Central Church, we're so glad you guys are here with us this weekend. We want to invite you guys to stand and let's sing together. Come on. I know breakthrough is coming. By faith I see a miracle.
My God made me a promise and it won't stop now. You can take the grace that's in you. For me, my hope on things above, the super best in the air to come. The presence.
Your presence is an open door. Won't you go? I never before. Your presence is an open door Come now Lord, I never before Let's all together today, we're declaring this, I know breakthrough is coming.
Come on church. I know breakthrough is coming. By faith I see a miracle.
My God made me a promise and it won't stop now. No breakthrough is coming, I think I see a miracle, my God made me from His name, He's gonna stop now. No breakthrough is coming, I think I see a miracle, my God is gonna stop now. Oh, way through the darkness, hey, I see a miracle, my God, maybe Alright, let's keep that going this morning.
Let me see those hands. In the name of the Lord, blessed is the one who stands on his word, who stands on his word evermore. Every day, every night, bringing my soul to life.
Blessed is the one who walks in the name, who walks in the name of the Lord. I'm gonna put my roots down, down by the river of life now. Down by the river of life now.
I'm gonna put my trust in you, Lord. I trust in you, Lord. Blessed is the one who praises the Lord, who praises the name of the Lord. Blessed is the one who praises the Lord, who praises the name of the Lord.
Every day, every night, bring in my soul. Blessed is the one who walks in the box of the Lord. I'm gonna put my rules down, down by the river of life now, down by the river of life now.
I'm gonna put my trust in you Lord, I'm gonna put my rules down, down by the river of life now. I'm going to put my trust in you, Lord. I'm going to put my rules down, down by the river, down by the river of life. I'm going to put my rules down, down by the river of life.
I'll plant it by the neverlands, teach my listeners. Down by the river, apart now, I'm gonna put my trust in you, Lord. Gonna put my roots down, down by the river, apart now.
Down by the river, apart now, I'm gonna put my... I'm trusting in love. Gonna put my rules down. Down my river of love now.
Down my river of love now. I'm gonna put my trust in you. Gonna put my rules down. Down by the river, down by the river of life, don't put my roots down. Oh, come on, it's Super Bowl Sunday.
How many believe the Chiefs are going to win today? How many believe the Eagles are going to win? Whoa, if it's based on our vote, it looks like the Eagles are going to win. How many more excited about the eats than you are the game that you're going to have today? Anybody?
You're more excited about the food? Yeah, that would be me. I'm more excited about the food as well.
Hey, welcome everybody. Thanks for making Central part of your weekend. We want to give a huge shout out to all of our first time guests and let you know that you're in a place where it's okay to not be okay. Hey, and if you've got a moment right after our experience, drop off to a place. we set up just with you in mind called New to Central.
We got a gift and we're looking forward to saying hi and getting to know you a bit better. Hey, help me celebrate all of our first time guests, church. Come on, give it up big.
Great way to stay connected to all that Central has to offer you and your family is download the Central Church app, turn on notifications. You're gonna see a lot of exciting things coming up like First Step, another night of worship around the corner, all kinds of great activities like... like summer camps for children and youth. So make sure you check that out.
Hey, God is doing some incredible things in the life of our church. But before we get to that, I'm gonna invite you to stand, knuckle bump, and say a big, huge, warm welcome to those around you. Oh, friendliest church in the world.
I love this place. Hey, help me welcome Annalicia this weekend, will you? Come on, give it up big for her. I can't wait for you to hear her story because she was coming to church as a young child with her mom, and her mom decided to go a different direction in her faith.
So it kind of left a vacuum or a void in Annalicia's journey. And as she got older... she decided she wanted to return to church. And so she started coming with herself, and then she met some friends.
But as she was here at church, she learned about youth camp and the difference it could make in her own life. So through an invite from some friends, she decided to take a risk and sign up for youth camp. And there she was scholarship to go because she couldn't afford to go on her own. And some generous donor said, hey, we got you.
And as she was here, She was able to go to camp, and I know God showed up in your life hugely. And tell us about that experience when you went to camp. What did God do in your heart?
Well, God had opened up, like, his love for me through the people. around me through the love they showed, the respect, and I felt like I was accepted in a community for once that I've never felt before. Wow, and you saw that love and acceptance, which you knew wasn't normal, and you're so brave coming and sharing your story this weekend, truly.
I mean, you're with all the old people this weekend, okay? So that's a risk, right, church? I mean, she's under like, you know, that's bold. And you go to camp, you see this work of God. What did God do in your life particularly?
God started to open up and he said, I want you in your kingdom. And the way he did that, someone had asked who would like to be baptized. And it wasn't something like I chose. It was a feeling.
I stand up and I'm like, I want to be baptized. I feel I want to start my journey now with God. That's so awesome.
And that was so amazing. In fact, I think we have a little clip of you being baptized. And tell us about this moment.
What did you feel when you were baptized? During this moment, when I went under, I felt all this grief, this sadness, this heaviness on my chest. It left, and when I was frozen in Christ, I could feel this immense joy, just like playing as a little girl with friends.
Something I hadn't felt in a long time. a long time. That's the beauty and the supernatural move of God, right church? Literally thousands of us know that same joy on Alicia.
And you know, I just love the fact that, that God's using you. Tell us how he's using you. using you now all these months later after camp? God now uses me as to spread the word and share his love for others who may have been going through the same thing as me and bring them to Christ.
Wow, and he has. I've heard the reports how God's using you. Well, I don't know who that donor was in your life that gave you an opportunity to go to camp, but they might be here this weekend.
We don't know. What would you want to say to them if you could? I would tell them that without them. I wouldn't have this amazing life change. I want to be the person I am today.
That's for sure. That's so awesome. Hey, church, would you help me celebrate on Alicia Big this weekend?
Thank you so much for being here this weekend. We're excited. You know, you and I get to invest in God's work. We get to, right?
It's a not have to. We get to. We get to invest our time.
We get to invest our talent. We get to invest our financial resources. So others, like Annalise, Alicia can experience the joy that comes from knowing Jesus.
Years ago, I decided I was going to give my best investment to others. And I started with my family. I made it a priority that I was going to give my best investment to others.
give my best time, talent, and financial resources. And I think I got a little picture. I want to explain it.
This is your Pastor Nick right there receiving Jesus into his life at a couch in our home. I forget, that's probably about 35 years ago, actually. And the Bible tells us that he who begins a good work in us will complete it until the day Jesus returns.
And here's what I want you to know. Sometimes we know the direct impact of our investment, and sometimes we don't know the direct impact. Whoever gave that gift for Anna Alicia to go to camp, you may not have known she was going to receive that and God was going to do that. But we get this opportunity to partner with God in his work in this world, and we can invest our time, talent, and financial resources so God can make an investment in other people's lives.
And here's what I want you to know. I see the direct investment in my son's life. life because he's going to speak this weekend and that investment is going to be multiplied into your life because he's teaching God's word.
Listen, but that doesn't discount all the other life change that's happened indirectly that I don't even know about over the last 40 years. But what I can tell you is I don't regret a single moment. And our pastor, Pastor Judd, challenged us a couple weeks ago to step up and to increase our generosity of our time, our talent, and our financial resources.
And his challenge was for all of us who give occasionally in the church to make a commitment and become what we call here a generosity rock star. You say, what's a generosity rock star? It's someone who just says, I'm going to sign up. to give a reoccurring gift online.
The easiest and best way to do that is through the Central Church app. Just scroll to the bottom. There's a link that says give. You can put in the amount that you wanna give and it can click the reoccurring gift.
Put in your credit card information and you'll become what we call. a generosity rock star. That's just someone that says, I'm willing to make that investment. So the Annalises of the world and the Nicks of the world and others of the world can know the love of Jesus and their life can be... forever changed and transformed.
And we can celebrate he who began the good work in them will complete it until the day Jesus returns. And you and I will be impacting eternity, making heaven more crowded because we were faithful to say yes to Jesus. Are you with me, church?
We can take that step and let God work in that way. Well, Let's just ask God's blessing. Would you join me in going to God in prayer, just asking him to show up huge in our life today?
Well, Father, we love you, and we're grateful. We're grateful for your good work in our life. We're grateful that you want to be a part of us, and we invite you right now into our experience.
You promised Jesus. Where two or three are gathered in your name, you would be in our presence. So we welcome you into our lives. We want you more than anything in this world right now. And I pray in exchange that it wouldn't be a single person during this time that would not experience your grace, your goodness, that every one of us would know your love and your forgiveness and your mercy.
And that we would know you, Jesus, and your power. And that you would show up and do your work in us and through us. So a world that's crying out for hope, our lives would matter with meaning and purpose.
For your glory. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's all stand and continue to worship together.
Just as we are, and our hearts is, all that you are, you are, it is, in spirit, in spirit, in truth. God, we will worship you. You're making us new. We love to see you.
In spirit and in truth. God, we will worship you. There's none more time, close to the longing So why would I hide, you already know me Step back All to save the world and the earth, my name is King.
His spirit, His truth God, we worship You're making us new We love to sing It's big and it's real God we will worship you Our souls are thirsty Holding the heavens in their hand The yard is empty, and I don't want it. Oh Lord, I still not thirsty, open the heaven, tear it down. And never let me down, from living water fill us now. Oh Lord, I still not thirsty, open the heaven, tear it down.
Lift our hands, lift our hearts, and set this out together in spirit. Spirit in truth. God, we worship your name.
God, we love to see you. Move in spirit in truth. Don't make me ask you We've come to a time in our experience where we stop and pray for those that need or want prayer.
And I recognize that if you're new here, this might be a strange moment, but this is something that we do every single weekend when we stop and lift up those that are hurting and broken. And if you're going through something, I know some of you guys might consider what you're going through small, and some of you might consider what you're going through super heavy, and I'm sorry you're going through that. But no matter what you're going through, I want to remind you that the Bible says in Philippians 4, don't worry about anything, pray about everything.
So I want to challenge you today, church. If you're going through something today, if you're hurting and you're broken and you need prayer, would you just boldly slip a hand up in the air? I would love to take a second and pray for you.
And if you're not raising a hand, would you just stretch a hand out to someone who is? If they're comfortable with it, just put a hand on their shoulder. Just let them know you're there.
That's the church family. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we just pray for those who are going through something today.
We pray for the hurt, we pray for the broken. And I don't want to act like I know what they're going through, but God, I know you do. Lord, would you just meet them right where they're at today?
I'm praying for peace. I'm praying for clarity. I'm praying for wisdom. I'm praying for strength to help them get through what they're going through, God, because we can't do this on our own. And God, I also want to thank you for all the blessings that you've given us.
Because we know you're sovereign, we know you're true, we know you are life, that you are good. So we lift our hands and surrender to you today. God, we love you, we trust you, we thank you. And we pray this in Jesus' name.
And everybody said, Amen. Let's continue to sing together. I've got nothing new, how could I express?
I could sing these songs, as I often do Every song must end So I throw up my hands And praise you again and again All that I have is a heart It's not much, I'm nothing else, speak for me Except for hearts in high I've got just one move, when my heart's just wide, I will worship you. So I'll hold my hands and praise you again and again. All that I have is a hallelujah.
Hallelujah I know it's not much But I've nothing left before me Except for a heart singing Hallelujah Hallelujah Oh come on my soul, oh don't you get shy on me, lift up your soul, cause you got a lion inside Get up and praise the Lord. Oh, come on my soul. Oh, don't you get shy.
Lift up your song. You've got a life inside of those arms. Get up and praise the Lord.
Oh, come on, my son. Oh, come on, my son. Oh, come on, my son.
In a prayer for every soul Oh come and bless them Oh bless them in childbirth Let your son be that I lie inside of all trust. You have been praised. You have been praised.
So I put up my hands, praise you again. All that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah. I know it's not much, but I've nothing left but a portion.
Step for a heart's need, God, God, God. Amen, church. Amen. You can go and take a seat. Well, what an awesome time of worship.
We enjoy worshiping with you guys. each and every week. And we just wanted to give a special shout out to anyone watching online and especially to those watching in Morelia, Mexico.
That's right. We also want to give a huge shout out to all the men and women watching in prison facilities through our partnership with God Behind Bars and the Panda Opera. We're so glad that you guys are here with us as well.
Well, hey, last week we kicked off an incredible series, Are We Living in the End Time? So do me a favor, go ahead, take out your phone, get the central app so you can take some notes. He's got an incredible message to share.
So let's welcome Pastor Nick as he delivers with us a message of hope. Welcome everybody! Thanks for joining us on your big game Sunday, tailgating right here with us.
It's always going to be a great day when it starts out with your dad showing a picture of you. in your underwear. So we've got that, but so thankful for his words and thankful you're here.
You're here for week two of our series, Are We Living in the End Times? And we've been diving to the book of Revelation. And last week, Pastor Judd kicked us off with an incredible teaching on Revelation chapter one. In fact, if you missed it, go back, go to YouTube, search Central Church, or go to our app, watch this message back, because he does such a great job setting us up for what we're going to be learning and teaching the next two weeks. So a couple things I want to remind us of that he talked about before we jump into chapters two and three today.
I think a question a lot of us might have. on our mind or might be asking is, are we in fact living in the end times? And the answer to that question is yes. We believe we've been living in the end times for over 2,000 years now, nearly 2,000 years.
The other question that we might have is, do we know when Jesus is coming back? The answer to that question is no. Jesus himself says no.
Not anyone knows the day or the hour when these things are going to happen. Not the angels, not the son. He says only the father knows. And not knowing can make the book of Revelation seem scary.
But this book, it really comes down to two words. It has one theme and those two words are Jesus wins. Jesus wins. And that's not a book to find fear in.
That's a book to find hope in, right? So my hope for you, my prayer for you today is you realize and you hold on to the fact that everything we uncover in the end is still the realization that. Jesus wins and Jesus conquers. My family and I, we went skiing this last week.
And my kids have grown up skiing. They're good skiers. They're not expert skiers.
We don't get to ski multiple times a year. It's normally just once a year. So we stick to the blues and greens. They're not really thrill seekers.
They just want the easy runs. And that's great. We do the easier stuff. We have a good time.
No crashes, no wipeouts. It's a great day. But by the end of the day, I was ready for something.
think a little bit more exciting, a little bit more challenging. And so I told my wife, Laura, I said, I'm going to go to the backside of the mountain. I'm going to go to where the black diamond runs are, the steep hills, the more challenging ski slopes.
And as I'm explaining this to Laura, my youngest daughter, Cosette, she's 10, she pipes up. She's like, I'm going with dad to the backside of the mountain. Now, my first thought was this, this is not a good idea. Like I need to talk her out of this. I don't know what the backside of the mountain looks like.
I don't know the condition. of the runs, of the slopes. She needs to stay here with mom. But the more I try to talk her out of it, she just keeps talking me into it.
She's confident. She is adamant that she is going to the backside of the mountain. So I said, all right, girl, you're coming with me. And when we get to the backside of the mountain, before we head up the ski slope, there is a handwritten sign that says advanced skiers only. Many, many, many obstacles, thin and icy coverage, ungroomed runs.
It basically was saying, you don't want to take your 10-year-old on the... the backside of the mountain. But Cosette read the sign and I thought she's going to read it and we're going to head back to the easy stuff.
She's going to, this sign will talk her out of it. She reads it. She looks at me. She's like, I got this.
I'm like, oh my gosh, what am I raising here? This girl has no fear. We get on the slow. We head up. It's some of the worst wind I've ever experienced up at 10,000 feet.
And it's just tossing us around as we get off the ski lift. I try to ski down to a run that I feel like will be the easiest way down for Cosette. There's no easy way down, just the easiest. way down, we come up to this run and the name of the run is Wolverine. So at least the name isn't scary and intimidating, right?
And we look over the edge and we can see exposed rocks. We can see trees. We can see thin and icy coverage. It's steep. I asked Cosette, what do you think?
She's like, yeah, I got this. I'm like, okay. She's like, plus, do we have a choice? I mean, we're going to get stuck up here if we don't just go down. I'm like, you're right.
The only way out is down. And so you follow me. Everywhere I go, I'll lead us through these obstacles. Don't leave my side.
You stay right behind me. She's like, I got it. And we start going and she stays right behind me so much so that I have to pick up speed because she's right on my tail. Like she is going quick. She's got her little pizza.
She's flying down the mountain. And so I'm going quicker than I want to go. Every time I look back, I'm expecting to see fear on Cosette's face or tears or even a wipeout.
But every time I look back, it's a big smile. It's two thumbs up as she's just flying down. And we make our way all the way. to the bottom. And when we get to the bottom, no wipeouts, no crashes, no injuries.
I'm celebrating the fact that we made it, but I'm not chancing it again. So we head back to the ski lifts to the easy side of the mountain. And as we're heading up that side of the mountain on that ski lift, I asked her, I said, what'd you think? What'd you think of the back side of the mountain?
She's like, dad. That was scary. That was icy. That was steep.
That was bumpy. That was life-threatening. You probably shouldn't have taken me on the backside of the mountain.
I said, girl, first of all, you were adamant. You talked me into it. And secondly, every time I looked back, you had a smile on your face.
You had two thumbs up. She said, dad, that wasn't a smile. That was me going, ah.
I'm like, well, then what was the thumbs up? She's like, well, the thumbs up was me realizing I was going to be able to tell my older sisters that I conquered the backside of the mountain. And she did. I was a proud dad. We had to go back the next day, take a picture by that handwritten sign of her conquering the steep slopes.
I think it's going to come up here. There we go. Advanced skiers only.
Cosette did it. Proud dad moment. And that moment stuck with me because that's confidence, her determination, her belief that we could conquer it.
Isn't that the kind of confidence that we're meant to have in our faith? And the book of Revelation, it can feel intimidating. It can even feel scary at times.
But here's the truth. Revelation is not a book of fear. It's a book of victory. Because Jesus has always been a book of victory. already conquered.
And we don't have to be afraid when we know the one who holds the future, right? So Revelation isn't about destruction. It's about the renewal of all things through Christ. It's not a story of defeat.
It's a story of hope. And that's why Revelation isn't about predicting a date for Jesus's return. It's about his ultimate victory.
And no one knows the day or hour, but what we can do is we can lift our eyes to Jesus because he gives us confidence for whatever lies ahead. Because he's already conquered it. And today we're going to be diving into Revelation 2 and 3. We're going to be looking at Jesus' words to his church. Now here's what's happening here. In the beginning of this book, in Revelation chapter 1, Jesus appears to his disciple John in a vision.
a vision. He appears to him in a vision, his disciple, Jesus has already ascended into heaven, so now he's returning to him in this vision, and he's giving John a revelation. And Jesus tells John, write down everything you see and send it to seven churches.
And that's where we begin today, in Revelation chapter 2, where Jesus begins addressing the first church. I want to look at Revelation 2, 1 with you, because I want you to see that these words are, in fact, from Jesus. And I also... So, and when we get to the red word, say that out loud with us. It says this, write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus.
Ephesus is the first church that Jesus is writing to. It says, this is the message from what? From who? The one. The one who holds the seven stars in his right hands.
Revelation tells us these seven stars represent the seven messengers that will deliver these letters. And then it goes on to say, the one who walks among the seven gold lampstands. The seven. gold lampstands, Revelation tells us, represents the seven churches that he's writing to.
So this sets the stage for what's coming next. Seven letters from Jesus himself to his church. And these are words spoken with authority, and they're meant to guide, to correct, to encourage. They're meant to move God's people forward.
Now something to note about these seven letters, though, to these seven churches. These seven churches, they were were real historical churches. These were churches facing intense persecution.
They were facing this increasing temptation to compromise. More than these just being letters to churches in the past, these letters, they also offer timeless lessons for every church, for every believer. They offer timeless lessons for Central Church, for us today. Because Jesus, He sees everything.
He sees our strengths, He sees our struggles, He sees our compromises, He sees our potential. And he is the perfect one to bring correction because he's walked among us. He's seen it all.
So what does this mean for us? Why should we care about these seven letters written nearly 2,000 years ago? Well, just like I was saying, first, they offer timeless application.
These aren't just letters for churches back then. They're letters for us today. They apply to all churches in all ages.
But secondly, there's a personal application. And as we go through these letters, my prayer for this message today, my hope for you is that you see yourself in these letters. That these letters aren't history, but that they're a mirror.
That they reflect where we might stand in our faith today, so that as we go through them, we don't just listen for information, that we truly seek transformation in our own lives. So my prayer is that each one of us will ask ourselves, which of these messages, which of these letters is speaking directly to me? Because these aren't just words on a page. They're Jesus's very words to his church.
They're meant to challenge us. They're meant to encourage us. They're meant to wake us up.
And the first wake up call I wanna look at today is don't lose your passion for Jesus. Don't lose your passion for Jesus. This next week is Valentine's Day, and I had seen online these posts from kids, these Valentines from kids that were brutally honest.
I want to share a couple of them with you. Look at this one. It says, Dear Rachel, You are the second best teacher ever. Love you.
This one here. Dear mom, you are nice, funny, and you love me. I know your hormones are crazy, but I don't mind because you still love me.
This last one, this is a letter from Kyle to Ashley. He's asking her to please be his girlfriend and circle yes or no. She circles no.
She says, I'm sorry, I already have a boyfriend, Kyle, but when we break up, you're my next choice. P.S. That will probably be in a month or two. Like she, the girl is honest with herself. She knows what lies ahead.
And kids can be brutally honest, can't they? I think sometimes, though, that's the kind of honesty that we all need. We need an accurate assessment of where we are. We also need a wake-up call into who we can be.
And one of the first things Jesus addresses in these letters is the danger of drifting away from a passionate relationship with Him. There's three churches he does this to. We're not gonna cover the seven churches in order.
We're gonna cover them more categorically. But the first three churches are all churches struggling with a loss of passion for Jesus in different ways. There's Ephesus, there's Sardis, there's Laodicea.
The church in Ephesus, they were hardworking. They were faithful. And on the surface, they looked like they were a thriving church.
But Jesus saw beyond their actions and into their hearts. His message to them was, look how far you've fallen. You don't love me. You don't love others like you did at first. You see, this was a church that was doing all the right things, but their love for Jesus had grown cold.
The church in Sardis, it had an excellent reputation. If you asked anybody in the city, they would say, that is a strong church. But Jesus saw something different.
He told them, he says, you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, strengthen what remains of your faith. You see, this church was living off their past success and their faith had become stagnant. And then the last church on that slide was Laodicea.
Laodicea, they were a wealthy church. They were a self-sufficient church. They were even a comfortable church. They didn't think they needed anything. And Jesus tells them, he says, you say things.
like you are rich. You say things like we have everything we want and yet you don't realize that you're wretched and you're miserable, you're poor, you're blind, you're naked. They had become spiritually lukewarm which means that they didn't fully reject Jesus but at the same time they weren't fully devoted to him either.
And each of these churches looked fine from the outside but Jesus saw the truth. And this is just how it happens, isn't it? It's not like we just wake up one morning and just decide that we're not going to be in love with Jesus anymore. That seems to just, that relationship seems to just drift naturally. It just seems to drift gradually.
Because what happens is we get busy. We stop spending time with Him. We go through the motions. But we're serving without truly seeking anymore.
We're working without worshiping. And little by little, our faith, it starts to turn into this routine instead of a relationship. So Jesus gives these three churches a wake-up call. He calls Ephesus to return to the love that they first had.
He tells Sardis to wake up before their faith completely dies. He urges Laodicea to recognize their need for him and to stop relying on themselves. And this is one of the things that I love about Jesus. This is just who he is.
Jesus, he doesn't just call people out. He calls people back. He invites them back. I mean, look at what he says to the church in Sardis in Revelation 3.3.
He says, go back to what you heard and believed at what? At first. Hold to it firmly.
Repent and turn to me again. And then to the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3.20, he says this. He says, I stand at the door and knock.
If you hear my voice and what? Open the door, I will come in. I will come in. We as pastors, teachers, as Christ followers, we like to quote this verse to unbelievers, to non-believers, to people who haven't accepted Jesus yet. We like to say, Jesus is outside the door of your heart, knocking, and that's true.
He does show up in that way, but this verse right here comes from a letter written by Jesus to his church. Which means he was writing it to those who already claimed to believe. And Jesus is telling them, hey, the door's shut. I know you think it's open, but you've shut the door.
I'm still here. I'm outside. I'm knocking. He's telling them, come back. Wake up.
Return to the passion that you once had. The invite's still there. It's always there.
You just have to open the door. So what about us? Are we just going through the motions?
Are we relying on routine instead of a relationship? Have we let comfort replace conviction? Maybe for you, you still show up to church, you still serve, you still read your Bible, but if you're honest with yourself, you would say your heart isn't in it like it used to be.
Here's the truth. Busyness for God is not the same as closeness with God. And we can work hard for Jesus.
We can work all day, every day, and still drift in our relationship with him. Because a faith that is fueled by routine instead of relationship will always run dry. So how do we fix it? Well, we start by going back to the beginning.
You remember what it was like when you first encountered Jesus. Refuse to settle. Don't let spiritual comfort turn into spiritual complacency. You invite him back to the center. If Jesus is knocking on the door to your heart, I don't care if you've been following Jesus for a day or a hundred years.
If you feel like that door's shut and he's knocking, you open it. You open it. The scariest thing to me is that all three of these churches, they thought they were doing great. great. Ephesus was busy doing great things in the name of the church.
Sardis had a great reputation and Laodicea, they were successful. But Jesus saw the truth. He saw through them to what was really going on.
So let me ask you, if Jesus wrote a letter to you, if Jesus wrote a letter to me, what would it say? Would it say things like, you're still showing up, but your heart isn't really in it anymore, is it? Would he say, you have a great reputation, it looks like you're doing all the right things, people love you, but I know you're running on empty.
What I say, you think you have everything you need, but you're still missing me. The good news, church, is that it is not too late to wake up. Jesus is saying, return to me, open the door, and if we do, he promises us something greater than we can ever imagine. But we have to ask him to renew our passion for him.
And if we do, he will. He will show up, and he'll renew that passion. He'll light that fire again. So we renew our passion, our love for Jesus. And then the next thing we see in these letters to these seven churches is to stand firm in the face of pressure.
This is our second wake-up call. Stand firm in the face of pressure. in our marriage, my wife Laura, she approached me one day and she said, hey, I want to go tour these model homes with you that I drove by. I just want to go do a tour through them.
And I told her, that does not sound fun, babe. Like, I don't want to go. go to her homes that we're not going to get. I don't want to just be hassled by a salesperson to buy a home. Like that doesn't sound fun.
And she said, please, like it would be a fun date day for me. Like let's go tour these homes, do a little date, have fun, hold hands, walking through homes we won't have. I don't know.
She imagined something great. I said, that's fine. But afterwards, I want to go down to Bass Pro Shops. I want to look at some boats. She said, we are not buying.
a boat. I said, exactly. Why are we going to go look at things that we're not going to buy? Now, I was the man for like 30 minutes because we did go on those home tours.
We never went on a boat tour and we did end up buying one of those homes. So I was the man for 30 minutes. I stood firm, but I folded under the pressure. But I guess happy wife, happy life, right?
That's what they say. But I tried to stand firm. I folded.
And after calling out churches that had lost their passion, Jesus turns his attention to these three churches that were experiencing intense pressure. This is Smyrna, this was Pergamum, this is Thyatira. And each of these churches, they were under attack in different ways.
The church in Smyrna, it was enduring extreme persecution. Jesus tells them, I know about your suffering, I know about your poverty, but you have to realize you're rich. Now this was a group of people that had been in prison. They were tortured. They were even killed for their faith.
And Jesus doesn't promise to remove their suffering. Instead, he tells them, don't be afraid for what you're about to suffer. If you remain faithful to me, even when facing death, then I'm going to give you the crown of life.
You see, he wasn't calling them to escape suffering. He was calling them to stand firm through it. The second church, Pergamum, it was known as the city where Satan had his throne. How would you like to be known for the city where Satan had his throne? a city where Satan had his throne.
I think maybe we know a little bit of something about that, living in a city that's known to be sin city, right? But Pergamum, it was this place full of idol worship. It was a place full of false gods, of emperor worship.
And Christians there, they were under this cultural pressure to compromise in their faith, to blend in. And Jesus commends them. He says, you've remained loyal to me. You refused to deny me. Even when Antipas, who was one of Jesus' faithful witnesses, was martyred among you, you stayed faithful.
But he also warns them that there were some in the church that were starting to let compromise creep in. That they were tolerating this false teaching that was leading them to sin. They weren't fully rejecting Jesus, but they also were just allowing their faith to be watered down and just in order to fit in, to compromise, to blend in with culture.
Thyatira was a loving church. It was a serving church. They were growing, but yet they were tolerating sin. And Jesus tells them, I know all the things you do. I've seen your love.
I've seen your faith. I've seen your service. I've seen your faithful and patient endurance.
But yet, you're also turning a blind eye to sin, to false teaching. You see, Jesus refers to this leader that they had amongst them as a Jezebel. That was influencing people to sin, misleading them to sin. They were standing strong in love, but they weren't standing strong in truth.
And each one of these churches faced different kinds of pressure. But Jesus' message to all of them was the same. He was saying, stand firm.
Don't give in. Hold on. To Smyrna, he says, if you remain faithful, even when you're facing death, then I'm going to give you the crown of life.
To Pergamum, he says, repent of your sin or I'm going to come down there suddenly. I'm going to fight against them with the sword of my mouth. To Thyatira, he says, I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to turn away from her immorality. And Jesus, he's not one to sugarcoat things.
He's going to tell you exactly how it is. And he tells them to stand firm, to remove what's pulling them away from him. So what about us?
Where are we facing pressure in our own lives? Maybe for some of us, it's direct opposition. Maybe it's family, it's friends, it's co-workers who make fun of our faith, who ask us to walk away from our beliefs, from what we put our faith in, to give it up. For others, maybe it's cultural pressure, the temptation to compromise, to stay quiet about what we believe, because we don't really want to offend anybody, right?
Or maybe for some, it's allowing what we know is wrong, letting sin slide, because confronting it, that would be uncomfortable. That might even make me seem judgmental. But Jesus calls us to stand firm. He never said following him would be comfortable. He never said following him would be without his challenges, but he did say that it would be worth it.
It is better to stand alone with Christ than to sit comfortably and compromise. It's better to stand alone in Christ. So if you're feeling pressure to back down, water down, to give up, don't.
Don't. Jesus is saying, hold on, stay strong, keep your faith. So for each of us, are we staying faithful or are we slowly starting to blend in with culture?
Are we standing for truth or are we just trying to stay comfortable? Is there something in our lives that we need to confront instead of just tolerating it? Faithfulness to Jesus is not about being loud, it's about being firm. It's about knowing who you belong to and refusing to let go no matter the pressure.
Because in the end, Jesus promises that faithfulness leads to victory. So we renew our passion for Him. We stand firm in the face of pressure. And then the final wake-up call that we see from Jesus in these letters is to keep enduring.
Because the best is yet to come. So, three letters that Jesus calls out to his churches that lost their passion. And then three more letters calling out churches that were facing pressure.
But then Jesus wrote one letter to a church that was doing it right. This is the church of Philadelphia. So I'm not saying that Jesus has a favorite today, church, but... The Bible would say otherwise. No, this is the Church of Philadelphia, not the city of Philadelphia.
Don't get upset, Chief fans. It's not a prophecy. Philadelphia was this small church. Philadelphia was a church without a whole lot of great influence. It didn't have a whole lot of great power, but yet Jesus commends them for doing something greater.
He commends them for their faithfulness. Jesus tells them in Revelation 3, he says this. He says, I know all the things you do, and I have what? I have opened a door for you that no one can close.
You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me. This church, this wasn't the biggest church. They weren't the wealthiest church.
They didn't have influence. They didn't have status. But what they did is they held on to Jesus. And because of that, he opened doors for them that no one could shut. And unlike other churches.
Philadelphia, it receives no rebuke, only encouragement. Jesus tells them, hold on to what you have so that no one will take away your crown. He doesn't tell them to get stronger, to be stronger. He doesn't tell them to do more. more, be bigger.
He tells them simply to keep holding on because sometimes faith isn't about moving forward. It's about not letting go. And for some of us, life has been harder than we expected. What we thought following Jesus meant open doors and smooth paths, but what we've experienced instead is setbacks and disappointments and closed doors.
Maybe you've been doing your best to stay faithful, but you feel weak, you feel tired, you feel overlooked, and Jesus is telling you, hold on. Hold on. on because your faithfulness is never wasted.
The letter to the church in Philadelphia, it teaches us you don't have to be the strongest. You just have to be the most faithful. Churches, church, you hear me, here at Central, we are blessed with a big church, but a big church is not the goal.
We have a lot of people. A lot of people isn't necessarily the goal. God isn't looking for the biggest church. He's looking for the most faithful church. At Central, we're blessed with a lot of influence.
We're blessed with a lot of status in our community, all the ways we serve our community. And we're grateful for that influence. We try to steward it well, but God isn't looking for a church with status and influence. He's looking for a church with surrender. At Central, we've been blessed with incredible facilities, a great production to help bring people to Jesus, but he's not looking for the greatest facilities, the nicest buildings, the best protection.
Jesus is looking for the boldest faith. So with all the blessing God has given us, the way we steward it, the way we remain thankful for it is we hold on. We hold on to our faith. We hold on to our love for him.
We hold on to our love for others. We hold on. We keep enduring because that is what God is looking for in it all.
That's how we steward all the ways he's blessed us. And we're not just holding on for ourselves, we're making sure the next generation has something to hold on to as well. That's why what we do for our kids and our students matters. That's why ministries like our Central Kids Ministry, our Central Youth Ministry, CY Nights, Central Kids Nights, camps, that's why we tell you to get your kids, your students, your youth involved in these different ministries because the world is pulling them away from Jesus.
But at Central we're... committed to pointing them to a faith that lasts. And at Central, we're not trying to be the most influential church in the world. We're not trying to be a church that is wealthy.
We're not striving to be hip and cool because just by me saying the words hip and cool makes me very not cool. But we are a church that will always hold on to Jesus. And when others let go, we're gonna keep holding on.
When culture shifts, we're gonna keep holding on. When pressure builds, we're gonna keep holding on. When life gets hard, we're going to keep holding on because faithfulness is what moves the heart of God.
And Jesus tells the church in Philadelphia, I have opened doors for you that no one can close. And I believe that Jesus is opening doors for us. I think some of you are standing in front of a door right now.
It might not be the door you were expecting, but it is the door that God wants you to walk through. Maybe it's a door to perseverance, just an invitation to keep going when life gets hard. Maybe it's the door to obedience, a call to stop hesitating and say yes to your faith, say yes to Jesus. Maybe it's a door to revival, to let go of the things that have kept you far from God and give your life to Him. The door's got to open.
opens, they don't always look the way we expect, but Jesus promises if we hold on, it will be worth it. Look at some of his final words to the church in Philadelphia. He says this, he says, all who are victorious will become what?
will become what? Pillars in the temple of my God. And they will never have to leave it.
A pillar is strong. A pillar is permanent. A pillar is unshaken.
And Jesus is saying, those who remain faithful will never be moved. So church, we keep holding on. We don't let go.
And at Central, we don't attend church. We are the church. We don't just believe in Jesus.
We follow him with everything we have. We don't just show up on Saturday. Saturdays or Sundays, we hold on. We stand firm. We live boldly for him every single day because a church isn't an event to attend.
It's a place to plant yourself. And maybe for you, the door that God's opened, maybe today it's the realization of your need for Jesus, your need for a savior. Maybe you've been so caught up in all the wrong ways.
Maybe you're having a hard time just holding on to life in general, and if that's you, if you didn't even know that there was a Savior that lived and died for you, that rose from the grave, giving you an opportunity to spend eternity with Jesus, listen, Romans 10, 9 says this, it says, that Jesus is your Lord, and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved. It doesn't say you might be saved. It doesn't say you could be saved.
It says you will be saved. And if that's you, if you showed up here today, you didn't even know. know that there were seven letters that could be written to you promising you a hope of a future I want to give you that opportunity right now so if I could have everybody bow their heads and close their eyes I'm going to ask that you just pray this prayer after me but you talk to God you mean it with your own words just pray God I know that I'm a sinner but I know that you sent Jesus to forgive me of those sins I believe he died on a cross. I believe that he rose from the grave. Giving me the opportunity to spend eternity with you.
Forgive me of those sins, God. I want to erase my past. I name Jesus my personal Lord and Savior.
I want to spend eternity with you, God. And listen, with every head bowed, every eye closed, I'm going to ask you to do something bold, something courageous. But if you just prayed that prayer for the first time, if you just do me a favor, just put your hand in the air. Just declare before God that you're going to follow him.
That you're ready for your life to be a... flipped upside down for the better. You're giving him your heart.
Thank you for those hands. Thank you for the hands that we can't see online, the hands inside prison facilities. God, I pray that you draw close to each one of these arms stretching out to you, that these represent stories that you're... you're now flipping upside down for the better, that you're rewriting. Thank you, God, for just being a God that saves.
Thank you for sending Jesus. For all of us, God, let us continue to hear your words to your church. Let us renew our passion in you.
Let us stand up in the face of pressure and stand firm in the face of pressure and let us hold on because we know the best is yet to come. We just want to be a church that serves you with our whole heart. And the whole reason we can pray any of these things is because of your son Jesus.
So we pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.