The whole, of the Bible, is written to you!... not you as a church… you as an individual. It is God's words transmitted through the sovereignly superintended pen of human beings…. There are parts of the Bible, though, that really get my attention… those are the parts where Jesus….our Savior, is directly quoted. Some Bible printers used to go through and color all those passages red just so we would know when Jesus was being directly quoted.

It doesn't mean that part of the Bible is more inspired than the rest… but think with me… the direct words of the same One who said at Creation "let there be" and the whole universe sprang into existence! When Jesus is talking.. I'm listening!

But, even, all of those times, throughout the Gospels, is Jesus talking to other people and somebody in the audience is transcribing his statements onto paper….

There is only one place in all the Bible where Jesus, after the resurrection, after his ascension back to heaven…sends a word-for-word letter… back to the world to be read by all of humanity.. and that is in the book of Revelation. If there ever was a letter directly from Jesus to you, individually, that's the one.

But…within those 22 chapters there is an even smaller part that is not "life-ending, last-time" events but is seven "from the heart", personal notes, from Jesus to you and me. Chapters 2 and 3 of the book of Revelation is as close as you can get to Jesus sitting down and writing a letter titled, Dear ____________, ____________, or _____________.

We know these letters were written to seven churches in Asia Minor… but it didn't take us long to figure out that there was more, to them, than just that. They weren't read by churches. They weren't opened by a stained glass window and read by an organ, and an alter. They were written to people!

It wasn't the churches that had seven sets of characteristics…It was the people in the churches. And…it didn't take us long to figure out that what was true of those people is often true of us today… (If you'll look at the yellow handout in your bulletin)

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Pg 2 of handout:

Let me just put a sprinkling of what's on your sheet up here for review:

2) Smyrna: They have been increasingly suffering for their faith… persecution is growing yet they remain committed and faithful…

4) Thyatira: Some are faithfully enduring but they have allowed people who openly promote illicit sexuality and idolatry (putting other things ahead of God) to co-exist with them as part of Christ’s Church.

7) Laodicea: These people are, also, going through the motions of Christianity but Jesus strongly warns… “you are neither hot nor cold…16 But since you are like lukewarm water, I will spit you out of my mouth!... He also warns that they “ have everything they want, they don’t need a thing!’…. in fact, spiritually they are…. wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked….

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I suggested to you, last week, that I believed Jesus chose these specific churches in Asia with their specific characteristics, and listed them in just this, exact, order because, like the whole rest of the book… these seven letters are also prophetic: They apply not just to those seven little towns, and not, even, just to our individual lives today…they also speak of seven specific periods of church history from the time of Jesus right up until today: (Page one of the handout)

7) Laodicea Period 1950- ?: “you are neither hot nor cold…16 But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! 17 You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked…. (this is the church of today…)

If all we see in these letters… is Jesus issuing warnings to first century Asian churches, or prophesying about the church throughout history, or even warning us, as individuals, about our spiritual lives today…. we would still be missing half of the message of these two chapters. I've heard Pastors preach on these verses, all my life, and I seldom got to hear the other side of what Jesus was saying:…so here it is for us today.

Each person, in each of these seven churches, also received an accompanying promise if they would swim, against the current, and become Over-comers/ Conquerors!! It's clear that just as the warnings can apply to our lives…so the promises are ours as well.

Each of us, this week, faced the pressure of temptation. Some of you are wracked by guilt, as you sit here this morning because you gave in to temptation this week…again. Others of us…may not be looking back on this last week with a sense of spiritual defeat…but there wasn't any real spiritual victory either. Like the people in the Ephesian church we may have found ourselves, for the most part, doing the right things…but the pressures we find ourselves in, every day in this life, have made us forget that we are, really, here to prepare for the next life.

From childhood, we come to know the joy of reward… A good parent teaches that wrong actions bring punishment and right actions bring reward. That's a God thing… You all know what it feels like to accomplish something in this life and be promised a reward at the end…. We, usually, so look forward to the reward. (toys at the bottom of a box of cereal) God let us, briefly, view what was coming after this life to give us the strength to hang in there, through the toughest of times, until we reach our promised reward.

Your first reward is: fruit from the tree of life… What would that be? ..a big tree in the center of heaven with basket-ball size, juicy fruit?

The word there is not used of a growing tree.. it's actually the word "wood". The "wood of life"…. What does the term "fruit from the wood/tree of life refer to?..... The Cross! Jesus death…in your place, paid the price for you to enjoy the fruit of an eternal reward, even though this one was paid for by someone other than you… All you did was receive the gift that Jesus paid for. Getting through this life, victorious, and entering eternity in Heaven is "the fruit from the tree of life".

Last night, Sue and I attended an Avalon concert. With, just, four voices and four band instruments…they made you feel a little of what heaven would be like. Jesus promises that a "heavenly kind" of living…at least little bits of it, from time to time, can start, even, as we are living in this sinful world.

John 10:10 I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly!

Abundant life…in this world…followed by superabundant life in the next world…for all of eternity. It's the fruit of the tree of life…. And it is ready and waiting for each one of you who have accepted Jesus gift.

2) Jesus came to give His Over-comers an Indestructible Life! 11… “Whoever is victorious will not be harmed by the second death.”

I need you to notice something here… I don't want to give anyone the wrong impression. We talk about Jesus sacrifice for all mankind…we assure everyone there is no way to earn the sacrifice… it is a free gift and all those things are true. But I don't want anyone to get the impression that because God didn't expect you to earn your salvation… that once your receive it… he doesn't expect anything from you then either.

All of these promises presume that we all face hostile forces and rather than giving in to them…with the power and grace of God flowing through our spiritual veins we face down the tests of the evil one and come out victorious…Conquerors!

That starts in this life…before we ever get to the next. It's here, now, today, this week when God is calling on us to say no to the evil one. We don't have to do it in our own strength. God is in front of us…and behind us, and over us, and under us, and in us, and all though us:

Some would try to use that verse to imply that we play no role in our eternal future. Remember God is looking for victors…conquerors. Conquering implies a battle… a battle that has been won! Conquerors may face the first death….physical death in this life, but they are forever immune from the second death. (separation from God)

3) Jesus came to give His Over-comers an Inexhaustible Supply! 17… To everyone who is victorious I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name…

If that's, heavenly bread, left over from Moses time that might be less than appealing. It's not talking about food…something we ingest physically. It's talking about spiritual food:

I'm told if you go to E-harmony.com, pay them a fee, and fill out a profile that they will go to the ends of the earth to find you a soul-mate. If you have discovered one in this life you are fortunate indeed… In reality, we all have a potential soul mate. When you were created, God built into you a void that could only be filled when you came to know Jesus as you personal Savior. But… the best we can hope for here is still a fuzzy, out of focus filling….

When you get to heaven… the whole of Jesus filling the whole void in you will be complete. He will engrave on you a new name/character….. His character…. and He will give you a white stone??? (Not a per rock) White refers to holiness… the stone? I don't know!

4) Jesus came to give His Over-comers an Inexpressible Future! 26… To all who are victorious, who obey me to the very end, to them I will give authority over all the nations.

There is that reigning theme again…

What awesome promises these are… These are not just so many words… this is describing your eternal future!

6) Jesus came to give His Over-comers an Inescapable Destination! 12... the victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God.. They will never have to leave it. And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God—the New Jerusalem… And I will also write on them my new name.

7) Jesus came to give His Over-comers an Intimate Eternal Role! 21… Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne.