Go a little deeper
Pastor Keith Kirkpatrick continues through Revelation’s letters to the churches, turning to Thyatira in Revelation 2:18-29. After recapping the earlier letters, he describes the town’s trades and guilds. He interprets Jesus’ self-description as communicating divine identity, complete knowledge and secure authority in that setting.
Pastor Keith considers Jesus’ commendation of the church’s loving service and perseverance alongside the warning about tolerating deceptive teaching. He connects Jezebel’s influence in the letter with Old Testament accounts and Balaam, warning against sexual wrongdoing and giving other things priority over God.
Pastor Keith emphasizes the opportunity to repent and connects it with God’s kindness in Romans 2:4. He interprets judgment as removing what harms life with God, while urging continued faithfulness. He understands the closing promise as sharing Jesus’ authority and presence, then invites listeners to trust and follow him.
Take this with you
Jesus reveals himself as the true Son of God
Pastor Keith interprets Jesus’ self-description in Revelation 2:18 as communicating divine identity, complete knowledge and secure authority. He reads the fiery imagery as judgment informed by perfect knowledge and the bronze imagery as strength that remains secure through adversity.
Good works can grow alongside unchecked weeds
Pastor Keith observes that Jesus commends the church in Revelation 2:19 while still confronting what is wrong. He uses growing weeds as an illustration of problems that need attention at the root and warns against judging spiritual health by outward appearances alone.
Tolerance is not the same as love
The charge against Thyatira in Revelation 2:20 is that the church tolerated a woman called Jezebel, who claimed to be a prophetess and led people into sexual immorality and idolatry. Pastor Keith pushes back on a cultural equation of tolerance with love and of intolerance with hate, insisting that Jesus himself names toleration of seduction and idolatry as something he holds against the church.
Repentance is a kindness, not a punishment
Pastor Keith connects Revelation 2:21’s opportunity to repent with God’s kindness in Romans 2:4. He interprets judgment as removing what harms life with God and uses Romans 8:1 to emphasize acceptance for those who belong to Christ. He urges a changed life shaped by grace.
Faithfulness and the promise of Jesus’ presence
Pastor Keith reads Revelation 2:24-28 as encouragement to remain faithful amid pressure. He interprets the promised star as Jesus himself, connecting it with Revelation 22:16 and Jesus’ kingship. He presents Jesus’ presence as hope through dark circumstances.
The conversation,
in their words.
Transcript from the recording’s captions. Select any timestamp to hear the original audio.
aren't you glad we get to sing to a great god there's just something about singing that stirs up in our souls because our god is worthy of praise and sometimes songs will say what we can't express with our own words and i would just encourage you that as we sing songs don't miss what the song is saying there can be some good theology in in a song there can be some doctrine that maybe even if you're new to church or you're you're new to jesus uh sometimes songs will teach you so much about god in fact the bible teaches us that god sings over us that's how much god loves you he's singing over you with his love you may not even know that but while while you were sleeping he was up all night just singing over you that's a wonderful thought well by way of introduction if we've not had the privilege to meet my name is keith and it's such an honor that we're going to spend some time
together today studying the book of revelation if you're just joining us this is the revelation of jesus christ revelation is singular it's got a singular focus this book and that is jesus christ the word revelation comes from the greek apocalypses the word apocalypsis means to unveil to reveal so this book reveals jesus christ as we study this book we understand the author's name is john he writes to the first century church during a difficult time for the church it was a season of suffering and he reminds them that there's victory in jesus that even if you're going through difficult days you can have an unshakable hope in jesus now what's incredible about this book of revelation it's the
last book of the bible it's one of 66 books you find in the bible it could be one of the most well-known and misunderstood but this book was not just intended for the first century church it was intended for the whole church and god has used this book to speak to the church through the ages to bring comfort and blessing and the reason why is because it's all about jesus if you're just joining us today i want you to know you haven't missed too much we're gonna catch up today we're only in chapter two so feel free to go back and re-read what we've already covered in chapter one we learn the purpose of the book it is the revelation of jesus christ john gives this introduction and he lets us know how great god is it's an awesome chapter you can reread that chapter over and over and you're gonna get something new
each time you read it in revelation chapter one in chapter two you enter into a section of seven letters to seven churches jesus is speaking to the church the number seven means complete and whole these are actual seven churches in the first century in a region known as asia minor today it's known as turkey they would have been on the same trade route so this book of revelation would have been shared among the churches easily it could have been distributed but we know it was not just intended for the first century church it's intended for the whole church the complete church so as we study each of these churches and the cities where they're found we learn from history but we let god speak to our hearts today god wants to speak to you today god is alive he's active and just like he worked through the first church he still is speaking to
us the church today as well we've only covered three churches thus far we looked at the church in ephesus and god commends them for who they are and what they're doing but he warns them that they've abandoned their first love and he tells them to to remember their first love and to to repent to change their thinking and then repeat this he says do the things you did at first go back to the basics go go to your love you see you can get so busy doing things for god that you miss what matters most god just wants you it's the greatest commandments to love the lord your god with all your heart soul mind and strength all god wants from you is you he loves you so much he doesn't want you to get so busy that you miss what matters most which is love the second church we looked at was in smyrna smyrna was a
wealthy city but this is where the church was struggling and jesus says i see your tribulation i see all of the hard things you're going through i see your pain i see your poverty financially i see that you're being slandered by people who say that religio they're religious and jesus says i see you when you suffer i know what you're going through and he tells this church be faithful don't give up during difficult days be faithful even if it's to the point of death because you will be rewarded you won't experience a second death but rather you'll receive a crown of life then we looked at the third church which is in pergamum a political city and he sees this church and they seem like they're doing great things but they compromise they were deceived they were doing things like the rest of the world and so today we pick up in the fourth church found in revelation chapter two we'll finish up the chapter today starting with verse 18.
jesus is speaking and to the angel the word angel means messenger it could be the pastor of the church in thyatira right the words of the son of god who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze this fourth church is found in the city of thyatira unlike the first three churches that were found in big booming bustling cities this church is found in the styx this is about 45 miles due east of pergamum and it's today what we would call a small city or a large town and unlike the banking city of ephesus which was known for all of its money the the temple of artemis was there and it was used as a banking
system uh that impacted society was a port city it was it was large uh in number uh uh unlike this this luxurious city of smyrna that had all sorts of money there and unlike the political city of pergamum thyatira was not quite like that the men wore wranglers and cowboy boots this uh this community is what we would call blue-collared it was full of tradesmen and women although they weren't large they were important they had the trait of wool linen dyed goods leather work the tanning of leather they were known for their metal work they had excellent bronze work uh this city was full of trades now each
trade in the city of thyatira had a guild that represented the trade if you were participating in that particular trade you were born into it and you did what your dad did you had to be a part of this guild and the guilds influenced society they influenced the spiritual life they they would tell you how to live your life and there was a patron deity of each of the guilds it was a lot like what we call today labor unions you had to buy into this you had to participate in it and much like the mafia today if you were to exit one of these guilds you're not getting a job in this town again and so as we look at the city of third tire we start to understand how the city operates and works and there's a wonderful woman that came out of the city of third tyra we learn
about her in the book of acts in the book of acts it tells the story of how the church got started and in chapter 16 we're told paul along with some others are starting a church in a city called philippi and while in philippi they go down to the river to have a worship service to pray and to sing songs it's like what we call today church in the park in acts chapter 16 verse 14 we're told one who heard us was a woman named lydia from the city of thyatira a seller of purple goods who was a worshiper of god the lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by paul here's what's awesome here's a woman that was more than likely on business in philippi she hears about jesus she gives her life to jesus but here's what's even better her whole family got saved by jesus it's
pretty awesome we don't know if she had a second home in philippi for business or for vacation or what the purpose was but we see that god got a hold of a heart of a hard worker and women from thyatira and i'll tell you god works in wonderful ways he works in the city and he works in the towns he works through men and women doesn't matter what your job is god just wants to get a hold of your heart and we see to each of these seven letters jesus is speaking to the church and he reveals himself the way the church needs to know jesus seven times we see seven different descriptions for our god is perfect jesus is completely holy god and we're told here in revelation 2 18 he describes himself as the son of god it's an important expression it's not used lightly in fact it's the only time it's used in the book of
revelation and jesus is intentional why he uses the phrase the son of god as i mentioned these guilds in thyatira these labor unions each had a deity and within these deities they they moved people to immorality and idolatry the two great enemies of god's people and one of the greatest of the deities of the guilds was apollo he was well known in fact he was more known than any other deity in this community people worshipped apollo and he was described as the son of god reportedly he was the son of zeus like artemis in ephesus was the daughter of zeus apollo was a big deal being the son of zeus and he happened to be the s
the sun god so there's a play on words he he was the god of the sun archaeologists have dug up in this region coins that have the phrase son of god with the face of apollo on it now jesus speaks forth to this church and says actually i'm the true son of god there are frauds out there there are fakes and he lets us know who the true son of god is and that is he alone is the son of god now he goes on to describe himself in in two ways he says he is the one who has eyes like a flame of fire eyes represent knowledge jesus sees everything he knows everything he is infinite in knowledge fire represents judgment and because he knows everything he's able to
be the ultimate judge now jesus own students called disciples before the cross they said this to him in john 16 verse 30 now we know that you jesus know all things and do not need anyone to question you this is why we believe that you came from god so his own disciples came to the conclusion jesus you know everything we believe that you're no ordinary man you've got to be from god now after the resurrection there's an encounter between jesus and peter jesus asked peter one time do you love me he asked peter a second time do you love me and then john tells us in john 21 17 he said to him a third time simon son of john do you love me
peter was grieved because he said to him a third time do you love me and peter said to jesus lord you know everything you know that i love you and jesus said to peter feed my sheep if you love me you're going to care about what i care about you're going to do what i would do i want you to care for people now this is the peter that's far from perfect peter was just a man this is the peter that before jesus went to the cross jesus said you will deny me three times and this is the peter that piped up and said never lord and then he denied jesus three times jesus knows everything he knows your hearts he
he knows your thoughts he knows what you're doing now he knows what you will do he knows what you've done and peter says you know everything you know my failures peter discovered the mercy of god that they're new every morning that jesus did not hold this against him but rather jesus loved peter furthermore jesus describes himself to the churches not only one who has eyes like flames of fire but one who has feet like burnished bronze feet represent authority that where you go you have authority and jesus feet are secure they're strong that when he steps into any adversity he doesn't retreat he doesn't run he's like the burnished bronze a brawn when burnished looks like gold and i love that jesus tells this
church that he's like burnished bronze because there was much bronze work done in thyatira they they knew the strength of this metal it's a combination of copper and tin and under fire it's it's compressed that under the right amount of heat it becomes this beautiful metal of bronze jesus has been through the fire he's been tested so we see from the top to the bottom he has the authority to judge he knows everything he is the great judge and since he knows everything about you he wants to judge you with eyes like flames of fire he's been through the fire he's able to do just that and this fire does not burn this fire is not meant to hurt you this fire is meant to remove any impurities from your life
you need to hear this about our god he wants to remove that which shouldn't be in your life when a medal goes through the fire the heat gets rid of the impurities that's what god's judgment does he loves you enough to get rid of that which is in your life that shouldn't be there that which is stopping you from living the life that god wants for you to experience now paul when he writes to the roman he reminds us there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus when you come before jesus he doesn't judge you and hold it against you he judges you and he forgives you of all that you've done wrong that's how great our god is jesus said himself the truth sets you free and then he later says i am the way the truth and the life he wants to set you free of all of your sins
so that you would experience the great grace of god and so we see with these eyes like flames of fire and the feet like burnished bronze he's come to judge the church he's come to look into your life and say what's in your life that should not be there and if it's there then get rid of it let god burn it off in your life and experience all that he has for you now here's what jesus sees and knows about this church i know your works your love and faith and service and patient endurance and that your latter works exceed the first now if we stopped here in this letter it would be awesome wouldn't you love jesus just to write a letter like this to you i'm the son of god and i see that you have faith you have love you're serving one
another i i see that you've had to labor through patient endurance you mean you're going through difficult days i see all these things in your life this would be great if you stop right there but he's going to say much more you see this is the longest letters of the seven letters so jesus has the longest message to the church in the smallest city and he starts off by saying you're doing some good things you have faith you have love these are the very things that journey church strives to do we have three pillars at journey church they come from first corinthians 13 13 that these three things abide faith hope and love but the greatest of these is love we want to have faith in christ it's what why the church exists we want to point you to jesus we have a saying it's all about jesus we want you to believe in jesus that's where our
faith is in christ that's why church is important that you hear the word of god but we also want you to have hope and hope is found in community we want you to be in community you're not meant to do life alone you're not meant to be isolated invite people into your home like lydia did do life with other people we're better together it's not always natural it's not easy it's why one of our core values is to be community creators and then the third pillar that holds this church together is love love and compassion the word compassion comes from the greek splogna it means to be moved to action it doesn't mean you just see the problem it means you do something about the problem and that's what the church in thyatira was doing they were doing a lot of good things they were living in acts of service but jesus wants to let them know unfortunately there's more than just you doing church there's
more than just you growing as a church and and there was a lot of good things happening but uh but we need to know that not all growing things are good we see that every summer when weeds start to grow they're going to keep growing like a tree if you don't do something about it you can get lazy and chop it down with a lawn mower or a weed eater but you know what's going to happen next it's going to keep growing it's going to invite some friends to grow with it you got to get in there and you got to dig out that weed and you got to keep coming back to see see if there was still some seeds there some roots there you gotta take care of the root of the problem and in the church of thiotyra they had some stuff growing that were like weeds that need to be taken care of because those weeds will take over your
life and they looked good but they were still not good we we live in that age don't we now listen a lot of you look really good with your mass on right now you look so good i can't i can't even tell if you're sad or anything i'm just going to assume you're you're happy that you look as good as uh you're living right now but we live in a world that we've got to know that things are not as they appear in this instagram world i mean most of us ought to confess i'm not as good as i look online i'm giving you my best with filters i'm not letting you see what happened to fight that we had to smile like that or look like that i'm not i'm not going to let you into the dirty baggage of my life but we've got to
remind each other that that that woman that looks so beautiful she might be struggling with an eating disorder that guy that looks so strong and i want to look just like him he might be depressed and have suicidal thoughts we've got to acknowledge that that just because it looks good does not mean it is good and so it is in the church because jesus is about to address that reality that you you may look good but this is not good god doesn't care how good you look he cares about your heart he wants you to experience all that he has for you so he cuts to the chase in verse 20 and i would like to read through verse 23 and then i'll dissect it more so we understand this but i have this against you jesus says some translation nevertheless you might look good but here's what's wrong that you tolerate that woman jezebel who calls herself a prophetess
and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols so this was slipping in through these guilds immorality idolatry i gave her time to repent but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality behold i will throw her onto a sick bed and those who commit adultery with her i will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her works and i will strike her children dead and all the churches will know that i am he who searches mind and heart and i will give to each of you according to your works this isn't spoken of enough in the church that you will be judged on what you do with your life and the whole world's going to know whether you're the real deal or you're a fraud and we have the god of of second and
third and fourth and fifth chances and he wants you to know who he is we live in an age that we've bought into a lie that what we're going through is something new and it doesn't take much just to look back in history to say there's nothing new under the sun solomon was right that what we're going through is not new we we can say things like these are unprecedented times this has been so difficult this is so hard and it has been hard and it's been it's been abnormal for us we've all been out of rhythms and out of whack and our nation has gone through something that really many of us have not gone through before but we just have to look back to understand that what we're going through is not new but there have been many people that have struggled there have been many people that have gone through sickness and in fact what
we'll discover is there are many people throughout all history that have wrestled and struggled with sexual immorality and idolatry uh idolatries just when you give worth or value to something more than god so if you're thinking about it more than god if you're giving your money to it more than god if you're giving your time to that more than god it's idolatry you've made an idol and most of the time idolatry is man-made it's really what you enjoy and there are all sorts of idols that have drawn god's people through the ages immorality is anything you do outside of god's plan and will god has a perfect plan for you he's got a perfect plan for humanity and for some reason throughout the ages we've gone outside of god's plan and said i've actually got a better plan
and and jesus speaks here and says i hold this against you i have this against you that you tolerate and there's one thing i've seen much of over the last few years and that is the word tolerance tolerance has been associated with love that if you tolerate someone you love them and if you're intolerant then you're a bigot you're full of hate if you do not tolerate somebody else you're judgmental you're narrow-minded and jesus warns the church and says this is what i hold against you you tolerate that woman jezebel and what i love about the book of revelation is it causes us to look at the whole bible we can't just read the book of revelation on its own we've got to understand what these stories are saying
last week we looked at the story of balaam and balak balaam was a sorcerer that tried to curse the israelites and he couldn't do it so here's how he deceived god's people through seduction and idolatry he got the moabite women to sleep with the israelite men and and as a result there was judgment and they ate food sacrificed to idol and you saw these men giving into the same thing that they given to today sex and food and it brought judgment upon people that's how balaam deceived god's people now we see the story of jezebel a woman that lives some 1 000 years earlier so this is a woman that's being identified in the church as jezebel some think it's an actual woman that is deceiving the people in the church others believe it's a spirit of jezebel which is active and alive in every generation so
who is this woman jezebel and what's so bad about her you don't hear many people naming their daughters jezebel you only hear of cat's name jezebel just getting real in church come on the word jezebel is interesting in that the name itself means to be pure or chaste yet the actual woman in the scriptures whose name jezebel was anything but because that's what the enemy loves to do is make a mockery of what god has planned and purpose the enemy loves to pervert and twist the truth jezebel this woman came from an awful and evil family her father was a priest of the false
cruel god baal and more than just being a priest of the the pagan god baal he was evil in all his ways he had his own brother murdered to take his throne as the king of tyre so here you have jezebel the daughter of the king of tyre she marries a man named ahab who happened to be the king of israel so she marries the king of israel ahab who by the way is the weakest king israel has ever had he's the perfect picture of a weak man for he lets jezebel influence his life he lets jezebel influence the nation of israel and jezebel does just that she gets right to work and she wants to destroy god's people she wants them to worship the false god of baal so she brings in
sexual seduction she brings in orgy she brings in a whole slew of sexual immorality within the people of israel one of the first things she did in first kings chapter 18 is try to eradicate all the prophets of israel the one true god the word prophet means to speak forth god's word and she wanted to get rid of god's word but she waged war on one prophet named elijah elijah was willing to stand strong against jezebel elijah declares war and he prophesized that there would be a drought in the land for three years a drought is metaphorical in many ways we need water to live we even see in this region when when the reservoirs go low when the snow count is down we start to get worried will there be enough to do this or to do that
and so there's this massive drought and the book of james tells us that elijah was just a man like one of us that when elijah prayed to god he prayed to the same god that we pray to that what elijah did we can do and this war between elijah and jezebel culminates on mount carmel where elijah calls all the priests of baal uh he he calls them to see whose god is greater and he tells the priest of baal here's what we'll do you make a sacrifice offering to your god and you call upon him and see if god will accept this offering i'll do the same thing and we'll see which god is greater this was the first super bowl competition right here
it went down and elijah said you go first and they sacrificed their bull and they began to call out to baal and they prayed they prayed out loud and all the people could see them praying and nothing happened so they prayed louder that baal would honor this offering the sacrifice and nothing happened so elijah begins to taunt the people and says maybe your god's on the toilet and can't hear you yes this is in the bible and they pray louder they cut themselves they begin to cut themselves and wail and cry out and nothing happens so elijah says my turn here's what we'll do he takes the bull and he takes he says i put some water on the offering now remember there's a drought the water is a precious commodity he says that's not enough water bring in some more water as they dump this
water on this offering you can imagine people are asking what in the world is he doing and he prays one short powerful prayer to yahweh the lord the one true god and god accepts the offering with fire for our god is consuming fire and judgment comes on this offering and god accepts it and every drop of water was consumed and on that mountain every priest of baal was slaughtered now this would be the moment you would expect ahab and jezebel to say yeah that god's pretty great maybe we should turn and trust in him but that's not what happened first kings 19 tells us that jezebel vows to kill
elijah now i need you to hear this because what happened elijah happens to many of us elijah goes from a mountaintop experience on carmel he does something great for god and he runs out to the wilderness down to the valley all alone when you have a mountaintop moment just beware the valley is coming when you have a mountain peak moment you're going to go through the valley but just like david declared in psalm 23 you don't need to fear any evil your god is with you through the valley of the shadow of death and he goes out to the valley and he begins to have this pity party that so many of us have i'm all alone i'm isolated how could i be in this place and he has suicidal thoughts he says god just take my life i don't want to live anymore this is too hard to live in the world that we live in right now and as he has these suicidal thoughts
god speaks to elijah and reminds him who he is he reminds elijah it might look like you're alone but there are a lot of other people just like you you might think you're alone in this pagan wicked world but i'm here to tell you you're not alone so get up put your shoulders back and chin up and serve god he's an almighty god don't forget what he just did on the mountain he could do it again so you trust him you could call upon him and he'll bring forth the reign and he'll do just that and so elijah begins to serve god again and we see this jezebel spirit alive today see what jezebel did is she deceived the people to think that somehow you can go outside god's perfect plan for sex god designs sex and it's not bad
for some reason it feels bad because of how the enemies perverted it but god designed sex it's good it's between a husband and a wife he's got a great plan for it and if we stick within his plans there's blessings that come with it but jezebel went outside of that plan and what happened is all of these these women had unplanned pregnancies so now you have all these children that are born that that nobody really wanted and what they did is they took these babies and they sacrificed them to gods they killed them because they weren't a part of the way of life and what we begin to see with the spirit of jezebel is go ahead and do what you want and if it's inconvenient if it's unplanned if it's unwanted go ahead and figure things out your way but god's
way is entirely different god doesn't make mistakes that we hear things in our culture like well that baby was unplanned and god says actually i have a plan and you just didn't know it and and i don't make mistakes every baby that is in the womb is knit together and formed by god made in the image of god every one of you are fearfully and wonderfully made and your parents may have made a mistake but god makes no mistakes it doesn't matter if you have a disability if you are adopted if your one of your parents left you or both the parents abandon you i'm here to tell you you are made in god's image and he loves you you are fearfully and wonderfully made and the spirit of jezebel wants to lie to you and get you isolated and think that you're all alone and think that somehow you can go outside of god's plan
and you'll be blessed but the same sexual seduction and idolatry is alive today and it's real and god is a god of second chances he's a god of third chances he's a god of fourth chances and what we read in revelation 2 21 as jesus says i gave her time to repent in the book of romans chapter two one of my favorite scriptures is it's god's kindness that leads to repentance god's so kind he's so patient he loves us and jesus is saying i'm giving you time to change your thinking well you just see that your ways aren't working it's not going to work but she refuses to change her mind she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality jesus knows full well what will happen if we continue to go outside of his plan
we have to remember that the reason jesus says repent as he's trying to get our attention that his ways are greater than our ways jesus is holy the word holy means set apart and jesus is perfectly holy i don't know what your view of jesus is but the book of revelation is meant to awaken our imagination that jesus is greater than you've fully experienced you just go to chapter one and it's meant to to revive your understanding that jesus is a good teacher but he's greater than that yes he is the guy that walked on water and created surfing but he's greater than that yes he healed many blind men he made the lame walk he he made the mute speak yes he he bring victory and liberty to women because he saw from the beginning he made man and
woman in his image they're equal he's the great liberator he's the one that looks at children and and brings value to them in a world that overlooks the we forget who jesus is but he also is god he's holy and if he's holy he can't tolerate sin you cannot come into heaven with sin he he he can't he's god and so the reason he tells us to repent is he wants us to experience his plan paul put it this way to the romans in chapter 6 verse 23 for the wages of sin is death if you continue to live in sin there'll be death in your relationships death in your spiritual life there'll be death in community there'll be death in a nation that's what sin does but the free gift of god is this it's eternal life in christ jesus our lord when he becomes the lord of your life the word lord
means he's sovereign he's always in control jesus never stops being lord and sovereign when you accept the free gift of life when you come before jesus he doesn't see you with your sin he sees you as forgiven he sees you with his righteousness he robes you with his righteousness so this is what happens when you believe in jesus for the forgiveness of your sins he exchanges it for his righteousness so it's not like just pulling out a weed you've now replaced it with a garden of god's grace and so he reminds the church you can repent one of the greatest examples of this story is found in john chapter 8 jesus is in front of a crowd of people and some religious leaders bring a woman cotton adultery in front of jesus to the public it's a total trap because the man who was caught in a joel tree wasn't there and jesus does something surprising no
one saw it coming he gets down in the dirt and starts writing in the dirt don't you love that our god surprises us you think you have god figured out and then he takes a different turn you're like what are you doing jesus this is serious there should be judgment right now let's talk politics let's talk you know judgment let's talk condemnation right he gets down the dirt starts riding on the ground then he he speaks to the religious leaders and it says he who is without sin can cast the first stone that was the the judgment for a person caught in that sort of immorality would be a righteous judgment of being killed with stones and we're told in john chapter 8 one by one from the oldest to the youngest every single one of them left and then jesus said this in john 8 verse 10 and 11 jesus stood up and said to her woman where are they has no one condemned you
she said no one lord and jesus said neither do i condemn you go from now on sin no more jesus is the fullness of grace he gives grace upon grace he doesn't look and say oh i can't believe you committed that sexual act i can't believe you did that i can't believe you've done that in your life that's not how jesus judgment works he acknowledges the reality that there should be condemnation he acknowledges reality there should be death but there is no condemnation now in christ jesus and what he wants to do is replace that with his grace that you would walk now in grace but not only is he the fullness of grace he's a fullness of truth and if he's a fullness of truth he's saying
don't go back to your old behaviors listen someone did something to you that does not identify you you look to something does not mean you need to look at it again you did something does not mean you need to keep coming back that doesn't define you jesus go now you're set free you have a new destiny you should have died you should have been condemned you should be labeled but jesus gives her liberty and so he warns the church that if you don't change your ways if you keep allowing the spirit of jezebel to be alive in your life he says behold i'll throw her onto a sick bed verse 22. this is not going to this is not going to turn out well sexual seduction always looks good but it's not good it doesn't lead to life adding a partner in your marriage looking at pornography having an affair
sleeping with someone you're not committed to i was just talking to someone in the first service about this it feels good your heart will race you'll have endorphins that will exit your body and you'll feel good for a moment but that temporary pleasure will not last it'll make you sick it's not healthy and jesus that's what's gonna happen she's gonna be on a sick bed and look at verse 23 and i will strike her children dead meaning this that if you follow jezebel in her ways instead of god's ways you're a child of jezebel in john chapter 1 it says to all who did receive jesus who believe in his name you're called a child of god so start acting like it live like it you see the actual children of ahab and jezebel were just as wicked as the parents if you don't break
the generational curses if you don't break the strongholds of your parents you'll continue in their ways and you don't need to you don't need to be like your daddy you don't need to be like your mom be more like your god that gives you an opportunity that says you don't need to keep going this way you can be who god wants you to be and so we see that the purpose of all this in verse 23 all the churches everyone's going to know that i am he who searches the mind and heart god already knows everything and i will give to each of you according to your works this you see you can't fake it with god and it's not too late you have to just determine to do something today when paul writes to a church called corinth they allowed the same type of immorality and idolatry into their church and he gets blunt with them if we read
first corinthians and second corinthians you'll see so much about sex because it had infiltrated the culture of the church they look like everyone else which is exactly what was happening in thyatira you just you tolerate it it's not called out and this is what paul says to them and he says it actually three times in first corinthians says all things are lawful for me but not all things are helpful all things are lawful for me but i will not be dominated by anything so just because you can doesn't mean you should just because you can doesn't mean it's good i have found so often most movies have sex scenes and nudity in them and i continually think that i can just skip a scene and it'll be all right but here's what happens if you see enough of
that scene it gets in your mind i keep getting duped by netflix and hulu thinking that somehow the little brief description will entertain me for just an hour or two when in reality that thing that gets in your brain will be much more than an hour or two and so jesus just wants to cut to the chase and says come on i've got a greater plan you don't need to compromise you don't need to tolerate this you don't need to continue to do things the way the world is doing things and and what paul is speaking to the church is he's just saying it's time to do something different just because you can doesn't mean you should and so then now jesus is going to address those who are not living like it because sometimes if you're not living in that immorality in idolatry you feel like a loser you feel like you're all alone you you want to go out into the wilderness like elijah and you wonder am i am i what the world
says of me am i a prude am i am i missing out on what the world has and this is what jesus says but to the rest of you and thy torah who do not hold this teaching who have not learned what some call deep things of satan you see satan comes in and says i've got a better way to you i say do not lay on excuse me to you i say i do not lay on you any other burden that jesus invites us and says to all you who are heavy laden and burdened i want to give you rest so when you come to jesus i need you to hear this because over the centuries the church has messed up in this place i don't give you more burden of religion i don't give you a burden to be a better person i don't give you a burden that you need to do more but rather he says this only hold fast
what you have until i come so if you're the only one that's doing this hold fast if it's uncool to follow jesus you be the most uncool person on the planet hold fast jesus says i am coming and jesus does not break his word he's never broken a promise he did what he said the first time and he's gonna do it again so you hold fast i know it's hard i know it's real i know that everyone's doing this but you just hold fast to this you pull that weed you replace it with god's grace and you keep coming back again until he comes back you can be a conqueror there is victory in jesus and so we we look at the the promise he says the one who conquers who keeps my works until the end to him i will give authority over the nations and he will rule over them with a rod of
iron as when earth and pots are broken in pieces even as i myself have received authority from my father this is appropriate in a time where it looks like the world is ruling at a time where it looks like you're the only one at a time where it just seems like is this going to last forever jesus says no if you follow me you're actually going to rule with my authority and like an iron rod we're going to see the shattering of these systems it will be broken into pieces and we're going to cover this in the weeks to come we get to rule with jesus you're not alone despite what it looks like right now jesus still rules he reigns he's still the king he's still the lord he is still supreme over all and it looks like the world has slipped into hollywood and the government and the school systems today and we see the spirit of jezebel alive and active and we hold fast to the promise of jesus
that god's grace is greater and lastly we come to the last two verses today and i will give him the morning star there's the promise the reward i'll give him the morning star he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches my friends each of these letters calls out to the individual if you have an ear it's up to you it's not up to the preacher it's not up to your parents it's up to you you've heard the message of jesus now what will you do with it and the reward is you get the bright morning star and that's a reference to jesus himself it's a reference to that bright morning star at the darkest hour you could think oh man it's going to be dark forever but the sun is coming
in the darkest hour that's when the the light shines the brightest you can look up in the sky and don't worry your redemption is near jesus said in the last chapter of this last book of the bible he says i jesus i am the root of the descendant david meaning he's a greater king than any king the bright morning star do you have jesus today if you do you can no longer live like the world and you've got to acknowledge it and you've got to replace it you've got to remove what's in you and replace it with what god has planned for you and as i prepared for this message i was going to say so many of you struggle with this and then just kept coming back up most of you struggle with this
and now i've really come to the conclusion all of us struggle with this in my years of ministry i'm continually shocked how many people have been sexually molested as a child from a step parent an uncle a neighbor a church worker a friend and it's not dealt with i want you to know today that was not god's plan satan is a liar the spirit of jezebel comes in and says you could do whatever you want with someone else and that's not the message of god the message of jesus is he's a healer and he looks at you and you do not stand condemned but he wants to set you free from that identity that was placed upon you he says no you're a child of god you're not a child of jezebel you can stand up and you can walk free
you're set free by the grace of god but you have to receive the free gift of eternal life and if you get that gift it's not enough just to know it now you gotta obey it now you gotta put it into practice and my friends it's never too late i love that you could be in your 60s 70s 80s 90s and god will heal what happened when you were 17. is not too late the young person is not too late for you to choose this day to hold fast to jesus now's the time this is this is not political this is not religious it's from your god so let's pray god would you please help your church to be who you've called us to be that we would hold fast to your promises we'd stay true to who you are and that we would experience the fullness of grace and truth
set us free i ask in the mighty name of jesus deliver us from our sins god break the strongholds of of sexual sin god break the bondage that we care more about things of this world than we do about loving you you love us so much and for that i thank you i pray repentance in this place over your people in jesus name amen listen my friends before you leave today i want to give you the great invitation to make sure that you're following jesus if you've never done so today's your day second corinthians 6 says today is the day of salvation which means don't wait another day don't make an excuse god doesn't need you to get better before you follow him he wants you to accept his love right now so i just want to ask if that's you and your heart it's really simple you have to believe in jesus and you'll be saved
now it sounds incredibly simple but now you spend your whole life time figuring out like peter and you say lord you know everything every time i fail every time i slip up every time i lie every time i deny you you're constantly there you give me your love and if you want that today i want to pray a really short prayer with you i can't pray for you these are not magic words it's between you and god and right right where you are right now if you want to pray this prayer make this real pray in your heart lord jesus forgive me of my sin i choose to follow you i want your eternal life and we pray in jesus name amen well my friend if you made that decision today we want to know i would love you to let us know we've got a simple phone number you can text us at and it's really simple but i really need you to do this
so we can pray for you we can celebrate with you would you just text us the word life to name we want to 541-527-7277 with you we want you know you're not alone you just entered into the greatest journey so whether you're at home right now or you're in person right now this is important that you start taking a step towards jesus the enemy wants you to run away in fear today god's word has been given to you how will you receive it let us know you made that decision i would love to pray with you celebrate with you just stand to your feet as we
sing to what our god has done i know this has impacted every one of our hearts now it's time to lay your life down as an offering before god like elijah would you say god would you receive this offering i want that fire in my life it's not here to hurt you it's here to remove what shouldn't be there so right now would you repent of that sin in your life would you run to god would you say enough is enough lord i'm no longer going to look at that like job i've made a covenant with my eyes from this day forward you become the child of god would you be healed from that sickness that that was stuck in you so long ago i claim the blood of jesus over every heart in this room that's even questioning if this is for me this is for you in jesus name you are loved by god you have great destiny in god the best days are still ahead of you
god loves you he wants to redeem you you're a child of god oh don't stand in that fear walk in that love the perfect love casts out fear so lord we give you our lives as an offering to you in the mighty name of jesus god's people say amen
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The Son of God who sees and judges
Pastor Keith interprets Jesus’ self-description in Revelation 2:18 as communicating divine identity, complete knowledge and secure authority. He understands the judgment imagery as removing what harms life with God rather than merely injuring.
Revelation 2:18
- What difference does it make that Jesus sees everything, rather than only what others can see?
- Pastor Keith describes judgment as fire that removes impurities. How does that picture change the way you hear a warning from Jesus?
- Revelation 2:18 gives Jesus a title no other letter in Revelation uses. Why might that have mattered to a church in Thyatira?
Commendation and the weed at the root
Pastor Keith observes that Jesus commends the church’s loving service and perseverance while still confronting what is wrong. He uses growing weeds to illustrate the need to address problems at the root rather than rely on outward appearances.
Revelation 2:19 · 1 Corinthians 13:13
- Pastor Keith says not all growing things are good. What is growing in your life right now that you have not examined?
- Where might you be mowing over a problem instead of digging out the root?
- Jesus both commends and confronts this church. How do you usually respond when both are true of you?
Tolerance, love, and the Jezebel warning
The central charge in Revelation 2:20 is that the church tolerated a prophetess called Jezebel who led people into immorality and idolatry. Pastor Keith connects this to the Old Testament queen and to the earlier warning about Balaam, and argues that tolerance has been confused with love. He defines idolatry as giving worth or value to something more than God.
Revelation 2:20 · 1 Kings 18
- Pastor Keith defines idolatry as giving worth or value to something more than God. What would that definition surface in your own week?
- What does Pastor Keith identify as the danger of tolerating the teaching described in Revelation 2:20?
- The church at Thyatira was commended and still tolerating something serious. Why do you think Jesus names tolerance as the problem?
Judgment, repentance, and grace in John 8
Pastor Keith connects Revelation 2:21’s opportunity to repent with God’s kindness in Romans 2:4. He uses the woman’s encounter with Jesus in John 8 to emphasize both forgiveness and leaving harmful conduct behind. He presents grace as transforming rather than leaving a person unchanged.
Revelation 2:21 · Romans 2:4 · Romans 6:23 · John 8:10-11
- What is the difference between condemning someone and honestly naming sin?
- Pastor Keith says grace does not leave a person where it found them. How do grace and truth hold together in your experience?
- Where do you need to hear Jesus say that your past does not define you?
Remaining faithful in expectation of Jesus
Pastor Keith reads Revelation 2:24-28 as encouragement to remain faithful amid pressure. He understands the closing promise as sharing Jesus’ authority and presence, connecting the star image with Revelation 22:16 and Jesus’ kingship. He urges a personal response to Jesus.
Revelation 2:24-28 · Revelation 22:16
- What does holding fast look like when following Jesus feels uncool or lonely?
- The morning star is described as a light at the darkest hour. Where do you most need that hope right now?
- Pastor Keith says the invitation is personal, not dependent on a preacher or parent. How would you describe your own response to Jesus?
Answers from this recording
Start a conversation.
Who was Jezebel, and why does Jesus name her in a first-century letter?+
Pastor Keith traces Jezebel to the Old Testament queen in 1 Kings, daughter of the king of Tyre, who married Ahab and used her influence to draw Israel into worship of Baal along with sexual seduction. In Revelation 2:20 the church in Thyatira was tolerating a woman called Jezebel who claimed to be a prophetess and taught the same pattern of immorality and idolatry. Pastor Keith suggests interpreters differ on whether this was a specific woman or a spirit active in every generation, and treats it as a warning against tolerating teaching that pulls people away from God.
How does the Old Testament story of Jezebel inform the way you read this letter?
How does this sermon describe idolatry?+
Pastor Keith defines idolatry simply as giving worth or value to something more than God, in the context of Revelation 2:20. The test he offers is practical: if you think about it more than God, give your money to it more than God, or give your time to it more than God, that is an idol. He says idols are usually man-made and often things we enjoy, and he lists immorality as anything done outside of God's plan and will. The point is not only obvious false gods but the ordinary loyalties that quietly take first place.
Which of your ordinary commitments most easily takes first place?
Does this message say judgment is only negative?+
Pastor Keith interprets Revelation 2:18’s fiery imagery as judgment that removes what harms life with God. He connects Romans 8:1 with acceptance for those who belong to Christ and uses Jesus’ response to the woman in John 8 to emphasize forgiveness alongside changed conduct.
Where might you have heard a warning from God as care rather than condemnation?
What does it mean to Pastor Keith that Jesus gives the morning star?+
Pastor Keith interprets the star promised in Revelation 2:28 as Jesus himself. He connects it with Revelation 22:16 and Jesus’ kingship, presenting his presence as hope in dark circumstances. He urges listeners to remain faithful and live in response to him.
What would holding fast look like for you in the season you are in now?
