Thyatira--The Church Of Toleration And Compromise Series

• Stay at the youth ministry.

• Stay at teaching the Sunday School class.

• Stay at your church attendance.

• Stay at paying your tithes and offerings.

• Stay at praying for revival, our missionaries, and our efforts to reach people.

• Stay at your commitment to personal holiness.

• Stay at helping people up who cannot seem to get it right.

-Lastly, he addressed their works which was stronger than at the beginning of their conversion.

-Give serious thought to what has just been addressed: This church is a dynamic, vibrant, living church—reaching out to the community, reaching in to its members, and reaching anything they thought would be helpful. It was full of activity and crowded with people. . . but it was a far cry from what the Lord expected out of them.

-All of this could be summed up in a word, inconsistency.

W. Mitchell—There is nothing which does the devil’s work half so well as the unholy life combined with great profession.

C. Revelation 2:20-23—The Correction

Revelation 2:20-23 KJV Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. [21] And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. [22] Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. [23] And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

-But when we come to the correction, it is very disheartening. The problem was not external persecution but internal compromise. If the devil cannot destroy a church from outward persecution, he will destroy it from within by using people who are supposed to be part of the church. I have a feeling at the judgment there will be a record of more churches that were destroyed from within that were ever destroyed from without. Don’t let the devil get a foothold in your life!

-The complaint from the Lord should awaken interest because a character is named. Jezebel was one of the most wicked women in the Bible. She was the daughter of Ethbaal, the king of the Zidonians. They were worshippers of Baal and she infiltrated Israel with the immoral worship of Baal. Obviously this was not the same one but it was the spirit of Jezebel that was active in the church.

-Spiritual warfare despite some of its mockers, is very much a matter for the modern church to have to contend with.

-The church in Thyatira was allowing this Jezebel to teach and to lead people. She was a self-proclaimed prophetess. Her claim was that God had given her a special gift and the church needed to hear her. Be careful of these kinds of people!

-In Revelation 2:20, John tells the messenger to tell the church what has been observed by the Lord: