How to be Rich: 

Jesus’ 7 Letters to the Church

Pastor Greg Kritz

23 October 2016 

God Knows We Are Prone To Forget When We Are Fat & Happy

Deuteronomy 8:10-14

10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.

12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

What Sickens God Most Is When We Think We Have No Need Of Him 

Revelation 3:15-18 (NASB)

15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.  16 So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched (troubled) and miserable (to be pitied) and poor (a street beggar) and blind (clueless of God’s direction) and naked (shameful, morally corrupt)

Pastor Mario’s 5 Warning Signs of being Lukewarm

1. Word of God no longer important

2. Prayer takes backseat

3. Serving God & His Purposes crowded out by busyness

4. Lack concern for lost people

5. Sin without conviction or remorse

6th Warning Sign

Of Being Lukewarm

6. We put or trust, faith and confidence in institutions & government while being indifferent to that which breaks God’s heart.

3 Things Jesus Says We Have To Buy

In Order Not To Be Lukewarm 

Revelation 3:15-18 (NASB) [cont…]

18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 

Isaiah 55:1-2

 “Come, all you who are thirsty,

    come to the waters;

and you who have no money,

    come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk

    without money and without cost.

2 Why spend money on what is not bread,

    and your labor on what does not satisfy?

Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,

and you will delight in the richest of fare. 

To Buy From God Means To Transfer My Faith And Affections Over To Jesus Christ 

Buying what I need from God

will cost me “ME”.  

Laodiceans Saved

Their Lives

Matthew 16:25 AMP 

For whoever is bent on saving his [temporal] life [his comfort and security here] shall lose it [eternal life]; and whoever loses his life [his comfort and security here] for My sake shall find it [life everlasting].  

1st thing we must buy at personal expense

Buy a Rich Faith - Gold refined by fire

2nd thing we must buy at personal expense

Buy Moral Integrity - White garments

3rd Thing we must buy at personal expense

Buy a Rich Knowledge of God 

"Being Lukewarm Is Not Gods Way; Church In Laodicea."

Pastor Mario Cinelli - September 16th, 2016

Rev. 3:14-22 NASB  

"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: 15 'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19 'Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. 20 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. 21 'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.' "

They Lost Their Zeal For God

Rev. 3:16 NASB

16  So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.

In 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh , had this to say: "From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back into bondage"

Signs Of Having Become Luke Warm:

The Word of God

Prayer

Serving God and His Purposes (Don’t Have Time)

A Heart For The Lost (Some One Else Will Do It)

Sin

2 Tim. 3:5 NASB

 …holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

Rev. 3:20 NASB   

'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

Matt 12:20-21 NASB    

20"A BATTERED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF, AND A SMOLDERING WICK HE WILL NOT PUT OUT, UNTIL HE LEADS JUSTICE TO VICTORY. 21 "AND IN HIS NAME THE GENTILES WILL HOPE."

"Pillars that Keep on Standing, Church in Philadelphia."

Pastor Mario Cinelli - October 9, 2016

Message Series: The Seven Letters of Jesus (Revelation 3:7-13)

1 Corinthians 16:8-9 NIV  

But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.

He Will Handle Our Enemies

Revelations 3:9 NIV  

I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.

Philippians 2:9-11 NIV 

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

He Will Protect Us From Tribulation

Revelations 3:10 NIV 

Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.

He Will Honor Us

Revelations 3:11-12a NIV   

I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12 The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God.

Galatians 2:9 NIV  

James, Cephas and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised.

Pastor Tony Suriani 10/02/16

(1) Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7) - the church that had forsaken its first love (2:4).

(2) Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-11) - the church that would suffer persecution (2:10).

(3) Pergamum (Revelation 2:12-17) - the church that needed to repent (2:16).

(4) Thyatira (Revelation 2:18-29) - the church that had a false prophetess (2:20).

(5) Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6) - the church that had fallen asleep (3:2).

(6) Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7-13) - the church that had perseverance  (3:10).

(7) Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22) - the church with the lukewarm faith (3:16).

Running with perseverance 

Perseverance:the ingredient for an end result. What is the end result ? To be frank with you this morning it's not how we start in life that counts but it is how we end! What is the end result ....let us have ears to hear what the Spirt says

History of Philadelphia church

Philadelphia was located on a hillside about 30 miles southeast of Sardis. It was named after the man who founded and built it. A man who was the king of Pergamum around 190 B.C.  He was Attalus  and his nickname was Philadelphus. As you know, the name Philadelphus or Philadelphia means brotherly love or friend. He named the city Philadelphus because he had a special devotion to his brother, Eumenes II. The city stood in a wine-producing area and was the so-called gateway to central Asia Minor. Because it experienced earthquakes from time to time, more of the population than normal chose to live outside the city walls.1

It was destroyed a few times and rebuilt once by Tiberius and was renamed Neocaesrea   (New Caesar) in gratitude. The city was renamed few times 

The modern name of this town is Alasehir (the city of God)which is in Turkey. 

The city of Philadelphia was built for a special purpose. It was a border town that was situated where the borders of three countries or regions came together, Marcia, Lydia and Phrygia. It was built in that area, the border town, because it was intended to be a missionary outpost of the Greek culture and the Greek language to these other regions. They were successful in their missionary venture because by A.D. 19, the Lydians had completely forgotten their language. They were all but Greeks. They had fulfilled their missionary purpose to reach out and to spread the Greek culture.

The Philadelphia church (some believe it was a planted church out of Ephesus)  was placed here strategically by God to spread the gospel as the gate way to Asia Minor.

The ancient Greeks had a race with torches the object to this race is to finish with the torches lit not who comes first 

When we receive Jesus in our hearts the race begins and the torch is lit and that fire will never be extinguished

Jeremiah 32:38-40 NLT

"They will be my people, and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart and one purpose: to worship me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good for them. I will put a desire in their hearts to worship me, and they will never leave me.”

The flower fades and the grass withers but the word of the lord

Pastor Greg Kritz 

 9-25-16

Can My Name Be Erased from Book of Life? 

CLICK PLAY BELOW...

Revelation 3:4-6  (NASB)

 4 But you have a few[b]people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 5 He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Does God Use a Pencil & Eraser or a Sharpie? 

We Clothe Ourselves in Righteous Acts Revelation 19:8 (NASB)

He who overcomes…. I will not erase his name from the book of life

What is the Book of Life?

What is the Book of Life? Rev 21:27 “Nothing impure will ever enter it [heaven], nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”   

Revelation 20:15 “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” 

Book of Life contains the names of believers who will spend eternity with God 

No place in scripture is anyone’s name erased or blotted out from eternity.

You Can’t Be Snatched from the Lord Jesus or the Father

John 10:28-29 (NASB) 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 [a]My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand

Genuine Faith is the Condition for Eternal Life 

John 3:16 (NASB) 16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His [a]only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

Eternal Life is a Gift. It can’t be earned. Romans 6:23 (NASB)

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Overcomers are those who put their trust and confidence in the Lord Jesus 

1 John 5:5 (NASB) 5 Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

We Overcome Only because of What Jesus Did.  

John 16:33 (NASB)33 These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

1 John 4:4 (NASB) 4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

If I could earn eternal life, God wouldn’t get the glory. 

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB) 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

 

Still not convinced?  Titus 3:5-7 (NASB)

Beware of those adding ANYTHING to Salvation by Faith

If I did not become a child of God by works, how then can I become an ex-child 

Even though salvation is not by works, works are the inevitable result of true salvation. 

                             Beware of the Daisy Trap “He loves me, He loves me not” 

 

God can do anything He chooses, but He can’t break a promise or tell a lie.

1 John 2:25 (NASB) 25 This is the promise which He Himself [

Pastor Greg KritzMessage Series: The 7 Letters of Jesus (Revelation 3:1-6)

Pastor Greg Kritz

8/25/16