It's a Revelation

Not my fault. So the title of today's sermon is, it's a revelation. We all liked things to be revealed to us, don't we, as we heard about in the sermonette? We have been looking into some of the minor prophets. I've also touched on some major prophets. But I want you to consider today a prophet that sometimes we don't categorize him as a prophet more of an apostle, and that is the prophet John and the book in Revelation that he wrote, because it is interesting.

But I'd like to look at some of his writings today, because there could be things we are missing. And I'd like to look at seven profound revelations in the book of Revelation to you and to me. I'm not going to go through the seven seals, the seven trumpets, the seven trumpet plagues, and all this other stuff that I've gone through here before, many times. Not even going to go through the study of the churches in Revelation, but God's profound last seven statements to those churches. That's all I want to touch on today. We're going to look at the statements that is laid out to us, because I think it's very relevant, whether you are the members of the church of God, past, present, or future.

So let's dive into this, because it has words for us that we probably need to examine a little more. Now, I know what you've heard in the past. I know what you can read. I know sermons that are out there, commentaries, various things about the book of Revelation.

I remember it was the very first book that I remember as a kid. My parents had to pass a preacher over in Indiana. I was seven. And so this preacher wanted my parents to come to his church. So they visited his church. And he then, as my father recalled, he then invited himself over. You can be thankful I don't do any of that. He invited himself over to their house. So he came in and said and talked to them. And my father wasn't a religious man at all at that time.

But my father said, I have been reading the Bible, especially since I knew you were coming over. So I'm going to ask you some questions that I've never heard. I want some answers for some questions that I've never heard answers for. So the preacher goes, okay. And he goes, let's go to the book of Revelation. And the preacher said, well, one thing I can tell you about the book of Revelation. It was written by a crazy old man on an island.

And it really, he was just dreaming and he may have been on drugs or whatever because nothing makes sense. And so we don't really go there. The beginning and end of everything is Jesus Christ. And my father said, but Jesus Christ is mentioned in this book. Yeah, but let's not go into that. So they didn't. So my father spent, I guess, the next 10 or 15 years just wondering, guess there's not really a church I can go to until God began to work with him. But in the book of Revelation, you read about these seven churches that he talks about, God's churches.

And so you have heard all the stories or you can read all about the these churches being on a mail route. And that mail was sent to each of these cities and each of these cities had a church of God in it. And so there was kind of this route or mail route. That's not in Scripture. It could be true.

I've never read it in a historical book. I've read it in religious books. So perhaps it was on this mail route. And so that's an explanation of why these churches are talked to as a letter was sent from here and a letter sent to there and here and there and everywhere. Or it has been described as eras in the church. Ears in the church and that down through the ages each each church would represent a certain time. That is something else has been explained.

Is that in Scripture? No, it's not. I can't find it. If you find it, I mean, it's a hypothesis. It could have happened. It could be true. And another explanation is that it's the spiritual state of the churches of God. That the characteristics are the mindset of these churches that did exist in the first century and each one was a little different and that's addressed.

I believe that because it's in the Bible. But it's possible that that mindset is in the people of the churches down through the ages and even here today. And it's real possible that it describes many of you and me. And so I want to look at that because I've never heard anybody talk about it before. And in my 25 years of giving sermons, I've never given a sermon or heard one.

Describing the very last statement that was given to the churches. There are a lot of sermons using Revelation for speculation. Just go to YouTube. Watch all the sermons. Type in Revelation. The meaning of the book of Revelation. Oh, there's hundreds of them. Some of them are pretty entertaining. And some of them are just like, where in the world did you get your study? But I'd like to look at what is in there and how that should be relatable to you. Remember in the 80s, there was this 80-year-old woman.

She got hired to do an advertising bit. She became very famous for it. She was 81 years old. And Wendy's did this commercial. And they used this guy. And his punchline was, where's the beef? She died. Nothing. Nothing became of it. Nobody really liked it. Then they hired this 81-year-old woman. And she had done very little before that time. And so she made that statement then famous.

Everybody liked it. Because they just said, go in and say it as you would say it. She said, where's the beef? And people would caught on. And it became a catchphrase. It was even used during the Super Bowl.

It was used during movies. It was used everywhere else. Well, today, I'd like to, in her memory, because she did that for four years. And in 1985, she was still saying it. And another company came in and paid her some money to say, I found the beef. And she got fired by Wendy's. Well, she died within a few months. But I'd like to look at today some meat.

Where's the beef in Revelation? Where's the meat for us? As I hope we can kind of look at and go through. I would like to, before we jump into it, answer a couple of questions that people have had. Even my wife said she'd never heard this explained in detail as I was just throwing it out to her this week. She sometimes wants to know, what are you speaking about? She wants to make sure it's not about her, I think. Most of the time it's not. But there's a term used at two of the churches where it's referencing the Nicolaitans.

Everybody heard that? The Nicolaitans. One is the first one in Ephesians and they didn't cater to. They didn't like the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. And another church he talks about. They were all about it. They didn't mind. Well, who are these Nicolaitans and how does this play into part? Well, it plays into part because according to historians, this church or the Nicolaitan belief came from the Bible, Acts 6, because Nicholas was one of the first deacons in the church. Remember Prochorus and Stephen who died. One of those was Nicholas. He said he was a proselyte from Antioch.

And so Nicholas, according to history, kind of got off and started his own church. Shifted away. That's very believable because it's predicted all through the New Testament and people wouldn't do that. But according to this history, the Nicolaitan doctrine came from Nicholas and the doctrine seemed to be that it was all right to have one foot in the world and one foot in the church. It's okay to do that.

And the reason it was that because we are part of the world and we can't get out of it and we sin. And so that's how we're just naturally born.

And so you can imagine how it would appeal to a Greek and a Roman civilization.

Oh, I can go to church, but I can also just do it. Feels good.

But the other thought was because of the name, Nicolaitans. Nicol that we will just touch on here in a moment. Nicol is a word in Greek that means to conquer.

Laity. To conquer laity. Laity was the regular members of the church. Nicolaitans. That then it means that the minister has control and that conquers the people and they're down here and he is up here. Sound familiar? And but Christ said, whoa, whoa, whoa, you go down with the people. We're not better.

And so you can see how this doctrine of the Nicolaitans, because is it possible that both those things are true? Well, yeah. That Nicolaitans wanted that. He wanted to have total control and telling you you don't need to do these things. That scripture may tell you to do.

So I wanted to touch on that for just one reason, because maybe there's seven examinations we need to make by looking at these seven verses.

So let's go and examine these seven verses that John revealed that was revealed to him by an angel, was revealed to him by Jesus Christ, and revealed to him by God. That's what it says. Go to Revelation 1 if you don't believe that.

So the very first church it references there of these churches is Ephesus. Ephesus. And I just broke it down, so you can go back and read it if you want. Hopefully you will, because it's not that much. I'm kind of giving an overview here, because I have a purpose for the sermon. And the church at Ephesus basically was a loveless church. And why is that? They lost their first love.

They were excited. It was describing this church. They're excited. Remember Paul stayed there for three years with them. Matter of fact, John came back, and they believe that's where John died after he came back from the island of Patmos and went back to Ephesus. But how about us?

Lose your first love?

A number of people get married, and they're just like, oh, excited and holding hands. And it's like, oh, I'm so in love. I love you. I love you. And then after a few years, what happens?

We don't have to hold hands.

That happens. It's part of life. Does it also happen with our relationship with God?

And that's what I want to look at here today, because if you will join me in the book of Revelation.

You're going to go through basically seven scriptures. That's it. Seven scriptures.

You can fill in the blanks and read about the churches later. But I want to make a point here.

In Revelation 2, as it talks about this church at Ephesus, in verse 6, it talks about the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which he said, I also hate.

Guys, not for that. But then he said, he who has an ear, which is basically saying, what again? Listen up. I got something important to say. He used to have a boss that used to go, hey, hey, hey, hey. Never forgot that. You hear that 20 times in a day. You're like, okay, okay, he wants me to listen up. This is what God is saying to us. And think about this in our own way, our own mindset.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who what? Overcomes. You know what the Greek word for overcome is, right?

No? Nico. Nico. Like Nicholas. Nico. It means to conquer. That's what overcome, because some people think when you, oh, well, boy, I think I've overcome that. And so you just, oh, I just, I just, just got that finished. Oh, I just, over to come. So, ah, no, that's not what it means at all. It means to conquer.

He who conquers this. Conquer what? Losing your first love. What the issue was. He wants us to be on fire.

And here the church, well, we've been around a long time, and Paul was here, and I was here, and guess what? Yeah, it's kind of the same church. Come in. Okay. Yeah, well, how are you? Okay, what time is this preacher getting over with?

But at one time there was a love, a passionate love that had. And he was saying to the church, he was saying to that church, he's saying to us today, have you lost your first love? And he said, if you will overcome that, conquer that. I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

So what's he saying? I'm going to give you eternal life. If you'll just have some, get that first love back.

I'm going to grant you eternal life. No ifs or buts about it, but you've got to. Conquer.

Conquer.

Another word for that, Nico, is subdue.

Subdue. It needs to conquer, but you've got to overcome this.

Because it's easy to be lazy, isn't it? It comes naturally for me.

I get in my chair, pull that little lever on the backside. I just, oh man, feels so good. How is it spiritually? It's a lot easier to be lazy about, go, well, let's see. I'll read a few verses today.

And what was it when you first fell in love with God's Word? You couldn't get enough of it. You read, you stayed up at night late, you'd get up in the morning, you'd also wear people out at work. I did. They didn't want to hear it, but it didn't matter. They were stuck in the truck with me for a while. They were going out to hear it. I was like, wow, this is so new, everybody, you know, but then you kind of learn to taper off a little bit. But then you, then if you're not careful, it just slowly becomes less important in your life. And you love God's Word less. This is what the Church at Ephesus had become.

Is this one of the seven mindsets in the Church of God today? I think so. I think so. I've met him. Then down that road myself. And to have my tail kicked a time or two.

Let's go to the second one. The second one is Smyrna. The Church of Smyrna.

It's a persecuted Church. The time is persecuted. People were killed. People were martyred, but they were also having to go from this place to this place. They were hungry, and some of us have had persecution before. Maybe it's not done yet.

The key is, as God was telling them, to be faithful to the end.

Can we do that? Can we endure to the end? The same shall be what? Saved. That's right. Endure to the end. No matter what you're going through. The sweet boy in this room, I know, you've gone through things.

But you overcame them. What did it say?

Verse 14, He who has it near to here, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who does what? Overcomes, conquers.

Shall not be hurt by the second death. Well, second death? What's he talking about? That's a lake of fire. That's eternal death, lake of fire. He says, if you will overcome that, if you'll endure to the end through whatever persecution, whatever troubles, whatever trials that you have in your life.

God says you're strong enough. He's never going to test you beyond what you can stand. That's His words, not mine.

But He knows how much we can stand. Sometimes we don't.

And we come, come on, God. This is going to stop. But He who conquers, whatever it is, you're not being hurt by the second death, which is telling you what?

Eternal life. That's what you get. Eternal life by being able to overcome, conquer, when you go through problems and trials.

Poor Milton Lindsay's going through a trial.

He's had one thing after another. Jeff's been there, and William's been there. They know him.

And that's been going on for quite a while, hasn't it, guys? He's been enduring a lot. Years. Absolutely. You've known people like that too, haven't you? But He's holding on.

Can we do that? He who endures to the end.

So Revelation 12, verse 11, actually says that those that did not love their life unto death.

Now, I don't know anyone in this room. I don't know anybody personally that's ever had to die for God's truth. It doesn't mean we won't have to.

In fact, that's one of the things that Christ says, you won't follow me.

You got to be able to, even unto death.

But does that require that of Muslim? No. But sometimes, living life through some real trials and problems for 10 years, sometimes 15 years, it tests you. And God says, that's okay. Make it through. I'll give you eternal life.

And there's no way, lake of fire, you're even going to come near it. What a promise. What a promise.

Let's go to that third church. Pergamos. Pergamos. Oh, if you read about Pergamos, it was the compromising church. Yeah, it's okay. You go along, get along. Right? If somebody comes in and says something, let's not shake up church. Ah, don't let that bother you. Oh, somebody's creating problems over there. Ah, you know, they're just weird.

Well, what if we go and do that on the Sabbath? Ah, well, that's not, you know.

Well, the Bible really doesn't say, but, you know, it kind of leaves it up to us.

What do you want us to do? That's the church of Pergamos. The compromising.

What about us? You ever compromised? I have. I have. I have to watch that I don't do it now. That's why I know this scripture is a living, it's the living Word, because it's true today. Do I want to start that problem? Do I want to confront that? And no. But when it's my job, I have to.

And once you start compromising with the Word of God, you will continue.

You will continue. Let's see what it says about this church. Ah, let's go over to Revelation 2.

Ah, that's Pergamos. Let's go down to verse 17.

And actually in 15, this is the church. Pergamos was the one that holds on to the Nicolaitan.

The doctrine of the Nicolaitan, you know, where... Do your own thing. Have one foot in the world, one foot out in the church.

Straddle that. Straddle that. Straddle that.

But then it says, verse 17, to that church or to that mindset, He who hasn't here, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who does what? Overcomes, conquers.

That's right. Conquers what?

Compromising. It's easy to do. But once you start realizing, I'm not compromising on that at all, the stronger it becomes that you see, God's... No, God. Not going to do that.

I'm not going to compromise with your word. I'm going to compromise what you're leading me to do. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. Huh? Hidden manna.

And I will give him a white stone. Wow.

And on that stone, a new name written that no one knows except him who receives it. What in the world could he be talking about? White stone. I got a white stone.

Why would he offer a white stone? Or even symbolically, what did it represent? What did the people know at the time? They knew what this meant. The Greeks, 300 years before this time, the Greeks had a way of using white stones for entry into plays, entry into games. They had certain white stones, and if you instead of having a ticket, they didn't have like we would go and buy a ticket, they had, they would give you a white stone. And that was your entrance. That was your entrance into a game. That was your entrance into a play. As a matter of fact, they used it so much that they actually gave white stones, sometimes dipped in tar, just a little edge of it dipped in tar, when you went to court. And because they didn't have the press, if you were accused of something you had to go to court in Greek and even Roman times, how would people know? If you were innocent, they gave you a white stone. This was your way to show. When you come out, you want to get a job, whatever happened to... There I am. Innocent. Later on, some of the Romans would actually would stamp our chisel in your initials if it was a serious crime.

So, these people know what that meant? I think so.

Christ is using this here as an entrance into the kingdom of God. I want one of those, don't you? And it's going to have my name on it? That's what it says. I want to enter the kingdom of God.

And then, what is this manna? Manna? Huh! What does Christ say about it?

You can go to John 6 as he's describing talking to the disciples and those listening at the time and the people came up and said, oh well, we have this manna that Moses gave to the children of Israel, our forefathers. He said, no, you don't.

God gave that manna, and now there's a different kind of manna. I am that manna.

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by what? Every word. Yes. That's... So, Christ's words are what we live by. Isn't that what we feed on? He freaked everybody out and he said, you shall eat of my flesh. Uh! We're not cannibals. No. He was talking about this.

Christ gives us His word. How are we going to be in the kingdom of God? Eating these words, having this manna, the hidden manna, because you have... What do you have today? You have you have so many churches out there. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, but they don't teach anything Jesus teaches. He uses Word, His name. How did He live?

It's not just about how He died. It's about how He lived and how we're to live. How powerful is that? And so He's telling this compromising church, stop compromising, overcome, conquer, just letting yourself go. He's telling us today, if we have issues with this, and how many people do not have issues?

Every week, don't you have to weigh something? Should I do this? Should I not? What is right? What is wrong? That's what God says. He gives us the Spirit, but we have to listen to it.

We have to feed it. He said, don't quench it. Feed it. Feed it. How do we do that?

Eat it. Eat it. Have it before us, just like breakfast. So it starts our day out. He said, if you'll do that, you're going to get a stone for eternal life.

You're going to get entrance into the kingdom of God and eternal life. How great is that?

Pretty good. Pretty good. Number four, the church of Thyatira. Thyatira.

And, you know, it kind of makes me wonder, I was laying in bed this morning, and I was sitting there, what if these were seven churches? And I could go to any of those seven churches. And we all have, oh, there's a church here. Oh, yeah, we'd all go to this church.

Oh, this church had a problem. It was corrupt.

Majority of its members were corrupt. They lived immoral lives.

They just did whatever they wanted to do, and forgive me, Jesus. Hmm. So let's look at that church of Thyatira.

And go with me to Revelation 2, verse 26, of what it says here.

Verse 26, and he who overcomes conquers, being immoral, then your guard is totally down. You just live the way you want to live.

You say, well, that never really went on in the church of God. Oh, contrary.

Talk to those who've been around for quite a few years. You'll see.

Do anything you want to do. And he who overcomes or conquers, and keeps my works until the end. To him, I will give power over the nations. Whoa. Talking about rulership. Power over the nations. And then he quotes, he shall rule them with a rod of iron. This is the coming kingdom of God. They shall be dashed to pieces like a potter's clay, as I also have received from my father. And then he says there's that and in there. And, and I will give him the morning star.

What? I will give him the morning star. Well, is he talking about Christ? Because in Revelation 22, it talks about Christ being the morning star. Is he going to give us Christ? Well, yes, he is. But also, any of you ever get up early in the morning before the sun comes up?

Very few. One, two, three. Oh, more hands are coming up.

I so remember this, as I was saying, it's going to be in my old home place. Home place. This week is going to get down to zero.

I love Florida. But I grew up on that farm and milk cows for six, seven years. I had to get up four o'clock every morning. Milk cows before I went to school and then before I went to work. And I get up every morning four o'clock. And I'd go outside and get the cows up because I knew what field they were in and had to bring them into the barn. But every time I would get up, and especially when there was a little snow on the ground, you could hear the crunch, crunch.

And you could look up there and you'd see a little bit of the moon. And there was always this morning star, Venus. Most of the time, it's the planet of Venus. And you could always look up there and see it as you can now than today. And it's always there. And it's always shining bright, no matter if there's other stars around or sometimes there's no other stars. But you can just see that one. I looked up the Greek meaning here and that's what it's talking about.

A planetary shining.

Are we promised to shine like the stars?

He says he'll give you the morning star. Everybody know what the morning star is if you get up. For those of you who wouldn't dare get up before. So you may not know, but you know something bright. But I find it interesting that even in Philippians, Paul tells them that they're going to shine like stars, like lights. That's a promise. Go with me to one of the scripture I want to pull out of here and go back to Daniel. Only time will pull out of Revelation here. Daniel 12. Interesting here. Daniel 12 verse 3. God reveals here, those who are wise shall shine. He's talking about followers of him. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament. And those who turn away, many who turn many away to turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. That's what he's promising. You're going to rule and you're going to shine. That's what these verses say. To those who overcome what? A corrupt church. Notice how he goes into more detail here on this corrupt church. He's saying there's so much more here. Conquer the world and you will have this. And you will have this. You're going to have eternal life.

And you're going to rule with Christ and his kingdom and you will shine.

Is that too much?

Remember how Moses said, let me see your glory. He said, you can't handle that, Moses. Get over here behind this rock and you're going to see just my backside because it'd burn you up.

It talks about the sons of God and the kingdom being glorified.

You work it out. You research it. You study it. That's what he says. He's going to give to his sons.

Eternal life. Let's go to number five, Sardis, the Sardis church. Oh, here's what it's known as the dead church.

Why? They lost their zeal. The dead church.

You know, it's amazing you can drive down the road and you can see all these names, but you never see the Sardis church of God, the Sardis church of Christ. We're the dead church. We're the dead church. Welcome to the dead church. You don't see that, do you? And everybody's saying, oh, I'm not part of that church. Really? That attitude's not there where people have lost their zeal.

Kind of like the first one, you lose your first love. But then you have people who... Yeah, it's okay. Yeah, where do you go to church? Church of God.

Will you like it? Yeah? Okay. Now, they may not say that, unless they have a couple glasses of wine. I might tell you that. But this is real. This is real, people. And so, what did he say there to those who lost it? Chapter 3 and verse 5. Let's go down. It says, He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments. What's that white garments represent?

Righteousness. It's all through the Bible. I didn't make this stuff up. It's all through the Bible with pictures. He's going to give you white robes. Be clothed in white, and I will not blot out his name from the book of...what?

Yeah, that's the book of eternal life. Your name's written in there. When you're baptized, you accept Jesus Christ. You read it all through. All through the Bible. It's the book of life.

Don't blot my name out. It says. Well, here he says, there's no way. Even if you've lost your zeal, I'm going to do...get it back.

And I will not blot your name out. You can be sure. Take that to the bank.

Get it back. What do you have to do to get it back? Be inspired. Be inspired. How many of you have visited somebody in the hospital? They're sick. You don't want to go. I don't want to go. Man, parking's terrible. Traffic's terrible. I hate hospitals. Sick people around there. You know, you may not say it, but it's in your mind. And then you go up and visit that person, and you're going, wow. You feel juiced, empowered.

Why? Because you did something that Jesus Christ did.

You did something not for yourself, but for others. And there's something in us. We're made in His image. There's something like Him in us that when we feed it, when we begin to feel it, that we get empowered, and we feel that zeal. It's in every one of us. It's innate. We can't help it.

It's like going over and helping somebody.

I'm like, wow. I love going and helping people work at their place, even as construction. I like it. Whole lot better than I like working at my house. Right, Mary?

That honeydew list. And I'm like, oh, you know, oh, this is that.

Book of Life. He wants us. If you're part of a dead church, if you feel somewhat that you're kind of dead inside, wake up. Motion controls emotion so many times.

And we have to do it.

And then it not only says that, it says, but I, Jesus Christ, I will confess His name, your name, before my Father and before all the angels.

Kind of good.

Kind of good.

Because there's talk about speaking in front of crowds. Some people don't like it. Imagine your name coming out before the billions of angels.

Going to confess your name. Reason to put some zeal back into your life. I think so. Let's go to number six. Oh, the favorite, the favorite church, the Philadelphia church. Ah, you find that everywhere. I'm a Philadelphia church of God. I'm the Philadelphia church of Christ. I'm Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, because God didn't say anything negative about it.

But you know what He still says? Overcome. He who overcomes. Well, why does it say overcome if everything's good? Because you have to. You have to keep a positive mindset. Because it's easy to get drugged down by the world. Because it's going to pull you, pull your faith down. It's a faithful church. There's zeal. So what's He saying? You're conquering the world because the world wants to beat you down. The world wants to tell you, ah, Saturday, church? What's wrong with you people? You're strange. You're weird. You're a cult. All these things you hear. But to this, who overcomes? What does He say? Let's go to chapter 3 and verse 12. Chapter 3, verse 12. He overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from heaven from my Father, and I will write on him my, what? New name. I'm not going to be known as Chuck. There's a new name. There's a better name. Amazing how He changed people's names in the Scripture. Jacob. He changed various people. Even Christ changed Peter's name.

He's going to give us a new name. You know what? Because we are His children. If you go and adopt some child, they don't even have a name. You're going to get your name. If nothing else, they're going to get your last name if they already have a name.

God says, you're mine, you got my name. And you know what name carries a lot of clout.

And it should. And God says, I want to give it to you in the kingdom, New Jerusalem.

Let's go to the last one. Last one. You don't see this on many billboards.

We're the Laodicean Church of God.

We're the Laodicean Catholic Church. Don't see that, do you? Why? Because most people know what it relates to. It talks about a lukewarm church, where it's basically taking a leave it, isn't it?

Lukewarm. Well, yeah, feel good today. Probably won't feel good tomorrow.

Lukewarm. As a matter of fact, God talks about even spitting or vomiting them out of His mouth. He said, I'd rather you be hot or cold.

Isn't that kind of a thing? I don't mind tea that's hot. Don't mind tea, iced tea. But I don't like something that just... Well, God's looking at... He doesn't want His people. He doesn't want His church to just be, I don't really care whether I go today or not.

I know it's a Sabbath, but what does that matter?

I'll keep it right here.

No, God wants you to be on fire. Be on fire. Stop being lukewarm.

And we all know what that means. Haven't we all dated? I mean, I'm talking about the guys, because I can't speak for you. Ladies, haven't we all dated somebody that's lukewarm towards us?

I did. And it was like, man, it was a lousy date. Well, what do I got to do? I don't have any other. So let me just go on it. And you make conversation, and the girl kind of goes, yeah, okay. Where would you like to go for dinner? Don't care.

What time do you want me to pick you up? Don't care.

Then you get there. What happens? Six o'clock? I'm not ready. There you go. You call? You gonna be ready? Be there six? I better make it 6.30.

We understand that. Now, maybe you ladies never had that before. But we men know, because we're the ones that have to go out and ask you out. We have to start this thing. Like, that's the way it used to be. It may not be that way today.

But God is saying, ah, he hates Luke 1. He hates Luke 1, people.

So let's go and read that. Revelation 3 and verse 21, To him who overcomes, conquers being Luke warm, you can do it. I can do it. I know I can do it, because I had to do it in the past. So that's how I know this exists in the Church of God. I will grant to sit with me on my throne. Well, pretty big. As I also did what? Over came. Over came what?

What do you... what? Sin. Sin? A world? Yes! He's just asking us to do what he did. And if we do what he did, he's going to give us what he got to sit on the throne and sat down with my father on his throne. And then he finishes up with, he who has near let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Or how about church members? He's offered eternal life. So the revelation for us today is eternal life is at stake. Do you want it? Tells you how to get it. It says eternal life is a gift. It's given by God. But here it shows some of the standards that he wants. If he's going to give you a gift, he wants to see that you're going to appreciate. The greatest gift he gave was his son for all of us. So this is a spiritual checkup. So this is a spiritual checkup. As you look through these seven verses, spiritual checkup. How are you doing? Because as I had to go to my doctor, I have to go in occasionally, have myself checked out. God, as a doctor, is saying, I want you to do well. And I want you to have a long, long, long life with me.