SWORD VS. THE SERPENT (3 OF 7)
Scripture: Revelation 2:12-17
This content is part of a series.
Sword vs. The Serpent (3 of 7)
Series: 7 Churches In Revelation
Dennis Marquardt
Rev. 2:12-17
INTRO: The Human body is remarkably adaptable. One unique feature is our body's ability to tolerate pain. You can actually teach yourself to tolerate greater and greater degrees of pain by slow doses of increased amounts of pain. Unfortunately, pain medications do the same thing in our body. Pain relieving medications can be a wonderful help ... but if they are taken too frequently and close together our body becomes tolerant of the drug and so the doses must be increased in strength and frequency to continue helping. The frequent exposure can dull our response until it is withdrawn, then oh the pain! Sin can be like this, constant frequent exposure to it can make us less sensitive to its true nature until we are very comfortable tolerating sin in our own life, we may even be unaware of sin until the Holy Spirit withdraws ... then oh the pain!
One of the true great dangers to the church and the believer is that of tolerance of sin in our own life, and the compromising heart with this world! A church can survive many vicious attacks, but the slow gradual slide toward the world can go unnoticed.
ILLUS: Like the man who sold apple butter & cottage cheese at a farmer's market, everyday he carried his 2 large drums of cottage cheese and apple butter and scooped them out into smaller containers for customers. One day he forgot to take 2 ladles, he had but one, which he used in both for scooping. By the end of the day customers returned complaining that their apple butter tasted like cottage cheese and those with cottage cheese complained that it tasted like apple butter! By scooping both with one ladle he managed to contaminate both!
We are asked to have one heart for God. To scoop our joys from the world and mix that with God's provisions is to simply compromise the witness of the uniqueness of the Kingdom, to pollute ourselves.
PROP. SENT: The B ...
Series: 7 Churches In Revelation
Dennis Marquardt
Rev. 2:12-17
INTRO: The Human body is remarkably adaptable. One unique feature is our body's ability to tolerate pain. You can actually teach yourself to tolerate greater and greater degrees of pain by slow doses of increased amounts of pain. Unfortunately, pain medications do the same thing in our body. Pain relieving medications can be a wonderful help ... but if they are taken too frequently and close together our body becomes tolerant of the drug and so the doses must be increased in strength and frequency to continue helping. The frequent exposure can dull our response until it is withdrawn, then oh the pain! Sin can be like this, constant frequent exposure to it can make us less sensitive to its true nature until we are very comfortable tolerating sin in our own life, we may even be unaware of sin until the Holy Spirit withdraws ... then oh the pain!
One of the true great dangers to the church and the believer is that of tolerance of sin in our own life, and the compromising heart with this world! A church can survive many vicious attacks, but the slow gradual slide toward the world can go unnoticed.
ILLUS: Like the man who sold apple butter & cottage cheese at a farmer's market, everyday he carried his 2 large drums of cottage cheese and apple butter and scooped them out into smaller containers for customers. One day he forgot to take 2 ladles, he had but one, which he used in both for scooping. By the end of the day customers returned complaining that their apple butter tasted like cottage cheese and those with cottage cheese complained that it tasted like apple butter! By scooping both with one ladle he managed to contaminate both!
We are asked to have one heart for God. To scoop our joys from the world and mix that with God's provisions is to simply compromise the witness of the uniqueness of the Kingdom, to pollute ourselves.
PROP. SENT: The B ...
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