Danger Of Disappearing Doctrine - 1 Series

THE DANGER OF DISAPPEARING DOCTRINE - Rev. 2:18-29

 Come this morning to a study in Rev 2:18-29 covering the fourth church of a list of 7 that Jesus sends messages to. Our third message in preparation for our Spring Revival(Smyrna receives no criticism as it has thrived under persecution)

HUSBAND & WIFE TRAVELING when stopped at gas station. Attendant came out and said, ’Fill er up?’ The husband said yes, please. Attendant asked, ’You have a nice car. What kind is it? ’Chrysler’. Hard hearing wife said, ’What did he say?’ He wanted to know what kind of car we have. I told him it was a Chrysler’. The attendant asked, ’Are you going far?’ Husband said, ’We are just going to Nashville’. WHAT DID HE SAY? ’He asked how far we were going and I told him to Nashville’. Attendant asked, ’Where are you from?’ Atlanta. WHAT DID HE SAY? He asked where we were from and I told him Atlanta. Attendant said, ’Atlanta, I used to know a woman there. She was the meanest, hardest, bitterest, coldest, woman I have ever known in all my life. WHAT DID HE SAY? ’He thinks he knows your mother’.(Good description of a woman we will be talking about in today’s messages: JEZEBEL is what Jesus calls her. HOW DANGEROUS COULD SHE BE IN THE CHURCH?)

 Ephesus was commended for taking a stand against false teachers. Pergamum was warned about allowing some among them who accepted these teachings but Thyatira actually allowed them to ascend the into the pulpit.

DID YOU KNOW: We are duplicates of God who is 6’2" tall and 200 lb? Jesus was a rich man? Children of Israel walked thru walls of ice as they crossed the Red Sea? Ministries of Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn and even John Hagee. College friend of working on Masters at OSU visited a Tulsa Christian Bible College called Rhema and interviewed teachers on various beliefs. One that caught her attention was that they believed that their founder, Kenneth Hagen had died three times and chosen to return and that every believer who has enough faith can do the same. THERE IS A DANGER IN DISAPPEARING DOCTRINE.

 The concerns of these 7 churches have not disappeared but are seen in churches in our day. The problem of Ephesus is a threat to most Baptist churches: Strong in doctrine but weak in expressing our love for Jesus. The problem of Thyatira is a threat to many charismatic or pentecostal churches.

 Handle this study of Thyatira with the same outline we will use for all the churches. PATIENT - PHYSICIAN - POSITIVE - PROBLEM - PRESCRIPTION - POSSIBILITIES.

THE PATIENT (18) And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write,

1. THYATIRA - continual sacrifice Significance in that this city was continually mowed down by invading armies and then rebuilt again.

a. Located 35 miles SE of Pergamum, the capital city of Asia, and was meant to delay invaders until Pergamum could prepare itself to fight.(lacked any natural fortification)

b. Kept a standing armed garrison from Rome station in the city.

2. Very Small city that was a commercial center. It was a blue collar town. It was loaded with guilds(modern trade unions: carpenters, dyers, sellers of goods, tent makers, tanners, weavers..etc)

a. Acts 16:14 Lydia Paul’s first convert in Philippi was from Thyatira. She was a ’seller of purple’. Traveling saleswoman? They had a thriving industry based in dyeing cloth a beautiful turkey red or purple color.

1) Very expensive since taken from two sources: madder root which grew in Thyatira or the throat of a murex(small shellfish).

3. Secular City with only one religious sight: Temple for fortune tellers which was overseen by a powerful female orator named Sambathe. It directed worship toward the Sun god Apollo. Each guild would have it’s own particular god of choice.

THE PHYSICIAN these things says the Son of God, Who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass.

1. Another portion of the original vision given in 1:12-16 From the end of 14 and the start of 15.

2. Son of God - Only such place in Revelation where He is addressed as such. Some try to say He never made claims to diety, this is one of many places Jesus obviously did.

a. Thyatirans believed the Roman Emperor and Tyrimnos, the guardian god of the city were both sons of the chief god Zeus. Jesus states that the Chief God has only one Son and He is it.

3. Eyes like a flame of fire - (seen eyes like that on my parents whenever I did something really bad)

a. SUPERMAN EYES - see right through anything. Piece the facades, disguises and pretences of people.