A precious church and a patient Saviour

[0:00] Good morning and a warm welcome to church this morning. Good to see some visitors with us this morning and a special welcome to you.

[0:10] If you're able to stay at the end of the service, there's tea and coffee served and a time of fellowship which all are invited to. So let's worship God and sing to his praise. We sing first of all for Mission Praise number 109.

[0:27] Mission Praise 109. Crown him with many crowns, the Lamb upon his throne. Hark how the heavenly anthem drowns, all music but its own. Awake my soul and sing of him who died for thee and hail him as thy chosen King through all eternity.

[0:44] Let's unite our hearts in prayer. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for our being here this morning in this place where you have promised to be with us. As we gather together in the name of Christ.

[0:59] We thank you that you have given us the desire to be here. That you have given us the opportunity to be here. We thank you that you are the God who loves us and you are the God who draws us and who seeks us and who calls us to come close to you.

[1:14] If it were not for your drawing and your seeking work, none of us would be here. But we thank you that you, in love, draw us and call us to draw near to you.

[1:29] And we thank you that in and through Jesus, your Son, you have made it possible for us to draw near to you. Lord God, you are the Holy God.

[1:42] You are the one who is not able to look upon sin. Such is your holiness and such is your purity. And yet we thank you that we are able to draw near to you this morning.

[1:58] We recognize that we are sinners through and through. None of us are righteous. All of us have fallen short of your standard. All of us are sinners and all of us have so much in the way of offence.

[2:12] As we look even into our own hearts. And yet we thank you that we are sinners who, if we have looked to Christ, are saved by grace.

[2:23] We thank you that Jesus died to take our sins away from us. We thank you for all the good news that we have sung of in that hymn that we have sung.

[2:37] We thank you for the one who died and rose on hand. The one who died eternal life to bring and lives that death may die. We pray that the words of that hymn and the implication of the gospel and all that Jesus has done for us.

[2:56] That it would not only be heard in our minds, but it would penetrate our hearts. And Lord, that we would be filled with joy and peace.

[3:09] And comfort and excitement and anticipation. As we think about all that Jesus has done for us.

[3:21] Lord, we thank you that we are able to come near to you. We thank you that as we ask for forgiveness of our sin.

[3:33] We are promised that forgiveness because of the shed blood of Christ. We thank you that we are assured of eternal life because Jesus not only died, but he rose from the grave.

[3:50] And we thank you, Lord, for all that that means for us on this, your day when we are reminded that Jesus not only died, but he lives and he reigns.

[4:00] And one day soon he will return and take all his people to be with him. And so we pray that each one of us here would be found ready. Trusting in Christ, not in ourselves.

[4:14] Trusting and depending on his finest work and not on our best efforts, which are just a stealthy rise before you. So Lord, we pray that you would meet with us in this hour.

[4:28] We pray that you would bless us. We pray that you would speak to us through your word. Anoint us from on high in the power of the Holy Spirit.

[4:38] And accept our praise and accept our thanks. And sanctify us by your truth, we pray. That we may become more and more like Jesus.

[4:53] And help us, we pray, to reach out with the good news of Jesus. Help us as individuals and as a congregation. Always to be looking for ways to speak to others about Christ.

[5:03] And share that good news. Which was spoken to us and is not to be hoarded by us. And so we pray for every effort to reach out that is made from the service this morning.

[5:20] And this evening. To the services in Harris House. Go to recovery. The latest Bible study. Christianity explored.

[5:31] Discipleship explored. Lord, we pray for the free church camps. And other camps also. SU camps. Faith mission camps over the summer months. Holiday clubs. These efforts made to reach the young ones.

[5:44] So that they will remember their creator in the days of their youth. And for every effort, Lord, that we make. And every opportunity that you give. We pray that you would equip us as you call us.

[5:58] And that you would reach many souls. We pray for those who are with us this morning on holiday. And we ask that you would bless them. And that you would refresh them in the time that they have here.

[6:10] We pray for some who are moving back to Harris. With us even today. And we ask for your blessing upon them. And we thank you that as we acknowledge you. You are the God who directs our paths.

[6:21] And who guides us into the places that we will live and work for. For a period. And Lord, we pray for those who are not here also. As we do each Lord's Day.

[6:33] We remember those housebound. Those who are hospitalized. Those who are struggling. And Lord, we ask that you would draw near to them. And again, in particular, we pray for Dunda.

[6:45] Who is struggling so much at this time. And we ask that you would hear our prayers for them. And Lord, that you would deliver. If that be your will. We do not always know your will.

[6:57] But Lord, we thank you that we can trust your will. You are the God who loves us. And you are the God who knows all things. And who works out all things for the good of those who love you.

[7:11] Help us, Lord, to have faith to believe that. When sometimes we are shaken by circumstance. And we are struggling to understand that. So hear our prayers.

[7:23] And continue with us in this service. And be glorified and lifted up amongst us, we pray. We pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Boys and girls, would you like to come forward, please?

[7:38] You don't have to all come forward. Some of you, if you want to sit. Leave back, you can. Some of you can come all the way forward. That's okay, you're fine there.

[7:49] You're fine there. You had a good week? You've had a good week. That's good. That's good. Did some of you make breakfast in bed for your dads and your grandpas?

[8:03] And maybe your mums and dads? Some of you look perplexed by that question. Let's just move on from it. Let's just move on.

[8:14] What do I have to show you today? I've got a few things to show you today. I've got a few things for you to play with, actually. So I've got some great toys for you to play with.

[8:27] And the first toy for you to play with is a special one. This one. Who'd like to play with this one? No. What do you mean, no? Alistair, I think this is the best toy you could ever have been given.

[8:43] Come up here. Why won't you play with this toy, Alistair? I bet you've got four of them at home. Uh, no. Why not?

[8:54] Because it's for babies. Speak to the metal. Because it's for babies. It's for babies? Babies. Okay, you sit down then.

[9:07] You mature lad. How much fun is that? Well, I'll give it to your dad. He might enjoy it. He didn't say a word, but the look on that face there said it all.

[9:22] Okay, that toy's no use, no? Shoosh. How about this one then?

[9:34] No. How about this one? Ruthie. Ruthie. Do you want a shot? No. Come on, Ruthie.

[9:45] I can tell you want to. Here you come. Take it up on a walk. It's my baby. No, no, you're okay. You're okay. I won't humiliate you. It's for babies.

[9:57] That's for babies? Yeah. It's not for babies. It is. I don't. That's a baby toy. Faragher, would you like a shot of it? No? No.

[10:10] Faragher doesn't like toys so much. He likes books. So I got a book for him. What do you think of this book? Will you enjoy this one? Come here and tell us.

[10:21] Come and tell us, Jono. What's wrong with this book? Look at it. How about we look at it first before you make your mind up? It's got chickens in it. Cows spend most of their days eating grass.

[10:35] Some cows give us milk. Horses are some of the biggest animals on the farm. They can run very fast. I'm sure Faragher would enjoy this.

[10:45] It's for babies. It's for babies. Okay, thanks. Sit down. I find a bottle. Whose bottle is this?

[10:56] Is that John Roddy? Is that... Is that... Is that... Any of the elders over here? Maybe this is their... What's wrong with this one?

[11:07] It's for babies. It's for babies. And I found a bib out there. Is that any of yours? Why not?

[11:21] Ribs are for... So why don't you want ribs? And why don't you want toys like that? And why don't you want farm animal soft books that you can drool on and they don't get too wet?

[11:33] Why don't you want them? Why don't you want them? Because they're baby toys.

[11:45] And you're not... You're not babies. I can't find them, you know. You see a phone?

[11:56] I forgot about the phone. Thanks for that. There's a phone in there as well. Is that your phone? Is that your phone?

[12:08] It's not your phone. So what about this phone? Is this... Is this... This is probably Gordon's phone from last weekend that he left. Do you think? Is this a police phone?

[12:20] No? It's a... You're catching on, aren't you? It's a baby phone. And you're not... A baby. You're not babies.

[12:34] Pardon? It would probably make squeaks and squawks, but that's about all. You probably couldn't phone Australia. Baby toy. And you're not babies.

[12:46] Are you little or are you medium or are you actually quite big? Quite big. Quite big. I thought that would be the answer.

[12:58] Really quite big. And would you, as you get a bit older, would you like to be growing bigger? Yeah. Or would you like to be just staying maybe about that size?

[13:13] Do you like to grow... I want to be that. Do you like to grow bigger? Yeah. I want to be that. Okay, that's good. That's good. Right. I want to be like my dad. You want to be?

[13:24] There we go. I want to be like my dad. I want to be like my dad. I want to be like my dad. Okay, that's good. That's good. Let's try and get a message over here now.

[13:39] When you're little, God loves you. But as you get bigger and bigger and bigger, God loves you.

[13:50] And you know what God loves to see? He loves to see his children growing. He likes to see us getting stronger and bigger because that's the way he designed us.

[14:04] He's the one who made us. He's the one who makes us get bigger and bigger. So when we eat our food and when we do exercise and when we drink water, then we grow.

[14:17] But you know, boys and girls, God doesn't just want us to grow on the outside, taller and wider. He wants us to grow on the inside.

[14:30] And God wants us to grow in our hearts. See, when we become Christians, what do we do? How do you become a Christian?

[14:44] You believe in God. What else do you have to do to become a Christian? Love God, yeah. Bethany? Heaven's where we get if we're Christians.

[14:57] But how do you become a Christian, John Roddy? By believing in him. Grace? You have to ask him, Jesus, to come into your heart.

[15:08] And ask that he'll wash all our sins away. And that he'll come in and he'll live in us. And that's the beginning of becoming a Christian. But he wants us to grow and grow and grow in our hearts.

[15:23] So that we'll become steadier and stronger as Christians and braver. And so that we will become more and more and more.

[15:36] Like who? Him. Like him. Like God. Like Jesus. Like Jesus. Now here's the last question.

[15:49] And I want you to think about a song that you know before you answer it. How do you grow as a Christian? Anna?

[16:04] Read the Bible. That's the first bit. Pardon? Tell me so? That's another song we're going to get to that in a second, actually. Read the Bible.

[16:15] First part. Emma? Pray every day. And you? No. No. No. Read the Bible. Pray every day. Can you remember that song? Read the Bible.

[16:27] Pray every day. There we go. Right. Come on. Next Sunday you're going to be singing two songs for this at least. So let's just warm up these vocal cords. And just so we have this answer in our heads clearly.

[16:40] And we know how to grow. Let's you stand up and sing for us that song. Read the Bible. Pray every day. And you'll stand up there.

[16:54] Who's going to lead us off? John Roddy, you start it. So you want to start it. You start it. Do it.

[17:06] We know how to do it. We know how to do it. We know how to move out. How to do it. We know how to we feel, we know how to do it Can you sort it out?

[17:22] Can you how to move out? Can you how to move out? Excellent. We'll remember that now.

[17:41] Thank you. Let's pray now, okay? Let's speak to God. Lord God, we thank you that you love us. We thank you that you've made it possible for us to know you by sending Jesus.

[17:55] And we thank you that when we ask Jesus to take our sin away and to come into our lives, then we become Christians. And we thank you that every day that you give us in this world, you want us to grow and grow and grow.

[18:09] Whether we're young in years or whether we're old in years, we thank you that you want us to grow and grow and grow. And we thank you that you've given us the Bible and you've given us prayer.

[18:21] And we ask, Lord, that you would help us to read our Bibles and pray every day. And we ask that you would grow more and more like Jesus. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you, boys and girls.

[18:33] We're going to sing now. We're going to sing the hymn that Ailey was talking about a second ago. Jesus loves me. This I know for the Bible tells me so.

[18:43] And we're going to sing. It's 418 in the hymn book if you're following. And it's on the screen as well. So let's stand to sing in a moment. Thank you. Jesus loves me.

[18:58] Jesus loves me.

[19:11] This I know. For the Bible tells me so. Jesus loves me.

[19:48] He who died in heaven's tears to open wide. He will wash away my sin.

[19:59] Let his little child come in. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me.

[20:12] Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me.

[20:23] Yes, Jesus loves me. He will take me all high. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me.

[20:34] Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me.

[20:47] Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so Okay girls and boys, you head through to Sunday school If we could turn in our Bibles please to Revelation chapter 2 Revelation and chapter 2 And we read from verse 18 as we come to the letter to the church in Thyatira To the angel of the church in Thyatira write These are the words of the Son of God Whose eyes are like blazing fire And whose feet are like burnished bronze I know your deeds, your love and faith Your service and perseverance And that you are doing more now than you did at first Nevertheless I have this against you You tolerate that woman Jezebel

[21:48] Who calls herself a prophetess By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality And the eating of food sacrificed to idols I have given her time to repent of her immorality But she is unwilling 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 I will strike her children dead And I will repay each of you according to your deeds I will strike her children dead Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds And I will repay each of you according to your deeds Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira To you who do not hold to our teaching And have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets I will not impose any other burden on you Only hold on to what you have Until I come To him who overcomes and does my will to the end I will give authority over the nations

[22:50] He will rule them with an iron scepter He will dash them to pieces like pottery Just as I have received authority from my Father And I will give him the morning star He who has an ear Let him hear what the Spirit says To the churches Amen And may God bless that reading Of his word to us And give us understanding As we seek to study of the short end Neil Cameron is going to lead us in prayer And now Thank you Have you there, have you there?

[23:56] Have you? Yan, the mother God said to you000 who were bao'..., you have you the ones you are looking for.

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[27:47] But as it was much like it has it. You will kill yourself.

[27:58] bellow live in your soul, and the to the Choir of God will go All continuance will manifest.

[28:27] Because your mother was looking back together. You are a man who is a leader, you are a ruler of God, you are not a woman.

[28:51] ... just for us. All the people.

[29:01] And that our Alumni 없어요 can pass. Our disciples have anterioritors often��. We call those disciples. We call but we call weN.

[29:16] And we locate all silicon on I gave to them how they came together, left by theuku and laid out and forwards I gave to them how they commanded me before they came together Why they went toside this morning thejuvel Вы жжете и тайít Iikle и ломд edile ялт Когда все жжете глаза голова I was wise, and I thought I could be with myself myself position in a special place.

[29:45] But I was really watching a Srivili. I wanted to stay. I was eating. You did very often, and I wanted to eat them.

[29:58] And I felt like a man gave at her... And she said, what do you do with more people? She said, what are you?

[30:09] We look forward to a move part of the house Amen.

[30:58] We sing again to God's praise. We sing this time from Psalm 139. We sing in Gaelic, Psalm 139, and the first two stanzas of the psalm. The first three verses marked in English.

[31:14] O Lord, thou hast me searched and known, thou knowest my sitting down, and rising up, yea, all my thoughts afar to thee are known. My footsteps and my line down, thou compassest always, thou also most entirely art, acquaint with all my ways. These two stanzas in Gaelic. And we remain seated.

[31:44] O Lord, thou hast me seen.

[32:14] O Lord, thou hast me seen.

[32:34] O Lord, thou hast me seen.

[33:04] O Lord, thou hast me seen. O Lord, thou hast me seen. O Lord, thou hast me seen.

[33:16] O Lord, thou hast me seen. No kept volšký!

[33:33] As the man dead will be beast, Oh, my God.

[34:05] Oh, my God.

[34:35] Oh, my God.

[35:05] Oh, my God.

[35:35] Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

[35:47] Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

[35:59] Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

[36:11] Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Can we look at the portion of Scripture from verse 18 and onwards?

[36:27] Oh, my God. Oh, my God. minutes fast every hour so you can be encouraged. I was wondering if someone in the congregation has been tampering with it. I want to just begin today as we come to this passage by asking the question, what do you know? I was to ask of all those who are gathered here today. What do you know about the city of Thyatira? If we get a sheet of paper, I start to write down some of the facts and some of the figures and some of the things that are characteristic of the city. What would we know about the city of Thyatira? You may be much more knowledgeable than me and have something to contribute, but if I was to be asked that question before I dug out the commentaries, the answer would be, we know nothing about the city of Thyatira.

[37:35] And even if we were to go back in time to the time when this letter was written, AD 95, I think in most contexts, most places, if we were to ask the question, what do you know about the city of Thyatira? It would draw a blank. Now, this portion of scripture is part of a wider section in scripture going from Revelation 2 to Revelation 3. It's like a box set of letters of Christ to his church. And Jesus addresses the church in various places and he searches them, he knows them, and he speaks to them about what he sees in these churches. And already, as we've gone through this chapter, we've looked at the church in Ephesus, verses 1 to 7 of chapter 2. We've looked at the church in Pergamum from verses 12 through to verse 17. And we looked at the church in Smyrna in the middle there from verses 8 to verse 11. And these three cities prior that we've given a bit of time to, Ephesus, Smyrna, and Pergamum, they were well-known cities in that context. They were cities of significance and they had importance. And in that day, they were well-known cities, but Thyatira, not so much.

[38:59] So that Thyatira was a city that was less noted. In terms of the pecking order of cities, in terms of importance, this was the one that was very firmly at the bottom of the list. It was the smallest, it was the least significant. And that being the case, one would expect that this letter would actually be the shortest. That would be the logical process to follow in terms of worldly thinking. The last in pecking order, you would expect to perhaps be given the least in the way of attention. That's what we become used to. Less people, less importance, less time is given to us.

[39:44] And yet, we see the opposite here. This is the last in the pecking order of cities. And yes, yet this seems to be the church that's given first importance and the longest letter and the most time and the most words in way of attention and instruction by Christ. And so we pick up at verse 18.

[40:08] And as John is directed to write by Jesus, we read from verse 18, to the angel of the church of Thyatira, write, these are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire, see all things, and whose feet are like burnished groan. That speaks to us about strength and power.

[40:33] And so here we see in the introduction that Jesus, the Son of God, determines that he will instruct John to write this lengthy letter to this little church in Thyatira. Now, why is that? Why does John get this instruction? Why do Thyatira get this letter with their name on it?

[41:01] Well, the answer to that is because they were a precious church. That's the first point. They were a precious church. Now, I expect all of us, at some point in time, will have had to make one of these phone calls to one of these big multinational companies, like for example, Vodafone. Something's wrong with your phone, you're getting frustrated, you look up the instruction manual, it tells you there's this number to phone for technical assistance, and so you phone the number, and they start to go through the thing.

[41:39] What's your name? And what's your date of birth? And then they get to the address. And if you're anything like me, the address is such a frustrating part of the conversation.

[41:50] What's your address? And so you start to give them the address. It's number two. That's fine. Kylos. Kylos? How do you spell Kylos? Okay, why? And if you use the Gaelic, you're in deep waters.

[42:04] So we get through to Kylos. Kylos is not too complicated a word. Scalping. To Kylos scalping. What could you spell out for me, please? So you start to spell scalping.

[42:15] And where is that? The Isle of... Where? Isle of Harris. Never heard of it, they'll say. 99 out of 100 times.

[42:26] Someone in the same country as us. And yet they'll look at this and they'll say, You've never been to Harris. Beautiful place. Never heard of it. And so there's a kind of almost a put-down in these conversations.

[42:40] You know, they're speaking from London or Tokyo or New York or whatever. We've all heard of these places. But the Isle of Harris, Kylos scalping, Never heard of it.

[42:52] Doesn't cross my radar. Well, Thyatira was a place that would have not been over-familiar to anyone out with Thyatira.

[43:04] If the folks from Thyatira were phoning up a call centre, they would have struggled like we do. But this was a place that was familiar to Christ.

[43:17] And Thyatira may not have been a cultural hotspot. It may not have been the tourist attraction of that area. It may not have been a place of notoriety and great influence in that time that Jesus was interested in.

[43:31] And He has much to say to them. And He has been watching them with, verse 18, Eyes like blazing fire. Why?

[43:44] Simply because They were their precious too. Remember Paul in Corinth, When he's speaking to this motley crew Of a church in Corinth.

[43:56] And he says to them, In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Verses 26 into 27, Brothers and sisters, Think of what you were when you were called.

[44:08] Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many were influential. Not many were of noble birth. But then, He goes on to say in verse 27, But God called you.

[44:21] God spoke to you. God chose you. In other words, He's saying to that church in Corinth, As Jesus is saying to the church in Thyatira, You are precious to Christ.

[44:39] And that's for our encouragement this morning, As we apply this. We may not meet in a cathedral. We may not be in the capital city of our land.

[44:53] We may not even be in the main village in the western islands. We may not be big. We may not be significant in terms of the world.

[45:06] But we're precious to Christ. And we can take that to ourselves, As encouragement. Not only as a church, But as individuals. Others, At times, May want to put you down.

[45:21] Some people, In the way that they treat you, May sometimes make you feel like you have no significance, And have no worth. But you are precious to Christ. And that's why He called you.

[45:35] To be here today. And that's why He calls you to come to Him. And that's why He made it possible, For you to come to Him.

[45:47] By dying. On that cross. He did it because you are precious to Him. I've told you before, About that man, Stan Gowdy, Who started to go to recovery in, The area, I think it was in Urest of the Gowd.

[46:08] And, Stan was an alcoholic, Hopelessly so. Who felt like he had no worth, And no significance, And was just at rock bottom, In his life.

[46:20] And somebody, Who was a Christian, Came along, And they just put their hand on his shoulder, And they said, Stan, The word of the hymn, Jesus loves you.

[46:32] And these three words, Jesus loves you, And he was saved, And he was saved, In his heart, And he was saved from his addiction.

[46:45] He's going to be, Here in a few weeks time, Speaking about that. But I wonder, If there's someone here this morning, And that's what you need to hear. Simply this, Jesus loves you.

[46:58] You're precious to Him. Look at the cross. Think of that sacrifice. Think of the shed blood. Think of how precious, You are to Him.

[47:11] This was a precious church. The second point to note here, Is that this was a progressing church. We see that from verse 19 onwards.

[47:25] Jesus says, I know your deeds, Your love, And faith, Your service, And perseverance, And that you are now doing more, Than you did at first. So Jesus is the one, Verse 19, Who sees.

[47:39] He is the one who knows. So what does he see, And what does he know, As he looks into this church? Well, There was much that he could commend this church for. They had deeds, That he is able to speak about.

[47:54] They did things, Just like Ephesus did things. They were industrious. They had deeds. But unlike Ephesus, They still had love.

[48:06] Remember Ephesus? They were busy, But they'd lost their love. This little church, They were busy, And they were doing it, Because they loved Christ, And they loved those who were around them. They had faith, Just like Smyrna did, And just like Pergamon did, And they had perseverance, Or they had hope.

[48:27] You won't persevere, If you don't have hope. You don't hope for something up ahead, You don't progress, You don't persevere. And it puts me in mind, Of what Paul said, In 1 Corinthians 13, He speaks, About faith, Hope, And love.

[48:43] And the importance, Of these things, In the Christian life. And here we see a church, In Pergamon, And there is, Much in the way of evidence, Of faith, And hope, And love.

[48:57] It's been worked out, From within that church. But you know, It's one thing, To see these things, In a snapshot, In a moment. Yesterday, When at the induction, Just after the service, There was various people, And they were all called, To have a photograph taken.

[49:20] So I saw them, And they all lined up, Against the wall, And they go into order, And the ties were sorted, And make sure, That they're okay, And then once everybody, Is in good shape, Snack, Lovely photograph, I'm sure it'll be.

[49:34] But if you fast forward, At an hour and a half, And it was hot, And the ties were down, And the jackets were, And the shirts were coming out, And they didn't look so smart.

[49:46] And it's one thing to see, Faith, Hope, And love, In that snapshot moment, That somebody looks into a church, But Jesus, Has been watching them, For some time. And Jesus says, Not only do I see, Faith, Hope and love, Deeds, Love, Faith, Perseverance, In the moment, But I see these things, In increasing measure, You are doing more now, Than you did at first, Said Jesus.

[50:12] And so he commends, And so he commends them, For them. And that is, Our calling, As we apply this.

[50:24] If you're a Christian, This morning, Then our calling, Is to show faith, Hope and love, Perseverance, Progress, In increasing measure.

[50:38] When we become Christians, We are saved in that moment, From sin, The penalty of sin, We still have the wrestle, We still have the struggle, But we are saved from the penalty of sin, We are saved from the punishment, We are saved from the prospect, Of eternity, Apart from Christ in hell.

[50:56] We are saved from all these things, That we are saved by God, For God, With that purpose, That we will make progress, That we will advance, That we will become spiritually mature, That we will become more and more like Christ, That we will be sanctified, That we will grow in grace, That we will make progress.

[51:22] And so we must take the question, First of all, As a congregation, As a fellowship of God's people here, In this place, Are we making progress?

[51:35] Are we seeking, For God's glory, And out of love, For Christ to do more now, Than we did at first? Are we seeking to keep on, Inviting folks to come, And hear the gospel message, So that all the chairs will be filled, How many people, Are lying in their beds just now?

[52:00] How many people, Are out doing various things, In the course of the day? Are we asking them, To come, So that they will hear, The good news about Christ?

[52:13] Are we showing the community, That we live in, How much Jesus loves them, In the way that we act, And react, As we seek to, To wash their feet, As Jesus called us to?

[52:25] Are we making progress, As a congregation? And as individuals, Am I, Are you growing closer, Day by day, And month by month, And year by year, In our walk, With God, I remember, In, Many years ago now, At a YF weekend, And somebody came to speak to us, And they, Spoke to us about, Growing, In our walk with God, And what they did was, They, They got us to write a letter, To ourselves, And there's a letter, That was sealed, Nobody else ever got to see it, We wrote it, We addressed it to ourselves, We wrote about the things, We were struggling with, We wrote about our ambitions, We wrote about, Who we'd like to be in, 12 months time, In our walk with God, And then these letters were sealed, And they were taken away from us, And we all forgot about them, In a year's time,

[53:28] We got a letter, Looking at this letter, Thinking, That's my handwriting, And I opened it up, And I'm confronted, With this, Progress support, Of where I was, And where I wanted to be, And in the moment, It was a very good, And challenging, Thought to see, Had I progressed, In the year, And our calling as individuals, Is to progress, To grow, To mature, To steady, Up spiritually, Are we making progress, The children, We listen to them, They're desperate to grow, They want to grow, You tell them they're wee, And they're going to stay wee, They hate it, There is that, Youthful, Life loving desire, To grow big and strong, You go to some houses, Go to Dundas house, As you go in the, The door,

[54:29] Nathan, His grandson, Is obviously been writing on the wall, In the scullery, In the utility room, And you've got month by month, And this is where he is, This month, And then it's up here, And then it's up there, And you can see the progress, Going all the way, Up the wall, As he grows bigger, And as he grows bigger, And that should be, Our desire, Spiritually, We should be growing, Becoming stronger, And steadier, Spiritually, Moving from milk, To meat, As Paul puts it, Developing, Sharing old habits, Like clothes, That we've outgrown, Like baby toys, That we've set aside, And said, They're not for me anymore, So this was a church, That was, Presses to Christ, This was a church, That was progressing, It was growing, This is a church, Thirdly, That was permissive, It was a permissive church, And we see that, In verse 20, And following, And the word that Jesus uses, Is the word,

[55:30] Tolerate, And it's a word, That in our day, In our culture, We're very familiar with today, When we speak about tolerance, We tend to, In this world, Yet I'm not of approval, We should be tolerant, We should be tolerating, This, That, And the next thing, Tolerance is good, We're told, Except Jesus looks into this church, And Jesus sees a church, That is very, Very tolerant, In one area, And he says, No, This is not good, You're tolerant, But you're tolerant, Of Jezebel, And so Jesus sees this permissiveness, In the church, In Thyatira, And he holds it against them, Verse 20, He says, Nevertheless, I have this against you, You tolerate, That woman Jezebel, Who calls herself, A prophetess, Now the likelihood is, The commentators tell us, The likelihood is,

[56:31] When Jesus was speaking about this Jezebel, It likely wasn't an individual, In that church, Called Jezebel, It probably wasn't, Her real name, But it was likely to be a woman, Or a group, That were in operation, Who had the same, Ambitions, As the original Jezebel, And we have no time, To go in to look at the, Original Jezebel, But you can do that this afternoon, First Kings chapter 16, Through to verse 21, Chapter 21, First Kings 16 to 21, And very briefly, Jezebel, Was the wife of a weak king, Called Ahab, And her agenda, Was to import her false gods, Into the life of Israel, And so over time, That's what she did, She had temples built, To false gods, Over time, She introduced, Prophets, That would speak, On behalf of false gods,

[57:33] And she identified, The prophets of the one, True God, And she had them eradicated, And killed off, And Ahab, Her husband, He just didn't have, The backbone, To stand up to her, And although he, Likely knew, All that she was doing, Was wrong, He was permissive, Of her ungodly ways, And destruction, Falled, Because of her ungodly ways, And sadly, The church, In Thyatira, Were being permissive, Of a form of Jezebel, In their church, And they allowed her, To have, Authority, And a place to teach, That was her first mistake, First Timothy 2, And then the teaching, That she brought, Into that fellowship, Was not the teaching, Of God, She was misleading them, As Jesus says, She was teaching them, What Jesus calls, From verse 24,

[58:35] Satan's so-called, Deep secrets, And so Jesus looks in, And he exposes her, And he says, You should not have her there, And you should not have, That teaching, Within this church, My church, But they tolerated her, And they permitted her, The pulpit, And they permitted her, The title of prophetess, But Jesus did not, Jesus was intolerant, Of Jezebel, Why was that, Why was that, Why was that, Why was that, Why was that, Why was that, Why was that, Why was that, Why was that, I remember when, I was in primary, One or two, And I was in Stormly, Primary school, And I really, Vividly remember, Being spoken to, In school,

[59:35] And then at home, There was a prowler, We were told, Remember the word, Really clearly, There was a prowler, That had been seen, In the area, Of the school, And, He had made approaches, To various children, And had tried to, Get them to go, Away with him, And so this, Became known, To the school, And to the parents, Remember, Remember, We'd been in assembly, And I remember, Being at home, And parents, And teachers, And the police, Were called in as well, And we were told, Very, Very clearly, About this man, This prowler, Now what did they say, About the man, Did they say to us, As children, As parents, Just tolerate him, Just, Just live with the threat, Of this man, Yes there's a power, On the loose, But let's just be, Permissive, Let's just permit him, To prowl around the area, Well absolutely not, Was the message, That was given,

[60:37] And in assemblies, And at home, We were warned, In the strongest, Possible terms, This man, Was dangerous, This man, Must not be tolerated, This man, Must not be permitted, To be in operation, Where there are, Vulnerable children, And that in essence, Is what, Jesus is saying, To the church, In Thyatira, He makes a complaint, Against them, But it's not the, The nagging complaint, Of someone, Who has a, An insignificant, Point to note, This is the complaint, Of a loving father, Who's watching out, For his vulnerable children, Who's anxious, To protect them, From one, Who's trying, To lure them, Away, And there's a lesson there, For us, As a church, And there's a lesson there, For us,

[61:37] As individuals, As a church, Well, Project Jezebel, Is always an operation, In every day, And in every age, Satan, Is always, On the prowl, First Peter 5a, Tells us that, He's always looking, For people, That he can use, To steer us, Away from Christ, And away from the truth, Of, The gospel, And when we see, Jezebel in action, We have to have, Zero tolerance, We must, Not permit such, An influence, To grow, And then for us, As individuals, When we, Do an audit, Of our lives, As God searches us, And he knows us, And we think about, The influences that there is, In our lives, Think about this, Anyone, Or anything, That seeks to steer us, Away from Christ, And seeks to,

[62:38] Compromise, Our relationship, With him, Any such influence, Must not be tolerated, We must not permit, Such an influence, To grow, And develop, And take root, Within our lives, Now that doesn't mean, That we, Take individuals, And we cast individuals, Out of our, Our sphere, Of life, But it does mean, That we recognise, In some of the relationships, That we may have, That there is a vulnerability, We must note, That the evil one, Can use, Things, People, Places, Activities, Anything, To call us, Away from Christ, We must not, Tolerate that, Fourth point, As we see here, A patient saviour, And,

[63:40] As we look at, Jezebel, And the influence, Of Jezebel, What we see, Very simply, And starkly, Is sin, At work, Sin, In operation, Sometimes, You can go and look, And you see the mechanics, Of something at work, I was in the garage, The other day, And I was looking, Underneath my car, Not much I understand, About it, But you see something, Of mechanics, Of what works, And what doesn't work, And as we see, Jezebel, In action, We see the mechanics, Of sin, In operation, And as we choose, To sin, We're led further, And further, Away from Christ, To be saved, To be converted, To be born again, To become a Christian, Is to turn away, From sin, To ask for forgiveness, Of sin, And to turn in faith, And obedience, To Jesus, The one, And the only one, Who's able to save us, From sin, And the theological word, That's used for that, You know well, Is the word repent,

[64:42] And so Jesus says, To the church then, And the church now, He speaks of Jezebel, And those who were going, Jezebel's sinful ways, She led them, And Jesus says, In verse 21, I have given her time, I have given her time, To repent, Of her immorality, And that time, That Jesus had given her, Demonstrates the patience, Of Christ, And every time, We, See the clock, Tick, And the hand, Move around, Every time we, Open up our calendars, And our phones, And we see them on the wall, And we can tick off, A day, And a day, And a day, And a day, We have a monitor, Of time, And every day, And every tick, And every hour, Speaks to us, About the patience, Of Christ, He is a patient, Saviour, And still,

[65:44] He is not returned, To this world, As judge, When he comes, He will come as judge, Not as saviour, And yet, He has not returned, Yet, Not because he doesn't see, He sees, But he is patient, He has given us life, He has given us breath, He has given us, The freedom to gather, As we gather, He has given us, The desire to open his word, He has given us ears, If we have ears, Spiritually speaking, To hear his call, His desire is none, We perish, Our saviour, Is patient, Wonderfully so, That's why he is speaking, To us today, And he may not, Give us tomorrow, So we're called, To respond, Today, Today, If you hear his voice,

[66:47] Do not harden your heart, To text to which I was converted, Now is the accepted time, Behold, Now, Is the day of salvation, 2 Corinthians, Chapter 6, Verse 2, We have a patient saviour, Who is calling us, And finally, Very briefly, We have a personal, We have a personal, We have a personal, Saviour, That we must come to, And just as Jesus, In AD 95, Wrote personal letters, Not one, Big, Generic letter, He wrote personal letters, This is still the way, He operates with us, Today, He deals with each, Individual, In this hall, Personally, Yes, With us as a congregation, But within the congregation, He speaks to every individual, In this place, Personally, And because he speaks to us,

[67:47] Personally, What we see, In Thyatira, And what we will see here, This morning, Is there will be two, Very radical, Differing responses, Some in Thyatira, Rejected Jesus' teacher, Jezebel, And those who followed him, And some repented, And turned, To Jesus, And here today, There will be some, Who sadly, In all likelihood, Is to have, Week by week by week, Will reject, The teaching, And the call of Christ, And pray not, But I fear for it, And some, I pray will repent, And turn to Christ, Jezebel, Rejected the word of God, And the consequences,

[68:49] Of that rejection, Are alarming, And they are disturbing, And I'm out of time, But if you look at, Verses 21, To verse 23, We see, The essence, Of what it looks like, To reject Christ, In the ultimate sense, And we read there, Of suffering, Intense suffering, Verse 22, We read there, About death, In verse 23, We read there, About being repaid, Each according, To your deeds, And for those, Who reject Christ, For those who persist, In walking away from him, And further and further, Into sin, What can they expect, What can they expect, Well they can expect, Judgment, And the imagery, That's used, In these verses, 21 to 23, Speaks into that, Judgment, Suffering, Intense, Suffering, Death, The second death, Being repaid,

[69:51] According to our deeds, Our guilt, That is a very, Disturbing window, Into what we are told, About hell, That's a window, Into hell, And Jesus is patient, But for those, Who will exhaust his patience, For those, Who will not turn to him, There is judgment, And there is hell, Why do I say that?

[70:28] Not because it will make me, Mr. Coppola, It won't, I say it because it's true, I say it because, There is opportunity today, To avoid this, I say it because, Jesus said it first, And Jesus says it still, He spoke more about hell, Than anyone ever did, And he went, To a cross, And he suffered, And he died, So that we would not, Have to be repaid, According to our sinful deeds, He went in love, To that cross, In order that we would not, Have to go, To that place of judgment, That place, Of eternal, Hell, And we will not go there, If we will repent, Verse 21, Repent, Verse 22, Repent,

[71:30] Jesus first sermon, Recorded for us in Mark's gospel, Repent, Jesus last word to the church, Repent, Change direction, Turn around, Turn away from Jezebel, Turn away from sin, Come to me, Says Jesus, Receive me, As your personal, Savior, So haven't you done that yet, Everyone who calls, Everyone who calls, Upon the name of the Lord, Will be saved, Have you called, Upon the name of the Lord, Are you saved, When we turn, To Jesus, In repentance, We are given that promise, That we are saved,

[72:30] From sin, And that we are saved, For him, He is the morning star, Verse 28, And he is the one, Who will not punish, But will record, With eternal life, And will give authority, To rule, To all, Who are with him, Who are trusting, It's the essence, Of verse 26, And verse 27, Reject him, Face judgment, Alone, Repent, You will receive salvation, You will receive, Eternal life, He, Who has an ear, Let him hear, What the spirit says, To the churches, And may God bless,

[73:35] That word, To us, And we are given the opportunity, To respond to it, In our final hymn, Hymn number one, 683, And the words, Are on the screen, To hear the call, Of Christ, To the church, In Thyatira, To the church, In Tarborg, To any who haven't yet, Trusted him, We are given the opportunity, Here, To respond, To him, In our singing, And in our hearts, I hear, Thy welcome voice, That calls me Lord, To thee, For cleansing, In thy precious blood, That flowed, On Calvary, I am coming Lord, Coming now to thee, Wash me, Cleanse me, In the blood, That flowed, On Calvary, I hear,

[74:42] Thy welcome voice, That calls me Lord, To thee, For cleansing, In thy precious blood, That flowed, On Calvary, I am coming Lord, Coming now to thee, Wash me, Cleanse me in the blood, That flowed, On Calvary, If Jesus calls me on, To perfect faith, To perfect faith, And love, To perfect hope, And peace, And trust, For heaven, And heaven above, I am coming Lord, Coming now to thee,

[75:45] Wash me, Cleanse me in the blood, That road, That road, On Calvary, Take Jesus, Who confers, The blessed work within, By adding grace, To welcome grace, Wearing the power of sin, I am coming Lord, Coming now to thee, Wash me, Cleanse me in the blood, That flowed, On Calvary, On hell, Atonely blood, On hell, Redeeming grace, All hail, Hail the gift of Christ, Our Lord,

[76:46] Our strength, And righteousness, I am coming Lord, Coming now to thee, Wash me, Cleanse me in the blood, That road, On Calvary, And I may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, And the love of God, The Father, And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, Be with us all, Both now, And forevermore, Amen.