When Tolerance Becomes Unfaithfulness [LIVE] 09/06/2026

Grace, wait, it's so good to see you all. How are we feeling? I'm 30. Oh, come on, it's time to worship King Jesus. For this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Come with your joys and with your burdens, like we come to worship the God who receives us all. And so come, let us gather in this place of grace. Let us worship the God who meets us here, God of every gathering. We come before you this day with grateful hearts. You have called us out of our separate lives into this one body. And we are glad to answer. Father, quiet our distractions and settle our minds and our hearts. Open our ears to hear your word and our hands to receive your grace. Meet us here in Jesus mighty name we pray. Come on, 930, amen, amen. It's so good to see y'all. Rather you're viewing online or in person for the first time. Welcome to Grace Way. ♪ You can be rich ♪ ♪ You can be poor ♪ ♪ You can be young ♪ ♪ You can be ♪ Oh, don't stop laughing, come on. ♪ No matter where we're coming from ♪

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♪ They shall be saved ♪ ♪ Whosoever ♪ ♪ Whosoever calls on your name ♪ ♪ They shall be saved ♪ ♪ Whosoever ♪ ♪ We're calling on you ♪ ♪ Whosoever calls on your name ♪ ♪ They shall be saved ♪ ♪ Whosoever ♪ ♪ Whosoever calls on your name ♪ ♪ They shall be saved ♪ ♪ They shall be saved ♪ ♪ But now ♪ ♪ And as for me ♪ ♪ My heart was bound ♪ ♪ When I'd get free ♪ ♪ And I'd get bound ♪ ♪ You lived and me ♪ ♪ You pulled me out ♪ ♪ Praise the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Amazing grace ♪ ♪ How sweet the sound ♪ ♪ Your gift of life ♪ ♪ Look at me now ♪ ♪ You heard my cry ♪ ♪ So hear, come on ♪ ♪ Praise the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Amazing grace ♪ ♪ How sweet the sound ♪ ♪ Your gift of life ♪

♪ Look at me now ♪ ♪ You heard my cry ♪ ♪ So hear my shout ♪ ♪ Thank my dear ♪ ♪ Whosoever ♪ ♪ Whosoever calls on your name ♪ ♪ They shall be saved ♪ ♪ Whosoever ♪ ♪ We're calling on you ♪ ♪ Whosoever calls on your name ♪ ♪ They shall be saved ♪ ♪ Whosoever ♪ ♪ Whosoever calls on your name ♪ ♪ They shall be saved ♪ ♪ Whosoever ♪ ♪ Whosoever calls on your name ♪ ♪ They shall be saved ♪ ♪ They shall be saved ♪ Come on, 9/30, enjoy your worship today. Come on! We came to worship King Jesus. (upbeat music) Come on, five in the middle room. You move a little bit. Come on! (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ They shall be saved ♪ ♪ Come on and call on the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, yeah ♪

♪ Yeah, Lord ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Him from the glory ♪ ♪ I save your King ♪ ♪ Your loving kindness has welcomed me ♪ ♪ Though I'm unworthy of majesty ♪ ♪ You wrap the lowly in royalty ♪ ♪ I will lay my crowns down at your feet ♪ ♪ You are holy, holy and I will give my life ♪ ♪ Has enough love ♪ ♪ You are worthy, so worthy, Lord ♪ ♪ Is he worthy, is he worthy ♪ ♪ Yes, Lord ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Here at your altar ♪ ♪ To seek your faith ♪ ♪ Broken and torn out without restraint ♪ ♪ In full of content ♪ ♪ Be for my King ♪ ♪ Here I surrender my everything ♪ ♪ Though I will lay my crowns down at your feet ♪ ♪ You are holy, so holy and I will give my life ♪ ♪ Has enough love ring ♪ ♪ You are worthy, so worthy, Lord ♪ ♪ I will lay my crowns down at your feet ♪ ♪ You are holy, Jesus ♪ ♪ I will give my life ♪ ♪ Has enough ring ♪ ♪ You are worthy, so worthy, Lord ♪ ♪ Is he worthy, non-30 ♪

♪ Of all of our worship and all of our praise ♪ ♪ You are worthy, Lord ♪ ♪ Come on, we live holy hands in this place ♪ ♪ And we say he's worthy ♪ ♪ He's holy, he's worthy ♪ ♪ Yes, Lord ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy is ♪ ♪ Come and have upon the throne ♪ ♪ Choring upon the heaven in ♪ ♪ The everlasting song ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy is ♪ ♪ The lamb upon the throne ♪ ♪ Choring upon the heaven in ♪ ♪ The everlasting song ♪ ♪ We sing holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ The lamb upon the throne ♪ ♪ Choring upon the heaven in ♪ ♪ The everlasting song ♪ ♪ We sing holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ The lamb upon the throne ♪ ♪ We join with all of heaven in ♪ ♪ The everlasting song ♪ ♪ And I will be my crown ♪ ♪ And I will be my crown ♪ ♪ And I will be my crown ♪ ♪ At your home ♪ ♪ I will be my life ♪ ♪ As in all world free ♪ ♪ You are worthy, so worthy ♪ ♪ I will be my crown ♪

♪ Down at your peace ♪ ♪ Come on, tell them, please, holy ♪ ♪ You are holy, so holy ♪ ♪ And I will ♪ ♪ And I will ♪ ♪ At the North Wing ♪ ♪ I will be my crown ♪ We draw the heart of heaven and it's the everlasting song We sing, Holy, Holy, Holy, the land upon the throne We draw the heart of heaven and it's the everlasting song ♪ Come on, Grace, wait, say you are holy ♪ ♪ You are holy ♪ ♪ And we worship you ♪ ♪ And we worship you ♪ ♪ We sing holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ We sing holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ We sing holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy is the Lord ♪ ♪ We join with the angels ♪ ♪ We join with the angels ♪ ♪ We sing holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ We sing holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Come on, give the Lord a great big shout of grace ♪ ♪ If He's holy ♪ - 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 worship with you each week. No matter where you've been or what your story looks like, God isn't finished 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 Grace Way 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 Grace Way offered where you are, let your chapel know. They can learn more about bringing Grace Way 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. (gentle music) - Listen to me, worship King Jesus. Be so worthy of all of our praise. All of our worship, our devotion belongs to Him. Let the fragrance of our worship be a sweet aroma to your nostrils, Father. (gentle music)

♪ All those saints and angels ♪ ♪ They bow before your throne ♪ ♪ All the elders cast ♪ ♪ They're ground before the land of God ♪ ♪ And see you're worthy of all ♪ ♪ You're worthy of all ♪ ♪ For from you are all things ♪ ♪ And till you are all things ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory ♪ Come on, with holy hands lifted, as a sign of surrenderance, and as unifying together as one body to worship one God, King Jesus. (gentle music) ♪ All those saints and angels ♪ ♪ They bow before your throne ♪ ♪ All the elders cast ♪ ♪ They're ground before the land of God ♪ ♪ And see you're worthy of all ♪ ♪ She's worthy of all ♪ ♪ Oh, come on, check it out ♪ ♪ For from you are all things ♪ ♪ And till you are all things ♪ ♪ Oh, you deserve the glory ♪ ♪ You're worthy ♪ ♪ You're worthy of your love ♪ ♪ All the heartwaves below us here ♪ ♪ You're worthy of your love ♪ ♪ For from you all ♪ ♪ For from you all ♪

♪ And to you ♪ ♪ And to you all ♪ ♪ To me ♪ ♪ All you deserve is glory ♪ ♪ This next part, it says day and night ♪ ♪ Night and day ♪ ♪ Let instant arise ♪ ♪ And that's the fragrance of our worship ♪ ♪ And so come on, let's unify together ♪ ♪ And say, Father, receive our worship ♪ ♪ And let it be a sweet aroma ♪ ♪ To your nostrils ♪ ♪ We worship you, Jesus ♪ ♪ You are holy ♪ ♪ You are holy, Jesus ♪ (gentle guitar music) ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ Let instant arise ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ Let instant arise ♪ Come on, you're singing. ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ (gentle guitar music) ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ Let instant arise ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ Let instant arise ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ Let instant arise ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪

♪ Let instant arise ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ You're worthy ♪ ♪ You're worthy, Jesus, just you ♪ ♪ You're worthy of it all ♪ ♪ All of our worship belongs to you ♪ ♪ Born from you ♪ ♪ Until you are ♪ ♪ You're worthy of it all ♪ ♪ You're worthy of it all ♪ ♪ We cast down our crowns and we worship you ♪ ♪ All of our praise belongs to you ♪ ♪ Until you are ♪ ♪ Until you are ♪ ♪ You're worthy of it all ♪ ♪ You're worthy of it all ♪ [audience applauding] - Bam, I wanna make sure that you don't miss this opportunity, all right? You feel a little tired to me, I'm not gonna lie. I know it's been 700 degrees this week. Maybe you're coming in a little heavy. Maybe you got a busy week to come. But I just want you to take 20 seconds. Just talk to God right now. Come on, we only get this time together every week to worship God. ♪ Father, we come to you as a body, as a family, as a house. And Lord, maybe this week has been busy. Maybe there are things that are on our mind, things that are on our heart. Things that have been heavy to carry.

Things that we're worried about. But Lord, we don't wanna miss this opportunity in this moment together to give you what you deserve. To remind our hearts and proclaim with our mouth that there's nobody like you. That you're more worthy than anything. More worthy than our workplace. More worthy than our money. More worthy than our hobbies. More worthy than the things that we spend the vast majority of our lives investing in and trying to achieve. And so Lord, we don't wanna get out of this room without giving you what you're worth. Come on, just take five seconds church and just tell God that you love him. Come on, take ten seconds, tell him that you're grateful for what he's done. Come on, don't miss this opportunity. Come on, don't let some word get left on the table. Don't miss the chance to tell God that he's worthy Lord. We love you right now. We pray Lord that the smell of worship, of gratitude, of generosity and of praise would pour into your throne room and that you would be pleased. We thank you Lord that all of your promises are yes and amen. We thank you Lord that you're faithful and that you're kind and that you're patient. We thank you Lord that you're a good father and a good shepherd. We thank you Lord that you're our banner of victory. We thank you Lord that you lead us so well. We thank you Lord that we are more than conquerors in you. We thank you Lord that no weapon formed against us can stand and can prosper.

We thank you Lord that one day you are returning to this your creation. We pray it be today and you're setting everything right. You're making everything straight. You're putting back together. You're rolling back the clock. You're redeeming and restoring and renewing. Your kingdom's gonna come. But today Lord we wanna tell you that we're glad to be your sons and your daughters. Today we wanna tell you your way is best. Today we wanna tell you we surrender to you Lord. So meet us here as we open up your word. Bless us, correct us, change us, grow us into the image of Jesus for your glory and our joy. We love you, we thank you in the name of Jesus. All God's people said, come on loud as you can. Amen, and amen. So good to see you church. Show some love to each other past some peace and then grab your seat. (people chattering) (people chattering) All right fam, how are we today? Are you good? All right, it's so good to see you. If you're a guest, man, thank you so much for being here. My name's Tim, I'm the lead pastor here and man, we're thrilled to have you.

Church, show some love to our first time guests. Would you, we appreciate y'all. If you're watching us online, man, thanks for joining us. We love you. Hope things are well for you. And then minute crossroads at Ozarks. Come on church, say hello to our brothers at crossroads and Ozarks, we appreciate you. Hey, if you have a Bible, get over to Revelation chapter two, Revelation chapter two. We are gonna continue in our series, Dear Church, lots and lots and lots to get to today. Let me ask God to bless it and to speak clearly and to give us a heart to obey Lord. We ask you to speak in power and authority to us, your children, Lord, we obey. We trust you, we love you, you're worthy of it. Bless this time, be clear, be powerful. If we miss it, say it again. We thank you for it in Jesus name, amen, and amen. I want you to imagine with me that you go to the doctors, some things have been going on. He says we're gonna run some tests, we're gonna do some scans. He comes in, he pulls over that stool. You know what I'm talking about? The stool that the doctor rolls over to you and he sits down in front of you, opens the folder and you can see on his face that what he's looking at isn't good.

But right before he looks up at you, he puts a smile on him and goes, you're doing great. He doesn't wanna freak out, right? Doesn't want you to feel judged. Wants the appointment to be encouraging. Doesn't want you to think he's incompetent as a doctor. About six months later you go and a doctor does the same test, rolls the same stool over and tells you the truth. Imagine you go home and you're thinking about that first doc and you go on Google review and you say, this is a wonderful kind and compassionate doctor. I'm gonna you would put that. No, you probably say he refused or was unable to tell me the truth and it was a form of malpractice. He thought that the loving thing was it's gonna hurt for them to hear it and what I wish he would have said is what happens if I don't tell him. This is the story of the church in Thyatira. Lot to get to today, Revelation 2 and verse 18. And as always, I wanna tell you a little bit about Thyatira, I think it's gonna help you understand why Jesus says what he says to them. Thyatira is about 40 miles inland from Pergamum. We've been kind of along the coast and now we're starting to bend southeast. Thyatira is a flat. Geographers and historians treat it as militarily negligible. In other words, ain't nobody care about Thyatira. By any ancient measure of the seven churches

that Jesus writes to, Thyatira is the least significant. It is in a flyover state and in a drive-by city, but it receives the longest letter. It just lets you know that Jesus is not as enamored with size as we are. But Thyatira was not a provincial capital. It was not an intellectual center. It was not an imperial showcase. It was not an economic powerhouse. It did not have a wonder of the world, a famous landmark, a famous library, a medical school. It was pretty nondescript. It was like peculiar Missouri. Yeah, it was like peculiar. All right, we got that out of the way, okay? No, Thyatira, here's what it was. It was a blue-collar, rural-market town along the highway. It was the place you stop and get gas where you're actually trying to get to. That's what Thyatira was, but what was unique about Thyatira was guilds. In our day, to a lesser degree, labor unions. And so maybe we would say Thyatira was a union town, but what's interesting is the way that it fleshed out for Thyatira. So we had wool workers, linen workers, leather workers, potters, bakers, bronze Smith. The most famous thing out of Thyatira was this dyed garment. It was terririan purple, and it was this extract

from the gland of a sea snail along the Phoenician coast. You thought you had a swaggy Sunday clothes on. Unless a sea snail died your linen shirt, you ain't got nothing on Thyatira. And it was so difficult to make that you had to have a certain trade, and it was so expensive to buy that only royals and individuals in the Senate were prestigious enough to be able to afford it. In fact, in Act 16, we're introduced to a lady by the name of Lydia. And Lydia was living in Philippi, but was from Thyatira. And the Bible says in Act 16 and verse 14 that she was a seller of purple goods, which means she's at the top of the economic heap. It means she's wearing Louis and driving Bentley's. You get what I'm saying? And so we just go, oh, she sold purple stuff. No, no, no, you got to understand. This was an entrepreneurial, very affluent lady who God converted, and then she took her house in Philippi, and it became the site for the church plant of the church in Philippi that receives a book and the New Testament from the apostle Paul titled Philippians. And so all of these things are kind of tied together, but trade guilds in Thyatira are deeply embedded in the city's social and economic framework. They actually would have been a little bit more

than unions here in America. They would have been networks. They would have been civic. They would have been social and they would have been religious. And so a Christian found themselves in a difficult place in Thyatira. And let me explain to you. I imagine that you're a bronze worker, or a leather worker, or a baker, or whatever. Let's just go with bronze worker. And Jesus saves you, but your guild is where all your friends are, and your guild is where all your customers are, and your guild is where all your supply chain is, and your guild is connected to your livelihood and your professional advancement. And every month or so, your guild gets together and they throw a banquet. And the banquet is to honor the patron pagan deity that that guild serves. And the barbecue is with meat that has been offered to that pagan deity. And so I'm eating meat offered to idols. I'm drinking wine offered to idols. And in the back room, in order to bless the pagan deity, you got non-married folks doing very married things. Come on, somebody, you understand what I'm saying? Okay. And so you're a Christian and God saves you, and you're a part of the skilled, and it is deeply attached to your identity,

to your livelihood, to your ability to take care of your family, and yet, everything kind of points to these barbecues, so to speak, that are aimed at these pagan gods, and you got a difficult decision to make. Am I gonna keep going to these barbecues, keep eating these, non-married folks that only married folks should be doing as an offering to idols. And it begins to cost the church economically because of the social pressure in the workplace. And so if we compare churches, do you remember week two Smyrna? Will you remain faithful when the world persecutes you? Today, Thyatira will you remain faithful when compromise makes life easier. And so remember, these are letters that Jesus wrote to churches they were intended to be read aloud. And so the church at Thyatira piles into the room. We sing some songs, we take offering, we pray, maybe we do the Lord suffer. The pastor stands up to what we call Revelation 2 and verse 18 and reads this letter that is addressed. And let's check it out together to the angel of the church in Thyatira. Right, the words of the Son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you. Let you tolerate that woman, Jezebel, who calls yourself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. So behold, I will throw her onto a sick bed. And those who commit adultery with her, I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her works. And I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am He who searches mind and heart. And I will give to each of you according to your works, but to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan to you, I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.

Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end to him, I will give authority over the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron as when earth and pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my father. And I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. This is the word of the Lord. So Jesus, that's where y'all are supposed to say amen by the way. So Jesus begins this letter and as he has in all the different letters, he introduces himself really specifically. So first he says this letter are from the words of the Son of God. This is the only time that Jesus is called the Son of God in the book of Revelation. And it references Psalm 2 verses 8 and 9 where Jesus is said to have the authority to rule the nations with a rod of iron and to break them in pieces like earthenware. This is what harp referenced last week when he said everybody in this room one day will bow before the king. You either do it voluntarily or he will shatter your knees and you will do it involuntarily. He's quoting Psalm 2 8 and 9 which Jesus is quoting to the church at Thyatira. But by introducing himself as the son of God, he is saying that he has the authority to give to the church at Thyatira or he will later offer them the authority to rule the nations. Jesus is saying I can offer it to you because I got it. I can offer it to you because I'm the son of God. I can offer you rule and share rule with me because I'm the one who will rule everything. He goes on and he says I have eyes like a flame of fire. And this is from the introduction in Revelation 1. Let me just pause real quick. We got a lot of text to get through today. Just hang with me. I promise it will make sense at the end. Eyes with flames of fire. Jesus, when he reveals himself to John in Revelation 1, this shows up.

It also shows up in Daniel 10 and Ezekiel 1. This is Jesus saying I have the ability to look past the exterior of your Sunday best and see what you actually love. Jesus says I see how y'all are looking so fly today. I see how y'all are so prim and proper. Good morning, brother. Hello, sister. How are you doing? Blessed and highly favored. Yes, all of those things that we do. Jesus says I even see the good things that you do for me but I can actually see past to where your heart actually is. And then he says I have feet like burnished bronze partially because Thyatira was known for a bronze working guild. So it's a nod to that. But burnished bronze carries the idea of treading over opposition. So Jesus says, allow me to introduce myself. I'm the son of God. And I'm eventually gonna offer you authority and to rule with me. And the reason that I can offer you that is because it's all mine. I also wanna be clear that all you church folks coming in here in your Sunday blessed, I'm glad you're here, but I can see past the exterior to the reality of your worship and of your affections. And here I am with my burnished bronze, Jordan once. And I'm about to tread with purifying judgment on what I see when I look past the exterior and to your heart. Come on somebody, Jesus is, shall we say, 10 toes down with his bronze toes. He goes on in verse 19.

He says, I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance and that your latter works succeed the first. This is the most explicit commendation that Jesus gives to any of the seven churches. And what we find out is that Thyatira's congregation was not only known for right belief but for right action around practical care for, love of an empathy to one another and the surrounding community. In other words, this is the kind of church you come into and they got a big sign in the lobby that says, welcome home. And they're building a community center. Can you believe the commonalities? No, this is a church that prays on the regular that when people step foot on their parking lot they will feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and the love of God that they will be met with kindness and with affection and with care. And Jesus says, I see what y'all are doing and he says, your last works exceed the first. In other words, you're growing. Remember, Ephesus started good and then lost their first love and Jesus says, let's go back to what was first. To Thyatira, he says, your latter works are more than the first. In other words, you started small and you have grown into a healthy, mature, loving church. This is pretty good. This is pretty good.

What a sweet thing to be known as a loving church, a kind church, a caring church, a serving church, Thyatira had it. But, but I have this against you that you tolerate that woman, Jezebel, who calls yourself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and eat food, sacrifice to idols. Jesus says, I love that you're loving, but you tolerate, you tolerate some things. You permit some things. You allow some things. You let some things continue unchecked. He doesn't say you participate in them. He doesn't say you commend them. He says you're silent about them. And like Pergamum, he references food offered idols to sexual immorality. Jesus pairs spiritual tolerance with sexual tolerance. But that's another sermon altogether. Jesus says that passivity and tolerance over time is a form of complicity. And that collective silence and inaction functions in practice as permission. Talk about practice. All right, y'all, wait. Okay, I dropped A.I.O. and yeah, nobody said anything, but whatever. So Jesus says, I love that you're loving, but you're so tolerant.

And then he gives two examples. He talks about Jezebel. He takes the teaching at Thyatira and he connects it to this person, similar to the use of Balaam with Pergamum. He takes a scripturally loaded reference to a real person and gives it a symbolic label. And here it's around spiritual adultery and rebellion. You see Jezebel was a Phoenician, a Sidonian princess who was married by King Ahab in 1 Kings 16 through 21. It's this political marriage, but there's all these sexual overtones. And when Jezebel becomes a part of the Israel-like community, there is this wholesale importation of Baal and Ashra worship. And Jesus says to the church at Thyatira, a good, healthy, growing, loving church. to exist, and y'all ain't even saying anything. He goes on as if we didn't already hear it. And he says in some of you are buying in, and this is an interesting phrase, to the deep things of Satan. Now this makes me laugh because I've been around church long enough to hear church folk talk about liking the deep things. Can I tell you it's profoundly annoying to me? Because what I find is that churches that are about the deep things aren't very good at the simple things, like loving your neighbor as yourself, like loving your wife as Christ loved the church, like submitting to a fallible man or a fallible leader.

You see a lot of times, wanting to be about the deep things of God is actually not being about doing the hard things of God. You see the Bible, listen, the Bible ain't complicated. It's pretty simple, but that don't mean it's easy. Come on somebody. And a lot of times churches love to be about the deep things 'cause they love feeding their minds, but it never translates to their feet, but that's a different sermon. That's a different sermon. And so Jesus comes along and he says something that we don't think about. There are the deep things of God, but they're also the deep things of Satan. And the deep things of Satan do exactly what the supposed deep things of God do. It conveys itself as being more enlightened, more understanding. Maybe you've heard it this way. This kind of a leadism. This kind of, we're a little more evolved than all you Midwesterners. With your patriarchal society and your old-fashioned belief systems, we're a little more progressive. No? Okay, fair enough. This is the idea, by the way. And I'm not talking politics, I'm talking worldviews. I'm talking, we're just keeping evolving

and we're a little here while you all are a little here. And apparently what's happening at Thyatira is yes, we're loving, but tolerance is being connected to, we're just a little up here and we're, you all just don't understand. Y'all just simple. This is all you blue college is kind of simple folks. We'll just take it from here and we'll do what we need to say in a minute if you're tracking with me. And so Jesus says, I love that you're loving, but you're tolerance. You're a leadism. You're progressive-ism. I got some things against you. And he goes on, he says, I gave her that being Jezebel, time to repent, but she refused to repent of her immorality. And so I'm gonna throw her on the sick bed. And those who commit adultery, I'll throw into tribulation. And those who won't deal with this, I'll strike their children dead so that the church knows that I am he who with eyes of fire searches the mind and heart and gives everybody what they deserve. So Jesus says this kind of play on word. He uses Jezebel with the sex bed and he says, I'm gonna throw her on the sick bed. You see, Jesus has just a little bit of baptism, all right? He likes to literate things, sex bed, sick bed, okay. He said, I gave her an opportunity to repent and she won't.

And so if y'all won't deal with her, I'll deal with her. And anyone who follows her, I will throw them into tribulation and I will strike their children. What kind of God? And that's not what he's saying, listen. Here's what Jesus is saying, watch. This is the generational offspring of this tolerance. What started as a sick bed ends up at death. What starts as a compromise ends up as lifelessness. And so what is Jesus saying to this church at Thyatira? Y'all are loving and I'm here for it. But you're so doggone tolerance. You're letting things in. And those compromises that you think you're just far too enlightened to deal with, those compromises are gonna make you sick. And those compromises are gonna create tribulation. And those compromises are ultimately going to kill, not this generation, that generation. There's so much, so much for us to talk about here, but we'll come back to it. Verse 25, to the rest of you in Thyatira who did not hold to this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I ain't trying to bug you with anything else. I do not lay on you any other burden, "verse 26, and who keeps my works into the end to him, "and he gives this invitation and this blessing.

"I will give him authority over the nations, "and he will rule them with a rod of iron "as when earth and pots are broken in pieces, "even as I myself have received authority from the Father, "and I will give him the morning star. "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says "to the churches. "Four things I want you to see. "First off, conquering. "Remember, there is a context to conquering. "This is the Roman world, and these cities and places "know what it is to be conquered. "And a lot of times, if I've honest with you, "we take a similar perspective on conquering, "that conquering means I bring my influence and power." This is why, by the way, a lot of the church in the West is so connected to politics, because we think conquering means getting more power. But that's not what Jesus is saying. Jesus is saying that Christian conquering is not about defeating your enemies before they hurt you, it is rather about remaining faithful to Jesus even as they hurt you. He is saying, don't compromise church. Don't surrender church. Don't let economic pressure church cause you to acquiesce to the culture because it's just easier to tolerate that so that you don't have to worry about paying your bills, church.

If you will, hang on to that, you will conquer. Doesn't mean you will put somebody in the White House. Means you already got your king, hang on to him, and he will conquer in spite of how it looks. He goes on, he says, and I will give you authority over the nations. Now remember, ain't nobody care about Thyatira. Are you with me? And he's saying to a church in Thyatira, a church who is ruled by Rome and the Christians are being marginalized, if you will hang on, you will rule not Thyatira, the nations with me. Can I tell you, if you watch the news in the first century, this made no sense, but what is Jesus saying? Allow me to reintroduce myself. I'm the son of God, and if you'll stick with me, not only will you conquer, but you will rule, and you will rule how with a rod of iron, there's only one person that had a rod of iron, and that was the king. And when these earthen pots are broken, what is Jesus referring to, these earthen pots? He's referring to kings and kingdoms that will all pass away. Now think about this, Rome felt like a juggernaut. Rome felt eternal, Rome felt timeless, and Jesus is saying, Rome ain't nothing but a pot that you put dirt in. And if you will stick with me, you will conquer,

and you will reign, and when these earthen pots are broken, we will rule together. And I will give you the morning star. Again, think about being a Christian in this context. It would have felt like you were living in the dark. It would have felt like everything is falling apart. I gave my life to Jesus, and now I can't pay my bills. And Jesus says, if you will stick with me, you will conquer, you will rule, this will pass away, the night will come to an end, and the morning star, which isn't a what, it's a who, will rise. Now think about being a blue collar tradesmen in Thyatira. The guild says, if you don't participate, you're gonna lose your business. Jesus says, I will give you authority over the nations. The culture says, you need us. Jesus says, you will reign with me. Rome says, Caesar rules. Jesus says, the nations are my inheritance. Rome was known as the eternal city. That was his nickname. And Jesus says, the night is almost over. This earth and pot will crumble, and the true star will soon rise. Trust me when I tell you. This is the same promise that God gives the church throughout all of the church ages. Don't miss it, don't surrender Christian, your future inheritance to preserve temporary access to a system that is passing away.

Hey Christian, don't get wrapped up in the economics They're just pots that you put dirt into. Don't get caught up believing the promises that are actually lies of the commercials of the game you watched yesterday. Don't go wholesale in on this. Hang on to the king. Hang on to the kingdom. Hang on to the promises. And for those of you that do, there will come a point where you will conquer and we will reign. For those of you who do, this night is not permanent. There is a star that is rising. Keep your eyes on him. I'm preaching 78% better than you all are responding right now. Okay, so this past weekend, are you with me so far? So this past weekend, Dr. Charlie Date spoke at our men's conference. Yeah, you didn't say amen to when I was preaching, but I said, "Charlie, Charlie Date's name," and you say, "Yeah, but whatever, whatever, okay?" And we had the privilege of helping release his new book, sold out almost immediately. And the title of the book is What Have Justice to Do with Righteousness. And when you start reading that book, I hope if you bought it, you started to read it. The book starts with the idea of divorce, not marital divorce, but of the separating of things

that God never intended to be separated. And Pastor Charlie and I had a lot of conversations around this, so here's an example. He said, "We've separated prayer from protest." We got some folks who will pray, but never open their mouth. And we got some folks who will pick it, but don't know how to pray. Come on, somebody. Yeah, we got some folks that are all about personal holiness, but not about public responsibility. And we got other folks who are all about public responsibility, but are shacking up with their boyfriend or girlfriend. We got lots of folks in the church who are about righteousness, but not a lot of folks who are about justice. And the folks who are about justice aren't about righteousness. And the folks who are about righteousness aren't really about justice. And can I tell you on this last one, I see this all the time. It's amazing. It's amazing to watch that I can preach a message you agree with 99.9% on, but when I bring up justice, now I'm woke. When I bring up justice, now I'm talking politics, and I'm here to tell you in the Bible, righteousness and justice aren't just two things, they're the same thing.

We have this way of pulling apart what scripture keeps together. And what happens, we create false choices that force people to pick a side. So let me say a couple things. You can care about the truth and care about people. You can be doctrinally faithful and be compassionate. You can hold moral conviction and be kind. The Bible doesn't create the same divisions that we create. And I will tell you that when we divide them, we humanize them. You see, a lot of us, it's hard for us to carry things that feel separate in tension as one thing. And so we separate them. So I don't really know how to do justice, so I'll just worry about my own personal righteousness. And at best, you're obeying 50%, which God is never gonna bless. And so when we pull things apart that God says are one, God can't bless it because we aren't doing it God's way because it doesn't fit inside of our prescribed comfort zone. And so when it comes to things like, how do I love God and love people? I know lots of churches that don't know how to do it. And this is why the letter at Thyatira is so important. The tension isn't really between love and truth. There is no tension, biblically, between love and truth. It's between biblical love and a counterfeit version of truth that refuses to confront anything. Jesus doesn't rebuke Thyatira for being loving.

He commends it for being loving and says, "But my issue with you is that somewhere along the way, "your love began to masquerade as tolerance "or your tolerance began to masquerade as love." And Jesus is saying that an unwillingness to confront, an unwillingness to exercise discernment and unwillingness to say, I don't really know how it works, but I know that God says it on unwillingness. You see, it's just easier for me to not talk about the things that I know you don't not want me to talk about. It's just easier for me to gas up the things that get the room popping and not talk about the things that make the room go flat. It's just easier for me to say how much I love you, but for my love to never say, I'm going to have to get up into your business for just a minute and then I'll be on my way. And what Jesus says is the inability to tell the truth is not only not loving, it is corrupt. Listen, love does not require us to surrender conviction. And truth does not require us to become cold. Faithfulness does not force us to choose between compassion and courage. And the compromise of today, watch, is the outright rejection of tomorrow. The sickness of today is the death of tomorrow. The compromising church today is the lifeless church tomorrow. And this is where this gets uncomfortably prophetic. I'll be honest with you, as I started to study Thyatira, there's the least amount of Thyatira of any of the seven churches. And I was like, man, there's not a lot for me to latch on to here until I found out, oh, where Thyatira? You see, this is happening. This is happening. Just let me get this unpack for you. I've been pastoring now for almost 30 years. And when I started, everybody was talking about how the next generation was going to be the one to put the coffin in the nail in the coffin of the Evangelical Church in the West. Now, by God's grace, that hasn't happened. But can I tell you what this generation never questioned when they were talking about the next generation? They never questioned what sickness we were allowing that would turn terminal in the next generation. And I want to say to you that the thing that we were doing is we were teaching people to do pieces of what God said, but not the whole thing. So watch, we were teaching people to pray, but never protest. And the next generation said,

y'all are praying, but you never speak up. You talk to God about men, but never men about God, and we ain't going to do it. But watch. Here's the thing that I want to say to you if you're under the age of 30, I get your frustration with my generation, but I'll tell you what I see in the generation that's coming up. We prayed, but didn't protest, and y'all will protest, and I'm here for it. But you don't know how to pray. And my generation said, you need to be personally holy. And we didn't talk about public responsibility, because we didn't know how to do it. And so we would talk about don't drink smoked chew or go with girls that do. But we would never talk about how do we bless and bring the future kingdom of God into Raytown. And this generation is like, we ain't going to do it like y'all did. We care about our city, right? And I'm here for it, but you're sleeping with your boyfriend. And this generation talked a lot about righteousness, and not a lot about justice. And this next generation is all about justice and praise God. I'm here for it. Thank you. Thank you for bringing revival in this way to the church. We have needed it because we have separated what God never took apart. And in all of your enlightened progressivism, your justice to me lacks righteousness. We in this generation, I also with me, were all about the truth. God said it, I don't care, bless God, I'm going to stand on the promises of God. Yeah, yeah, man, yeah, yeah. But it never translated to us loving people. So if I told the truth, I could be cocky and arrogant and rude. to do it. They say, "We're loving and I'm here for it. I'm not kidding. This we got it wrong." And the separating of things that were one and two as part of the reason a lot of y'all are leaving the church. And you want to be loving, but you don't read your Bible. You don't know what it says, you don't know the truth, and so you're easily deceived. And here's what I'm trying to say.

I'm trying to say that the church in America, if you study church history, here's what we do. We take things that are one, we turn them into two, we create denominations and tribes. One generation says, "Yes, we're right." The next generation says, "No, you're wrong," and keeps it separated. Instead of saying, "No, no, we're going to be a church that protests in praise." We're going to be a church that is holy and loves our neighborhood. We're going to be a church that is righteous and just. We're going to be a church that tells the truth, both he clap and I appreciate it. We're going to be a church that believes the Bible and loves people. And Jesus comes to Thyatira, and he does not say, "Y'all woke up one day and decided to not follow me." He says, "There were some things that I wanted to confront, and you wouldn't let me." So watch. Jesus writes them a letter and confronts them and accuses them of malpractice with terminal results. This word, man, come on, tell me if I'm wrong. Tell me if I'm wrong that we're losing a generation because we've separated things that God never took apart. Tell me if I'm wrong that we defend the separation of the thing that God never took apart to the next generation, and they're right. And you're at risk of doing exactly what we did, just opposite. And so what do we do? We step back from both sides of the aisle, from opposite generations, from opposite demographics, and we say this, "What have I learned to live with that Jesus wants to confront? What has become normal to me about righteousness and justice? What has become normal to me about prayer and protest? What has become normal to me about standing on the truth and loving people? What has become normal to me in my personal and in my private life? And listen, listen, you know that it's not pleasing to God.

You know that God can't bless you the way that you're doing, but what do we do? We get so comfortable that we keep saying to God later, later, later, and I'm here to tell you that God is saying no today, and by today I don't mean ideologically, metaphorically, by today I mean September 6 Sunday at 10.36 a.m. We cannot be a church that takes things that have been made separate and put them back together if you are a Christian who is fragmented and lacks integrity. We can't be a church that says we want the Holy Spirit to confront us if you won't let the Holy Spirit confront you. We can't be a church that loves our neighborhood and loves our God, that loves the truth and loves people, that is just and righteous, if you won't let God say, "Hey, this, this, this." And give me that, you're going to stop that, you're going to start that. And so we look at the ancestry of our church in Thyatira. And rather than standing at a distance, we let the Holy Spirit come close, and we say, "Okay, what's the thing that you want to point out in me? What's the thing that you want to talk about? the thing that you want to confront and the Holy for your loss tomorrow." Stop making the trade of saying, "I just am going to hang on to this and not understanding that sickness today is death tomorrow, that compromise today is death tomorrow, and instead of waiting for it to hit the fan, surrender it today. Trust God today. Come under the authority of God's Word today for God's glory and for your good church to receive this today. I want you to stand to your feet. Let me pray for you Father, I thank you for this church and Lord as I was reading about Thyatira, I am hoping, Lord, that this is a church that is known for love and care and acts of service, not only to one another, but to our neighborhood. Lord, we are continuing to try to make it hard to go to hell in Kansas City. We are continuing to desire to see the future Kingdom of God brought into the present, not

just with our belief systems and sermons preached, but with our empathy and care and love and listening. We are intending, Lord, to be a witness of you as our King and in order to do that, there are some things, Lord, that I think most of us would have to admit we have been tolerating. There are some things that are just easier to ignore. There are some things that have sat on the shelf of our life so long and even though we know they ought not be there, it's harder to take it down than just leave it alone. And I pray, Lord, that today you would give us a vision for not tolerating things that ought not be, and you would give us a vision for what it's actually costing us, that you would give us a vision for the trajectory and implications of us mostly following you, but not fully surrendering to you. Give us a vision in our own hearts, in our marriage, in our family, in our finances, in our workplace, in our well-being, what would it look like, God, if we went all in on you and took you at your word? What would it look like if we didn't tolerate and passively stay complicit, but if actually, something that we are and everything that we have, we actually believe you're worthy of it all? Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit would be speaking to us. I pray, Lord, that you with eyes of fire and feet of bronze would call out what is true about this place, would judge what ought not be about this place, would apply the blood of a spotless lamb to this house so that we could be the type of church that both faithfully receives generation gone by and faithfully gives to generations yet to come. Not our version of your word, but all of it. Not a fractionated surrender, but all of it. But if, God, our link in the chain is to go all in and trust you. What an incredible privilege that would be to be a part of that kind of church. Lead us, Lord. We thank you. Thank you for your faithfulness and your kindness. Speak to us now.

Let it be for your glory, God, and for our good in Jesus' name. Amen. A growth track, step one, happening today, giving boxes in the back, prayer team, down front, church. I love you. Have the best day. See you next Sunday. (gentle music)