Welcome to the bonfire. This is season seven, episode two. And during this season, we're going through the book of Revelation, chapters two and three. Yes, a lot of people skip over this book in the Bible. It's the final book in the Bible. It speaks a lot to what is yet to come. So it's a very significant book in the Bible. It's one that you really wanna study. And in this particular chapter, chapter two, it's part of the seven churches that receive letters, messages from Jesus. seven different communities, seven different cities, and there's a lot of truth in the context historically that they're living in, but also it's relevant for the church today. It's relevant for followers of Jesus today. A lot of these themes are relatable, and each church receives a message that's very personal as well. In these letters, there are both rebukes, and then there's areas where they're commended, and there's both. But in this particular letter, and we're gonna look at the church in Smyrna, there aren't any rebukes. And this is a church that's being tested and they're true. They're staying faithful in the middle of the fire. And if you're going through a time right now where you feel tested, there's some situations in life. There's some different people who've been pushing your buttons. You've sensed the spiritual battle, and it's not an easy time right now for you. Then you're going to be able to relate to this message that Jesus brings, and it's going to encourage and strengthen you. And let's dive into the text. We're in Revelation chapter 2, starting in verse 8, to the angel of the church in Smyrna. Now, Smyrna is a city that's 35 miles north of Ephesus and it's a seaport. There's a lot of activity in this city. There's also a lot of money and there's a lot of pride. It's not easy to follow Jesus if you live in Smyrna. I think of Seattle, because that's where I live, Seattle stands out in America as the least religious, the least faith-filled city in the land. And it's not a simple path to follow Jesus in Seattle. If you're in Smyrna, there's going to be some opposition as well. And as you think about Smyrna, think about a city where there's persecution, It's intense and the believers are going to need to have a lot of courage and conviction. If you're in a family that rejects the gospel and maybe even hates you to some degree because of your faith or a workplace that's hostile, if you're in that setting, you know that your convictions are going to be tested. What do you really believe? What cost are you willing to pay? And in life, it's important to identify, what are the mountains that I'm gonna die on? Continue to be the light that you are. Continue to shine the light. Do it with humility and authenticity. Do it courageously. God's gonna help you at every step. And for the church here in Smyrna, Jesus says, these are the words of him who is the first and the last. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega. Jesus always existed. About 2,000 years ago, he became human. So he's fully human and fully God. There's no end to his kingdom. He always was, always is, always will be. He is self-existent. He's not relying on anyone else. Some people have a false notion of Jesus that he was created. No, that's not true. He is our creator. And God exists, one God, three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Jesus became human 2,000 years ago, but that's not when he was created. He became obedient. Yes, he became human. He was obedient to death. He died on a cross for our sins and he's risen. And that's exactly what he's saying here. He's the first and the last who died and came to life again. If someone asked you, what's the gospel? How would you respond? Here's what the Bible says. The gospel, it's of first importance. Paul writes this in 1 Corinthians 15, verses three and four. He says, Christ died for our sins and he's risen. The gospel has two components. If you say Christ died for us, that's the first half of the gospel. That's absolutely necessary, a substitutionary atonement. Jesus is sinless and human. He took our place. He became sin. He gave us his righteousness. That's the great exchange. It's through grace. That's justification. We are declared righteous in God's sight because of the payment of Christ. We have a full pardon. That's the first half of the gospel. But listen, if Jesus died and he wasn't overcoming the grave, there was no resurrection, Christianity would be a farce. We would have nothing to celebrate. Our faith would be futile. The truth is he's risen from the grave. He appeared to over 500. There's the historical evidence. The tomb is empty. The changed lives of the apostles. All of this validates because facts lead to faith. And Jesus Christ died for our sins and he's risen. As he starts the letter to the church, he's reviewing the gospel. The centrality of the gospel, don't compartmentalize your faith into just one area of your life or five areas, but not the other hundred or just one day, one week or one church building. Don't compartmentalize your faith into one Bible study. The gospel is central. Jesus is central in everything we say and do and think and our attitude and our responses as well. Maybe you've been in church a while or followed Jesus for a long time and you're thinking, well, that is the true gospel. Here's some false gospels. You have to earn your way to heaven, that it's achieved instead of received, that his death is only the start and now the pressure's on you to finish it. This is a false gospel that Jesus does 80 and you do 20. That is a gospel through works. There's a lot of religious people who preach that gospel. There's a lot of churches that preach that gospel, denominations that preach that gospel, that if you're good enough and you have enough merit, you'll earn your way to heaven. That's a false gospel. The Bible says clearly, Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. It's not by works. No one can boast. It's through faith in Christ and grace alone. Make it real clear what the gospel is and is not. One other false gospel is the gospel that's known as a prosperity gospel, that if you follow Jesus, you'll always be wealthy, you'll always be healthy, and that's simply not true. You can follow Jesus and barely pay the bills. That's just a reality. You might follow Jesus and you're in a country, or you're a child where kids don't have food and water provided. Now that's a tragedy, but it's also a reality. Those who have much, much is required. We need to bless the nations with how God's blessed us. We need to make a difference and tackle this injustice. There's a lot of false guilt. And sometimes people say, well, you have that illness because you don't have enough faith. Listen, someone can have all the faith in Christ and still have an illness. And so there's a lot of spiritual abuse. A lot of those who preach, you should be wealthy, will also preach, send them all your money. And there's some crooked things that happen. If theology is bad, then you're gonna see it played out in many different ways. And if someone's preaching a gospel of health and wealth, if someone's preaching a gospel that you earn your way to heaven, step out of that church, don't listen to that ministry, come back to scripture, come back to God, come back to Jesus, walk in truth, walk in love. Jesus brings the gospel, reminding the church of the hope they have. When you're being tested, you're gonna need hope. We can all run out of hope, but there are certain things in our lives that bring hope. The gospel brings hope. Solid relationships. Being part of a healthy local church brings hope. Time in God's word brings hope. A life devoted to prayer and fasting brings hope. Sharing your faith brings hope. Abiding with Jesus because hope is relational, some of these other choices, thanking God, worshiping God, you cultivate these habits, hope increases. The God of hope wants to overflow our lives with a hope that's greater than our challenges. And the church at Smyrna, they're walking in hope. They receive this message from Jesus, and Jesus says, I know your afflictions and your poverty. See, they don't have a lot in terms of financial wealth, but they have a rich faith. They have a rich salvation. They are rich in the Lord. They're rich spiritually. Our inheritance and rewards in heaven make us rich. The fact that we are in God's family forever, we are rich. We are blessed with every blessing in Christ. If you don't know how rich we are, read Ephesians chapter one, read Psalm 103, start to thank God for all the rich blessings that we have. The most important things in life, it's our spiritual life, it's our relationship with God, it's being faithful to God, rich in purpose, rich in passion. They are rich and yet they have a lot of afflictions because when you follow Jesus, there's no guarantee that there's gonna be an easy path ahead. Jesus said, in this world you're going to have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world. They have afflictions. Jesus is well acquainted with sorrows. He's a high priest who understands. He's our high priest who cares. He says you are rich. And he also says, I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Some of the opposition at that time came from people who were Jewish culturally, but they hadn't yet put their trust and decided to follow in the Messiah, the Jewish Messiah, Jesus. And there's hostility, there's opposition. And it's not easy to go through persecution. As I look around the world today, I'm inspired by the commitment. And the lives of those who love Jesus and yet are being martyred for their faith, thrown into prison, beaten up, ostracized from their families, and yet they'll hold on to Christ. They don't repent in the sense that, or relent of their faith, their commitment. They are going to continue to trust Christ in the middle of the fire, in the middle of the storm, and their light shines brightly. That's the story of the church in Smyrna. When I hear that word Smyrna, it takes me back to coming to know Christ because there's a man, and I went to Dartmouth College, I showed up as an atheist, a professor who was trying to undermine scripture in my religion class assigned the Gospel of John, and it was the first time I learned about Jesus, I had a lot of questions. And there was a man from Smyrna, Tennessee. His name was Mike. He was a freshman on my dorm floor, and he was patient and kept answering my questions as I read more of the Bible and asked him more questions. So when I think of Smyrna, I'm so grateful for Mike, for the courage he showed to share his faith. He came and knocked on my door with a survey. That's how it started. And it asked spiritual questions. And from that, we had so many conversations and I came to know Jesus. So Smyrna has a place in my heart. Also, I'm inspired not only by Mike, because I was reading the Bible and I was reading Mike's life. And you have people that you know who might not be reading the Bible, but they're reading your life. And I saw Jesus in Mike. And for the church in Smyrna, you can see Jesus in their lives. And it's going to be a challenge for them. There's going to be afflictions, but it's worth it. It's worth it to suffer and sacrifice for Christ. Some people want to follow Jesus only for the blessings. They just want eternal life and they just want to know that they're accepted by God. Yes, you should enjoy those blessings. But when you decide to follow Jesus, like Paul says, I want to know Christ. I want to share in the fellowship of his sufferings and in his resurrection. It's a guarantee when you follow Jesus, you are going to have a resurrected body. You're going to have life after death. At the same time, if you're really following Jesus, everyone who lives a godly life in Christ will be persecuted. It's interesting the days we're living in and what I see is if I post content about Jesus, there'll be a lot of comments and there'll be a lot of hate and shade and things that are thrown on social media and that's just part of the reality of the state we're living in right now and spiritually where our nation is at. Don't be discouraged. Don't shrink back. God has a calling on your life. This life is so short and you only have a certain amount of time to live for Jesus and lead people to Jesus and love like Jesus. So abide with Jesus and stay faithful. Now, Jesus says to the church in Smyrna in verse 10, do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. In other words, it's not gonna get easier. We want things to get easier. We want Jesus to calm the storm. We want Jesus to take away the challenges. But he's saying to the church here, you're about to suffer more. He says, I tell you, the devil will put some of you into prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for 10 days. That 10 days is symbolic that the suffering won't last forever, but it's not going away soon. Yes, these trials will pass, But sometimes there are trials we go through that don't pass until we're in glory. And finally in heaven, we have full healing, we have full deliverance. On this earth, God uses the tests. Think about Job for a second. It wasn't because of Job's sin that he experienced so much hardship. He lost family members, he lost possessions, he lost his health. It was an attack from the enemy. The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy, and God gives the devil limited power. Now, you don't have to walk in fear. The Holy Spirit is greater than the one who's in the world. When you're tempted, God will give you a way out. You have the spiritual armor of God. You have the Word of God, which is a sword. And yet the devil is going to look like a lion to devour. And there is a real enemy. There is a spiritual battle. There's good and evil. And there's a reality here. There's going to be persecution for 10 days. The spiritual battle will be strong. It will be intense. We see this with so many of God's servants. Daniel was faithful, and there was a battle for 21 days. He was praying, he was fasting, and the archangel battling the regional demons, it was fierce. Don't shrink back, don't walk in fear. God's going to prevail. And Jesus is saying to them, be faithful even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. Stay faithful in the trial. Stay faithful in the test. Job said, even though he was slayed, even though he said you can't measure his suffering on the scales, if you tried to put his suffering and pain in the scales, it can't be weighed, it's so massive. And yet he said, I will see my Redeemer. And he also declared he's gonna come forth as gold. How does gold come out of the fire? Refined. The refiner's fire burns away the chaff. What's left? The gold. Have you been through suffering that's immense in your life? There's so many ways that we suffer. Sometimes it could be through someone who deceives us and lies to us. Other times it's an illness. Sometimes it's a career you enjoy that all of a sudden it's taken away or someone you love is taken away. Or it could be spiritually, you're going through a time where you just feel dry Listen, there's so many variations. For me, the most intense suffering I went through was taking a medication to prevent malaria. It messed with my mind and I started to have panic attacks and waves of depression. It messed with my body and my heart. There was no regulation of my heart because of the side effects of medication. So I had heart murmur, skip beats, atrial flutter. Tachycardia, which means racing heart, 160 beats a minute, just sitting still. And it felt like life was out of control. My professional soccer career ended suddenly, tragically. I was fighting for my life. I had problems with my temperature regulation, my vision, headaches. There's just so many on that list. I'll say this, it tested me and I had to make some shifts in my life. I learned that God isn't only interested in the parts of my life that seem successful or look like they're going well. God wanted to enter into the areas of my life where there's pain and uncertainty and loss. I learned how to grieve and pour out my heart to God. I learned how to shift my identity from performance-based to secure in Jesus and His grace. And God redirected me to ministry and so many other things came out of the testing. Have you identified the area you're being tested? It might be a lie that you're not gifted, your story is not important. Or it might be an area in a calling of your life that's difficult, but you need to keep going. It could be a provision. You've been praying for something for decades and you haven't seen it yet. What is this area of testing? And what we gain from the church in Smyrna is that they are gonna continue to move forward with the Lord by faith. They're not gonna shrink back, they're not gonna compromise. Listen, a lot of people when they're tested, they just run to sin and they start to develop some kind of vice or secret sins. And then they'll rationalize and say, well, it gets me through, it numbs the pain. No, it actually is destructive and it's discouraging. For some people, they'll have an idol in their life. They'll have an idol of money or job or a certain person. And that idol needs, even though that person might be a blessing, that idol needs to be changed. And instead, start to worship Jesus with all your heart. God encourages them in Smyrna. He says, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death. Stay faithful even to the point of death, because your physical death is not the end of the story. Those who don't know Christ, they have two deaths. If you're only born once, you die twice. You die physically, and then there's a spiritual death separation from God for eternity. But if you're born again, if you're born twice, born physically and born spiritually, you only die once. And actually that death is called sleep. And where, oh death, is your sting? Because when you die, if you're a follower of Jesus, you go to be with the Lord. Just like the thief on the cross, Jesus said, today you'll be with me in paradise. There's victory. There is a complete healing. You need to remember that and have an eternal perspective. Remember how Jesus started. He said, I'm the first and the last. He wanted his followers to see the big picture. Your suffering, as intense as it is, is going to end up feeling like a short blip on the screen because all the blessings, the rewards, and ultimately you're going to be in God's presence forever. So endure a time of financial hardship. Endure a season where you might not see your answered prayer yet. Endure the opposition. Endure it all because it's worth it to run the race. And after the testing is over, you want to come forth as gold. You want to come forth true in the faith. And that takes a real conviction and commitment to Christ. You're gonna notice a lot of people talk spiritually. A lot of people can quote some Bible verses. A lot of people attend church. That doesn't mean that someone has a deep conviction and commitment to Christ. How do you know? Well, a couple things. Jesus said, you'll know them by their fruit. So pay attention to fruit. He's saying you'll know them by the fruit. There's a difference between the good fruit and the bad fruit. At our house, you know, the bad fruit just sits there. If a banana starts to have a lot of, you know, brown and bruising, that's going to be the last banana chosen versus the yellow ones. If there's an apple that's got some kind of brown and a hole in there, it looks like a worm entered in, no one's going to choose that fruit. There's good fruit and bad fruit. It doesn't mean you judge people, you look down upon people, but notice the fruit because if the root is good, the fruit is going to be good. And if something's off, that you can't see and you don't know. You can't put your finger on it. You're just like, something's off here. It's just a matter of time before you see the bad fruit. So pay attention to the fruit. And that's one way, but there's other ways. And you're gonna need to pray for discernment and wisdom in your relationships, in your calling, the decisions you make. This is a life reliance on the Lord. And when there's a time of testing, you're gonna see people's true character. When there's, let's say a sports game, you're going to see people's true character because in the heat of the competition, you see who they really are. Sports reveal character. You get to see someone's character when you open up their bank account and you see where their investment goes. You see people's character when they take a lie detector test. You see people's character when they think no one's looking, but actually, you know, look at what's happening. There's going to be a lot of times and ways that God reveals character. And for the church in Smyrna, Jesus always knows the church. He always knows everyone in the church and he is commending them. There's no rebuke because during the testing and the trials, they stay true to Christ. And I want you to hear that commending right now. If you serve God and consistently gone the extra mile, if you serve God and made a difference, you serve God and you've been humble, your work is under the Lord. God commends you. If you are someone that's walked in purity, God commends you. You said no to pornography. You said no to sexual morality. You're not sleeping around before marriage. God commends you. If you're someone who shares your faith, and yes, there's a lot of opposition, and people attack you and criticize you, but you continue in love to share the gospel. Maybe you give out Bibles to people. Maybe you point them to websites. Maybe you give out books to people. Maybe you share your story. God commends you. And at the end of the day, all that's going to matter is that you hear, well done, my good and faithful servant. That you hear the father's affirmation. This is my son, this is my daughter whom I love, and I'm well pleased with them. Don't shrink back. Don't give in to fear. Don't let the enemy in any form slow you down. Don't believe the lies. Don't give up the hope you have in Christ, in his presence, in his power. It's his peace. Jesus is gonna sustain you. He sustained the church in Smyrna. You might think of Polycarp, one of the names church fathers linked with Smyrna. There's a legacy in churches. There's a remnant in churches. And what you see is that there are those who will stay faithful. And I'm encouraging you today to stay faithful. Identify your biggest test right now. Identify those triggers. What is it in your walk with God? Is there a pull to stay out of prayer and the Word? Do you have some people in your life who are trying to really get you to water down and compromise your calling? Is the enemy coming to put out the fire? Like, where is it? Why would you feel discouraged? Why would you wanna give up? The tests are gonna come. It might not get easier, but what you're gonna see in those tests is the depth of the love and goodness of God. What you're gonna see in those tests are the reliability of scripture. What you're gonna see in those tests are other people who have a shared purpose and passion that you can collaborate with And you're going to have a community as you continue to take wise relationship risks. You're going to have a community that's deep and strong walking with God. And that's the purpose of a local church. If you're in a local church, make it a better place. Be part of the solution in terms of helping the church realize its full potential. In a lot of churches, there's just a small number of people who are faithful. And then there's a lot of others who attend. And God has called you to do more than just attend or watch. He's called you to serve and love one another, pray for another, encourage one another, all the one another's to live those out. Let's pray that across America, there would be more churches like Smyrna. And if you're watching, if you're listening from another nation, Let's pray. Pray for your nation. Pray for church leaders. Pray for the body of Christ, that it wouldn't all fall on the leaders, but the entire body would be involved. And in Smyrna, we get an encouraging picture. There's no rebukes. There's just a message from Jesus that to not forget the gospel, that Jesus died and he's risen from the grave. We get the message, do not be afraid. And we get the message, listen close to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's going to empower and encourage you. You're going to overcome because you're more than a conqueror through Jesus who loves us. The Christian life is not one that we do alone, but through the power of the Holy Spirit, there's a fire in our souls. And the same Holy Spirit who helps the church in Smyrna, The same Holy Spirit is going to help you personally and help you be part of a thriving local church. I encourage you, if you don't have a church, look locally at the options. Make that prayerful decision and find one. I'm so grateful for our church. You can join into our live services anytime, graceinauburn.com here in Seattle. And if this has been a blessing to you today, I encourage you to read through all of chapters 2 and 3. Share this message with someone else. Let's keep growing in our faith and affirm and confirm someone you know. Encourage them. If there's someone like Smyrna you know, spur them on to love and good deeds because we want this bonfire to grow. Embers coming together. It's the Lord's fire for the Lord's glory. It's the Lord's love. Thanks so much for joining in today and we'll see you next week.