Dear Thyatira: The Tolerant Church // THE 7 CHURCHES OF REVELATION

music music music music music music If you're new here, maybe we haven't met, my name is Virg. I'm the pastor here at Vertical Church. Welcome to Vertical Church, a very special church. Voted the last three years best looking church in the western hemisphere. I didn't know if you knew that, but it's not true, but I believe it. It's good to be a church. Tell somebody close by, say we're going to learn something together today. We're going to learn something together. We are in our series, Dear Church, The Seven Churches of Revelation. I just want to ask anybody, any Christians who have their Bibles at church, any Christians who love God's word, come on, let me see it. All right, let's go together to Revelation chapter 2. We will have the verses and the points up on the screens as well. And I encourage you to take some notes. I believe the Bible says somewhere that those who take notes in church will go to heaven in first class. That's 2 Virgilio 2 verse 3. Thank you very much. You can also put a little marker in Galatians 1 and James 4 at the end of the message. But Revelation 2, that's the heart of it. We are in the fourth week of this seven week study in the book of Revelation, where we're studying the seven letters written to the seven churches by Jesus, penned by... Anybody remember who penned them? The apostle John wrote them while he was... Anybody remember where he was? On the island of Patmos. He was exiled at the time. And each of these letters contains something very practical, something very powerful,

and something very personal from Jesus. Because Revelation is a prophetic book, not only are these letters specified to a specific church in that time, but it's also for us today. That's the power of God's word. It reaches us where we're at. Now, Jesus writes these seven letters because he wants his church to be ready for his return. And I don't know if you knew this, but Jesus will return for his church. This is part of what we learn in a book like the book of Revelation. The first week we learned from the church of Ephesus, the distracted church. The second week we learned from the church at Smyrna, a suffering church. The third week we learned from the church at Pergamum, the confused church. By the way, next week, in the next weeks for the series, we're going to learn from the dying church, from a persevering church, and also from a lukewarm church. Just a heads up today, for parents specifically, it's always good for any kids elementary age and younger to be in vertical kids classes. Our teachers prepare things for them, age appropriate. Just mentioning that because today's letter, the word of God, and Jesus addresses topics such as sex, sexual immorality, as well as demonic oppression and spiritual darkness. So I want to make sure that it's appropriate for the kids to be in their vertical kids classes. The title today is Dear Thyatira, the Tolerant Church. Dear Thyatira, the Tolerant Church. And let's take a moment to pray. Lord, we open up our hearts, we open up our minds, and we open up our ears. We are ready and receptive to receive from you the good seed from your word. I pray for fertile soil in each of our hearts to be receptive and be able to hear what you want us to hear, to understand what you want us to understand, and to be able to apply the principles of your word in our lives so they may give fruit. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. So of the seven letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation, this is actually the longest letter that Jesus writes to a church,

even though it's probably one of the smaller cities. Apparently Jesus has the most to say to the church in Thyatira. So we're going to read Revelation chapter 2 from verse 18 all the way through the letter in verse 29. And it says, To the angel of the church in Thyatira write, and to the angel we remember that's to the messenger or to the pastor, to the leader there. These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your deeds, your love, your faith, and your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. Nevertheless, I have this against you. You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads My servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer in temptation. unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead, then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets, I will not impose any other burden on you except to hold on to what you have until I come. To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations. That one will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery, just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give that one the morning star. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches." Okay, so this is a pretty stern, pretty harsh words in this letter. Now again, I want to mention here and highlight that before correction or warning, Jesus actually affirms some things that are going well and that they're doing right. He says in

verse 19, I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance. He's affirming that. Also notice that he's speaking to what seems to be a growing church because he says, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. Apparently they have been gaining traction. Apparently they're doing more ministry now than what they were doing before. And he's commending the church for their perseverance and for their growth and for impacting the city in positive ways. But then he says in verse 20, nevertheless I have this against you and here it is, you tolerate, let's just stop right there, if as we're doing with every church, if we could define the church in Thyatira with one word, here it is, here's the line, the church in Thyatira was a tolerant church. The church in Thyatira was a tolerant church. This is the one thing that Jesus has against this church and by the way, in today's culture, this might actually sound a little confusing because today's culture in society mistakenly views being tolerant as a positive quality. While according to Jesus and the Word, it's not. Because there are two different ideas or views, even though they might think it's the same thing. Now the actual definition of to tolerate is to endure without repugnance, in other words, to endure without aversion to, objection to, or distaste for, to put up with, in other words. And I'm pretty sure that most of us here in life want more than just for people to put up with us. Can I get an amen? We actually want to be loved. I think that's that's part of God's design for us. Now today's culture believes that to tolerate means something that it doesn't really mean. Today's culture believes that to tolerate means to affirm and accept without question and to give equal value to any ideals, beliefs, values, expressions, behaviors, ideologies, etc. Because we think that tolerance is an outward expression of love. But that's not the case. Today's culture and world mistakenly believes, if you're going to love me, you have to tolerate me and you have to affirm me and accept me without question, whatever I do and however I choose to live. If you're going to love me, the world says or society says, you have to tolerate all of what I do and all of what I believe and how I live. And if you don't, you must not love me. The truth is, going

back to God's design, is we all want to be loved. We were created in his image and likeness. We were created by God and for God. That's why there is dignity in every human life and there is worth in every human life and there's value in every human life. But we want to be more than just tolerated. We want to be more than just put up with or endured. So there's a difference between tolerance and love. And I believe, if you love me, you're seeking my good. If I love you or when I love you, I'm seeking your good. This is what we see in the Bible. What do we see in the Bible? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, Jesus. He did it because he loved us. He did it for our good, so that whoever believes in him would not have to perish or die, but have eternal everlasting life. So when I love you, I'm seeking your good. When you love me, you're seeking my good. Now compare that to tolerance. It's different. When I demand tolerance of you, I am demanding that you view me and everything I do as good, no matter what it is. When you demand tolerance of me, you're demanding that you control the way that I should view you and you're saying, I expect you to view me and everything that I do as good, no matter what it is. Propose you today that is actually manipulative that's the opposite of Others before self it's actually self-serving controlling and Manipulative and the issue for followers of Jesus is that we know that nobody is really good We know mark 10 verse 18. No one is good except God alone Who's good God? What about everybody else? Not good Romans 3 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God pause who has fallen short of the glory of God all All means all todos and So if you're looking for someone to tolerate you and tell you how good you are and that everything you do is good You're looking for someone to lie to you and affirm you in your sin and your dysfunction The

Message of Jesus is so countercultural So countercultural that it almost doesn't make sense to today's generation in today's society Because what the world mistakenly thinks today you talk to some people they're like, oh, this is amazing This is the most tolerant culture of all times is actually the most intolerant culture of all times particularly when it comes to tolerating Jesus Christ and his word and Those of us who believe in it and stand for it There's not much tolerance for us. I Believe that in today's world to be honest with you Jesus would have likely been crucified and killed much quicker than how it happened back then Nowhere in Scripture is tolerance held up as a virtue or a fruit of the Spirit Which is why we have to be anchored in the values of God's Word Not in the broken systems and values and ideologies of this world So let's talk about the city of Thyatira for a second if you study if you do a little bit of study about of the City of Thyatira in this times city of Thyatira was known for its trade guilds and labor unions It was known for its production of purple and indigo dye color of royalty. It was also known for producing bronze But but specifically was very much known for these trade guilds these labor unions They got a lot of attention because they were significant unions Why because to be successful in the city of Thyatira you had to be part of these unions now These unions were not godly. There was a lot of sexual immorality in these unions They were micro pseudo cultic Antichrist type unions. They would hold all kinds of ceremonies religious sacrifices to idols To patron gods, they would honor the Emperor as if the Emperor was God they would also boast in Thyatira that they were the city of God because they had a big idol and statue of Apollos who was the son of the Greek God in mythology. And so This is all kind of interesting when you consider how Jesus opens up the letter because Jesus says These are the words of the Son of God Oh, you think you're a special city because you have Apollo a big big idol there Well, well, these words are the words of the true God By the way, Jesus says whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze

He's reminding them who is truly God Jesus is saying nobody can challenge me and Thyatira. Don't forget who I am Jesus says I know your deeds he affirms a few things but then he says I'm writing to you because of these things and and Jesus identifies a lot of Assimilation a lot of compromise a lot of adopting of practices that don't honor the Lord That's why Jesus says in verse 20. Nevertheless. I have this against you. Check it out. You tolerate that woman Jezebel tolerance Who calls herself a prophet by her teaching? She misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols Jesus saying you're tolerating things that you should not be tolerating You're playing fire You're enduring without objection or repugnance those things which dishonor me You're allowing Jezebel To do to do or think you're allowing these teachings Jesus is very much against teachings that come into the church that go against his word in his ways. I Think this is a strong warning from Jesus saying to all of us. Here's a good line. Don't get comfortable with sin Because that's what tolerating is Do not tolerate what you should not tolerate you should be resisting some of these things not Participating along so you can blend in with everybody else. No, you've lost your distaste for sin for what for a paycheck and Instead of standing out you've chosen to blend in at what cost Thyatira church at what cost vertical church You ought to have the Holy Spirit in you giving you a natural distaste for those things that are not to be tolerated because they go against God's word and they dishonor him. Now this describes, I believe, today's world as well, which today's world promotes sexual immorality like it's a party. Today's world promotes occult practices like, oh it's so cool to do these occult things. It reminds me a little bit of what Paul wrote to the Galatian church. Let me read you a few verses in Galatians chapter 1 verse 6. Look what Paul writes to this church. He says, I am astonished, I'm surprised that you are so quickly deserting the one who

called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to some different gospel, some different teaching, which by the way is no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preach to you, let them under God, just let them be cursed under God. And Paul is referring to the same Jezebel spirit that's at work in the church in Thyatira, and these are harsh words, but they come from a place of concern and protection for the church so that those who are in Christ would not be led astray. So let's talk for a second about Jezebel. How many of you have heard it in the Bible, Jezebel before? Yeah, yeah, Jezebel. So let me say this, there are some specific Jezebels which I'll talk about in a second, but I believe in essence, theologians agree as well, that Jezebel really is a spirit that is in function, that is at work, the Jezebel spirit. It's kind of like when you call somebody like, oh he's a Judas. His name might not be Judas, but he's operating kind of as a traitor. Does that make sense? And so the Jezebel spirit is actually an evil spirit of manipulation that influences a lot of seducing, a lot of control, uses a lot of sexual immorality as well. Historically, we do know of a Jezebel mentioned in the Old Testament. If you read a little bit in the book of 1 Kings in the Old Testament from chapters 16 to 22 about, you'll see that she was a queen who was married to King Ahab. They were horrible. She had political power, spiritual influence, and financial means. Jezebel at that time made it illegal to worship the one true God. She led an entire, the entire nation of Israel into the worship of idols, and she was responsible for the death of many of God's people. She also introduced a new religion in those times, which was worship to Baal, or worship to Baal the idol, or worship to Moloch. These are these are heathen idols and gods that, lowercase g, that called to a religion where there was sexual perversion, where there was sexual immorality, there was child sacrifice. Look up Baal, look up Moloch. And by the way, with all of the sexual promiscuity and all of the unwanted pregnancies, they would just say, that's okay because Baal

and Moloch actually want your children, and they would throw their children in the fire and just sacrifice them. By the way, introducing the first recorded mass abortions in the Bible. You could see that under Jezebel's reign. This is dark. This is idolatrous, and this is demonic. We recognize that there was a Jezebel spirit at work throughout Scripture, but that same Jezebel spirit is at work in our world today. Now in Thyatira, they had these trade guilds, these labor unions that had all kinds of sexual immorality, and orgies, and all kinds of that stuff. Worship of idols, all kinds of sinful activity. Now this was a problem for the Lord. And by the way, the world, culture, the world today, it complicates sex, and it blurs the lines of sex, and how God created sex, and what He created it to be. It tries to add things that God did not have in mind, and that's why it's so important to go back to Jesus. Jesus had a very simple sexual ethic. Let me read it to you in Matthew chapter 19, verse 4. Here's Jesus' simple sex ethic. You probably heard this in a wedding recently, if you've been to a wedding, and it says in Matthew 19, verse 4, haven't you read, Jesus replied, that at the beginning the Creator made them, here it is, here it is, dun-dun-dun-dun, He made them male and female. There's no dot-dot-dot. There's no more, there's no male and female, and. It's male and female. And said, for this reason a man will leave his father and mother, and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate. So Jesus goes back to Genesis to affirm God's intent and design that sex is Created by God to be within the context of marriage between one biological man and one biological woman. Gotta be clear about that nowadays. And by the way, some people don't know how to define what a woman is. My kindergarten, when I was in kindergarten, I could tell you what a woman was. But that's the world we live in.

We're adult, educated people. You ask, what is a woman? They're like, well, I'm not qualified to answer that question. A woman, I don't know. Really? Think about what our world has come to. Jesus goes back to this. God's intended design for human flourishing is sex within marriage. We don't have to feel awkward when we talk about sex because God invented sex, and he invented it for the very good reasons for procreation of the human race, and he invented it for as a gift of pleasure to be enjoyed by a husband and a wife in the context of marriage. The Bible is also clear that any sexual activity or interaction with anyone who is not your husband or interaction with anyone who is not your spouse is sin. There is sexually correct, right, moral. There is sexually immoral, out of line, out of God's design. It's just the way it is. So this was a tension for the Christians in Thyatira because they thought, wait a second, if we don't practice these things that we all practice in our trade guilds and in the labor unions, then we're gonna get kicked out of the high society.

People aren't gonna think of us as special or successful. They might even, I might get fired. I might not keep my job. And Jezebel, a spirit who entered the church and introduced these new teachings, mixing things. It's not pure when it's mixed. These Jezebel teachings come in saying, hey, hey, I have good news, Christians. You can have both. You can be a believer and have faith in Jesus and be sexually immoral. You can be a Christian and have faith in Jesus and commit adultery. You can have faith in Jesus and fornicate. You can have faith in Jesus and you can do anything you want. You can do both. And this lie, this mix, these ideologies come in and they're tolerated. They're tolerated. You can be Christian and commit adultery. It's fine. God doesn't care. You can be a Christian and engage in homosexuality. You can be a Christian and fornicate. And Jesus says, I hold this thing against you. They were tolerating these practices. This is a problem. Now, here's a challenging question and I don't want you to answer.

I don't want you to raise your hand. I just want you to listen to it and think about it. Are you a tolerant Christian? This is the question of our culture and generation today. This is like the hot topic, fire question, but it comes with a jab. It comes with a damned if you do or damned if you don't. The question is, is Christianity a tolerant faith? Are Christians tolerant people? And if you pause and you think about it, it's kind of a, it's a setup question in today's world. And you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. It's a setup question. And by the way, for those of us who call ourselves Christians and actually believe the Bible and the principles that it stands for, this question puts us in a tough spot. Why? Because in our culture today, the world values tolerance above everything. And if you don't, listen, listen, if you don't have an open mind and a tolerant view, which means you agree with, affirm, and support, and embrace everyone and everything they do, then you're an intolerant bigot. You're prejudiced, you're discriminatory. What's wrong with you? What are you, from the Jurassic age? This is today's world. This is what the world thinks about Christians

who hold to the simple sexual ethics of Jesus. This is what we believe. Tolerant used to mean, I disagree with you, but I'll treat you with respect. There's a big difference. Okay, so let me clarify here. There's a big difference between acceptance and approval. Acceptance and approval. Acceptance means to show love and respect to everyone, even if you disagree with them, because you recognize they're made and created in God's image, Imago Dei. Now, approval, you must unconditionally affirm and approve everything I do, and how I live, and everything I believe. So let me give you this, I think this could be helpful. You think about Jesus. Jesus accepts everybody, but Jesus doesn't approve of everything everyone does. If you think about it, if you think about it, this is what we want of our church. We want to be a place where we accept. You're welcome. You can belong before you believe because there's respect and love no matter what. But that doesn't mean we approve with how you're living. Which, by the way, this is God's grace for all of us because I don't know anybody here who got here who you had it all together when you got here. Are you with me? This is good news because none of us got here good. None of us got here with our issues, right? You got your issues. You got your issues. I got my issues. We all got our issues. And if you don't think you got an issue, that's one of your issues. So check it out. That's the good news is we came with our issues. Jesus accepts us,

but that doesn't mean he approves us. But what happens is when we start getting to know Jesus, his word is a light unto my path. And when the light comes out, I realize, ooh, he doesn't want me to do this. His word wants me to do this. He wants me to do this and not do that. And I begin to align. So my life begins to align with him. And now my behaviors are not only accepted by but approved by. Are you following me? And that's a beautiful thing. That's a beautiful thing. So check it out. Check it out. Key distinction of Christianity. Key distinction of Christianity. We are called to be accepting without necessarily approving. And we are called to have compassion but without compromise. So we can show compassion to people, but we don't have to compromise our beliefs, our principles, or what we stand for just to tolerate somebody else. Are you following me? Jesus loves everyone, but Jesus does not approve of everything everyone does. The problem with the world, the world tolerates anything. And the world is against holiness. That's why we should live different and we should look different from the world. How do I get this into my kids and to the younger generation? Like, don't look like everybody else. You want to know the right way? The Jesus way? Look different than the culture. Don't just blend in. Stand out. By the way, God, our creator, the creator of sex, reserves the right to set the standard for sex. Not the world and not us. So Jesus rebukes the church and Thyatira for tolerating sin, sexual immorality, and ungodly practices, ideas, and views. I want to shift gears for this last part, and I want to address this issue which is brought up in this letter, and I want to have a couple questions that actually come up in church, a couple questions that come up in the church, even from Christians. And I want to bring some clarity

because I think sometimes we don't learn about it enough or talk about it enough. Here's one question. Can Christians be influenced by demonic spirits? So, depending on what Christian you speak to, there might be a different answer. Because sometimes there's different denominations, there's different interpretations, or there's different doctrines and beliefs. Let me just talk this out with you. This issue has been argued within the church for a long time. To me, it's shocking that it's argued because I think it's pretty obvious. But, if there's one thing we can agree if we read the Word, is we understand that Satan schemes, right? He schemes and strategizes. The Bible also says that he comes to steal, kill, destroy, like a roaring lion seeking who to devour. So, he doesn't have good intentions. Agreed? So the question is, who is he scheming against? Well, we've got to consider that. For example, does Satan need to attack non-Christians? I'm not sure. They're already on his side. They're already not in the light. They're already not saved. Does he need to attack those who are already with him? And then, should it be or could it be that Satan attacks Christians because we're no longer on his side? We went from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Could that be a clear indication that who the enemy attacks is those who work and come against his strategies and kingdom? Sometimes, to be fair, sometimes we think, I think some Christians think, well, if I admit that I'm being attacked by the enemy, then it must mean that I'm doing something wrong. And I don't want to admit that I'm doing something wrong. Okay. Think about this for a second. Did Satan attack Jesus? Did Jesus do anything wrong?

In fact, I would go further and I would say if you are feeling or getting attacked spiritually by the enemy, it could be that you're doing something right. It could be that you are worthy of trying to be stopped from his perspective. Anybody following me? All right, all right, so can a Christian be influenced by a demonic spirit? Okay, so let me give you this example. All right, if a Christian and a non-Christian, so one Christian and one non-Christian both consume a whole lot of alcohol and get drunk, would we think that the Christian is not gonna be under the influence of alcohol because he's a Christian? Let's go a step further. Let's say we have a Christian and a non-Christian. They've consumed a lot of alcohol. They're completely drunk, both. Would we say, well, the Christian can get in a car and drive home because he's Christian and his car's Christian and he's not gonna get into an accident? Would we say that? We would be foolish to say that or believe that because we know whether he or she is Christian or calls himself Christian or isn't or isn't. That's besides the point. They are under the influence. Okay, if a Christian and a non-Christian both decide to say, hey, start watching some pornography,

would we conclude that, well, the Christian is not in any way going to be affected because he goes to Vertical on Sunday, third service, 11 a.m.? Would we think that? No, no, no, we would venture to say Christian or non-Christian, doors are being opened. And just like under the influence of alcohol can lead a person to do things and say things that are out of character that they might regret later, the same thing, opening doors to any kind of sexual immorality could lead a person to behaviors and attitudes that are out of their character and to do things that they might regret later. So I think the answer's pretty obvious. Satan is not omnipresent, so he does a lot of his work through demons, through evil spirits. We see the reality about demons all throughout the Bible. Old Testament, New Testament, Gospels. By the way, Jesus empowered his disciples to rebuke and cast out demons. Question, why would Jesus empower his disciples to rebuke and cast out demons if there were no demons? Or if they didn't need to be rebuked and cast out? Why would that be something commended to us who are his disciples? People argue all the time in the church. Does the church need discipleship or does the church need deliverance? To which I always say, why either or?

It's not either or, it's both and. The church needs both discipleship and deliverance. Ask me why, ask me why. I read this line from Dr. Jack Hayford and it's perfect. Because you cannot cast out the flesh and you cannot disciple a demon. That's why the Christian church needs both. You cannot cast out the flesh, but you cannot disciple a demon. And so I want you to say, if there are demons, right? Because there's some Christians who don't believe that they're not or believe that you don't cast them out, so then what do you do? You cast them out, so you leave them in? Interesting questions, interesting considerations. I think we need both. I think when people have spiritual affliction, oppression, or influence, freedom needs to happen. But I also think discipleship needs to happen when we begin to put into practice disciplines and practices of walking with Jesus daily and spiritually growing and maturing. So another question is, what are some signs that I might have some spiritual attack coming? What are some signs? And for this, I wanna use the illustration of the example of the story of the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 19. We don't have time to read it,

but we've had a series on this in the past. If anybody remembers, Out of the Cave, a few years ago, Out of the Cave. And if you study Elijah, so the prophet Elijah, he has this amazing victory over 800 prophets of Baal. Same Jezebel had these prophets of Baal, 800 of them against one, Elijah. Elijah calls on God, God blows down fire on the altar for Elijah. All of 800 prophets of Baal call out to their gods, nobody does nothing. Elijah defeats 800 prophets of Baal, they're all killed. And then a few days later, Elijah gets a message from Jezebel saying, by this day, tomorrow, if I have not killed you, and just starts to threaten him, and he just starts running and hiding in a cave. And in that story, in 1 Kings 19, if you just start reading verse by verse, you kinda see just telltale signs that you might be getting attacked. Let me give you an example. Here's one, fear. When there is fear in your life that paralyzes you, I'm not saying like, oh my gosh, I'm scared of cockroaches, I must have a demon, no, no. I'm saying sometimes there's a fear that. that overtakes you, that is beyond what's, it paralyzes you. And all I'm saying is be careful because it could be spiritual attack.

Another one that you see as you read the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19 is depression. He falls into this depression. He falls into this funk in his emotions. And he falls into this depression. And sometimes in life, when you're overwhelmed with an extreme heavy sadness that limits your function, I'm not saying, oh, but it could be that there's some spiritual affliction there. And we can't be ignorant to that. Another one is fatigue. And I'm not talking about you're tired because you had to get up at 6 a.m. and you had to work all the way to 11 p.m. and it was a full day. Okay, you're gonna be tired. I'm talking about a fatigue that disables you. Could be spiritual attack. Another one is sickness. Now, please do not say, Pastor Virg said, if I'm sick, that could be a demon. I'm not saying that every time I get sick, but I'm saying that sometimes when there are strange sicknesses, when there are sicknesses that come out of nowhere or linger for long times, there could be some spiritual attack there. So we need to be aware. We need to know how to address this, which we'll talk about in a second.

Immorality. When we tolerate immorality, sometimes we know that's wrong, but we do it. Sometimes we know this does not align with God, but we put down our guard and we allow immorality. That's why we need to have people in our lives that we can have accountability with. We need to have people in our lives. I need to have some brothers in my life that when I need help, when I'm struggling, I need to say, I think I'm getting attacked right now. Pray for me, help me. With my wife, I need to tell her, hey, I think I'm being attacked right now. I have no desire, but I feel like I'm attacked. I need you to pray for me. Also, insecurity and anxiety. These could be doors and signs of, man, there could be some spiritual attack. I want this to lead us to the last question, which is, what do I do? What do I do if I'm under attack spiritually? What do I do? I want to lead you to the one singular verse that I think has a very, very important answer, and it's memorizable and it's easy to take with you. James 4, verse seven. James 4, verse seven. What does it say? It says, submit yourselves then to God,

resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Did you hear that? It says, listen, listen, listen. It says, he will flee from you, which tells me something. If the enemy is not fleeing from me, I'm either not submitting to God or I'm not resisting the devil. And by the way, do not attempt to resist the devil without first submitting to God. So how do you resist? Well, you submit first. How do you submit? Actually, it's the verse right before, James 4, verse six. But he gives us more grace. Everybody say more grace. More grace. That is why scripture says God opposes the proud, check it out, but shows favor to who? To the humble. You have to humble yourself. The only way to true repentance is humbling yourself. And when you humble yourself, that's when you can submit to God, that's when you can submit to God's word, that's when you can submit to God's people, and you have to be willing to receive and hear God's word and be willing to receive messages from God's people that even sometimes you may not wanna hear and receive grace. Even though many people don't see God's grace

in the letters of Revelation, let me show you. Even in today's letter, there's grace there. Watch this, Revelation 221, we read it. It says, I have given her time to repent of her immorality. That's grace, he gave her time, but she's unwilling, that's her issue. It says in 22, so I will cast her on a bed of suffering and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless, grace, they repent of her ways. That's the grace, there's time to repent. That's the grace. You and I have time to repent. We can come to Jesus. Now check this out, I'll finish with this. In Mark 5, there's a story, you may have heard of it, of this demon-possessed man who was really, really possessed and afflicted. He was naked and he lived in the cemetery. Think about that. Naked man living in the cemetery, possessed. Nobody could deal with this guy. Nobody could deal with this guy. It says that Jesus came, and if you read in Mark 5, it says that when Jesus asked him his name, anybody remember what he said his name was? Legion, which studies show that Legion was a reference of more than 6,000. In other words, it's likely that this man had more than 6,000 demons and spirits. Can you imagine that?

The reason I know nobody here has more than that is because you all have your clothes on. But check this out. In Mark 5, verse six, it says, when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran. and worshiped him okay pause for a second if there was anybody that we would say the devil's got such a hold on him that he can never come to Jesus it would have been this guy like if there was anybody it was legion there's no way that that man could come to Jesus and it says that when he saw Jesus from afar he ran and worshipped Jesus if Satan can't stop that guy from coming to Jesus there is nobody he can stop from coming to Jesus amen by the way in the original scriptures when it says worshiped him it's the word proscone Oh which literally means to bow and kiss the feet of that's what this man did you you cannot bow and kiss the feet of somebody unless you have humility to do so so the lesson the heart is we need to repent we need to submit to God that requires humility because when we humble ourselves we can submit to God we can come to God then we can resist the enemy another tip another tip if you're feeling any kind of spiritual attack close any doors that are open what does that mean if you've opened the door to anything occult or any enemy stuff any spiritual stuff you got to close that door if you've been watching things that are just demonic or satanic or all that just shut that down close that door if you've been listening to think you got to shut that door if you've been hanging with people that push you to sin and to live in darkness you got to cut that off you got to close those doors because the longer you keep that door open the longer that attack might be there if you submit to God and you resist the devil he will flee and I encourage you confront the enemy using the armor of God Ephesians chapter 6 read up Ephesians chapter 6 from 10 to 20 the armor of God he's right there for us I hope that this message helps us awaken to the reality we can't be a tolerant church we got to keep our eyes focused on the Lord and we got to we got to submit to God we got to resist the

enemy and he will flee amen let's pray two prayers to close off Lord thank you for your word that teaches us and challenges us to keep our eyes on you Lord I pray that you would forgive us forgive us for ways in which we have been tolerant as Christians forgive us for ways that we have been tolerant as your church we do want to be loving we do want to have acceptance and open arms for people who are created at your likeness and image but Lord we understand that that doesn't mean that we are going to approve of every behavior and lifestyle just because people want to be tolerated we will stand for truth and we'll declare that the truth will set us free help us align with your word and your ways I pray Lord that we would feel confidence that you are with us that you would remind us that greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world we do not need to be afraid we do not need to shrink back or hide because you are with us and so Lord help us and teach us to submit to you daily surrendering to you humbling ourselves before you teach us Lord to resist the devil effectively and spiritually as your word teaches us and we believe that he will flee help us to close the doors that have been opened and thank you because you promised to save to restore to deliver to renew us we give you all the glory in Jesus name we pray amen amen amen