Truth in a Compromising World [LIVE] - 08/23/2026

- Happy Sunday, Grace Way! So good to see you all. God is the rock of our salvation. He's strong, steady, and secure. We come to God for safety, forgiveness, and strength. Christ is the rock on which we are built, and nothing will prevail against Him or God's people. And so come let us worship the God who is our foundation. Come let us worship the God who builds us into one. Today, God, we remember that you are the source of our salvation, our strength, and faith. We depend on you for all things, including the blessing of this day. As we sing, pray, and hear your gospel. Renew our minds, steady our courage, and help us to testify to who you are. With hope in our hearts, amen, amen. Grace Way, it's so good to see you all. Rather you're viewing online, are you in person for the word first time? Welcome to Grace Way. It's time to worship King Jesus. ♪ Who thought I'd find you at the lowest place? ♪ ♪ Who thought you'd fill me in the ground? ♪ ♪ Who knew you'd make good mind mistakes? ♪ ♪ I think like I thought you were you better? ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ I've seen you move, what a God, what a God ♪ ♪ I thought you'd show for perfection ♪

♪ 'Cause what kind of God was for the lost? ♪ ♪ And they say it's over for a sinner ♪ ♪ Oh, but you say ♪ ♪ No, it's not, no, it's not ♪ Come on, Grace Way. ♪ You say ♪ ♪ No, it's not, no, it's not ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ I've seen you move, what a God, what a God ♪ ♪ It's who you are, what a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ You're good, Jesus ♪ ♪ Why did you come to worship Jesus this morning? ♪ ♪ He's wonderful ♪ ♪ All of his ways ♪ ♪ If the highest place I reach is any of us ♪ ♪ Then I've done it all with the best thing that I've seen ♪ ♪ Your glory, then I've seen it all ♪ ♪ Your love has changed my life ♪ ♪ For whatever status by God ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ If the highest place I reach is any of us ♪ ♪ Then I've done it all with the best thing that I've seen ♪ ♪ Your glory, then I've seen it all ♪ ♪ Your love has changed my life ♪ ♪ For whatever status by God ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ If one word is the only ♪

♪ Is the only thing you're speaking ♪ ♪ Then I've heard it all ♪ ♪ If I feel your heart and never see your head ♪ ♪ I still have it all ♪ ♪ There's no treasure of his life ♪ ♪ But the light of the light is mine ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ Oh God ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ Come on, yeah ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What kind of God ♪ This is the guy who was sitting his only son. ♪ What a God, what a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ Come on, great play, 'cause if the highest play starts ♪ ♪ If it's my story, Jesus ♪ ♪ Then I've turned it on ♪ ♪ It's the best thing that I've seen ♪ ♪ Is the old glory ♪ ♪ We want your glory ♪ ♪ No matter what your dreams are ♪ ♪ Forever, so all my everything ♪ ♪ If one word is me ♪ ♪ I want your glory, I need your skin ♪ ♪ Then I've heard it all ♪ ♪ If I feel your heart and never see your head ♪

♪ I've turned it on ♪ ♪ No treasure ♪ ♪ It's clever, sad as life is sad ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ 'Cause if the highest play starts ♪ ♪ It's the old glory ♪ ♪ Then I've turned it on ♪ ♪ If the best thing that I've seen ♪ ♪ Is the old glory ♪ ♪ If I feel your heart and never see your head ♪ ♪ Forever, so all my everything ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ If one word is me ♪ ♪ I need your glory ♪ ♪ I need your glory, I need your skin ♪ ♪ Then I've heard it all ♪ ♪ If I feel your heart and never see your head ♪ ♪ I've turned it on ♪ ♪ No treasure ♪ ♪ I've never started life ♪ ♪ So I'm my everything ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ I have a great way to guard you ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ We make room for you, Jesus ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪

♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ We make room for you, Jesus ♪ ♪ 930, I want you to lift your hands ♪ ♪ And I want this is a sign of surrender ♪ ♪ And this is why I'm saying ♪ ♪ Let's lift our hands this morning ♪ ♪ And I want you to say ♪ ♪ God, I lay aside ♪ ♪ Everything that I've been carrying this week ♪ ♪ I surrender it to you ♪ ♪ God, you are my everything ♪ ♪ Anything, anything is possible with you ♪ ♪ I surrender all to you ♪ ♪ Because you're my everything, you're our everything ♪ ♪ Oh, God, you are my everything ♪ ♪ Come on, Grace, wait ♪ ♪ You are my everything ♪ ♪ Oh, God, you are my everything ♪ ♪ Oh, God, we surrender everything ♪ ♪ God, because you're everything ♪ ♪ We lay down at your feet ♪ ♪ Things that we cannot handle ♪ ♪ Things that our mind can't even comprehend ♪ ♪ How we're gonna fix it ♪ ♪ How we're gonna do it ♪ ♪ But God, you are more than able ♪ ♪ To do exceedingly, abundantly ♪ ♪ A far above, far more than we can ever ask or think ♪ ♪ You're more than able ♪ ♪ You Jesus ♪

♪ In your heart ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ When did I start to forget ♪ ♪ All of the creeping children ♪ ♪ And when did I throw away ♪ ♪ Faithful, the impossible ♪ ♪ How did I start to believe ♪ ♪ That you weren't sufficient for me ♪ ♪ And why do I talk myself out of seeing miracles ♪ ♪ 'Cause you are more than able ♪ ♪ You are, you are, you are, you are more than able ♪ ♪ You are, you are, you are, you are more than able ♪ ♪ I've seen 'em do it over and over and over, you are ♪ ♪ You are, you are, you are more than able ♪ ♪ Who am I to deny what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ 'Cause it's easy for you ♪ ♪ And now I see all that I have ♪ ♪ Oh, I've got my confidence back ♪ ♪ 'Cause I put my trust in the one who still does me ♪ ♪ You are, you are, you are, you are more than able ♪ ♪ You are more than able ♪ ♪ Do you believe that He's more than able ♪ ♪ You are, you are, you are more than able ♪ ♪ You're more than able ♪ ♪ He can do the impossible, he can do the impossible ♪ ♪ You are more than able ♪ ♪ Who am I, who am I to deny what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ Can you imagine ♪ ♪ With all of the faith in the room what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ What the Lord can do ♪

♪ It's gonna happen ♪ ♪ Just let the way make it through ♪ ♪ He's gonna move, that's a promise ♪ ♪ He's gonna move ♪ ♪ Can you imagine ♪ ♪ With all of the faith in the room what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ What the Lord can do ♪ ♪ It's gonna happen ♪ ♪ Just let the way make it through ♪ ♪ It's gonna move ♪ ♪ It's gonna move ♪ ♪ Can you imagine ♪ ♪ With all of the faith in the room ♪ ♪ What the Lord can do ♪ ♪ What the Lord can do ♪ ♪ It's gonna happen ♪ ♪ Just let the way make it through ♪ ♪ He's gonna move ♪ ♪ He's gonna move ♪ ♪ Anything is possible ♪ ♪ Which is a thing ♪ ♪ Anything is possible ♪ ♪ Which is a thing ♪ ♪ Anything is possible ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Or am I to deny what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ Anything, anything is what we love ♪ ♪ When she's a anything ♪ ♪ Anything is what we love ♪ ♪ Anything is what we love ♪

♪ All our lives, all our lives ♪ ♪ So tonight what the Lord can do ♪ ♪ Your turn, anything ♪ ♪ Anything is what we love ♪ ♪ Anything, anything is what we love ♪ ♪ I'm gonna sing it like you mean it ♪ ♪ Anything is what we love ♪ ♪ When the Lord, when she's a night ♪ ♪ When the Lord can do ♪ ♪ When the Lord, when she's a night ♪ ♪ When the Lord can do ♪ ♪ When the Lord can do ♪ ♪ It's easy for him ♪ ♪ You are more than able ♪ ♪ Whatever you're believing God for today ♪ ♪ He's more than able ♪ ♪ You are more than able ♪ ♪ I want you to actually believe it ♪ ♪ And sing it out ♪ ♪ And sing it out ♪ ♪ You are more than able ♪ ♪ It doesn't belong to us ♪ ♪ But it belongs to Jesus ♪ ♪ You are more than able ♪ ♪ Who am I to deny ♪ ♪ What the Lord can do ♪ Welcome to Grace Way. My name is John Stevens. And I'm so glad you're joining us today. Whether this is your first time with us, or you've been watching for a while,

we're really glad you're here. You are a valued part of the Grace Way family, and it's a privilege to work with you. with you. Throughout the Bible, we see Him using ordinary people with imperfect pasts, doing incredible things. Your past doesn't define your future. In Christ, there's always hope. There's always purpose and there's always the next step. If you have a family or friends who use the PANDO app, encourage them to watch Graceway 2. This is a great way to experience the same message together, even when you're in different places. One of the best things we can do is grow in our faith together, encourage one another, and keep the conversation going long after the service ends. If you're currently in a correctional facility in Kansas or Missouri and would like to see Graceway offered where you are, let your chap will know. They can learn more about bringing Graceway to your facility by visiting visitgraceway.org/prison. As we get started, don't just watch the service, jump in, worship, pray, and listen and ask God to speak to you. I believe He has something He wants to say to you today. We're going to teach you a new song. It's all about the blood that was shed for our sins. The precious fountain from Calvary's Mountain, flowing down to you and I. It washes us clean, oh what in this tree. A red blood makes me white, isn't it wild? Doesn't it make you wonder how something so profound could be so simple? The blood, the blood, the blood, oh the wonderful blood, you love, you love, you love, you love, oh my love is loud. Let thirty day sing a song, praises it long to the sun. The blood, the blood, the blood, oh wonderful blood. My precious Jesus, oh I'm so thankful. For the day you save my life, as I remember my heart goes tender. To use begin to fill my eyes, isn't it wild? Doesn't it make you wonder how something so profound could be so simple? Isn't it wild? Doesn't it make you wonder how something so divine could be so simple? The blood, the blood, the blood, oh the wonderful blood, your love, your love, oh my love is loud. Let thirty day sing a song, praises it long to the sun. The blood, the blood, the blood, oh the wonderful blood.

Gonna have the communion taken forward as we partake. Let us take some time to remember the work that Jesus did on the cross. The work you did is finished, all of our sins forgiven, and now we get to live in. The wonder of the work came loud, the cross was your decision. My death was not the ending, he rose and now we're risen. The wonder of the work came loud, the work you did is finished. The cross was the odd decision, but death was not the ending. You rose and now we're risen, the wonder of the working blood, the wonder of the working blood. No wonder of the working blood, no wonder of the working blood. The blood, the blood, the blood. So the wonderful blood, your love, your love, your love. All of our marvellous blood, the blood, the blood, the blood. All of our wonderful blood, your love, your love, your love. All of our marvellous blood, let there be peace in the storm. Reaching life to the storm, the blood, the blood, the blood, the blood. All of our wonderful blood. All of our marvellous blood, let there be peace in the storm, let there be peace in the storm. Let it make peace in the storm, let it make peace in the storm, let it make peace in the storm. As I know nothing but love of Jesus. Oh, precious is our love that makes me quiet and slow. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, nothing but love of Jesus. Nothing but love of Jesus. Nothing but love of Jesus. Oh, precious is our love that makes me quiet and slow. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, nothing but love of Jesus. Oh, precious is our love that makes me quiet and slow. Oh, precious is our love that makes me quiet and slow. Oh, precious is our love that makes me quiet and slow. Nothing but love of Jesus. Come on, you can do better than that.

We're celebrating the blood of Jesus. Forgiveness of our sins and sets us free. Come on, 9.30, are you happy to be in church today? All right, we'll tell you a voice and tell you a face, all right? You're in church, so let's do this together. Lord, we come to You right now, we thank You. We thank You for the blood of Jesus and Lord. I'm afraid that sometimes we forget what we're talking about, Lord, that before the foundations of the earth, You knew that we would rebel against You. You knew that we would try to be our own God. And so You decided before all of it that You would send Your only Son. And He came to this earth, and He took on flesh, and He was tempted in every way possible but without sin. And He made disciples, one of which He knew would betray Him, and He went to the cross and He let His creation murder Him. And His blood was shed so that death could be defeated. His blood was shed so the power of sin could be removed. His blood was shed so that He could call me Son and her daughter. - Lord, everybody in this room within the sound of my voice physically and online who has been made whole by your will has been made whole by the blood of Jesus. And so we stand here today and we thank you for forgiveness, we thank you for freedom, we thank you for calling, we thank you, Lord, for your patience, for your long suffering, and who are we, Lord, to deny what you might do. Who are we in light of the blood of Jesus to say you can't do that, you wouldn't do that.

Who are we, Lord, to not submit ourselves, surrender ourselves under your authority and under your name for your glory and for our good. And so we do. We sing praise to you, we pray to you, we give to you, and now with open Bible we surrender to your Holy Spirit, and we ask you, Lord, to lead us, we ask you, Lord, to change us, we ask you, Lord, to do what you know that we need. So prepare our hearts, Lord, speak to us now, we love you, we thank you. And in Jesus' name, all God's people said, amen and amen, hey, welcome to church, so good to see y'all, why don't you pass some peace to each other and then grab your seat. (people chattering) (people chattering) - All right, family, how are you today? Are you good? So good to see ya, man, thank you so much for being here. If I haven't had the chance to meet you, my name's Tim, I'm the lead pastor here. If you're a guest, man, thank you so much for being here. We're honored to have you. Hope that God has a blessing for you. If we can be a part of that, let us know how. If you're watching online, first off, let me shout out my wife who is watching from out of town. I love you, babe, love you. And if you are watching online,

I also love you just very differently, okay? Very, very, very differently, but let us know how we can serve you as well and men at Crossroads and Ozarks for sure love you. God bless you, come on, church, give them a better welcome than that. Appreciate you so much. If you have a Bible, why don't you get over to Revelation chapter two, we're gonna continue our series, Dear Church. This is the seven letters that Jesus wrote and gave to the Apostle John. And these are real churches, real people, real places that give us the opportunity to have a mirror of ourselves in Raytown, Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri in 2026. So let's take a moment and pause and ask God to speak to us. Lord, we ask that you would speak in power and in authority for your glory and for our good. Give us ears to hear and give us eyes to see. We thank you for it, we love you. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen, and amen. Do you remember the scene in the movie, Remember the Titans? I didn't even tell you the scene yet. You all are like, yes, we remember. You locked in, I'm here for it, all right. But the scene that I'm talking about, I don't know what scene you're talking about, is when Denzel brings the playbook to the old coach and he opens it up and it's just three plays.

He says, you only have three plays and Denzel says this, yep, three plays, just like Novocaine, give it time, it always works. I'm here to tell you today that the enemy does not agree with Denzel and that's how you know he's a liar, amen, amen. Now the enemy doesn't work on a three play notebook, the enemy is like a thief looking for any access to the house that he can get. And I'll tell you, sometimes the enemy attacks your life through the front door and you see him coming, right? Down the street and you know what the attack is and you know it's dangerous and so you stand on God's promises and you cock your spiritual fist back and you're ready for a fight. Other times he comes in the side door or in the window that he left open and the thing about the side door is that it doesn't look dangerous. Sometimes it looks reasonable, convenient, maybe even beneficial. eventually defeat us because we invited them inside. So last week in Smyrna, Satan comes to the front door. Remember, persecution, suffering, prison, death, and Jesus says to the church, "Hey, be faithful unto death." That's a heavy, heavy word. But today we arrive in Pergamum, a city about 60 miles north of Smyrna, and you're going to see the strategy changes. I want to tell you a little bit about Pergamum because I think that it's going to help you understand God's word a little bit more, a little bit more specifically.

So, remember, Smyrna is about 40, 50 miles north of Ephesus where we started. We're now 100 miles north of Ephesus in Pergamum, and like Smyrna, we don't actually know how the gospel gets to the city. We don't know who planted it. But like Smyrna, we assume that it stemmed from this church in Ephesus that we've talked about and more specifically from the ministry of a guy named John, the Apostle John. What I'm trying to say is John made a lot of disciples. John took a lot of people through D1, amen? And what I'm trying to say is wouldn't it be sweet if one day there were churches all over our city, state, region, country, and the world that they said? I don't know how the gospel got here, but I bet it was from that church in Raytown, Missouri. That'd be an incredible thing, but that's a different sermon. Every other city addressed in Revelation 2 and 3 sat on the coast or on the trade corridor in the river valley of Asia Minor, mostly central and western modern day Turkey. Pergamum was different, Pergamum was a citadel city, and the Acropolis was not just to make it militarily defensible, it was theatrical. Pergamum was built to look up to, not only literally but figuratively, and its kings who were the successors of Alexander the Great had spent two centuries turning the geography into a statement of cultural and religious supremacy. When you walk up on the Pergamum, you were supposed to stop and go, wow, that was the point of it. Pergamum was famous for its university, and it had a library of about 200,000 volumes, which made it rival to the library of Alexandria, the older Egyptian city and its famous library. In fact, the story goes that Alexandria became jealous of its rival and refused to provide it with prepyrus because they kept turning it into books. And so, Pergamum refined parchment and manufactured it, and they produced a specific kind of parchment called Pergamina, which you can literally still buy today if you go to Amazon, of course, and punch in Pergamina parchment, it'll pop up. Now, Pergamum started out as kind of the jewel of the region.

Over time, Ephesus surpassed it, or economically, but not in prestige or as an intellectual center, and believe it or not, not as a religious center, as much pagan idolatry was in Ephesus. Actually Pergamum was even more. Its most famous temple was dedicated to a Greek god named Asclepius, which was the god of healing and had this association with a snake, which sounds kind of weird. So have you ever seen the medical emblem? It's a rod with a snake around it. Yeah, like the World Health Organization has this. That's actually its ancestor as this. That was the rod of Asclepius, and he was known to have snakes all around him. That's not what I would have known if I was marketing God, but whatever, right? And the primary temple in the region was in Pergamum. Pergamum had the first temple in the area dedicated to Augustus Caesar and to Rome, which made it not only a religious center, but a political center, but actually more of a religious than political statement. You have to understand that this temple wasn't a place that you could go vote for Caesar. That's not how it worked. It was a place you went to worship Caesar, and Caesar had three titles in the region. The first is Caesar as God. You probably knew that, but maybe you didn't know. They also said Caesar as Lord, and they also said Caesar as Savior. And so if you go to church and you say, "Hey, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Jesus is my Savior." You are not only making a theological statement, you are making a... Jesus is my king. Jesus is my God. Jesus is my Lord. Jesus is my Savior. Meaning Caesar is not. It was true then.

And seems like it's becoming more and more true now, but that's also a different sermon. It also had what was known as the great altar of Pergamum, which was built to commemorate a notable victory. And I actually want to show this to you. This is kind of a digital rendering. It was an altar that was shaped like a throne. And the art museum in Berlin actually recreated it. You'll see that right here. So on the front, on this freeze, you can see right here to the left, that was a depiction of a mythological war that was won. And those figures are the God, Zeus, Athena, Ares, and Dionysus. And this temple, this altar, was built to commemorate the fact that the gods ruled and fight and win and established order that anybody who tries to fight our gods will lose. That's the point of this. And this was, if you kind of look down from the Acropolis, you would see this massive altar. What I'm trying to say is that the atmosphere of the city of Pergamum was adverse to any effective Christian life or testimony. It was difficult to be a Christian in the city of Pergamum. And so we come to the letter. And remember, the letter would have been read out loud at the church. And so you come in. Probably on the first song, they came in.

Most of y'all came in on the second song, but that's a different sermon also. I got a lot of sermons. Anyways, you came in, and we're singing the song. And then, and then Pastor Clayton did his thing. And then we sang the new song. We took communion, and then the pastor stands up. And he says, all right, welcome to church today. Let's hear God's word to us. And they didn't turn in their Bibles to Revelation 2 in verse 12. They just would have received this letter, and it goes like this. To the angel of the church in Pergamum, right. And remember, this would have been the equivalent to starting with to the angel of the church in Raytown, or the angel of the church at Graceway, right. Here's what he says. The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipists, my faithful witness, who was killed among you where Satan dwells. But I do have a few things against you. You have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam who taught Balaq to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so they might eat food, sacrifice to idols, and practice sexual immorality. So also, you have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicoleotans.

Therefore, repent, and if you do not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches, to the one who conquers. I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it. This is the word of God, to the church at Pergamum, and in turn, it's a mirror to you and I. So let's take our time and unpack it. Jesus begins this letter, the words of him who has a sharp two-edged sword. Now remember, the introduction always has poignancy connected to it when Jesus is talking to church at Ephesus. He says to the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lamps and with eyes like fire, I see past your religious duty and to your heart and I see that you have lost your first love. He says to the church at Smyrna, the church that is being persecuted, the church that he says be faithful unto death, he begins by saying the words of the first and the last who died and came to life. To the persecuted church, he says, I am the resurrection. To the church that is religious but not loving, he says I see past your exterior. And he says to this church, the words of him who has a sharp two-edged sword. Now remember, the most famous building in Pergamum

was that great altar and on that great altar were pagan gods doing what? Worrying. And so Jesus says, oh, you wanna talk about war? Here I am with my sword. What am I doing? Now remember in Revelation chapter one, the sword pictures the power to conquer and to judge. When we go over to Revelation, or Hebrews chapter four, Sharper than any two-edged sword piercing, the division of soul and spirit of the joints and the marrows and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart, we normally stop there, but it goes on and says, and no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. And so Jesus says, let me introduce myself. And my sword. I love it. Jesus is such a gangster. Hi, my name's Jesus, and here's my sword. And he's saying this because this community believe that their gods were warriors who had won. And he says, you don't want this smoke, Pergamum. It's directly in the original language. You don't want this smoke. That might be a bit, it's a loose translation. But he is also saying, hey, buckle up church because there is some judgment that I need to give you.

I need to divide what is true from what is false. And he begins with a commendation. He says, hey, I know where you live, and I know it's where Satan's throne is. Now, you think you got bad neighbors. 'Cause they don't mow their lawn or they're at all barks. Jesus says, I know where you live, and I know it's where Satan's throne is. But you have held fast to my name. You did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. Satan's throne is there, and Satan's address is there. And remember, Ephesus had lost its first love and smurr in a face poverty and prison, but Pergamum is named as the very seat of cosmic hostility. Jesus says, y'all are on the fault line at the intersection of the war. The war that is not seen to the physical eye. And Jesus is calling out the thing behind the thing. You see, when you find yourself in a difficult spot, you and I both are prone to blame something we can see. Your spouse, your neighbor, your boss. And Jesus is saying, as he did to the church at Smyrna, no, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. And Jesus is saying, maybe because of one of the temples or all of the temples, we don't really know, but there's a lot going on behind all of it

as Satan himself. In spite of this, church, you have held fast to my name. And you did not deny my faith. And then Jesus makes this more poignant by saying even in the days of Antipas, who was killed among you, and Jesus calls him, my faithful witness. And the word witness is the same word that in the English means martyr. Y'all live in Satan's neighborhood, but you're faithful, and you've held to my name even when my witness, Antipas, was martyred. Scripture doesn't tell us anything about Antipas, but church history does. And what we know is that Antipas was the bishop of Pergamum, and that he was the disciple of Gassu, the apostle John. My guy took, you never know who you're taking through D1. You never know. And Antipas was martyred under the emperor demetian by being roasted alive instead of inside of a heated bronze bull. Why? Well, because he believed Jesus was his savior, not Caesar. And this was a device that was used in connection with pagan sacrifice at the temple of Artemis. And so to put, to put bad after bad, not only does Antipas get martyred, but he gets martyred as a means of pagan sacrifice. And Jesus says, even when that happened, you held to the stuff.

But me and my sword have a couple of things against you. And Jesus puts this kind of four-topic quadrant together. He says, food-sacrifice to idols. We're gonna talk about that. Sexual immorality, we're gonna talk about that. And then he gives us two names, the nicoleotens, and the teaching of Balaam. And we go, how do these connect? And who's the nicoleotens and who's Balaam? And let's unpack it. Okay, so this is the second reference to the nicoleotens. The first is in Revelation two and verse six to the church at Ephesus. "of the nickel leotons, and I do too." This is the second time that it's brought up, but this time it's not because the church hates the teaching, it's because the church is onboarding the teaching, or at least some of the churches. And some scholars, including Irenaeus, who I introduced you to last week, who is also a disciple of John, says that this stems from a leader by the name of Nicholas, who is one of the seven who are chosen in Acts chapter six. Remember, we talked about in Acts six, the church is growing rapidly, and the apostles say we need time for prayer and study, and so they appoint seven deacons to take care of the poor and the widows and the distribution of food. And Irenaeus says one of those seven is this dude, Nicholas,

but over time, Nicholas began to teach a diminished theology or an expanded license around food-offered titles. And what Jesus is saying is that over time, that compromise led to other compromise, up to and including, loosened teaching around sexual immorality. And Jesus says, "I hate the teaching "of the Nicoleatins." What's the teaching of the Nicoleatins? Ah, don't worry about this. Jesus says, "If you don't worry about this, "you should worry about that." And Jesus connects Nicholas and the Nicoleatins. Are y'all still with me? - Yes. - To Balaam in the book of Numbers chapter 22 through 24, and Balaam, a prophet, gets hired by Balaek, the king of Moab, the king fears Israel, and so he hires a Jewish prophet to curse Israel. And the prophet shows up, which he shouldn't have, but he does, and he shows up, and Balaek says, "I need you to curse these Jews." And Balaam says, "I'll do whatever God tells me to do." And Balaek says, "Well, I'm paying you a lot of money "to do what I tell you to do." And when they go out over the nation of Israel, and every time Balaam tries to curse Israel, God puts blessing in his mouth. It happens three times. If you've never read the story, you ought to check it out.

It's got cursing, and blessing, and treason, and pagan kings, and Jewish prophets, and talking donkeys. It's like Shrek before Shrek, all right? (congregation laughing) It's an incredible story. But what we learn from this is that Israel cannot be defeated through the front door. Are you with me? (congregation laughing) However, in Numbers 25, we see that the Israelite men enter sexual relationship with Moabite women, whose king was Balaek after practicing and participating in food offered to idols. So Satan tries to come in the front door. Hey, we want you to be cursed, and God keeps putting blessing in their mouth. And what we find out in Numbers 31 is that apparently Balaam, not able to curse the Hebrews, goes back to Balaek and says, hey, we're not gonna be able to corrupt him through opposition, so let's corrupt him through accommodation. Let's try the side door, and let's get your most attractive women, and let's invite them to dinner, and let's tell them the food has been offered to idols, but let's have the person who tells them be really attractive, you get what I'm saying? And apparently what happens is they come to dinner, they eat the dinner, they have some drinks after the dinner,

one thing leads to another, and next thing you know, old Jed's millionaire. You get what I'm saying? (congregation laughing) (congregation laughing) Balaam says, if persecution and cursing doesn't work, try pleasure. Make compromise seem reasonable to the people of God. Can I tell you, the danger to the church at Pergamum was not, hey, stop believing in Jesus. The danger was surely Jesus doesn't require you to stop doing that. And Jesus is here saying, if you're still with me, church, you survive the attack, but you're being destroyed by the seduction. Therefore repent, turn around, and if not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my men. y'all fix it, or I will. And what this means is that it is the job of the church and its leaders to call out corruption and compromise and false doctrine. What this means is that part of the reason I'm always up in your business is I don't work for you. And Jesus says, if you can't tell him, Tim, I'll find somebody who can. And further than that, Jesus seems to say that there are churches who refuse to call out corruption and compromise and false doctrine. And Jesus says, what does it say?

I will come to you soon and war against you, me and my... Can I tell you, we don't want that smoke. (congregation laughing) You don't want to look across the ring and see Jesus not with gloves on, just going like this. Jesus says, hey church, that survived the front door attack but opened the door to the side door attack, repent or I will come and I will war against you. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. And then he says some things that don't make sense to us, hang in there and I'm going to explain it. To the one who conquers, I will give some of hidden manna and I will give him a white stone with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives. So three things, hidden manna, a white stone and a new name. So manna in the Old Testament is connected to God's supernatural provision of his people in the wilderness. And a portion of that manna was preserved before God in the Ark of the Covenant as testimony to God's provision. This is Exodus 16 and Hebrews 9. But step outside of the biblical account in the oral and Jewish tradition, before Jerusalem was destroyed, the prophet Jeremiah took the Ark of the Covenant and this would have been kind of knowledge in this church. Took the Ark of the Covenant and hid it in a mountain associated with Moses. You say, what, what, what? Yeah, I know, just hang in there.

And Jeremiah said that it will remain hidden until God gathers his people together and shows his mercy. In other words, Jeremiah says this stuff's going to remain hidden until the kingdom returns and Jesus makes it all right. There's a, in big church where it's eschatological promise. There's an end times promise on this manna that it will stay hidden until Jesus comes back. Let me put it to you this way. Remember we're talking about food offered to idols. And so Jesus says, are you gonna eat their food that you can see now or are you going to be willing to in faith, wait for what I have for you even though you can't see it now. Can I tell you so much of scripture and so much of faith is tied to this? Are you gonna believe what you can see now? Or are you gonna stand on promises and faith of what you can't see because of who made the promise to you? And so Jesus is saying to him who conquers, I will give you something. I know you can see that there, but I've got something that you can't see and to him who conquers, I'll give that to you. He goes on and he says, I'll give you a white stone. Now there's three things that this could be. The first is an acquittal vote. So in the courts and program them, they used black stones and white stones.

A vote that was a black stone was a vote to condemn. A vote that was a white stone was a vote to acquit. And Jesus says, I'll give you a white stone. So maybe it's that. Another possibility would be an admission token. These festivals with food that was offered to false gods, the way you got in wasn't a ticket or a QR code. It was a white stone. And so maybe Jesus is saying, don't go to their party. Come to mind, that's gonna mess with somebody else theology, but that's what it is. The third option would be that a victor would get what we would call a trophy, but they would view as a white stone. And so Jesus has said to the one who conquers, I'll give you a white stone. So you say, well, which one is it? Well, let me frame it to you this way. Jesus says, I'll give you a white stone. I'll acquit you, I'll invite you, I'll reward you. So which one do I think it is? Yes. (audience laughs) I will quit you. I will invite you. I will reward you with a feast that you can't see now. But trust me when I tell you, you don't want to miss it. And then lastly, he says, I'll give you a new name. And what he's essentially saying is, don't dwell on the name of where you're from.

Dwell on the name I give you. Maybe we could say it this way. Who are you? I'm a Christian who happens to be from Kansas City. I'm not from this culture. I'm connected to a different culture and kingdom and constitution and king. And I want to be known by that kingdom. I'm just passing through here. My home and my name is connected to there. And so Jesus says, repent or you're going to get this smoke. But if you do repent, I will feed you, acquit you, invite you, reward you, and name you. And that's the letter. So what do we do with this? I want you to understand that we tend to define compromise too simplistically. Compromise is not merely doing something that you know is wrong and sinful. Biblically, compromise occurs when faithfulness to Jesus becomes negotiable because obedience carries social, relational, financial, sexual, professional, or cultural cost. I'm going to say it again because I think only Julie got it and nobody else said anything. Biblically compromise occurs when faithfulness to Jesus becomes negotiable because obedience carries social, relational, financial, sexual, professional, or cultural cost. What does that mean?

Pergamum did not abandon Christianity. They blended Christianity with the demands of their culture. And this is where this gets very uncomfortable here in 2026. I think there are four stages of compromise in Revelation chapter two, but what does the compromise begin around? It begins around food offered idols. And this is an ongoing controversy in the New Testament. We see it in the book of Acts. We see Paul talk about it repeatedly, and it shows up here again. So what's the equivalent for us of food offered to idols? And don't miss this. It is where I am being invited to participate in something that requires me to compromise allegiance to Jesus in order to belong, advance, profit, or be accepted. I thought about it for you just in case you weren't going to think about it. So let me give you some examples, OK? He would be an example. Hey, man, I got this great business opportunity. But the product is trash. But the funding requires some less integrous habits. And whatever money we make, we're going to have to move, because the product, the making, and the keeping of the money isn't-- how do you say this? Honest. That'd be one. But I kept thinking in case you wouldn't. So here would be another one.

I met this guy, and passed him. We love each other. Hey, that's great. And you know, rent's really expensive. Pass to Tim, and his lease is up, and my lease is up. And to just-- so to be a good financial steward of God's money, like you always say, Pass to Tim, we decided that why would we have two apartments when we could have one? Why have two beds when we could have one? Why sleep on my side of the bed when I could sleep on his side of the bed? You know what I'm saying? That would be like food offered titles. And then I kept thinking about it in case you didn't think about it. So political affiliation-- I'm going to get all y'all today. Me and my sword. Pass to Tim, you don't understand. We are in an unprecedented place in this country, which means you haven't read a history book. But whatever. All right, that's another-- that's a different sermon. Pass to Tim, you don't understand And listen, I realize that it's an imperfect way, but the things that are going on, we have to use imperfect means to get Kingdom stuff done, Pastor Tim and so, and so here's a flag, and here's a hat. (audience cheering)

And I stand up on Sunday and I go, I don't see flags or hats. And then you send me an email, which I don't read. (audience laughing) Hey, send away. It just ain't getting read. Why? Because sometimes our political affiliation compromises or supersedes our surrender to scripture. And please don't send me an email if you're a Republican 'cause I'm talking to you, and please don't send me an email if you're a Democrat 'cause I'm talking to you. You both do it. You say, what do you mean, yeah? I ain't got a team, y'all. (audience cheering) I'm a Christian, not a Republican. I'm a Christian, not a Democrat. But that's a different sermon. I thought about it a little more just in case you didn't think about it. I'm talking about entertainment that erodes our conscience. So I'm talking about the movies we watch and don't fast forward, or the movies we watch knowing we should fast forward, right? I know you church people, all right? I'm talking about the music we listen to. I'm talking about the things we do when we're out and the things that we put in our body,

whether it be drinking, smoking, eating, all those kind of deals. Those are all the same thing. And I did think about it more, but we don't have time. So you got enough to think about. That's the food offered to idols, so where does it begin? Here it is. It begins with pressure around something that becomes costly or that you perceive to be pressure. And let me just be clear with you that in the United States, you perceive it to be costly because it typically isn't. Not like we're talking about here, and not like we're talking about in other places. But you perceive, I'm gonna lose something if I don't do this. And so participation becomes negotiable and even expected because faithfulness creates inconvenience or awkwardness. Pastor Tim, I don't want to be the guy who hasn't seen the movie. Pastor Tim, I don't want to be the guy at the, I don't always want to be the designated driver, Tim. Pastor Tim, what if I don't and she leaves? I love her. Pastor Tim, our country is messed up. What are we to do, like, here's your flag, here's your hat. I'm gonna keep saying it. I'm gonna get email and I ain't gonna read it, sis. I'm telling you. Pastor Tim, you don't understand how much money I could make. I promise I'll tithe.

And so we have this pressure that happens which leads to a rationalization. Now, what is the deal with the rationalization? I say to you all the time, I'm less interested in what you believe than what you want. Here's why, because when pressure comes, what you really want comes out. And so the truth is, your rationalization is that you really want money. And the truth is that you really want to get laid. I could say it nicer, but y'all know what I mean. (congregation laughing) So let's just call it what it is. It quacks, has web feet and white feathers. It wants to get laid. And so you come up with this rationale because it's what you want. I'm not patriarchal. I'm not old fashioned. We're in love, it's financial stewardship. Nah, you want to. - It may. (congregation laughing) (congregation applauding) - Exactly. Exactly. How many churches in the world can we have this conversation? (congregation laughing) It's unbelievable how amazing you all are. (congregation laughing)

All right, hang with me, hang with me. So pressure, rationalization, then goes into participation. You do what you want. And what you use to question becomes normal and accepted. I don't drink that, smoke that, hang with, go those places and now, I'm a Christian and now, I'm gonna be poor till marriage, but now, and what used to be abnormal becomes normal and then our beliefs, pressure, rationalization, participation and beliefs. And this is where you and I get sideways. Because eventually, you create arguments to defend the practice, this is what was happening in Pergamum, they had teachers teaching compromise, but this is the reason you and I get sideways because you bring me arguments that I go, nah. No, you wanna get laid. You wanna see the thing, you wanna smoke the thing, you wanna drink the thing, you wanna make the money, you don't care how it comes, because you love it more than you love him. And you go, how dare you say that about me? And I say, how dare you not see that about you? And in Pergamum, they have teachers giving license to what people want to do, why? 'Cause it's a lot easier to grow a church lying to folk than telling folk the truth. And you don't have to go far on the American church, just go on to Instagram or Facebook or YouTube.

I promise you won't have to go far to hear stuff that is not in this book, but it's coming from pulpits. About money, about sex, about politics, and about entertainment. So here's where we land. Persecution can sometimes be easier than compromise. What does that mean? It means that clear opposition tends to clarify identity. If somebody came in and said, in this church, y'all need to deny Jesus. Y'all would be like, pfft, where's Tim? (audience laughs) We ain't doing that, right? No, we're not doing that, but the compromise rarely says deny Jesus, it just says, hey, relax. Be reasonable, y'all are taking this too seriously. You don't want the smoke from, you don't want emails, do you? Look, you don't have to agree with this, just be quiet about it. Why are you making stuff awkward? You're making us uncomfortable. Everybody knows you're a Christian. What you do doesn't have to always be what you believe. We're all hypocrites, right? Don't be so judgmental. The temptation is far more subtle, and pergumum could recognize the executioner's sword, but struggle to recognize the dinner invitation.

I have thought about this a lot. Why do you think it is that we don't, and let me just say this, we do not, in any objective way, experience persecution similar to our brothers and sisters, in other parts of the world. Can we start from that premise? Okay, so then the question becomes, why? Why don't we? And I've heard a lot of people say, because we have Judeo-Christian values, and maybe, maybe, but I'll tell you why I think it is. I think it is because why come in the front door when you left the side door open? Why would the enemy shed blood? Why don't we just want to be like everyone else? Come on, the church is as greedy, as sexually active, as entertained by, as politically affiliated, as the world. What is there to persecute? Y'all are already at the dinner table. The church has to, and this is the punchline, and then I'm in my seat. The church has to recover, it's no. Pergamum's problem was not that they stopped believing in Jesus, and for 84 years, that has not been our problem here at this church. We believe in Jesus, come on, say amen to that. That was very, very, we believe in Jesus. You don't have me nervous for a second,

like the front door was standing open. Okay, so the problem was not that they stopped believing in Jesus, the problem was they started believing, they could belong completely to Jesus, and, they took the lesser promises of culture at the expense of the eternal promises of Jesus and this is what I don't want you to miss I've said this to you before and I'm gonna say it to you again and again and again why does God call us to be generous why does God call us to be pure why does God call us to be citizens of heaven why does God tell us to protect our heart for out of it come the issues of life through the ear gate eye gate mouth gate why because God is a killjoy no because God wants to control me no because God is connected to a patriarchal system of oppression no because God has something better for you but watch what happens the enemy comes in the side door and says this looks pretty good you can have it when now and Jesus says I have something better but you're gonna have to wait can I tell you trust finding out that God is your provider is better than making a bunch of money the wrong way can I tell you being married to somebody that you waited for is better than having to explain to that somebody all the people you didn't wait for them for with can I tell you not having to stress out every four years and believe a liar telling me that he or she is going to make it better like the last and just every four years and every two years at mid-term being able to be like I'm good is better than being a sucker can I tell you missing the movie and the song and the latest greatest but having my soul and heart be soft and my eyes and ears ready to see God can I tell you there is no movie that is better than the presence and voice of God and can I tell you some of the things that happen in the church I'm not talking about there they happen in the church is we fall for the marketing and miss the miracle and so Jesus comes and he says some things you're doing well grace way I do have a couple things against you you leave in the side door cracked I need you to shut that thing or I'll come and I'll shut it but if you

will I'll keep my word and it'll be worth the wait so trust me today I matter what anybody else tells you and don't deny me what I might do we just sang it father we love you and I thank you for this church I thank you for the good things that you have done in the last now 83 and our 84th year and Lord the truth is objectively this church has held to the stuff held to the faith held to the name of Jesus and the truth is we have people in this church love money more than Jesus and the truth is we got people doing things sexually with other people that they have no business doing those things with and the truth is some of us are more Republican than we are Christian or Democrat than we are Christian or Libertarian than we are Christian or socialist Democrat than we are Christian the truth is some of us are more entertained by a movie screen than we are the presence of God and I pray Lord that we would listen to the spirit that tells us to repent that tells us that the promises of God are yes and a man that tells us with the benefit of hindsight we can trust you with what comes next that tells us you always keep your word it is more than enough and we can anticipate more of the same and so I pray Lord for this church for its fidelity for its purity for its holiness for its faithfulness to you our king against all comers all commercials and all marketing we put you on the highest place we worship you as the only way truth in life and we do it not only for your glory but in turn and in due time for our good we love you we thank you and in Jesus name all God's people said amen and amen church why don't you stand to your feet prayer team why don't you come on down if we can pray for you come this way don't go that way prayer boxes in the back growth track step four in the next service fam I love you man sign up for the conference I'll see you Saturday the rest of you I'll see Sunday love you