Revelations 3:1 and to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things, which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. 3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. 4 You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 6 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’
Pray…. Father we thank you for today, we ask that you send your word to the thirsty and to the good soil. Keep us in your name, come and break through every heart and soul as we are expecting your presence. Speak to us in Jesus name. Amen
God speaks to us through the bible messages, which were written more than 2000 years ago… as if he’s living with us today. He addresses our issues; addresses our struggles, and addictions directly… you would think: how is it that he knows everything about me, when did I ever open my heart to him?
Yes, he knows and feels your pain, your heartbreak, your agony, and will speak to it… His words that will comfort you and replace the darkness with light, sadness with joy and heaviness with peace.
He wants to re-ignite your fire, restore what’s been stolen, and polish your blessed hope. Our king and lord Jesus, in his pain, and agony… and while taking his last breathe… found some time to listen to the thief hanged next to him, “he wants to tell you…son, I’m never busy for you”… he gave him a word which changed his pain to joy, his misery to happiness and something to hope for! Jesus redirected the thief’s life from hell to heaven…today you will be with me in paradise.
Never under-rate or de-value God’s promises or his words for you! When God speaks to you, you will experience great changes and you’ll never forget his words.
You are a real person who’s in real need, when you cry out to God; he sees your cry and decides to intervene…through preaching that he puts in my heart to give you hope, assurance that he is in charge and sovereign. And remind you that he is watching over you, he is walking with you in this crises or trouble, and you are not forgotten.
John who wrote this letter was described in the bible John 21:20 as the disciple whom Jesus loved, also had leaned on Jesus’ breast at the supper. John had a very close relationship with Jesus.
He witnessed the saviour’s love to Lazarus and the family when he raised him from death, he witnessed his compassion to 5000 plus people when he fed them with 2 fish and 5 breads, he witnessed blinds receiving their eye sites, he witnessed Jesus and peter walking on water, and he witnessed Jesus transfiguration too…this man was hungry and thirsty for Jesus.
He was the only disciple that didn’t get killed but died a normal death. Yes he was persecuted and sent to exile to an island but wasn’t killed. He managed to keep his prayer, vision, purpose, relationship and faith in the hard times…I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day!
Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things, which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things, which are written in it; for the time is near.
7Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him even so, Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, “says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
9 I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, 11 saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
12 Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. 14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire;15 His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; 16 He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. 17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. 18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. 19 Write the things, which you have seen, and the things, which are, and the things, which will take place after this.
The good shepherd who was once known to John as meek, soft and compassionate, whose hands and feet are pierced, John is thinking: “this is the Jesus I’ve always known…this is what I’ve always seen”. When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead!
I personally thought that when I see Jesus in heaven, I will be asking him some questions that I couldn’t find an answer to, so many how’s and why’s…but according to this description of John… When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead! Forget it...I don't think I will have any questions in mind!
His presence is majestic, awesome, fearful, and magnificent. When he visits you, your words will betray and fail you and will not be able to carry your plan as you wanted (ask him questions), he is beyond your imagination.
He said to John, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. Write the things, which you have seen, and the things, which are, and the things, which will take place after this. I have a message to the 7 churches go tell them what you’ve seen.
John describes Jesus differently to each church as he has witnessed, there was a deferent message from Jesus to each church, but there are 3 similar sentences repeated in every message:
• Repent-to 5 churches
Revelation 3:19 those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.
Revelation 3:3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.
Revelation 2:16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
Revelation 2:21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling.
Revelation 2:22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways.
• He who over comes
Rev 2:26, 2:7, 3:21, He that overcomes shall inherit all things
• Whoever has ears, let them hear
We all have ears but not all of us listen, there's a lot of difference between listening and hearing… Hearing is just sounds going in your ears but listening (is Shama) is comprehending what your hearing. We all have eyes but not all of us see,
You never hear for others or see for others because the word of God says: let him who hears (for yourself) not for others.
God has called you for ministry or a task, so he needs to communicate with you, to give you the instructions and he will speak to you. So when you hear a preaching never say it’s for my partner, for my son or daughter. If you hear the preaching it is intended for you.
? Whatever you allow yourself to hear will shape your day and yourself. If you let in praises and worship it will come out of your mouth you will start singing all day long and will have peace, if you hear bad or negative news, it will come out of your mouth so you will speak negative things and feel depressed.
What are you listening to? What is filling your ears? Let him hear… means to pay attention and obey it, Jesus said in Matthew 13:16 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear.
You are not living here on this earth to eat and drink only, or to pay your bills and go with life; no… you are here for a divine purpose, a plan designed by God to glorify him. I’ve heard of people calling their kids a mistake because they were not planned. But God allowed this baby to be born because he knew them before they were born.
God is telling you that your walk, purpose, calling cannot be fulfilled unless you cling to Jesus, if you don’t you will go astray.
Even if you’re born again Christian, spirit filled washed by the blood you will lose it. Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Hear what the spirit is saying…the church is fallen in sin greater than the world. The church of today is (come Sunday for 2 hours meeting, pay your tithes and offering sing a few songs, come to another meeting during the week, participate and a few activities, then you are saved!).
You are a good and faithful servant, but I want to tell you that… that’s not it; if you want to live for Jesus then you have to see what the bible tell us about how to live Him. 2Timothy3:12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
All you need is to stand fast in him and his word, because it’s the grace of God that allows his work in us, it’s a gift from God, which we don’t deserve. 2Tim 1:9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time, began.
You cannot purchase it with Gold or silver… its for free, it was manufactured on the cross, God is saying to us I purchased you from darkness to light, from sin to holiness, this is the work of my hands you are saved by Grace.
Grace is available to those who believe, Paul states in 1cor 9:27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
My fleshly works can take me away from the call and work of God, what I see is this… when someone falls into temptation or commits a sin, they pray for forgiveness they recite 1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Praise God that’s good, but they get up the next day and they fall into the same temptation and sin, and then back to 1John 1:9 and back and forth…why?
Because they have confessed their sin but they didn’t repent.
Repentance is when I stop and turn away from the sin and change my mind about it. That means I would never do it again, I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, I change my direction towards the light in which God has called me into.
This explains why you don’t get new revelations, new vision, move forward with God from glory to glory, no victory, can’t get rid of bad habits that you don’t want in your life, can’t get rid of your past, still carrying the same baggage from years ago into today. Your joy and peace are gone all because you have learned to confess your sins but never actually repented from them.
When I was reading and studying these verses in the book of revelations, I found a common mistake that I myself fell into. I used to say to the unbelievers and people who never knew Jesus, that Jesus is at the door knocking and if you open the door of your heart he will enter, wrong.
He is knocking at the doors of the 7 churches not at the door of the sinner, the church is gathered together but Jesus is outside and knocking to get in.
My heart breaks…. it is like Jesus is saying “excuse me this is my church I paid for it with my own blood, this is my bride and I want it back, let me in, I can cleans you and fix your problem, and the church is replying, “no please you can't come in we have a meeting a set program”.
Kingdom of God starts with repentance! When John baptised Jesus, Jesus started preaching this message and it’s in mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
Then the disciples carried this message on, they also said repent for the forgiveness of sin, this is the gospel… repent.
It is not please come to Jesus he loves you, he will be very sad if you don’t come, please accept Jesus I beg of you… No, that’s not the gospel! But it is repent and if you don’t then you will perish forever.
Today…. when we come to church, we want to be fed a sugar coated, purpose driven, feel good message.
Example: Jesus is desperate for you, if you don’t come to him he will have a very bad day, come and he will prosper you, come and he will give you faith, come he wants you, come he needs you, come, come to him so you can help him, his heart broken, he wants you to wipe away his tears. He died for you so you can have a prosperous life…. Even if your walk is not right or when you’re away from him.
In saying all this I am all for the love of God, yes he loves you unconditionally and wants you to be saved but my point is, in order for you to live a victorious life, you need to understand the gospel, the gospel is not God loves you full stop.
If you have a weakness this will lead you to be chained and bound if you don’t deal with it, Jesus said in Luke 17:26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27 They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; 29 but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.30 Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed,
Then also in Luke 19:27 But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.’”
This same verse found in Isaiah 11:4.
Jesus is the best preacher ever lived on the earth, he preached in a sermon in a conference over 3 days none stop, had over 25 thousand people listening to him…they never left because they didn’t want to miss any word preached. They were in love!
Psalm 45:2 You are fairer than the sons of men; fairer in what? In Grace, that is poured upon His lips.
Jesus said: John6:63 the words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
Luke 11:27And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”28 But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
Matthew 7:24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock…this is a hard work people, imagine breaking a rock and try to build a house on the rock…what machinery would you use?
My life was fine until I knew Jesus! I was doing what pleased me and what pleased others, I was in sin but wasn’t aware of it, I had an easy life, my relationship with my family was good until Jesus came in, I had never been persecuted or bullied until I knew Jesus…my trouble started the day I invited Jesus into my life, It’s hard building on the rock.
But I will do it all over again if I can; I will go through pain, persecution, and trouble for His name’s sake.
Jesus is calling you and me for a holy life, but most of us don’t live according to his calling we fall short, we live in this peaceful and free country Australia where there is abundance of everything, even sin…great numbers of divorced families are found in our country, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, child and woman abuse is at its peak, because God is disappearing gradually from our schools, laws, houses, government, family and churches…Jesus is knocking to get in!
What we should know is that he called you and gave you a task and a mission for this country, he filled you with his spirit, and gave you his power to influence others not the other way around.
You must be diligent to hate sin! Now do you know that sin is persistent? Sin is tempting and it’s easy, the bible says that iniquity is as easy as drinking water.
Whilst we were sinners; we were proud of it and glorified it. I drank this much; I got into a fight with so and so; I slept with him/her. But when we came to Jesus… we put a mask and do things in the hiding, at church we have the hallelujah, clapping, dancing masks. But in the heart there’s a different story…
We all here today, have a secret that is not so good and don’t want others to know it! We Say to ourselves: “this one is mine”, if you do have a secret, then this will isolate you from God, I’m telling you that you should shed light and expose everything, don’t leave anything hidden, Job 1:5 So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did regularly.
The light shins in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. If light comes in, it will push away everything that is of the darkness.
Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
Why did Jesus change you, cleans you, took your shame and saved you, why did he give you a brand new life, filled you with his holy spirit, so you should be Holy without blame before him in love, Heb 9:14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
The accuser of the brethren In revelations 12:10 will not accuse you without a case, when he stands before the judge, he must present a case in order to accuse you.
You must have broken the law in order to be accused and that is the only time the judge will persecute you accordingly.
Satan accuses you according to the bible, he goes to God and says: you said in your word that the wages of sin is death, this man or woman have broken your word and they sinned, I know you are a just God, so bring your judgment on them, bring what you said, you are holy and you cant compromise.
God has prepared a holy and perfect sacrifice, which is Jesus, and Jesus is standing in the courtroom defending you, saying “ I will take his punishment, I will die for him, set him free and send him free.
? Did God change the wages of death; When Jesus went to the cross?
? Did God announce a new law that I might’ve missed?
Absolutely not, because before and after Jesus went to the cross, the wages of sin is death and it has not changed.
Before the cross was the sacrifice of animals, after the cross we have freedom and every chance to come to Jesus and say forgive me I repent… I can put on the garment of righteousness of Christ Jesus anytime; the righteousness of Christ has covered me.
I want to tell you that you don’t need a blessing in your life, because you are already blessed when you are born again.
But what you do need is a revival and an uprising within, to say I have had
? Enough of this up and down like a yoyo life,
? Enough of back and forth between confessions,
? I am called to live in righteousness and holiness,
? I am called for others not my own…
If you live for Jesus, work for Jesus, and follow Jesus then you must obey what he tells you.
Many Christians that I meet and know say to me, “ I don’t know what my calling is, I don’t know what God wants me to do, not sure of my ministry, please pastor pray and see what God will reveal to you.. what my calling might be”.
John10:27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
If you are his sheep, then according to this verse, you must hear his voice. And if you have a problem of hearing his voice, then you need to fix it.
Did you know that a mute person has a big problem because he can’t hear?
? You don’t talk with God because you don’t hear his voice.
? You don’t pray a powerful believing prayer that moves mountains, that brings forth miracles because you don’t hear!
? You don’t have a steady life; it’s up and down, because you don’t hear.
If you have fear, bitterness, un-forgiveness, hatred, resentment and unclean spirits in your life, it is because you have a problem with hearing.
Hear what Jesus said: Jesus said all power and authority has been given to me, the gate of hell cannot prevail against me. When I see gates of hell in my life, I thank God for it, because I’m not afraid of it, but will face it with the blood of Jesus and the word of my testimony, and I know that “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth and is invested in me.
Between believers, One= a thousand… two= ten thousand, three= three million etc., but what if I count it this way, me plus Jesus= I can do all things through Christ Jesus, nothing is impossible to him, gates of hell shall not prevail, he that is in me is greater than he that is in the world… it all starts when you hear what the lord says!
Faith comes by hearing the word that comes out of God’s mouth…is there faith in your house?
