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Cascade Hills Church exists to help people from all walks of life experience a genuine relationship with God through Christ and become fully devoted followers
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In this video 0:00 The Revelation of Jesus Christ9:00 The Suffering Church of Smyrna23:00 I Know Your Suffering35:00 Do Not Fear the Test40:36 Do Not Fear, Fail, or Falter
The Revelation of Jesus Christ 0:00 And we do of our series on ravelies. And so we are just going to cover 4 verses today. That's it. Over in chapter 2. So if you got your body, you could turn to the Book of Revelation. And hey, it's 10:12 of the easiest books to find. If you're new to the Christian faith, Turn all the way to the right. Turn all the way to the right. And it's the book called Revelation. It's the last book in the Bible. But if you didn't0:21 bring your Bible, no problem. We got everything you need on the screen today. We're gonna be looking at verses 8 through 11 in chapter 2, just 4 verses. And here's what we're gonna0:36 verses. I thought this will be a short series. I was wrong. The depths of scripture in here is just amazing. Now, what does revelation mean in case this is your 1st time here?0:48 It means to reveal. Well, to reveal what? Not really that. To reveal who? Look at verse 1 in1:05 Jesus Christ, the person of Jesus Christ, the 1st and the last verse in Revelation talks about revealing Jesus Christ.1:21 Approach. You know, in the south, we call it the revelations. We had to ask on it. We're going through the book of Revelations right now. It's not revelations. There's 1 revelation, and it's the Jesus Christ. And we1:32 joked about last week that many of us got real organized drawers when it comes to spoons and forks and knives. We we like it when we read the Bible because we pick up books of the Bible like this. We can grab John or we1:44 can grab Proverbs. We can grab something and we can get what we need to get real easy and it's easy to understand. And then we joke that all of us have this. What's this called? That's right. Jumps.2:15 Actually a lie. It's very, very, very relevant to our lives. And so that's and2:29 it's just super simple. It's the revelation of Jesus Christ and what he would do in the future. Now, I want to talk to you today because 1 is I want to 2 is there's a lot of content. So get out your ever get out your2:40 pins. You can write on the envelopes in front of you or a neighbor a lot of content. I studied hard for this 1. So do what you need to do. It takes a lot of so that we can talk back and forth so no 1 falls2:52 asleep. We all got it. We got an a on that. John. That's right. The best friend of Jesus, 1 of his closest, his3:05 and all the major wrote the Book of Revelation. Now, let me ask you this. Where are you? Right. About 40 percent of you, you've got an a on there. The island of Patmos. Remember, the3:17 island of Patmos was off the AGNC. It was where slaves and criminals were sent3:29 divorce because he was preaching the word of God and the teachings of Jesus Christ. Culture, there are many false gods and different3:41 pagan religions, and they were trying to crush the teachings of Jesus. See, here's what happened when the whole city saw Jesus die on the cross for our sins,3:53 hang out for 40 days and show himself over 500 eyewitnesses. It's been It started a movement that has not stopped growing yet.4:02 I mean, here we are 1000 years later and4:02 this movement is still growing growing. They were trying to crush it out. They were trying to stomp it out. So they started killing the apostles. They started killing the followers of4:13 Jesus by the tens of thousands. And they say, we gotta kill him. And church history tells us they took a big pot of and they got it to a boiling point where it was4:25 bubbling. And they dropped John in here alive and tried to fry him like a turkey on things. And nothing happens to him. He's, he's unscathed. And4:37 it's creepy and the, the wicked ruler of that time was a guy named4:55 Send them over there. And this will shut them up because, well, there's nobody over there. And he can't do anything from there. He can't make a difference. So just send him there. And so while he's there in isolation,5:06 Jesus comes to him. Jesus comes to him and says, boy, get your pen, get your paper because I'm about to show you a glimpse of heaven and a glimpse of the future and you're gonna get need to know5:18 this. And then I wanna tell you something. Story. And he's about to tell him to send it to the 7 churches. Remember I showed you last week, he was down here in Patmos, and we talked about5:29 Ephesus last week. He sends them an order to these churches. Now why? Remember the last thing that Jesus Jesus was among5:41 them, had just died, had rose from the dead. And his last words were I will saying, Jesus, where5:54 we're dying down here. Jeezus, we're being persecuted. When will you come by? We know you're a man of your word because you rose from the grave. Win, Lord. And they're looking for the return of this broke the heart of6:05 Jesus. So it's a the details on when I will come and how I will come and how I will do all of this. And so,6:18 letter of encourage to these discouraged people and we see it as a letter of these 7 churches were literal churches. They were6:41 And when I say examine, I don't mean do this. Oh, us Cascade Hills, we're the or this church down the street. Oh, Pastor Brent, they're this church. They're gonna get judged like this. We start playing God, don't we?6:53 Some of us have done this. That church, that television pastor's heresy. He's a I've seen it. 1 time he turned and he had like a unibrow, looked like a wolf. He had to be a wolf. He's a wolf in sheep's clothing. This is7:04 what's gonna happen to him. And we start pointing the finger, pointing the finger, pointing the finger, pointing7:06 the finger, pointing the finger, pointing the finger, pointing the finger, pointing the finger,7:07 pointing the finger, facing, this is that church, and this is that church, and we're this church. I wanna tell you within these walls, within these seats right now, there are 7 different churches. The big question is7:17 this. Remember, we learned last week. You're the church. The big question is which 1 of these churches am I? Which 1 of these churches am I? And it's time for us to stop pointing the7:29 finger and start picking up the mirror and start examining ourselves and saying, as we read through these 7 churches, which which church am I? Choice. I can't do it for you. Your7:40 wife can't do it for you. Only you can ask the tough question as we study. And here's how I know that John is talking to you the He says over in 1st7:52 Corinthians, it's don't you know that your body is the It does say the temple of the holy spirit who is in you, whom I have given from God and you are not8:04 of your So,8:04 your and so it's when we put down the finger and we8:04 pull up the mirror and so it's when we put down the finger and we pull up the mirror and we pull up the mirror and you begin to search your that's when God can work in your8:16 life. So that's the question we're going to look at today as we look at the8:36 from relationship problems, or a kid that went off. So let's do this. Let's stand in reverence of God's word. Let's read his word together. It says there's a blessing for8:48 those who read, the Book of Revelation out loud. Who needs to be. His word is holy, soThe Suffering Church of Smyrna 9:00 let's stand for it. It says And to the angel now this was the preacher right? These things says the 1st and the last. The 1 who9:12 was dead and came to life. Who's he talking about? That's right, baby. Jesus.9:33 He said, don't fear these things that you're about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you in prison. You'll be testing. You will have tribulation 10 days. Be faithful until death, and I'll give you a9:43 crown of life. He who has ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the 2nd death. You may be seated. Now, if you were9:56 suffering saint, and you'd say, this sounds like me. I'm going through suffering. This word for you. And you know a lot of before we dive into the just these 4 Sabrina was much like Efficit. It was about a10:08 population of about 200000. It was a beautiful it was called the flower of age. It was a wealthy city. It was so beautiful. Did you know that they actually had 1 street paved in gold? And there was a temple10:19 at this side and a temple at the other side. 1 of the temples was a temple for a zoo. The other was to a local deity that they had kind of made a gorgeous temple. They had actually had the biggest stadium10:31 built in all of Asia, Asia, and they had actually had the biggest library. So what happens is when you have all this wealth, they got all this intellect, often times you get10:55 that's false gods. And there was all types of false gods there. 1 of them was a goddess called Aphrodite. This is a goddess of love, and they would go into this temple. And do you know there was 1000,11:06 1000 and you would sleep with the prostitutes, these, priestesses, as they would call them. And you would be blessed. And that was how you worship. You would get drunk and you would sleep11:18 with them. I mean, this was in an immoral town. This was a town, by the way, if you like history, if you back up all the way to 23 BC, there was a guy named Tiberias. He was an emperor who who honestly, he was nuts. He11:30 had no conscious, and he owned a big mansion on the edge of a sea and he was such a sicko that he would bring little boys and girls11:42 in there to dance for him and do all kind of explicit things. And then he would throw them off what was called Tiberias thousand drop to kill them so that they never were able to11:54 And you get a picture of all the wickedness that was going on. The impure there, he was such a boastful prideful man that if he were to come by on his chariot and you did not worship, he would bring you to the big12:06 state and he'd kill you. You'd be the that week. He would kill you in front of everyone. This was the state of the people around here.12:17 Understand. We've got this church and we've got all this wickedness going around, all these different gods going around, and all these different prideful people, and wealthy people. And then you got a small little12:28 church, Church of Smyrna, that these people hated. I'm talking about they hated with an utter hatred that you couldn't even believe. Just a small group of Christians, but they12:40 hated them. We'll dig into that in a minute. If they couldn't stand and it gets this name from the Greek word, if you know the bible, you know what this is. Myrrh is a fragrance. They're real12:52 sweet fragrance, but it also represents death and suffering.13:21 That he tasted death for all of us. It was like a novocaine, and he refused it. He said, no, I want the full wrath of God for their sins. I don't want to numb anything. Did you know that Jesus' burial, remember Joseph of13:33 Arimathea and Nicodemus? They wrapped his body and13:46 you know, years, hundreds of years before Jesus. He said vast caravans of camels will converge on you and the camels of Midian and IFA and the people of Sheba will bring gold and frankincense13:58 and will come and worship the Lord. Why Golden Frank Simpson? No myrrh. Because Jesus is alive. Jesus only died14:10 once. There's no need for myrrh because he says, I'm seeing what happens to Jesus in the future,14:28 crush it and grind it. And the more you crush it and grind it, the more it is fragranced. It's a picture of this church in Smyrna that was And the more they were14:50 season of and you're the and you're the that he crushes. The more that we begin to be of15:04 of I've seen people going through it some terrible and they go through it. I say, how can they glorify God. That's because suffering brings out our faith. It brings out15:16 who we really rely on. Now, here in verse 8, let's just take this verse by verse. I love expository15:55 versus 8. He basically says, I'm the 1st and the last. I was the 1 who was dead and alive. He's saying, don't you know whose hands you're in? If you're going through suffering today like the church in Smyrna, he's16:06 saying, don't you know that I'm the 1st and the last? Don't you know that I've seen it all? Don't you know that I'm in control? Don't you know there's not a trouble that you are going through that I have not seen nor16:16 solved? If you're going through this suffering, remember, Jesus says, I've been here before. I'll be here after. You know what he's saying? When you say it on the 1st line, he's saying, I am.16:30 And then he's saying, I am. Actively involved in your situation. Right. Then he's saying I am familiar. He said I know exactly what you're going through. You've been16:41 persecuted, rejected, mistreated. You remember Hebrews 4 15 says where we do not have a high priest. This is Jesus who cannot sympathize with us in our weakness, but was16:53 in awe. Everything you're going through was in awe points tempted as we are yet without sin. Jesus says to the church in Smyrna, Jesus says to you, if this is you,17:11 victorious and so will you be So Jesus says Now verse 8 says I am. Verse 9 says I 9. He says I know your works, your tribulation,17:23 your poverty, but you're rich. And I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. He's saying those hypocritical. He's saying those hypocritical.17:33 He's saying those hypocritical. He's saying those hypocritical. He's saying those hypocritical.17:34 He's saying those hypocritical. He's saying those hypocritical. He's saying those hypocritical. He says I am and verse 8. But then he says I know. You know, there's 2 forms of knowledge. There's intellectual knowledge17:40 that we read about. We heard about. And there's there's experience. You know, there's big difference. You You know, there's a big difference. Where I I can read about losing a child. I can read about having cancer, but17:52 some of you have been through that. You've experienced it. You've experienced it for yourself. Whatever you're going through, I've experienced18:03 it. It shows us that he's bringing comfort to this church saying, I know what you've been through. I know you've suffered. I know you've been mistreated. I know you've been lied about. But he said,18:16 This church is being suffered for the testimony of Jesus Christ. You know, 1 of the things about Cascade Hills is we've been through some testing times too, haven't we? You've been at Cassie at Hills long18:28 enough. We've made the newspaper more than any sporting event in in local history. In any church. You take all the churches and combine them. We've made the paper more than any of them for false accusations.18:55 Lie, the law, the law Oh, my goodness. You know? But we it takes a different breed to make it out of cascade. That's why thousands come in, and thousands and thousands stay. It19:07 takes a backbone. So you go to Cascade Hills, you've got to be tough. You've got to have grit. You go to Cascade Hills, we live by a different standard. We live by a standard of19:20 We don't back off for that. And that standard of living by scripture becomes hard because it ruffles our feathers at times. They said, man, this small hit preacher this week, he just died. It's a lie. And then the and19:31 then the19:31 and then the and then the and then the and then the and then the and then the and then the and then the and then the and then the and then the and then the and then the and then the19:32 and then the and then the19:56 scripture becomes too high, and they say, well, he said this, or he hurt my feelings, or what about it, they don't want for this, no more. And it becomes about me, and they lose it, they eventually leave. And they leave20:06 for comfort over calling. How many of you know, of our calling. How many of you know, call If you got a calling on your life, if you're in a church that's got a calling to reach souls, it's gonna take you outside your20:17 comfort zone. Baby, if you're in your comfort zone, you know what you're doing, you're coasting. Nothing great happens when we're coasting. You can only coast going downhill. Everything else, everything worthwhile in20:29 your life, guess what it's uphill. And so this church in Smyrna, they were suffering. They were having a difficult time. And he says, I know. Look what he said. He said, I know your works. They were And he says, I know.20:37 Look at what he said. He said, I know your they were they were being persecuted. They were having a difficult time. The whole city was being in the Christian life is20:49 and your and prayer every day is20:51 work. There's some people that don't want to work. I read something the other day. It was hilarious.20:51 It's just some people that don't want to work. I read something the other day that was hilarious. It says, I don't always go the extra mile, but when I do, it's because I mismanaged. That's a lazy person.21:03 Being the suffering Christian, it takes some work to read your Bible, to pray. Then he says, I know not only your works, but I know your tribulation. You know the word tribulation is the word pressure. Some athletes are21:14 better under pressure, aren't they? How many of you would say Michael Jordan was better under pressure? Y'all don't know nothing about Mike? Is this too young gender generation too young to know about Mike? Michael21:25 Jordan was better under pressure. Kobe Bryant was better under pressure. The best of them, the best of the best are better under pressure. It can be in practice and be the same, but when the lights come on,21:37 the pressure comes, they get better. This church was under pressure, yet they got better. You're under pressure. Will you get better? I believe you will. I believe you got what it takes. I believe you got what what it21:48 takes inside of you. And he says, I know your pressure. I know your tribulation. Diamonds. Those diamonds you wear in your hand, around your neck, or in your ears, they come from You wouldn't have those stones that22:00 weren't for pressure.22:28 If you'll get through this pressure, God's got a blessing for you. This church was up under22:40 pressure. They were having a difficult time. He says, I know your works, your tribulation, I know your poverty. How many of y'all ever had a financial problem? You ever made a dumb financial decision? Everybody say, if22:50 you're breathing, you've made a dumb financial decision. I can say, I can say, a bunch of times. I, I, I, I. I made a bunch of dumb financial decisions. He said, I know your poverty. DoI Know Your Suffering 23:02 you know that these people were poor? Do you know that the community was encouraged to rob to rob the Christians because they hated them. Into the upper market? They had like a market where you23:14 could buy fruit and They weren't allowed. They said, you're a Christian. You have that church. You can't. And so what about can I come sell? My goodness. They would exclude them where they couldn't even make money. They23:25 were poor. But look at this. This is interesting. He said, I know you're poverty, but you're rich. What's he talking about? I know you're poverty, but you're rich. How many of you know that there's some things that money23:35 can't buy? There's some things that money can't buy. Money can't buy joy, can it? They can buy you temporary happiness, but it can't buy you joy. You see, joy is found in Jesus. It says, in23:47 his presence is the fullness of joy. And these people had something inside of them. They had eternal life. He said, you may be poor here. You may live in a shack here, but I'm building you a mansion up23:59 there. You may be lonely here, but there's a whole family waiting for you up there. Remember the Bible says, do not store up for you treasures on Earth that will rust and they'll decay and they'll have moth going but24:10 store up treasures in heaven. These people look poor on the outside. They had a street of gold. He said, all my streets are of gold. He said, you got something on the inside that makes you rich, so you're24:22 suffering. And he says, I know.24:40 Their haters, as we would call it? They had 3 types of haters. They had haters on the outside. The pagans that believe in all their stories. The Jews24:52 hated. Suffering saint, if you're a real Christian, you're gonna have hate25:03 from all the The Outsiders don't hate you. People on Facebook don't know you. They're gonna hate you. They're gonna comment and disagree with you because they're of the world. The haters from the inside, you're gonna25:13 have family. You're gonna have friends. It's gonna turn against you. You're gonna have hate from Satan himself. You see, here here's what I've noticed about it. When we're going after Christ, we get the critic.25:25 You know what I'm saying? When you're going after Christ, you get the critic. I read a story recently, pretty funny about a guy that he had 1 friend and his friend was the barber. And he loved the barber but his barber25:37 was always his worst. And he told the barber, he said, I'm so excited I've saved up all my money I'm going to Paris. And he said, Paris is not that great. I've been there for a number of years. I'm really excited because25:46 I got 1st class tickets, man, to Paris. I ain't got to sit in a small seat. He said, What airline? He says, Delta. He said, nah, you know, they've been going down. And so, well, the hotel I'm staying in is off the chain.25:57 It's got all I mean, it's just he said, what hotel? He told him what hotel he said, you know, it just dropped down to 4.5 stars. And he said, man, I'm really hoping to meet the when I get there. He said, do you got an26:07 appointment? He said, no, but I'm hoping I meet the pope. And he said started laughing. He said, you ain't got an appointment. You think you're gonna go meet just walk in and meet the takes years to meet26:16 the pope. Well, he goes over26:16 to the nearest Paris, has a great time, comes back, he's getting his hair, and he says, Hey, man. I gotta tell you, you were wrong. Paris was beautiful, and the flight was amazing. And the hotel who in the world said,26:28 Put it 4.5 stars. This thing was off the chain. You ain't gonna believe this. Hold on. Hold on. What'd you do when you meet the pope? He said, I'll tell you26:40 what, I got down on board. It's an honor to meet you, and I bowed my head. And he said, what what did he say? What did the pope say? He said, who gave you this lousy haircut?26:55 Some people just gonna be critics. If you're following Jesus, you're gonna have a critic. Church of Smyrna had it from the outside, inside. They had them everywhere. And Jesus says, verse 8, I am. I'm I'm cape I'm27:06 capable of conquering it. He says, I know. I know what you're going through. And then he says, verse 10, I he says this. He says, he will. Now now is he talking about Jesus? Nope. Mm-mm. He's talking about the27:18 enemy. He says, I am. I know. But he will. He will what? Look at this verse 10. Do not fear these things which you're about to and27:31 the the devil is about to throw some of you in prison that you may be tested and he says he will. And you will have tribulation 10 days. Be faithful to death. And I'll give you a crown of light. Aria.27:43 I don't wanna sugarcoat anything. If you're a stripper, Satan has a target on your way. Satan's gonna make you suffer. Now, have you ever thought about why the Christian is allowed to suffer? Have you27:55 ever had that thought? I've had those thought. Why are we allowed to suffer? I can't answer that, but I can give you some things to think about. 1 is God's There's some things we may never know.28:10 God, I'm gonna ask. Things that I just don't know. But we know Isaiah 50 five:nine says, as high as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.28:20 He said, you may not understand, but I'm looking from a higher view and I know. So we have to trust him. He's sovereign. We also get tested and we suffer because of discipline. Our own sin causes suffering, doesn't28:32 it? And he didn't. And Paul came to the conclusion and said, he28:44 kept me from becoming from becoming from becoming We also get tested because it teaches28:56 us. Look at this. Jesus says, he learned He learned obedience by the things which he It's also a testimony. That's how it was for the church29:08 in Smyrna. It gave them a testimony. I'm looking at some of you that's been seeing stuff that I can't even imagine and how God's using you as a suicide.29:20 You know what she's doing? I've never seen anyone like her that's done on this level. She's using it as a testimony. She's getting into schools, and she's sharing that your life is valuable, that you are29:32 worthy, that you have a calling on your life. Do not take your life. God loves you. He's got a plan for your life. And she's trying to get it all over the nation, and we as a church are getting behind her and helping29:41 her. That's using it as a testimony. That's what that is. It's a testimony, but then it's also a test. And I wanna park here for just a 2nd. You're going29:53 through a test. Look at this. Look at this verse says. It's a It's a It's a Some30:05 of you need to know that what you're going through is just a test. And I believe this with all my heart. If you knew that it was just a test, you'd pass it. But some of you think it's going to be forever. Wouldn't it be30:15 hard to pass a test that never ended? It may make you just give up. Phrases in the Bible is this too30:27 shall pass. This too shall pass. The test will eventually be over. If you knew it was a test, could you pass it?30:45 Then you will have tribulation 10 days. Check this out. You have tribulation 10 days. You know what that means? He's saying the suffering is short. Suffering is sure. I know you lost a loved 1,30:56 but then the light of eternity, the suffering is sure. I know you've got cancer, but in the light of eternity, the suffering is sure. I know you've went through a divorce, and you feel like you've lost everything, but in31:07 the light of eternity, remember it's just a mist. Life is a mist. The suffering is short. He's saying the suffering is short. Can you make it? Could could you suffer a little bit longer? Could you suffer a little bit31:18 longer if you knew it was a test? Some people that have been through some tests, and I want to tell you something. God gives his biggest battles to his greatest soldiers, and that's31:30 who you are. You're suffering. But if you got a test, maybe if you're like me, I got a little bit I don't got a little bit. I got a lot. I got a lot of31:41 competitiveness in me. I'll die before I lose. I like to I hate losing more than I like winning. Anyone in here like that? And when I know it's a31:53 test, strap on these boots and let's go, baby. Is that all you got? Is that all you got? Because if I know it's a test, and if I know it's sure, to a32:05 and I was about to die and I mean it was just horrible. I remember I told God because I read the book of32:17 said, you know what, God? And they put me on oxygen. I said, I'm gonna praise you before they put on the oxygen, and I'll praise you if they if they end up having to take it over my lifeless body. And the moment I get in32:27 your presence, I'm still gonna praise you. I'll win. Either way, I win. Either way, I win. Either way, I win.32:30 Either32:33 way, if you're in Jesus, you know either way, I'll win. There's nothing you could do to me. You'll keep pressing on. And some of you need to know that. Some of you need to understand that.32:59 Some of you have been praying, God, would you take me out of the storm? Would you take me out of the storm? You ever prayed that for? I have prayed. I said, God, deliver me from this. God, the door, the door, the door,33:08 the door, the door, the door, the door, the door, the door, the door. Maybe it's not that you should pray, God, deliver me through this storm. But maybe it's just you should know that God is with you in a storm. And33:14 storm, but maybe it's this you should know that God is with you in the store. I'd rather have God with me in the store. They got to deliver me from the store. Remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and33:26 Abednego, the 3 people that were thrown into the fire up under King Nebuchadnezzar. The fire and it freaked him out. He said, Look, I see 4 men. Hold on. I threw in 3. I see 4 loose walking around in33:38 the midst of the fire. And they are not hurt in the 4 the 4 is like the son of God. Who was with him in the fire? Jesus was with him. And I wanna tell you the same33:49 God that walked in the fire with them will walk through the fire with you. Sometimes we say, get me out of the storm, and he says, I got something better. I'll go with you34:01 through the storm. I'll go with you through the storm. My father always says it this way, a faith that can't be tested can't be trusted. Thought about it this week. I thought about a statement. I said, dad, that's that's34:13 that's right. Have you ever thought about this? A test is the only way to measure trust. Ever think about that? You think you can trust that husband until he's tested?34:27 You think you could trust this? Or you think you could trust that? Or you think you could trust until it's See, the only measure of true trust is a test. And it's no different with your faith. For the34:39 church and the storm They were going through a test. Their faith was being tested. And the Bible talks about this when you go through the it talks about fire that burned34:51 silver and gold, and it would bring about and just such heat that it would melt off the You're going through this, but I want to tell you something. You're getting stronger. Your faith is gettingShow more 
