0:09 Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello. Welcome, welcome, welcome to another MSG online revival. I am happy to be here. I'd like to welcome those here in the sanctuary and I'll also like to welcome those who are joining us online. Amen. Now, yes, I'm sure you saw the title uh candlesticks, but tonight's topic is entitled the seven candlesticks, right? Truth be told, we may only 0:39 finish two candlesticks or or thereabouts, right? So, let's see what God does. But as we've been diving into Revelations and we've been talking more about when will the church be raptured and the events surrounding the end times. I saw fit during our disciplehip session here in spring to sort of start from chapter one in revelation. So in chapter one as you're reading, you're seeing 1:09 here where there are three things happening as John is in his vision, right? God is showing him events that are taking place right there in heaven. And then he's also telling John to document the things that he's seeing, right? Because some of these things are soon to come, right? So you're seeing quite a bit at play and he's describing it, but he's also given 1:40 an instruction to reference what's happening in the churches at the same time. Right? So here you have John and he is exiled on the aisle of Patmas and he's caught in this vision and the instruction is I want you to write what I'm about to tell you to the seven candlesticks right and at first I was like all right here we go revelations we 2:10 diving in right candlesticks but then as you read further down we recognize that the seven candlesticks were seven churches All right. And he's saying, "I want you to write to the angels at these seven churches." Right? And they were described as what? We remember what they were described as stars. So he said he had seven stars in Israel, right? So you have the stars 2:40 and they're supposed to receive these letters from John. And so when you read it in context, you recognize that these stars were the pastors for the seven churches. So here John is charged with writing what God is giving specifically to these different churches, right? And so we go over to chapter 2. And so this is where we'll be based today. Revelations chapter 2. And 3:11 we're going to start at verse one. So I was setting the backdrop because I recognized that even then there was God warning the church that these events that are about to take place if you don't get it right you will actually face my wrath. Right? So God is saying look write these warnings because the church they're not in good standing right now. at least 3:41 these specific ones that I'm telling you to write to, right? And it also happens to be seven churches that surrounded that aisle of Patmos, right? Seven churches that he was possibly responsible for. So, let's start at verse one and let's see how this goes. 4:06 Okay. Okay. So, while we get that going, Revelations 2 and one and one. Okay, there we go. Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus, write these things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. So, this is Jesus describing himself, right? So he's so as you read Revelations, you're going to see him reference himself in different 4:36 ways. So in this case, this is his introduction. So he's saying, "I'm the one talking. So let them know it is me and this is my instruction to you." Right? So this church at Ephesus, they're getting this letter and you're going to see two things happen. He's going to praise them and he's going to sharply rebuke them. So let's take this journey. Go ahead. I know thy works, and thy 5:06 labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil, and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars. All right. So, we pause right here. So, you're seeing here where he's celebrating some good things that good characteristics of this church, right? He says, "I have analyzed the congregation." So also bear in mind here that this is not 5:37 just one person. So though it was written for the pastor there, he was supposed to now disseminate this information to his congregation. So God is now holding the congregation in this context, right? And he's saying, "I have seen you work. You've worked ministry. You've worked it assidiously, right? I have seen you be patient, right? And that that level of patience could be measured in various ways. It could be patient 6:07 with people. It could be patient in you've been waiting on God to answer something. You just been patient, right? And he has acknowledged it, right? And then it says, you've also been very mindful of what you allow to come into the church because you know false apostles exist and you made sure they didn't come in or they didn't infiltrate it and take advantage of the people. So you've issued evil, 6:38 right? You've made sure that you've guarded against all of these false teachers, false pastors, right? Bravo. Excellent. I love it. All right. Then he goes on but and he says, "Look, you've tested, you've tried the fruit. You've listened to what they're saying and you found them to be liars." All right. Verse three. And has borne and has patience and for my name's sake has labored and has not fainted. So 7:08 he is reiterating what he just said. So yes, you've labored. Yes, you've been patient and you have not stopped. So, you haven't fainted. In other words, you're still doing these things. But, all right, we're going somewhere cuz verse four starts with nevertheless. All right, go ahead. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love. 7:35 M. So all of these great things that this church is now known for, he says, "I still have a problem though. You have left your first love." Why is this important? This wouldn't be the first time that a church is admonished to return to their first love. Right? We looked at another scripture and we we'll get there but I want to dwell on this particular part. I want you to 8:05 see here where there are so many schools of thought. Now you have one that says once saved always saved. So if we believe this, then this scripture wouldn't make any sense because this is this is Jesus saying to the church, look, you've done a quite a bit and I've acknowledged it as good, but this right here is about to send you to hell. This right here, you've deviated from your 8:35 first love. If there is no consequence, because this is the church, right? This means that these are believers. These are people that are saved and sanctified. This is the church at Ephesus, right? So these are saints. So if if he's saying to the saints, check check but if the mere fact that he's acknowledging but it tells you that there is consequence when you decide not to follow in his footsteps. 9:06 Right? So if we now analyze once saved, always saved. Think about it. If I'm once saved and I don't have to worry again because I'm always safe, then there it doesn't matter what I do. True. If you sit in these chairs, right, and the chairs are never supposed to break. Do you worry what happens when you sit in them? No. No. you just sit because you you know that this 9:36 chair is made well. You know that it's not supposed to fail and if it does fail something is wrong, right? So you don't even question it. So if if the church now can just function in such a way where once I receive the Holy Ghost then I have nothing else to worry about then why why is he saying but? Why is he saying nevertheless? Why is he now rebuking them 10:06 that they have left their first love? All right, if if you don't believe me, let's see how he really feels about it. Verse five. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. Hold on. Did Did God just escalate the matter? Did he just say that 10:36 I will remove the whole candlestick? What's the candlestick? The church, right? So, he's saying if if you don't get this right, not one person, the whole candlestick. In other words, the church would be judged. All right. Now, my God is a just God. And so, we we discussed this. You remember when Abraham when God was going to destroy and Abraham said, "But God, what happen if you find a few 11:06 good ones?" And he went down the list. And God said, "Hey, whoever you find, if you find one good one, don't worry about that good one." So, he's a just God. So he's saying here that the state of this church is such that if they don't change they won't be named amongst those that will be raptured right and this is revelations right so he's now telling them look time is 11:37 winding up I'm about to release some things and we learn these things if you are interested in learning more and admonish you to go to mbfa library.com type in when will the church be raptured and you will be able to now navigate the the seals as they open what they mean what they represent and you're going to see some of the events that unfold before the church is raptured and 12:07 then you're going to see some of the events that unfold after the church is raptured and there are amazing graphics in this book links to websites that will help you study All right, we may not get there tonight cuz we're focusing on what the candlestick. All right, so he says, "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and what? Repent." Now when you repent is you acknowledging I did wrong and 12:37 I want what? Forgiveness. So if there's no consequence, then what would be the purpose of me repenting? If I don't have to worry about this God who's just going to love me so much and he would never send me to hell because he's such a loving God, then why do I need to repent? Because there is consequence. There there is a reason when a child does something wrong, they look 13:07 around for where the parent is. Why? Because they know quite possibly that there is a consequence for that wrong, right? Why? Because that has been established that if you do wrong, at least it should be. If you do wrong, there's a consequence, right? So, if that's the school of thought even in just parenting, why you feel like this God now is just going to just pour out all types of 13:37 grace? Just just have it. Do what you want, but I love you so much. Do what you want, but you know, my son did die on the cross, but it's okay. I'll put him up there again. No, he said he will not be crucified. Aresh. That's what he said, right? So, in other words, I have done my part. It's now your turn to follow through. Right? and I've gone as 14:08 far as to give you a promise that many great men died having not received. Right? So now you have this promise. What will you do with it? There has there is a consequence and he's telling you here. So he's telling the church repent or there will be dire consequences. And we can't just we can't just gloss over it. He says, "Else I will come unto thee quickly and I will 14:38 remove thy candlestick out of his place except thou repent." So therefore, if you do repent, and what is repentance? It's acknowledging your wrong and turning away from it. So therefore there should be no expectation to just keep going back to it. Right? So one of the most dangerous fallacies is when I hear somebody say something like we all just sinners. So if we all just sinners then where is the 15:08 distinction? If if a saint is just a sinner then where is the distinction? Is it just on one special day I just decided, Lord, I want you so much and then you fill me up and that's it. That don't sound very special to me. It don't sound very special if I just keep going back. I just keep going back. And all of us would have acknowledged that there is something 15:38 in us that works when we do wrong if you have the Holy Ghost. Amen. And it it gets stronger the more you fall in love with God because just like in marriage you don't want to wrong your spouse if you actually love your spouse every opportunity you say h nope not going to risk it cuz I have a good one right so how do we now treat the father like 16:08 no I don't really have a good one we treat the father like okay I'm doing whatever, but he'll forgive me when I get back home. I'm doing whatever, but he's just going to stay with me all the time. No matter how much I do, how much mess I find myself in, I just go back home and he hugs me and he loves me enough. Goodness, that's how we treat the 16:39 father. The father that we say we love. Yes. And then he even went as far as to say, he says, "Your love is measured in your obedience to me." But then the other school of thought says that's works. Y'all preaching a works message. Y'all trying to do stuff to obtain the favor of the Lord, but he says, "I just give it freely." Yeah. And he also said, "Walk it out, 17:09 though." So that's the work. It takes work to walk it out. It takes work to take this Holy Ghost that he's given you and to just obey it, to just listen to it. It says, "Don't do that thing that you're about to do. You just don't do it." That takes work. That takes effort. Somebody said recently, "It's actually very hard to get to heaven." 17:38 And it's true. Cuz you see, normally when things are easy, a lot of people do it. And that's what the scripture said. The scripture say broad is the way. It's huge. And a lot of people are on there. And they think, "Oh yeah, I'm on my merry way to heaven." But the scripture say the fruit is what will tell on you. the fruit. You see here where he said that 18:08 you found them to be liars. How did they do that? They check the fruit. They tested the fruit. You knew they were false apostles. How? Cuz you check the fruit. The fruit could be what they're ministering. The fruit could be the type of people that they've raised up. The fruit tells on you. So if these apostles, right? So these are people who they've ascended to whatever leadership role they are 18:38 right they're apostles but he's acknowledged that they're false apostles don't follow them they are liars that sounds very serious doesn't it so how is it now we have concocted this message to say well everybody make it in once they got saved how we get there how we get to this point where now we've removed all consequence And that's another thing now. So I heard recently, not only do we believe 19:08 once saved always saved, but now we feel like there's no hell. This loving God could never put people in hell to burn. All right. So what we think we mean when the scripture says, "I will remove the candlestick. I will blot out your name. It will be like I never knew you. My God. No, not even like I just put that in there. I never knew you. Right. That's what 19:38 scripture says. Say that. People say that. Yeah. Those that that sounds very serious. So if if these are moments where he acknowledges, no, this is consequence. So if there's no hell, then what is the consequence? If we all so if if to be absent from this body is to be present with him and if this is the understanding that there is no hell then everybody that goes absent from this 20:09 body then they must be with him right there's no other place cuz then there it just must be all heaven I'm telling you but you have these churches filled and they're amening these things and it gets worse as time goes by. Just Sunday we heard I'm like where you find these people. We heard a pastor say fornication is not a sin. What? But I'm telling you these people with the 20:39 itchy ears, they say, "Yeah." Hallelujah. Amen. How we get there? You see, at least this church had something going right. They didn't fall for the foolishness. But the scripture said they left their first love. And for some of us, we're here. For some of us, we're active in church. We're here Wednesday. And for this church, we're here Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, some Thursdays, some Tuesdays, and meetings on Mondays. And 21:09 we have people that are there all the time. Right. And outside of that, they're in other sessions. Chryson Coffee, Cafe Conristo, you name it, they're there. They're active. And these people were cuz it says they didn't faint, right? And then you put it to your church. Whatever it is that you have going on, you could be active. You could be fervent. You could be doing it with zeal. But I 21:39 don't mean your heart is really there. And you may ask how. Well, do you fellowship with the father in your own time? Or is Sunday morning the only time you fellowship with the father? Or is it when you come to congregate the only time you fellowship with the father? H that's what he's saying. Cuz your first love would have received your first admonition. Right? When you get up in the 22:09 morning, your first love would get your attention first. True. So that means you would be in prayer first. You'd be studying. You want to know more about this love of yours. I remember when I was dating my wife. Oh, I couldn't wait for the text to come in. Text please. And then when you see the little dots like she typing, oh, she typing. I couldn't wait. True. Why? Cuz I 22:40 was in love. I was smitten. They say your nose bust wide open. Right? So, how come we don't feel that way about God? And we think it's okay. That's what he's saying. You've left your first love. You received of it. But that feeling you had when you just got it, you don't have it. So, you're making up numbers. You're taking up space. And yes, you might be leading the auxiliary, 23:10 but at home, you're miserable. at home you don't have that that that thing that says Lord I hear your voice you can't even hear him so now you you you have to say can you pray for me and that's that don't take that the wrong way always good but it can also tell on you it could be that your prayer isn't getting through so you need somebody else to pray 23:40 for you and that can happen and the truth is you will know. Yeah. Cuz you will know when you don't have fellowship. Yeah. There is a distance. You know it in your everyday relationships. I could tell if if my son isn't happy with daddy. Give me a 24:02 hug. No. So I know something is wrong. What happened? You could tell you go home. I won't call your name. We're on camera. But you go home to your husband, if if anything happened in his day, you know something is off. You said, "Baby, what happened?" So you know why? Cuz there's a connection. You know him. And he knows you. Amen. That's the relationship the father desires with his children. So he's 24:32 saying, "I know when you've ditched me. I know when you're just going, you're just working this job, you're doing the 9 to5, you're on the grind. I know when you're so tired that when you get home, you can't even read the Bible. You just let it play. I know. But when will you sacrifice for me? Like you sacrifice for the job. That's what it looks like when you have left your first 25:02 loaf. Because now these things, you call them cares of the world. And they will take you out easily. Easily. Because you see, the enemy wants nothing more than to destroy you. So he will justify a distraction. He will say, "Well, if you're not working, then you can't pay rent or mortgage, right? So now you're working, working, working, working." And then you go, "This how I came out. lint, not money. So then 25:32 there's nothing to show for it. That's something that God addresses. He says, "Because I told you to build my kingdom first." That's in the Old Testament. So don't you think it's even more it's even more important for the sons to build his kingdom first. When I saw that scripture with the hole in the pocket, I was like, "Oo, yeah, I think that's where I am." Right? And when I saw it, when 26:02 I read it for the first time, I said, "This is actually Bible. This this describes how I'm feeling. I'm putting in a lot of work, a lot of hours, but there is something missing, right? And and I was at a I was my career was booming. It was it was about to blow up, but there was something missing." So what God is saying is I want you to examine examine your hearts. 26:32 Examine how you feel when I now talk about revelations. Do you look forward to it or is there a fear? And what's that fear? Why is it there? Could it be that you know you're not in good standing right now? Or could it be he's simply saying return to your first love? You're working ministry. You're ministering. You're evangelizing. Are you checking on people? You're praying for people. But where is your heart? 27:02 Do you still love me the way you used to? Or are you just going through the motions? H Do you still love me like when you just got saved? Think about it just for a second. When you just got saved, what sentiment did you have? You were in the supermarket pushing the trolley. Hi, good morning. How are you doing? Can I tell you about Jesus? There was a there was there was 27:32 something there. It was just bubbling. There was a fire. There's a zeal. These are the words we're using. That's what God wants us to feel all the time. You see, we were ministering one time and somebody say, "So, how you explain the Sabbath? How come y'all work whenever, worship whenever, y'all don't respect the Sabbath?" And that was the beauty about it. God said, "I am the Sabbath." So if you're in me, 28:02 you have rest every day. Right? But do you feel that rest? Do you feel that rest or do you feel stressed? Do you feel 28:15 anxious? Do you feel worried? Are these the emotions you have? Or can you reflect and say, "I have joy, peace." Amen. What are some of the other fruits? Love, self-control, temperance, huh? Righteousness, somebody says meekness. Do we have these things? Are these the emotions we feel? That's what God is checking. And he's saying if it's not there, there's a R word I need you to do. Repent. 28:45 Repent. All right, let's go a little further. Let's give give me verse six. I think we are. But this thou hast that thou hatest the deeds of the nicolatans, which I also hate. I like how Tommy butchers the words. So, the first word was Ephesus for those who heard her butcher the first one, right? And if I remember correctly, these are nicolations, right? I could be wrong 29:15 to Tommy. So just let's just roll with the punches, right? But yeah, let's get that one again. But this thou hast that thou hatest the deeds of the niclatans which I also hate. So he he's coming back now and he's saying, yes, you still have some sentiments. It's not all lost. There are some things that you see people do that you hate, right? And I see the 29:45 church do this a lot. So if if a pastor is off course, we can all agree, how did he get there? But God is saying, but do you know you could be sitting there and be in the same spot that this pastor that you recognize he's off course? You're off course, too. But you you're actively acknowledging that that's crazy. That's damaging to the body. But what you're 30:15 not recognizing is that the disposition you're in is damaging to your soul. So you're on the lookout, not trying to to let anything crazy in. You guard your ears, you guard your eyes, you fasting, you're on consecration, but you feel lost. If you're there is because you have turned away from your first love. And how you get back there? Fellowship. Well, he said repent first, right? And 30:45 in the repentance, you're going to turn away and get it right. And in the getting right, it starts with fellowship. It starts with spending time with the father. So, if you're so busy, it means you have to take some stuff off the plate because the father can't get what's left cuz what's left is not a lot. When you tired, it's not your best. What's left is not 31:15 what he asked for. He didn't pay for your body that you might just run it ragged but with no time to fellowship. So if there's no time to fellowship, he's saying let's check. Let's look at the calendar. Let's erase everything. H, you know, you could be working ministry every day. Every day. I mean doing something for the ministry and people saying oh I just love the way 31:45 God uses you and God be like okay well keep listening to that one and see what happens because my take of you isn't so good. It isn't so lovely and that's a dangerous place to be. So what you're seeing here, he's admonishing this whole church and he's looked at them and he says, "There's something off. And if you don't get this right, I will remove you from 32:15 those that will be safe from my 32:19 wrath." All right, let's go a little further. Give me verse seven. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcomemeth will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. What he just said is, you see, it's easy for somebody to pick this apart and say, well, God is not that mean. How can you be 32:50 working so hard and God still say it's not enough? On the surface, that sounds like a logical push back. But in the spirit, you know exactly what God is saying. It doesn't need any further proof. In in here, you know, cuz all it takes there's there's there's something that happened recently and I remember saying to God, I don't need any more proof. I have everything I need cuz I just need to go back to 33:20 yesterday and the day before and the day before that and I just need to keep thinking on all of these good things. I don't need any more proof. So if you don't do anything else, your track record is enough. Amen. Your track record is enough for me to look back and say you have been faithful. Your track record say that you have been loving. Your track record say that you have been gracious. Your track 33:50 record said you have given me favor, right? Your track record says that I don't need you to prove anything else to me. So if you come to me and say, hey, you've strayed away from your first love, I know exactly what you mean. I don't need to try to justify, well, God, you know, I was here on Monday. You know, I was here doing tech on Tuesday. God, I was here doing tech on Wednesday. 34:20 God, I was doing this on Saturday. and keep going. That don't mean anything to him. That don't mean nothing to the God I know. Cuz he said, "Well, I bought that body." Cuz you see that body, if I didn't buy it, it would be destroyed. That body, if I didn't buy it, you probably wouldn't have the testimony you have right now. That body deserve death. And so you can do enough to acquire a clean 34:51 slate. I gave it to you freely. Thank you. I gave it to you with while you were an enemy of me. The scriptures say, in other words, while you hated me, while you did things in my face to put me to an open shame, I saw value. Thank you, Lord. Hallelujah. Value. Hallelujah. And I say, I can use this. So, how dare us let him go through all of 35:20 this and then say, "Well, well, I gave my 10%. Don't you get your 10% every time I get paid?" Cuz that's how we treat him. Oh, how dare he ask for 20? You know, somebody down here is hungry. I did my 10%. If I give them, I won't have anything to pay me. You see, these are the things that you can really check and see where you are because you see the sons, they're supposed 35:50 to live with a dependence on who? God. So, when you start depending on your own means and your own skills is real quick. You can get injured. You're on a job that you need your hands. The God I know was, "Okay, well, let me show you what it feels like when you can't work with those hands." Oh, all is going well. You know, you teaching these kids and they're amazing and they're getting straight A's. 36:20 I'm going just fire you. No justification. Oh, you prayed with a student. Fired. And then you say, "God, what happened? Oh, now I have your attention. Oh, now you want to know why? What happened when it was going so well that you forgot about me? You see, I do these things because I know what the enemy wants. I don't do it because I'm a mean and selfish father. I do it because I'm a good 36:51 father. I know what it means when a child plugs something into the socket and it shocks them. I know the dangers of that. So therefore, when I see you getting close to the socket, I might slap the hand. So what you're feeling is the pain or the slap, but what you don't recognize is I just made you dodge a whole death sentence. Thank you, Lord. Hallelujah. So yeah, when we look back at these moments, 37:21 we we look at them from the perspective of you're not a mean God. Your track record shows me that you're loving. Cuz most times it's in retrospect that we say, "Oh, I saw what you did there, daddy. Thank you." But in the moment, all you can do is trust that he has your best interest at heart. And so that's what he's saying. You know me. You know my track record. You know what I've done 37:51 in your life. Huh? You can't now just turn away from me and think I'm going to be okay with it. No. I need you to go repent. And you have a choice. You could keep going. You see, that was the only difference between Saul and David. Saul never repented. David said, "Oh, I'm the guy. Lord, do whatever you have to just save this soul of mine." And so that's what that's the choice we're faced 38:21 with. He's saying, "These things are coming." And swiftly to him may seem like a long time to you, but when it comes, it's going to feel very sudden. The the the whole time you've been waiting, when you see that sky open back and like a scroll, you going to say, "I'm ready." It's going to feel quick at that time. And then you going you going to check your heart real quick. God, am I ready? 38:52 And by then it might be too late. Or it might be, I'm ready, Lord. Talk to me. Take me up. Let's roll. Amen. And so that's what I'm saying. When when you now hear Revelations preached, I feel it different this time. Yes. I don't say God don't come yet. Give me a little more time. I say Lord ready when you are. You know when we we about to go live and we say you ready? 39:22 Yes. Ready when you are. That's how we should be ready. Amen. For when the father says, "I'm coming for my children." Cuz he's waiting to come. When you read it, it says the martyrs are there saying, "God, when will we receive justice?" And he said, "Hold on. Hold on. That time is coming. Don't worry. I will avenge you. And when I avenge you, it's like nothing you could ever concoct. The the the things we 39:52 read about, you're like, goodness, a horse with a balance. And when he's walking by, all of this stuff happens. Onethird of this, oneird of that, one I'm like, this is the stuff. Not even movies have this type of epicness, right? And so that's what somebody was we were talking recently and we we we came up with yes, the table of contents is great, but it's like a movie trailer. It's almost like when you get 40:22 this first part that's released and you say, "Oh, that's coming." It's a preview. And so John got to see this and he said it. He said, "Blessed are the readers." So, we are the readers. We weren't part of the church at Ephesus. Uh-uh. We weren't part of the church at Simrna, at Philadelphia. We weren't part of those. But we're reading it. And he's saying, "Blessed are you that get to read it because it means 40:53 you get a chance to make it right." It means you can examine which church do I feel like I am closest to in terms of disposition, right? Well, I need to get it right cuz I want to be on that church where he never had anything bad to say about them. H I want to be part of that candlestick that wasn't removed. And so he's saying when we read this, it's in preparation mode. when 41:23 we read this is to see all right God are we ready and if we're not ready as a body the scripture say when you hurt I hurt right so therefore if I feel ready but I feel like you might not then I need to be spending time getting you ready and then if both of us are ready then we go keep evangelizing and making sure that everybody here is solid and he didn't stop there 41:53 he said now go out right So therefore, if you feel like you're spending more time doing things with this body that don't glorify the father, I want you to check. Have you left the first love? It's not the first time God talks about it. Not the first time at all. There are other letters written pertaining to the same thought process, but God would give us a chance. And you can take this message as a 42:23 wow, he's preaching condemnation again. No, it's not condemnation when you see the mercy in it. If I know there are times when my son Camden, you see the look on his face like uhoh. And then when he get that mercy, he said, "Daddy, already like I'll put him in timeout, right?" And I said, "All right, buddy. You can get up. Already, daddy." I'm like, "You don't want to get up? That's what this feels like 42:54 when you hear a message where God is saying just get it right. It's because I love you that I allow you to hear this. Cuz you see the beauty about it is there are some people who you may talk to them about God and about ministry and they're oblivious to it. So not everybody's called to receive this. At least there are some that not called yet, right? And there are some that they've rejected it. 43:24 So God would have known that they will always reject it. So their names aren't there. But he's not saying, "Oh, I want this one, but I don't want that one." No, he just looked from the start to the end and said, "Okay, this person will actually accept me." So in my book, they'll be there. But let's talk about the removal though. So you can get your name in there, but you can also have your 43:54 name removed. Right. And so somebody asked recently, "So, so how is it then we won't be saved all the time then if God say none can pluck you out?" I said, "Yeah, I figured that's the scripture would go for." Yeah, the enemy can't pluck you out of God's protection, but you sure can take yourself out cuz he said, "I love you that much to give you what you want, what you desire." So if you 44:24 desire destruction, I'll send you there. I'll send you there. Cuz you see there are so many caution signs in Romans. Well, he said, "Should you therefore continue in sin that grace may abound." He said, "God forbid." That sounds very serious. In this one, he says, "I will remove the entire candlestick." Sounds like a serious God, don't it? And I think sometimes we forget that this is the same God that would have told them when 44:55 you go in kill everything including the animals, spare nothing. That's the same God, right? So this is a this is a God that when he's ready to take action, even you will beg for mercy on behalf of your enemy cuz it's that ugly. And so I want us to recognize you can't fall for these tricks of the enemy. Once saved, always saved. Now, we we can't we don't have the time to get into the 45:25 other scriptures because that's not what we came here to talk about. But what I want you to do is look at the other letters. Look at the other the other six. Man, I thought I' at least gotten two. But let's look at the other six letters. The other six candlesticks. Let's look at how he feels about them and what correction he gave because you might find yourself there. You might not have found yourself here 45:55 tonight. And I don't want you to feel like you have to find yourself there, right? Because that's another thing. If you know you've been solid, you've been good, you have been walking this thing out, then you're good. And you have to be confident in that. Cuz you don't want to become an unbeliever like, man, I'll never get this thing. No, if you know God has been keeping you, then great. So, we say, "All right, 46:25 God. We're going to keep going. We will not faint. But if you do find yourself there, it's not worth the risk." He says, "I'm coming swiftly." And the thing about it is some of us are waiting for revelations to unfold, not knowing tomorrow your revelation might end. You might not, you're not promised tomorrow. You you when you get into that car, how many wrecks you've seen this week? You not promise getting to your destination, 46:56 but we drive sometimes like we have to get there. Like, oh, I'm just going to go, Lord. I'll pray when I get there. You'll do what? No. Wisdom says, get the Lord on your side. So he's saying, look, there are two ways this can go. You could actually live to see that you don't enter, or you could die on this side and end up in the fire. See, I can baptize you with the Holy 47:26 Ghost or I can baptize you with fire. That's not a good fire. Growing up, I thought it was what the old people say, you know, like, "Touch me with your fire, Lord. And I was like, "Oh, that's not a good fire, is it? That's hell, right?" See, as you learn, you you understand the father some more. Right? And so, what I want you to just do is check tonight. Just check. Is your is your 47:56 love still there? Or are you working ministry, but your heart not in it? Are you telling these people about the love of the father, but you yourself don't even know if you feel like he's that loving? Mhm. Are you telling these people about how amazing the kingdom of God is? But in your heart, you feel like, man, we're always fighting. We're always arguing. We What's your testimony? Is there peace? Is there joy? H does 48:26 your peace actually pass the understanding of mere men? Cuz that's what it's supposed to do. You know, they're supposed to look at you and say, "Why are you not mad?" But are you that one that gets mad first? That's good that you can shake your head and say no. It's a blessing. Huh? But there are some there's some Christians in the offices when you look you say I don't want them to think I'm like 48:57 you cuz you're not a good depiction of what holiness looks like. God is calling for us to check and as we disciple because we're going to dive into everything that's coming. But you don't want as you dive deeper, you get scarer. That's a word, right? Right. English teacher, more scared. More scared. I knew something felt wrong about it. Get more scared. Right. So, what I'm saying is you have to assess. The scripture says, "Do 49:27 that. Do that all the time. Work it out." For all those that said, "Don't, you know, we don't believe in works ministry." The scripture said, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling." So, in other words, we have to walk this thing out. There's no free pass. And there is a hell. There's another one. I'mma close right here. I'm going tackle one last thing before we go. 49:56 Uh, you know what? H I'mma stop where the Holy Ghost say stop. So if you've been blessed tonight, I hope that you do the assignment. Go read the other letters, right? They don't they don't dive into everything that people get scared of with Revelation just yet. Just read the letters. They're strong admonitions and they're actually parallels to other scriptures like the first love. There are other churches that Paul would have written to and talked to them 50:26 about the don't leave your first love. There are other scriptures where he would have talked to them and said beware of these false teachers. Right? And so you find these parallels. So he's it's just another check to see where you are. Right now that's the assignment. The other assignment I would like for you to do, you can do it right now. Get extra credit. Please give that we may be able to keep these lights on. Please 50:56 give that we might be able to continue to build the kingdom, right? Give because you see everything that we do in ministry, it takes money. And what I can tell you about our leaders is that they will give their last that you might keep going. I've experienced that. I've experienced knowing this is the last and then say here you go. Right? And so this is not the one that you going to say well I have this 51:26 many watches and the next watch that was given to me was in a Bentley. No, we we not that type of ministry, right? We believe in using the funds to advance the kingdom. We use technology to do so. And technology take it takes subscription. Subscription takes money, right? And so we use the money for the advancing of the kingdom. And when there's a need, we use the money to make sure we have all things in common. 51:56 And so you could trust that when you give, when you scan that QR code or you go to Mary Banks, when you go to mbanks.netg, net slashgive. That funds will be used for a godly purpose. Whether it's to give outreach, whether it's to help somebody in the body that can't make ends meet or whether it's to pay the light that we might come and give you a broadcast or to pay the internet bill. All of these 52:27 things take funds, saints. So, I'm asking that you dig deep. We have world conference coming up and our our leaders asked us to dig deep that we can minister this message of the end time with clarity with visuals and I know what it costs when you're doing these graphics you you do a few of them and they say oh your credit ran out your they call them um what do they call them points there's another word 52:57 they will come to me right they say it runs out. And how you get more of those? You have to pay. And so we want to make sure that the same level of excellence that you do everything with that we minister the gospel in that same vein. And so if you're watching online, please I ask that you give tonight. I hope that you are blessed and I hope that you'll tune in again next time we broadcast, 53:27 which will be Friday. God bless you. God loves you. See you next time. Amen.
