. Woo, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I don't know what this means exactly or how, but I know that some people are living it today in the Middle East and in Asia and different parts of the world where it's illegal to follow Jesus. Apparently, living a godly life in Christ Jesus apparently comes along with suffering and persecution. Paul said it this way in 2 Corinthians 4, 16. It says, therefore, we do not lose heart, though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs the troubles and the sufferings here. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. We lift our heads, we look ahead, we focus on Jesus because he is with us. And we need to understand this because every day, every day the world is crazier and crazier and seems to be more against Jesus,

more against the word of God, more against godly principles, and therefore more against us. 1 Peter 5, 10, 1 Peter 5, 10 says, and the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. Now it's understandable, I think you and I are in the same boat. If we have a choice, I'd rather not suffer much. If I have a choice, however, I need to understand what the word is teaching. And we also need to understand that even if we do suffer, it's only temporary because the ultimate victory, the ultimate crown of life, the victor's crown, is for those who are in Christ. Here's a good line, suffering doesn't destroy the church nor individuals, it actually makes them stronger. It actually makes them stronger. Did you know this? Did you know that they are experiencing right now, and I know this because of sources with direct contact, one of the greatest revivals of people coming to Jesus and faith in the Middle East right now? I was sitting down with a couple, a missionary couple that we support. They live in Malaga, Spain, Colombian couple.

They're actually Colombian, they live in Malaga, and right now their main mission is these intentional trips to the Middle East to go and equip pastors of house churches because everything has to be underground. Everything has to be hidden because it's illegal. Even the way that they communicate with each other on WhatsApp and they communicate with each other in emails has to be in code. They can't talk directly about Jesus or use biblical references. They have to speak around it and discover how do we do that to get there and then impart and teach them how to teach the word, how to do church in homes. Interestingly enough, a lot of them are women leading the way. Hearing them say, like, this is what we're doing. And by the way, when you give here to Vertical, we are giving to initiatives like that that are helping train people that are on the ground in places where there is literal suffering and literal persecution for following Jesus. Same thing with another missionary, his name is Rion. Who does a lot of missions to the Middle East, to Africa and parts of Europe. And he was sitting with me saying, he was saying, Pastor Verge, it's really real, the persecution, suffering, but the victories and God's move of the Holy Spirit is real

and what's happening. And so it's crazy that you would think that that would cause the gospel to shut down, but it's in those places where it's growing the most. And here we have the freedom and often a culture that is so disconnected from the word and so uninterested. Each day, the world we're in seems to be more and more against Jesus. more and more against the word of God, more and more against biblical principles. This reminds me of a famous story, you may have heard it at some point, a famous story about the underground church in the Soviet Union during the height of communist persecution. A small group of believers were secretly gathering in a barn to pray and to worship Jesus and as they were secretly gathering in that barn, suddenly the doors were broken open by three soldiers with automatic rifles who raised them up and shouted out, if you are willing to recant your faith and leave right now, go, but if you choose to stay because you believe in Jesus, you will face a firing squad. Fear gripped the room, slowly a few people hung their heads and slipped out the back door, then a few more and then a few more. Once the room settled down, the commander of those soldiers locked the door,

closed it, lowered his rifle, turned around to the remaining believers, smiled and said, we are secret Christians too, but we couldn't risk worshiping with people who weren't willing to die for Jesus. Now that the real church is here, let's pray. And stories like that make me wonder, if I were in that same position, what would I have done? Would I have stayed firm in my belief and faith in Jesus or would I have found some valid justification for slipping out? Church, Jesus writes to the believers in Smyrna, he doesn't offer them an escape route, he doesn't say, hey, keep your head down and I'll remove the trial, he says, be faithful unto death. I see your suffering, I see the pain that's coming, hold on, but in the end, I will give you the victor's crown, the crown of life, the crown of life. Ultimately, if you study the church in Smyrna, ultimately there were three main reasons they were suffering. One, they wouldn't align with the government because they wouldn't worship Rome or Caesar. Two, they wouldn't align with culture because they wouldn't worship other gods nor celebrate ungodly lifestyles nor practice the practices of those who didn't follow Jesus. And three, they wouldn't align with ungodly Jews who profess to be God followers but rejected the testimony of Jesus

as the way, the truth, and the life. So I wonder what it would be like if Jesus came to us as a church and said, vertical church, I know your deeds and I see you standing firm, loving Jesus, preaching Jesus, loving people, you're resisting the anti-God proposals of the government, you are resisting the immoral, ungodly ways of culture and I'm using you to make a major impact on the culture where you're living right now and I want you to continue doing so, standing firm, but let me just let you know, vertical church, it's gonna get ugly, there's gonna be a price to pay, there's gonna be some suffering that you're gonna face and I wonder to myself, would we, as vertical church, would we, as followers of Jesus, be able to understand this and accept this? Because the truth is that today's world and culture is farther and farther away from God and His word and His ways every day. I believe the level of practice of our faith has to meet the level of the opposition and competition of our faith. And Satan, by the way, is not just aiming and coming for us, he is clearly aiming and coming for our children and our grandchildren and that is why we need to teach our children God's word. We need to teach the next generation God's word and that we are different from the world, we're not supposed to look like the world,

we're not supposed to look like the culture, we're supposed to stand out, we're supposed to live different we are in the world but we are not of the world, we don't walk the same way, we don't talk the same way, we don't practice the same things, we don't look the same way because our goal is not to look like the culture, our goal is to look like Jesus. Our identity should not be something confusing or complicated, man or woman, it's not that difficult but we live in a culture and a society that's making us doubt the most basic elementary details of creation and humanity by God because of the anti-God spirit. Our identity should be established solidly in Christ, he gives it to us, it's clear in his word. So we need to train our kids and prepare them because the moment we send them off, the question is will their faith last? Are they rooted? Because it will be be very, very evident in a matter of weeks, if it is or it isn't. We need to train our kids to be passionately and firmly standing for Jesus. The more time goes by, the more pressure we're gonna face. Jesus says, don't be afraid. I'll close with this. In Revelation 2.10, we read it. He says, do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer.

I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for 10 days. But be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor's crown, or the crown of life. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death. We will have a crown of life. Don't be afraid. Jesus, when Jesus says, don't be afraid of suffering, he's not saying, don't feel anything. No, no, no, he's just saying, trust me no matter what you face, because remember, I'm the one who was, I'm the one who is. I'm the one who will be. I am the first, I am the last. I was dead, but I'm alive again. We can count on God's faithfulness till the end, even if that includes suffering. Even if it includes suffering, as many of the disciples experience, as Jesus experienced, as many Christians throughout history have experienced. Be faithful to the death, and I will give you the crown of life, Jesus says. So I'll leave you with this line. It is important to understand that Jesus Christ is our greatest treasure. Without Jesus, we have nothing.

With Jesus, we have everything. Even if the whole world is against us, he is wholeheartedly for us. His passion for us is unending. His favor on us has no limits. His suffering for us brought us freedom from sin, and the promise of the crown of eternal life, the victor's crown. With him, without sin, without suffering, full of grace and full of his presence, that is our greatest treasure, and that is what we have to look for. Yes, there is crucifixion, but even greater yes, there is resurrection. So if we go through suffering, we go through suffering. Jesus knows what that's like. But it's not without reason. We have a God that is with us in the midst of suffering. Amen? Let's pray. Lord, thank you for the opportunity to get into your word and receive a message that might be challenging, but is true. We receive it with serenity, we receive it with humbleness, humility, but also with a heart willing to say, Jesus, we will stand for you no matter what may come against us. We do thank you that we live in a country where we are free to choose to believe what we believe in

and celebrate and worship, although it seems like even those rights and privileges will one day be affected. There are many places in the world where there is no freedom. There is persecution and suffering for those who follow Jesus. And so I pray that we would understand that suffering for your name may be a part of the journey, will be a part of the journey. Help us to be firm, to not be afraid, and to trust and believe in Jesus Christ, the one who was, who is, and is to come. We bless you, we honor you, and we long to stand firm, even to death, in our faith in you. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.