Joint Heirs welcomes you!

What if… Jesus decided to evaluate several large churches in Southern CA

What might He judge? The sermon The sermon The youth program The youth program Evangelism / missions Evangelism / missions Music Music

The Seven Churches in Asia

Revelation 1:13-18 Long robe Head and hair white Eyes like fire Feet like bronze Voice like waters Right hand held seven stairs Mouth – sword Face like sun

Church of Ephesus Rev. 2:1-7 The Dead Orthodoxy Church

Church of Ephesus Rev. 2:1-7 + Hard spiritual work, Kept out false teachers _ Left first love

Church of Smyrna Rev. 2:8-11 The Suffering Church

Church of Smyrna Rev. 2: Prepared for coming suffering _ (Nothing noted)

Church of Pergamum Rev. 2:12-17 The Compromising Church

Church of Pergamum Rev. 2: Faithful believers _ Compromised false teaching

Church of Thyatira Rev. 2:18-29 The Immoral Church

Church of Thyatira Rev. 2: Increasing good deeds, love, faith, service and perseverance _ Tolerates false teaching which lead to immorality

Church of Sardis Rev. 3:1-6 The Terminal Church

Church of Sardis Rev. 3:1-6 + Some (incomplete) good deeds and minority of spiritual giants _ Terminal

Church of Philadelphia Rev. 3:7-13 The Church of The Open Door

Church of Philadelphia Rev. 3: Good deeds, kept Christ’s word, didn’t deny Jesus and perseverance _ (Nothing noted)

Church of Laodicea Rev. 3:14-22 The Lukewarm Church

Church of Laodicea Rev. 3: (Nothing noted) _ Lukewarm Christianity, trust in material wealth, blind to true spiritual condition

Grading The Seven Churches Ephesus – D - Ephesus – D - Smyrna – A+ Smyrna – A+ Pergamum – D Pergamum – D Thyatira – D Thyatira – D Sardis – D – Sardis – D – Philadelphia – A Philadelphia – A Laodicea – F Laodicea – F

Overall Grading Only 28.6% of the seven churches received an acceptable grade, or in other words, God was pleased with their church. Only 28.6% of the seven churches received an acceptable grade, or in other words, God was pleased with their church.

Question: Do think this curve is indicative of all churches? Question: Do think this curve is indicative of all churches? In other words, does this form a hard bell curve? In other words, does this form a hard bell curve?

An Average Bell Curve

An Hard Bell Curve

How Would God Grade YLFC?

Summary of findings from Revelation Good news: An angel is assigned to each church which means YLFC has one also.

2. Bad news: Satan also has demons fighting for control of the church. Smyrna – 2:9 “synagogue of Satan” Smyrna – 2:9 “synagogue of Satan” Pergamum – 2:13 “Satan’s throne, where Satan dwells” Pergamum – 2:13 “Satan’s throne, where Satan dwells” Philadelphia – 3:9 “synagogue of Satan” Philadelphia – 3:9 “synagogue of Satan”

3. Based on the above, much of church life is explained in terms of spiritual warfare, both outside and inside the church. See Eph. 6

4. The internal spiritual warfare has much to do between the ratio of three types of people as outlined in I Cor. 2:14-3:3

The Natural Man (2:14) The Spiritual Man (2:15) The Carnal (Fleshly) Man (3:1)

The Righteous Factor: The “Spiritual Man” keeps sin under check. When the number of righteous are reduced, sin prevails and divine judgment is coming.

Illustration: The China Syndrome. As the coolant in a nuclear reactor keeps a meltdown from occurring, so the righteous keeps a spiritual meltdown from happening.

Two OT case studies: Universal Case: Gen. 6:5-8 –The flood Localized Case: Gen. 18:16-33 – Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

The remnant concept In the OT, God always keeps and honors His remnant. That is, a small group of Jews who have remained faithful though the majority of Jews reject their God Isaiah 10:21-22 Isaiah 10:21-22

Q: What happens when the righteous are raptured from planet earth? II Thess. 2:6 A: It ushers in the tribulation

(Back to the seven churches) The success or failure of these churches had to do with the number of spiritual persons in the congregation

Thyatira – Rev. 2:24 Thyatira – Rev. 2:24 “the rest” Sardis – Rev. 3:4 Sardis – Rev. 3:4 “few unsoiled people”

The call of the faithful… Not only does God call the mature believer to do spiritual warfare outside the world, but also inside the church for its purity…

5. What seems important to the Lord was the churches’ works, purity of doctrine and resistance to evil.

6. The Lord’s number one rebuke was over the tolerance of false doctrine. This coincidently was Satan’s number one tactic in attacking the church.

7. False doctrine leads to immorality.

8. God holds the local church accountable and if its spiritual grade continues to decay, He will “remove its lampstand” as exemplified by the Church of Ephesus - Rev. 2:5 Rev. 2:5

9. There is a constant call to repentance.

10. Not once did the Lord commend a church for numerical growth. It always seems to be about quality not quantity.