The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 2: Smyrna – Suffer Well

Episode Date: March 8, 2020

Faithfulness in suffering is not based on your feelings as a result of your circumstances. Faithfulness is trusting in the finished work of our Savior. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33

It's another light day here at 1122, huh? I promise. One week, you're going to show up, and I'm going to preach a happy sermon. We're going to laugh, and it ain't this week, though, okay? You've got your Bible's book of Revelation, Chapter 2. It's all the way in the end of the Bible. We're going to talk about the church at Smyrna. We're in a seven-week series that Pastor Britt kicked us off in last week.

Didn't he do a great job? And he's going to listen to this and hear that little pitiful applause. He's going to hurt his feelings, all right? That's all right. You may have noticed, though, as you turn to there to the Book of Revelation, chapter two, that me and campus pastors and some of our worship pastors are wearing some swag last week, this week, and for the rest of the weeks of some other churches stuff. And the reason that we're doing that as we study the seven letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor is because we just

wanted to remind the church of 1122 that the epicenter of all that God's doing is not right here in Jacksonville. But you know how many churches there are around the world? One. There's only one church. It's Jesus' church. Now, there are false churches for sure. But if you are standing on the public declaration that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, then it's all his church. And then this is just one local expression of his church. And so this week I have on like my second favorite church's stuff. My first favorite is right here. I love you the most.

But my second favorite church is called Resonate Church. It's in the Bay Area of California, San Francisco Bay Area, and Fremont. It's pastored by Pastor Ryan Kwan. Here's a picture of Pastor Ryan and his wife, Jenny. and I met Pastor Wright. He's preached here, probably more than anybody else other than me in our teaching team, okay? And we met years ago at this leadership thing, and I just need you to look at Kwan. We have nothing in common.

Not a thing. Look at that hair, except we have beautiful wives. We have that in common. We outpunted our coverage. But he is in the San Francisco Bay. I mean, look at those pants. If you wore those pants in Jacksonville, somebody beat you up and take you lunch money. You know what I'm saying?

But in San Francisco, they're real hip or whatever. picture I have of him shows his ankles. I don't understand what's going on there. However, years ago, he and I were brought together at this leadership thing, this like pastor leadership thing. You had to be under a certain age with a church over a certain amount of people you got invited in. And so it's in California, and I fly out there. And he walks up to me and he goes, so tell me about your church. And I'm like, all right. So I gave him the three-minute version of 1122. And it sounds like the Lego movie. Everything's awesome. He's got a Walmart, a cross, started it. Three thousand people got saved. Boom. It's like Pentecost. And then I said,

tell me about your church. And as he began to describe what his church, resonate church, that's what it's called, as he began to describe what they were going through, it sounded like he was talking about another country, about the persecution that they faced, that not only did people picket them and write op-ed articles about the hate speech that he was spewing, and the hate speech that he was spewing was the love of Jesus, by the way. And every time they would try to get into a building, the city would block them from moving into the building. Look, man, when we get into, if we have a problem here, I just call the mayor

or call the sheriff. I mean, they're help us, and there, it was the opposite. And then one day, somebody detonated an explosive on his doorstep while he was at church and his family was there that said, get out in the name of tolerance. And so as he told me all this, I said, you should have gone first, because I would have changed our story a little bit. And so God knit us together, man, we brought him here several times. And good news is, just a few weeks ago, Resonate Church moved in to their very first permanent facility. Here's a picture of their brand new facility. Praise God.

Amen. And the very first check that they received as they were raising money to move in to that facility was from the church of 1122. So this is like, because of your generosity, we were able to help. And then either the second or third week when they were in this facility, they're a multi-site church and a church in one of their other campuses. was, there was a dying denominational church, and that group of people that was kind of aging out, they decided to gift resonate with their own facility for free. So they had no churches,

no like buildings for 10 years, and now they have two buildings in a matter of like two weeks, right? Praise God for them. And so I want us to pray for Pastor Ryan Kwan, his wife, Jenny, their family, their elder staff, and all that God is doing in that part of California because Lord knows those people need Jesus. Amen? All right, let's pray for them. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we thank you, thank you, thank you, for two of the finest creatures that you have ever created when you made, Ryan and Jenny. Lord, I thank you for their leadership.

I thank you for their relentless devotion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. God, I thank you that just in a hour or so they will gather together in those buildings, and we thank you that the church is not a building, the church is a movement. And as they stand upon the rock of the declaration that Jesus is the Christ, Son of the living God, we thank you and praise you for the thousands of disciples that will be made right there. And God, we pray that their lives would be glorifying to you and you alone. And God, we pray that you would open up the storehouse of blessing upon the quons and upon Resonate Church. We prayed in Jesus' name. Amen.

Revelation chapter 2. We're going to talk about the church at Smyrna. It is known as the persecuted church. Pastor Britt did a great job kicking us off last week. week. This is John, the Apostle John, is on the island of Patmos. He gets a revelation from Jesus. It's not revelations. There's not a bunch of them. There's just one. So it's just revelations. So quit saying revelations. A revelation from Jesus. And he says, write this down and send these letters to these seven churches in Asia Minor. They were actual churches on like a postal route. And there's some form to this letter. We're going to see it over and over and over and over. It says to the messenger or to the angel of the church at. And then Jesus introduces

himself, seven different ways, and all of the introductions come from the description of Jesus in chapter one. And then he's going to give an affirmation to five out of the seven churches. This is what you're doing good. And then he's going to give a rebuke to five out of the seven churches, but two of them get no rebuk. Smyrna is one of the churches that gets no rebuke. Then he's going to give some instruction, therefore this is how you ought to live, and he's going to close with a promise. And it goes that way over and over and over. And while these are seven actual churches. The number seven, particularly in the book of Revelation, means the number of completeness. So I don't think Jesus is just writing letters to first century churches back in Asia Minor,

but he also has a word for our church right now. So we're going to pick it up in chapter two, beginning of verse 8. It says this, and to the angel of the church at Smyrna. Now, Pastor Britt said last week that that word angel means messenger, so some commentators say this could be written to the pastor. I don't think so. I think the commentators that wrote that are just full of themselves, because pastors are full of themselves. I think it's to an actual angel. And the reason I think it's an actual angel is because in chapter one, same word, there are Greek words for pastor. So if you wanted to say pastor, he'd say pastor. But in chapter one, Jesus sends an angel to John to give him this message.

And a part of what I want to, I think, what Jesus wants us to know seven times in these seven churches is I ain't just talking to the dude that works on staff. The church is not just a building and a parking lot and budgets and Sunday school and rows and cameras. and all of this stuff, but we are talking about this heavenly event. You see, I believe the Church of 1122 has an angel, and he's diesel with tattoos and swords, not a little skinny chicken or underwear. The reason is because we are at war against spiritual principalities and darkness. And when we gather together to do this thing that we call church,

it ain't just about parking and getting your kids checked in and hope we sing your songs. No, no, no. That Jesus said, upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And then he said to Peter, I'm going to give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and you're going to bind some stuff here on earth, and it's going to be bound forever. And you're going to lose some stuff here on earth, and it's going to be loose forever,

that we are at war, but the gates of hell will not prevail against us. Amen. Amen. You're way better than 9 o'clock. They missed that hour of sleeping there. Couldn't even clap anymore. Okay, good job. So he's trying to raise up what we even think about when we think about church. So to the angel of the church at Smyrna.

It's a beautiful port city. was. It literally means Mur. That's what it means. Remember Christmas? And the wise men bring three gifts. Gold, frankincense, and Mur? Mur is a weird gift to give a kid at first birthday party.

Gold, cool. Frankencent smells good. Mur is what they would use to prepare dead bodies to bury. This is where they made it right here in Smyrna. In other words, this place was known for death, and yet that death bringing a pleasant

fragrance. It was a beautiful city. It was known as the crown of Asia Minor. It had a little, it had like a motto, once dead but now resurrected, because natural disaster had crushed the city of Smyrna, but Smyrna was kind of, it was the crown city of Asia Minor that Rome loved Smyrna, and so it rebuilt Smyrna to be the most beautiful of all the cities. And Smyrna was dedicated to Rome. There were of pagan temples there. And every year, all of the residents of Smyrna would come together and they would burn incense at one of these pagan temples to Caesar, and they would all declare Caesar is Lord. There is still a church in Smyrna today. It's in modern day Turkey.

The name of the city today is called Izmir. And Jesus says, and to the angel at the church of Smyrna write, he's going to describe himself, the words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. You see, seven different times Jesus is going to describe himself seven different ways to the seven different churches. Now, Jesus is who he is. And yet how many of you know that while Jesus never changes, he always shows up to us with exactly what we need. Like, you need a provider, he's your provider. You need a protector, he's your protector. You need a conqueror, he is your conqueror. You need a comforter. He is your comforter. to this church that's getting persecuted, he says, I am the alpha and the omega. I am the first and the last.

In other words, church at Smyrna, I know. I know. Nothing has caught me by surprise. Nothing has surprised me at all. Jesus has never sat up in heaven and went, what in the name of me is going on in Smyrna? That has never happened. I am the first and the last. And I was dead. and was resurrected. In the city that claims that you were dead and now was alive, I am telling you, I am the only one who was dead and now is alive. And even if the persecution takes you to death, then take heart, because I have overcome death.

And just like me as the prototoko of the dead, the first born from among the dead, if you are in me, you too will be resurrected from the dead. And to the angel, the church at Smyrna write the words of the first and the last who died and came to life, and then he says this, I know your tribulation. How many of you know that sometimes it's comforting just to know that somebody knows? And Jesus looks at his people.

He says, you're suffering pain and pressure and persecution? Look, I know. I know. And he doesn't just mean he knows it cognitively. He knows it experientially. You see, the book of Hebrew says that we do not have a high priest that cannot empathize with us because he was tempted in every single way

that he stepped off of the throne of glory, dressed himself in humanity, and he suffered just like you and I suffer. Jesus would say to you, hey man, you got a friend that's betrayed you? I know. You've been arrested? I know.

You suffer in pain in your body? I know. You got people lying about you? I know. Have you lost somebody that you love? Listen to me, I know. You see, he is omniscient. He knows.

all things. And he goes on to say, I know your tribulation. You see, oftentimes, when we find ourselves in places where our circumstances seem like they're out of control, we think that God is out of control.

You remember when the disciples were in the boat with Jesus? And Jesus was asleep in the stern, and the wind and the waves started to pick up. And you remember, the disciples thought they were going to die, so they went and they woke up Jesus. Which you should never wake up a grown man

from a nap. That's in the Bible, okay? And they wake him up and they say, Jesus, do you know what's going on out here? Do you even care? We're perishing. And how perishing could they be if he's asleep? And he says, peace be still. You see, oftentimes when we face pain and persecution and pressure, we can take our eyes off of our sovereign saviour

and we can put them on our circumstances and it feels like God doesn't know what he's doing. And what Jesus wants us to know is he knows. And he says, I know your tribulation. That word tribulation in Greek, it means crushing, literally. But it was descriptive of a specific type of torture that the Romans would use against people. This word tribulation, it means what they would do is they would take ropes. They would tie your hands and feet to these ropes and they would stretch you out. And then they would take a weight and they would lay the weight on your chest.

You would be all stretched out so you couldn't get a good breath already. And then they would take weights and they would place it on your chest. and so it would compress your chest so you couldn't get a breath. And then once you kind of got accustomed to that, they put another weight and another weight and another weight until you got to the place where you couldn't breathe. That's what tribulation was. It's literally what it meant.

And what Jesus is going to say, he's going to name four specific weights that as this world has stretched out the church at Smyrna, there are these four specific weights that this world has been heaping upon their chest. Now here's what I know. I know at all of our locations, There are some of you that walked in here today, and on the outside things seem to be okay, but on the inside you feel like this world has stretched you out, and there is a weight and a weight and a weight that's sitting on your chest, and you feel like you can barely get your breath.

You see, I don't think this is just a word to Smyrna 2,000 years ago. I think this is a word for us today. And so he lays them out. He knows out the four weights that have been heaped upon their chest. He says, I know your tribulation, this crushing, the first. one and your poverty. I know your poverty. Now in Greek, this word for poverty, it means like broke, broke, not middle class, can't do a vacation this year. It means to have nothing. Because what would happen in Smyrna is one time a year, everybody had to get together. And in order to participate

in the economy of Smyrna, in order to be able to buy and sell goods, in order to be able to be in a guild so that you can manufacture things and sell your stuff in the market, then you had to declare for everybody to hear Caesar is Lord, and then you had to burn incense in the name of Caesar. Well, there's a problem if you're a Jesus follower, and the problem is you know Caesar A Lord, that Jesus is Lord. And the moment you begin to refuse to claim Caesar is Lord, then you were outside of any kind of economic activity in Smyrna, and Jesus says, I know about your poverty. And then look what he says, though, in parentheses. Like, you ain't got no money, but you are rich. You see, our culture tends to be the exact opposite. Our culture tends to be

materially and experientially rich and relationally and spiritually broke. I know a whole lot of people that got a whole lot of money and they are poor. Listen, man, it don't matter how many square feet you got if everything under the roof is miserable, amen? I mean, I got some happy family up in a single wide. No problem. Go on a mission trip and see some people living in a little mud hut, and it seems like they got a lot more joy than we got here with video games and 100 million channels but nothing's on.

It's just true. Can eat wherever we want, whenever we want, and yet we're missing out on joy. Look, church, most of us are rich. If you make $38,000 combined annual household income, you're in the top 1% of wage earners on the planet. Most of us are rich. Even you poor college kids, man.

I know you're eating ramen, but your mama bought it. You're rich, you understand? And listen, there's nothing wrong with having some stuff and enjoying some stuff. There's no problem with that. The problem is, is if you put your hope in that stuff, if you think a new car or new house, if you think the stuff is going to do anything for you,

We call it, we lovingly call it the cul-de-sac of stupidity. Not because stuff is stupid, but because you're stupid. Man, me too, right? Get some new kicks and think, ooh, now I'm going to be all right. You ain't going to be all right. That stuff's going to let you down like the last stuff lets you down. And so we live in this world where we try to give our kids everything, and most often they miss out on the most important things.

I mean, honestly, generationally, like the video games are better, the vacations are sweeter, sports camps are more awesome, but are we raising a generation that is more rich towards God or poor towards God? Look, if I didn't know you any better, just based on where our money and activity and energy goes, it would seem like even church people are more concerned about where our children are going to spend the four years after college than where they're going to spend eternity. That stings a little, doesn't it? Because little Johnny can't miss sports camp, but he sure can't miss church whenever it's inconvenient. And let me tell you, just jot this down.

going pro and I know what some of you think not my john somebody tell come here bless you he ain't going pro and even if he does at the expense of his walk with jesus what in the world are you trying to raise up in your house how many pro athletes he want johnny to be like anyway can you name very many uh-uh i don't think so you see there's a whole bunch of people got a whole lot of money but they are very very poor and yet Smyrna didn't have any money and yet Jesus says that they are rich. You see, we live in this culture that pursues some stuff, not Smyrna. Smyrna was the exact opposite.

Jesus has no rebuke for them. See, in our culture, comfort and pain avoidance are our primary values. That's what we do all the time. More comfortable, less pain. In Smyrna, faithfulness to Jesus, regardless of the cost, that was what was primary, and Jesus says they are rich. So the first weight on him, he says, I know you're poverty. But that's all right.

That's all right. You are rich. The second one, he says, is slander. The second weight upon him is slander. And the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Let me explain what's happening here. So everybody had to declare Caesar as Lord except the religious Jews worked out a deal with Rome. They said, listen, we got a temple, we got synagogues.

We can't say Caesar is Lord. because Yahweh is our Lord, so we'll make a deal with you. We will work for you, Rome, and we'll be really good and peaceful citizens. You just got to give us a pass. But then these Christians come along, and they start saying Jesus is Lord, and, notice here, it doesn't say the Jews, but people that say they are Jews and are not. So they were trying to, under the banner of religion, abuse some other people, and Jesus says, that is the synagogue of Satan.

Part of the reason I just want to point this out is there is no room. for anti-Semitism in the church, period, ever, ever, ever. And there have been people historically that have misused verses like that. And so the slander that they would sling at the Christians as things like this, they would go to Rome and say, they're cannibals, they're cannibals. That they're eating flesh and drinking blood. Now, what they actually were doing was eating some pita and drinking some welches. Or it was actually wine.

Sorry, Baptist, it just was. They weren't actually eating flesh and blood. Or they would say they're trying to tear down the fabric of the family. because they call each other brother and sister. And so they would point to the Christians and say, hey, Rome, you need to persecute them. They would slander them. And it was like real persecution.

Now let me ask you, have you ever been persecuted? I know some of you are like, I have. Somebody said something mean about me on Twitter, and so I know what you mean. Okay, all right? I know some of you here are like, I feel persecuted because today it was so crowded and I got here during the third song.

I know it starts at 11th. and we call it 1122, but I'm like an 1144. And so I had to park on the other side of Hope's closet, and I had been wandering in the wilderness for all these years until I finally came to the promised land. I understand the persecution. I don't think that's what he's talking about, all right? Some of you're like, I was at Target, and I said Merry Christmas,

and she said, happy holidays back to me. Okay. First of all, you shouldn't go to Target, all right? We're Walmart people around here. Target people are upity, man. Y'all owe money, try to look down on us. I mean, we ain't Kmart, but still, we kind of right down the middle. You go to Kmart, you'd be like, are y'all open?

Anyway, listen, if it's called Target and you can't buy a gun, that's shady, man. That's shady. I don't like that place. I don't think that's what he's talking about, okay? If I've been persecuted, I don't know, man. Mean tweets occasionally, not very many. Some protesters for a few.

few weeks. They didn't last long. You know, magazine kind of thing in town wrote some mean stuff. That's all right. No big deal. This past week, though, oh, somebody broke into our church this week, stole a bunch of stuff. That's persecution, I guess. But it took us about two seconds to just buy more stuff. And we got them, by the way, we got them. So somebody asked, are you going to forgive them? Yeah, forgive and prosecute. No problem, okay? We have campuses for that, right? No problem. So meet their new campus pastor. Movement for all people. So, it's all right.

I will tell you, though, we are moving to a day where slander against the believer is more prevalent. I mean, think about this, in our lifetime, 30, 40 years ago, if you were running a business and you were a good Christian church person, that was an asset. That was a check in the positive column. It is getting to the place, hopefully slower here in Jacksonville than other places, but it will get to the place. Well, that will be seen as a deficit,

where people will take our words where we love all people, and yet because we teach out of this book and what God says, this is how life is designed, they will say, no, no, no, that is hate, that is not love. It's coming. But still, I think what was happening here in Smyrna is what we experienced last week. A bunch of us, about, I don't know, 36 of us or something, went to Israel.

And we went to church in Bethlehem where Jesus was born. It's 99% Muslim, 1% Christian. And the pastor told us, if you get caught converting, you can get the death penalty. If you get caught sharing the gospel with somebody and they step into a relationship with Jesus Christ, you can be killed for that. That his house has been caught on fire multiple times and they physically are trying to move them out of the city, the town where Jesus was born. That's the kind of persecution that they're going through. You want to hear about real persecution? We partnered with a Catholic charity in Bethlehem.

And what these nuns do is they've created this facility where if teenage girls in Bethlehem get pregnant out of wedlock, they'll find these girls. These girls will come to them, let them know, and then they'll deliver their babies at 32 weeks before they're really showing so that nobody knows, and they'll raise these babies in the way.

this Catholic charity and then try to get these girls back into the community without anybody knowing because in the last 18 months, 80 teenage girls and their babies have been murdered in what they call an honor killing under the banner of that faith. You ever notice our news doesn't pick up on those kind of stories? Yeah. Yeah, that's the kind of persecution that's still going on around the world. I think when we hear about persecution, we think about somewhere else a long time ago that today, right now in 2020, more Christians are persecuted in total number than ever in the history

of the church over the last 2,000 years. The Gordon Conwell Center of Study of Global Christianity estimates that about 100,000 Christians die every year for their faith. So on your app, the 1122 app, on the front page there, there is a button that you can hit that helps going to help us pray for the persecuted church. this is what was happening in Smyrna and it's still happening today. And then with that in mind, Jesus says, do not fear what you were about to suffer. How do those two things coexist in one sentence?

He doesn't say, do not fear, it ain't going to be that bad. He says, this is going to be really bad. Suffering is coming. And in the face of that, do not fear. I mean, honestly, if you start the sentence, like if somebody says me, hey, hey, hey, hey, Don't be afraid. I start getting afraid of whatever they're about to tell me to not be afraid of. And yet Jesus refuses to pamper his people.

He loves them enough to just tell them the truth. And I've been doing this long enough to know. Sometimes, sometimes, sometimes Jesus will rescue you from the pain, but most often he sanctifies you through the pain. And so he says, the third stone upon your chest, the third weight, is your suffering. He says, I know your poverty, I know the slander, and I know this suffering that's coming your way. And then he goes on to say this in regards to the suffering. He says, behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested for 10 days.

I don't think it was literally 10 days. I think he's saying it's going to be a relatively short period of time. There will be a beginning and there will be an end. But behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested. for 10 days, you will have tribulation. The fourth stone is just demonic imprisonment. Demonic imprisonment. And I get it, man.

It's a legit question to say, Lord, why would you let your people go through this? God, if you're in charge, you're sovereign, and you're loving, then why would you allow this kind of suffering to happen? And I can tell you, if you're going through pain, it's legit to ask that question. And maybe you've been told you can never ask God questions like that.

Well, I would refer to you to the Bible. Things like Psalm 22, David cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And then the Spirit of God goes, yeah, David, that's good. Why don't you write that one down? We're going to make that a Bible verse. Keep it in the book forever and ever. And I can give you the theological answers as to why we see. suffer, I just don't know that it will do your heart a lot of good while you're walking through

the pain. But there are basically four categories of suffering. Number one, we live in a fallen world. We live in a fallen world. That when God created everything that is, it was perfect. There was no suffering. There was no pain. There was nothing out of order.

And God breath into the very first man. He opened his eyes and he is in a face-to-face relationship with God. and then God begins to give commandments to Adam and Eve. And there was only one don't. Everything was perfect. There was lots of good gifts. I mean, think about this. The Bible says they were naked and unashamed.

40 and up crowd. Imagine that. I'm not talking about being ashamed in front of other people. I'm talking about just being ashamed. Can you imagine? Just being naked and being like, no problem. I don't, you can't even imagine, can you? That's what, I can't go too far into that.

I'll have to fire myself. Okay, so he said, this garden, this is my gift to you. Subdu it, cultivate it. You want something to eat. Eat from every tree in the garden. You can eat from that one and that one and that one and that one and that one, and they're all different and you've got flavors and this is my gift to you. And you and I, we're going to walk in this perfect relationship.

Except there was one don't. You see, God's in the relationship, not rules. He says, I love you enough, so I've got to tell you, there's one tree. If you eat it, it'll kill you. So don't eat that. And Adam and Eve essentially said, forget you, God. My way's better. Sin enters the world and the whole thing got broken.

You see, we grossly underestimate the collateral damage of sin. Sin is catastrophic to all things good and glorious and godly. And the whole thing was broken. God curses Adam, God curses Eve, and God curses all of. of the cosmos. And so at the macro level, out of nowhere, tornadoes ripped through Nashville and people die. And the coronavirus goes all over the place. Even though God gave us Lysol to kill it for like 20 years, I don't understand what's happening

there, whatever. And by the way, thank you for not skipping church. I can't. There's going to be a bunch of people today that skip church for the corona, but they don't skip brunch. Explain that to me. Never mind. I don't have time. Okay.

So the whole thing's broken from the macro level, like weather systems and hurricanes and tsunamis. all the way down to the micro level, like the cells in your body that are supposed to cooperate. Sometimes they go haywire and it turns into cancer and it attacks you. And the whole thing is broken. So sometimes suffering is because we live in a fallen and broken world. And the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is when he died on the cross and says, it is finished. It counted for me and one day he is going to restore all things and all things are going to be made new.

there will be a day when there is no need for antibacterial soap we won't need that stuff and in the kingdom of God there'll be plenty of food and there's no cold and there's no post nasal drip and there's no cancer and there's plenty of food for everybody and they got so much money they use gold like pavement you understand and in heaven nobody's going to walk with a limp or a swagger that we will all be made new but until then sin has catastrophic damage things. See, when we think about sin, we just think about that mistake we made last weekend, but when the Bible talks about sin, it is undoing. So sometimes we suffer because we live in a broken world. And car crashes happen. Cancer happens. And sometimes we suffer because of other people's

sin against us. Right, because people are sinful. At the very core of who they are, people are sinful and they abuse and they lie and they cheat and they steal and some of you grew up in a world and you were abused it was not your fault and it was somebody else's sin against you now that is no excuse for you that didn't go on and repeat that kind of bad behavior but it wasn't your fault you were sinned against and that sin is a big deal you're not just supposed to like don't worry about it you should worry about it it's a big deal that other people sin against you was such a big deal had to die on the cross so that it could be forgiven. And if you're around people enough, I'm telling you, you will get sinned against, and it will

hurt. And so sometimes we suffer because we live in a fallen world, and sometimes we suffer because of people sin against us. This is the one we don't like to admit, and sometimes we suffer because of our own sin. Like, look, brother, the reason you're suffering so much is because you drink too much. And you did drugs, and you stole, and you. and you committed adultery and you don't get to tuck your kids into bed

because of the decisions that you made. Sometimes it's our own sin. And oftentimes we try to blame that. Listen, I can't tell you the number of times somebody comes to me at church and I'm like, Pastor, the devil is just ruining my relationships. Oh yeah, tell me about it. Yeah, well, I hooked up with this dude.

I met him at the club and so we stayed together for a while and that didn't work up. Then I swipe whichever way you swipe and so I hooked up with this next guy and now the devil's just attacking my relationships. And I'm like, darling, you are the devil. Here's your pitchfork, stab yourself in the head. That's what you're doing.

He looks at you and goes, sweet, I don't even have to worry about her. She's killing her own self. Oftentimes, it is our own sin against us. And as long as you want to defend your sin, you will never be free from your sin. And then the fourth one. He says, behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison. There's the fallen world. there's other sin, there's my sin, and then sometimes there is demonic activity.

Now, I'm not a hyper-carismatic guy. I know we got people all over the spectrum here at 1122. Sweet. It's a movement for all people. I got saved at a Southern Baptist camp. We didn't talk about the devil that much. The only place we knew where he was was in the Guns and Roses album. And so when we burn it and went, and you could hear him leaving. See, I heard him. He left the building.

People ask me, do I believe in the devil? I believe the book. and the book says that our battle is not against flesh and blood, that we have a spiritual enemy that wants to kill, steal, and destroy everything good and godly that God wants for us in our lives. And so I'm not saying every one of these things are necessarily demonic, but things like addiction and depression and temptation and destructive habits. You ever struggle with the same thing over and over and over and over and over?

and you come here and you promise, I'm never doing that again. And yet, when you find yourself in that situation, it just feels like there's something not you, whispering to you, you should walk down this road again, even though you know you promise you don't ever want to walk down that road. What you want to call that? You think that's just poor decision-making? Let me tell you evidence of demonic activity in your life. The mark of the enemy is two things.

One, he's tricky. and two, it leads to bondage. You ask anybody that's ever struggle with an addiction, alcohol addiction, drug addiction, it started at a party, didn't it? Hey, just do a little bit of this. It's be fun. No problem. You got freedom.

Do this. And then you begin to do it and do it and go down that road, and the enemy's going, come on, no problem, come on, just one more step. And you think, I got this, I got this, I got this. And then at some point, you realize, uh-oh, it's got me. And it's as if something on the outside of you has control of you. Now I'm going to tell you if you are in Christ, only the Holy Spirit of God can possess you. But the enemy can sure oppress you.

Our battle is not against flesh and blood. You got a porn addiction. You ever committed adultery? I'm telling you, it was tricky and it started as fun. Dude, she got your jokes. She laughed at you. It's just lunch. We just go into lunch.

Ain't a Bible verse in the whole book about not going to lunch with her. And then he just goes, come on, keep coming, keep coming, keep coming. And then one day you find yourself in a place and you thought, how in the world did I get here? I'm telling you how you got here. The devil was about to throw you into prison. By just luring you down a road that you know you don't want to go down. By the way, this is why you need legit Christian friendship. This is why disciple group is so stinking important.

I wish you would believe me, but you don't. So that when you begin going down this, road you got somebody that cares more about you than what you think about them that will stand there and go bro you're drinking too much you got to stop and the moment you start defending it i'm telling you might want to check yourself you defend sin it'll kill you and you got some people that love you and be like bro go home don't ever talk to her again go home the bible says you think you can carry fire in your chest and not get burned you think uh-huh you're too dumb to talk to that's why you need friends say no bro this place leads somewhere you don't want to go it's just you don't want to go it's

tricky, it always leads to prison. And I'm telling you, I'm telling you, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. He has a hard time devouring that one that has a band of brothers or sisters that's wrapped around them in their time of weakness. And when you stumble and when you fall, they don't accuse you, they pick you up and they bear your burdens. That's what you need. This is what the church is supposed to do and supposed to be. So do I believe in demonic activity? You know you do too. You just don't know that you have the words for it yet. That our battle is not against flesh and blood.

You think, have you ever met the person that just all of a sudden decide, hey, what are you going to do today? You know what? I think I'm going to do heroin and throw away my whole life. Today. You ever done it before? No. But today, I'm going to flush the ministry. My wife's going to leave me.

My kids are going to hate me. That's where I'm going. Nah, man. It is a slow, tricky slide step by step by step. and it's why we need each other, the church, empowered by the Holy Spirit, standing on the authority of the Word of God, to step in and stand in.

So sometimes we suffer because we live in a broken world. Life happens. Sometimes we suffer because people sin against us. Sometimes we suffer because we sin against us. And sometimes we suffer because of the enemy himself. And the crazy thing about it, if you read this book long enough and you take its words seriously you have to come to the conclusion that God is sovereign over it all it's crazy that God is at work in your suffering and God is at work

in your pain and God is at work in our persecution and God is at work in even our own sin or the sin against us that God is even at work when the enemy tries to come against us to kill still and destroy us that God is at work in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose. Even when you can't see it, he's working. And even when you can't feel it, he's working. And he never, ever, ever stops working for his own glory and your good. That God will use the cancer and the car wreck, and God can even use the addiction, that God can use the arrest and the imprisonment, all for his own glory. And so he looked at it. And so he looks, accept these people.

In Smyrna, now there was a literal persecution. And he says, listen, I know. I know the poverty. And I know the slander. And I know the suffering. And I know the imprisonment. And then here's his encouragement, be faithful unto death. And I will give you a crown of life.

I think what Jesus is doing here is doing a little choose your own ending. Smyrna was known as the crown city. So when you went in on the gates, there was a big crown, like a crown that a king would wear. And he said, you could live your life going for that kind of crown. And it will only last you in this life. But there's another crown. There's another crown.

And the crown of life that Jesus is talking about was a victor's crown. You ever watch like the Kentucky Derby, and they put that big reef thing over the horse's neck? It's like that. And if you stay fateful, if you believe when I died on the cross, it counted for you, then you will receive eternal life, that you will receive the crown. of life. And again, you may ask, Jesus, why would you allow this? And Jesus's answer would be because he cares more about your character than your comfort. That Jesus has no problem disrupting our life so that we would see that he is the one that is greater than life.

Jayah Packer says, and still he seeks the fellowship of his people, and he will bring them both joy and sorrow to detach our hands from the things of this world that we might cling to him and him alone. And so he says, be the love. fateful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life. This literally happened. In 155 AD, John writes this in about 90 AD, 65 years later. This is a famous Christian god named Polycarp. Polycarp was the bishop of the church at Smyrna.

Polycarp was disciples by the Apostle John that wrote down these words. The governor of Smyrna got Polycarp, brought him in front of the city, and said, you got one of two options. You recant Jesus and you will live. And if you don't, you will die. He was asking Polycarb, he said, all you got to do is get a little bit of incense, put it in here and say, Caesar is Lord.

And you do that, and you will live. And Polycarp famously says, 80 and six years have I served him and he has done me no wrong. How could I blaspheme my king and my Savior? and they said very well, you will die. You will be bound to the stake and burned alive. And he said, you will not need to bind me to that stake.

My love of Jesus will bind me there. And he willingly walked to the stake and climbed up on the pile of logs and held himself there. And history tells us they lit the fire. And a wind comes through Smyrna and he's standing there and the flame is like over there. It won't get on him. So a Roman soldier comes up all the while he's quoting Psalm 51. And then a Roman soldier comes up and stabs him and he falls down and is consumed in the flames. And then the next thing he heard were these words.

Well done, my good and faithful sermon. Enter into the joy of your master. You see, Jesus says, be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. And he goes on to say, he who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. the one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. And the one who conquers, this is not like a, this is not a pep rally for you to go do better. It would be the worst pet rally of all time.

This is, Romans 837 teaches us that if we are in Christ, we are more than conquerors through him who loves us. So in this world of persecution, we are not fighting for victory. We are fighting from victory because the victory is already his. And he says, for anyone who believes that when Jesus died on the cross, that counted for me, then you will not be hurt by the second death.

There are two deaths. There's a physical and a spiritual death. And if you were only born once, you will die twice. You will die physically, and then you will eternally be dying and yet never die in that second spiritual death, which we know as hell or a Christless eternity. But Jesus says, if you are born twice, if you were born physically, and then you are born again by trusting in Jesus Christ, then you may die physically, but you will never be hurt by that second death. That's how the letter closes.

Now, see, I don't think it would do us a whole lot of good to just talk about Smyrna and not talk about us. So here's the point. Faithfulness and suffering is not based on your feelings as a result of your circumstances. You can have all kinds of feelings, no problem. But faithfulness is trusting in the finished work of our Savior. Listen to what Jesus says. He says, I've said these things to you that in me you may have peace in the world. world you will have tribulation. There's that word. Crushing. But take heart. I have overcome the world.

You see, so are you facing tribulation? Now it does you no good to compare yours to the pastor in Bethlehem. Because weight on your chest feels like weight on your chest, regardless of how much weight is on your neighbor's chest. Amen? And I know at all of our locations with the thousands of people that show up here, there are some of you and you walked in today and I'm telling you the person on the reach team said how are you doing and you just said blessed in highly favor but you feel like this world's got you stretched out and there have been weights placed upon your chest that's what you feel like and Jesus's words to you is this be faithful now I think when we hear those words I think sometimes we misunderstand them because of all the terrible sermons that have been preached about that because sometimes you think well I don't have much faith, so I got to go get my faith meter up to, like, miracle level, and then maybe Jesus will do something for me? Well, do you remember in Mark chapter 9? I talk about this all the time. The dad's got a sick kid, and he comes to Jesus and says, hey, will you heal my kid? And Jesus says, anything is possible for the one who believes, and a man has a moment of faith crisis.

And he says, I believe, but I need you to help me overcome my unbelief. That man's got barely any faith. In Matthew chapter 17, same event. Jesus says, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, then you bring that little itty-bitty, almost seemingly powerless faith, and you put it in the all-powerful God, and it is exponentially more powerful than putting all of your faith in your circumstances. That you put your faith in God, and God can make the mountains move. And some of you feel like you have a mountain on your chest right now, and you don't know what to do about it. You feel all stretched out and you're just hoping to get one more breath to make it through the weekend. And God says, hey, by faith, just bring that to me.

By faith. And some of you don't even believe what I'm saying, but you want to believe it. That's faith. That's a little bit of faith that you bring to the Lord. And some of you are going through the things that Jesus talked about and he would say to you, I know, I know. Some of you, the weight that you feel is slander. You're at work and they're saying things about you that aren't true.

You're going through a divorce, and he's lying. You're reaching out to your kids, and you never thought it would be this way. You were reaching out to them with invitations to church and the love of Jesus, and what comes back is hatred, and you're like, what is going on here? And it feels, Mama, like it's crushing your heart. And for some of you, it is financial. It's poverty. I mean, you look at what you owe, and you look at what you have, and there's a big gap there,

and it feels like you're being strangled. And some of you haven't even told the rest of your family. family that right now and you don't know what to do and for some of you it's suffering it's physical it's mental it's relational suffering for some of you it is it's an attack of the enemy it's an addiction it's a depression it's an anxiety and you know Bible verses and you look at your circumstances and everything should be okay but every morning you wake up and again people would love to have your life but when you look around at your life you just can't turn happy on and you don't know why there's this anger just right under the surface and you can't make it go away

or you don't know why there is this depression that just kind of clouded around you and you don't know what to do Jesus would say I know I know I know why don't you bring that to me why don't you bring that to me be faithful even unto death and take that thing whatever it is that little bit of tiny faith and this overwhelming mountain size crushing that you feel and you just say, God, I need you to move a mountain. I need you to move this thing off of me because I can't cast a breath. You see, James tells us in James chapter 5, he says this, is anyone among you suffering? Then let him pray.

And he also says, is anyone cheerful? So everybody ain't suffering. Some of you cheerful. Praise God. Let him sing praise. In just a second, we're going to sing two songs. Cheerful people, you better be the loudest. Don't leave after the first one.

Because everybody else kind of needs to kind of draft off your cheerfulness right now. Is anyone among you sick? This could be relational, physical, spiritual. He says, let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.

I believe today Jesus is going to heal some people. Now the brabable does not promise cures, but by the stripes of Jesus, we are healed. And just like the enemy wants to bind people up, Jesus wants to set people free. Set people free of addiction and depression and bitterness. And then he says the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. So in just a second, we're all going to stand and I'm going to pray and the band's going to come. And if you would say that's me, man, I feel like I'm stretched out, and I got the weight of the world on my chest, then we're going to invite you to just do what the book says and just come down.

There's going to be a bunch of people up here, pastors, elders, deacons, staff folks, care team members, men, women. And every single one of us up here doing the anointing and the praying, I promise you, we've all been on the other side of that at some point. And so when Jesus says, I know it, I know the tribulation, I know the crushing you're feeling. financial suffering, demonic oppression, poverty, whatever it may be, be faithful. Bring it to him. Bring it to him because faith, the side of a mustard seed, not because of your faith and your prayer, but the one we're putting our faith in and who we are praying to, he can say to that mountain, he can say to that weight, be gone.

And we are going to pray for endurance and deliverance, praying that God will answer our prayers. Would you please stand to your feet if you are one of the anointers make your way right now to the front at all of our campuses? And listen, as I begin to pray, there's no need to wait. I just want you to come right now. Come and be prayed for. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything and we know that you love us. Not because we look around our circumstances, though you have so richly blessed so many of us. And we know that every good and perfect gift is from you.

But God, the reason that we know that you love us and the reason that we can love you, you is because you demonstrated your love for us and this, that while we were still sinners, that Christ died for us. God, you had instructed us that we have not because we asked not. And like a child, a needy child comes to their father and asks for good gifts, you instruct us to come to you. God, you know what is going on. And Lord, we pray. We pray for redemption. We pray for forgiveness.

We pray that you would set people free. God, we pray that the chains of addiction would fall off, the chains of bitterness would fall off. God, we pray that the enemy would have no place in here. We pray that we would fix our eyes on you, the author and the perfector of our faith, and we fully trust, not in our circumstances, but we fully trust that if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Won't you come?