Preserving The Purified Church From Pollution By Pastor W.F. Kumuyi

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SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICE MESSAGE
DATE: JULY 19, 2020
PREACHER: PASTOR W.F. KUMUYI
TOPIC: PRESERVING THE PURIFIED CHURCH FROM POLLUTION
TEXT: REVELATION 2:18-29

Today, we are coming to the letter, the epistle that Jesus Christ, the Head of the church wrote to the church in Thyatira and by extension, to all the churches in all generations until He comes. That is why He ended each letter with the words: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches”.

The church in Thyatira had gone into pollution, defilement as well as corruption. The Lord was concerned and He sent a message to them. When the Lord sends you to deliver a message, you must understand the heart and concern with which He sent the message. If He sends the message smiling, you cannot bring it to the church frowning, so also if He sends the message frowning at the people and having controversy with them, you cannot deliver it smiling.

TEXT: REVELATION 2:18-29

18 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;

19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.

20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.

22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.

23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

24 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.

25 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.

26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:

27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

28 And I will give him the morning star.

29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

This is the message from Christ which we are looking at today and the title of the message is: PRESERVING THE PURIFIED CHURCH FROM POLLUTION. We divide it into three parts:

A. THE PECULIARITIES OF CHRIST. Revelation 2:18
Jesus introduced Himself as the One who has final authority and all judgments have been committed into His hands. Jesus is the Son of God, the Foundation and Cornerstone of the church, and the final Judge.

1. Foundation Of The Flock. Matthew 16:16-18
This is the first time the Lord mentioned the church and thanks be to God that He also said the gates of Hell will not be able to prevail against her. The powers of hell, the powers that be will want to fight against, crush, defile and corrupt the church, but they will not prevail (I Corinthians 3:11) Christ has laid the foundation of the church and no one can lay another.

2. Flame Of Fire. Revelation 2:18
“… whose eyes were as the calm of fire”. He is not like the smiling Christ now (ch 1:14) This is the fire that will consume the unbelievers if they refuse to repent (ch 19:11-12) When He comes again, it will be with eyes like flames of fire and fury, indignation and anger to judge the adamant sinners.

3. The Feet From The Furnace. Revelation 2:18; 19:15-16
“… His feet like fine brass” with which He would trample the sinners.
ch 1:15
And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

4. The Faultlessness In His Facts. Revelation 2:19
After introducing Himself, He was going to tell the church, the minister and members that what they thought was a secret, what they thought was not beyond their little church all are open scandals in heaven. Jesus was going to give them a fact which is clean, faultless and true.

“I know thy works…”. God knows the works of members of the church, the fervency and purposeful plan and project they carry out. This church were doing more in the present than they did in the past. This is all we should pray about, that our final works will be greater than the beginning, so that our passion in doing the work outside and inside the church will be more in the latter time, when we are older. The Lord knows their genuine love, serving the poor, the naked, educated, illiterates, young and old, serving to take the love of God to them.

Also Read: Cleansing The Church Of Contagious Corruption By Pastor W.F. Kumuyi

The Lord knows their faith and their patience. The minister was patient. Look at yourself personally. Are you patiently running the race? Are you patient with members of your family? Do you get angry and flare up and throw things or you wear your nerves under your skin? Nobody likes problems, but when they come, you have to be patient to handle them.

You have to learn to be patient with other people. You cannot live life alone all by yourself or be the only tree in the forest, you will not enjoy the loneliness. You need other people though they may not measure up to your standard, or be as fast as you expect them to be, or have the attitude and disposition you want from them, but you have to learn to be patient.

The Lord was not carried away with all these good attributes because there were more serious issues in the church that needs correction.

B. THE PERVERSENESS OF CORRUPTERS. Revelation 2:20-23
Christ, the final authority and Judge of all things will not be afraid of Jezebel, so He mentioned her by name. Jesus the Son, Sword and Searchlight of God sent the message directly, unlike the pastor who was scared of the corrupting woman.

If Christ says He has something against us, we cannot tell Him we are not interested because He is Christ, the Lord and Saviour, the final Judge who will judge everyone according to their works, and He is saying, in spite of the good works, He has a few things against the church. They allowed Jezebel to operate freely in the church. This is the one whom the Father does not know, she was a self-imposed person who,called herself a prophetess in the church. The activities of Jezebel was to seduce people to fornication and to influence them to eat things sacrificed to idols. Fornication and immorality became her badge and identity.

This Jezebel in Revelation was worse than the one in the Old Testament. The latter did not commit adultery with other men like the former. Christ said He would cast Jezebel and all those who committed sin with her into great tribulation except they repent of their deeds. He said He would kill all her children and give unto everyone, not only Jezebel, but every compromiser and everyone who has been sucked into the pollution and the defilement.

1. The Delinquency Of A Permissive Pastor. Revelation 2:20
Christ rebuked the pastor as delinquent and lacking in courage, strength, and in the first duty he needed to carry out. So also are parents who are careless and permissive in the training of their children, who turn their eyes away from all their wrongdoings because they do not want to offend their children. They are delinquent parents.

Are you a pioneer minister who was fervent at the beginning of the ministry based on the word of God but now, you are compromising because of persecution, criticism and challenges? You say you do not want to die or waste your life. Why not as long as it is on the work of God? Do you want to die as a compromiser or backslider? If you lose all you have, including your life for the sake of Christ, you will be ushered into glory. So, get up and do the needful.

The Jezebel in the Old Testament came from a foreign land where she had been worshipping Baal. At the time, there was no mention of Baal worship in Israel until she came and married Ahab the king. He succumbed to the pressure of Jezebel and Baal worship pervaded everywhere. This was exactly what would happen in this small church in Thyatira.

Jezebel happened to be a woman. A king named Jeroboam brought idol worship to Israel. It was so bad that after his death, the evil and idolatrous acts he committed were mentioned for many years.

How about Aaron who made a graven image for the people to worship when Moses went to collect the commandments from God. When Moses asked him, he made excuses, he could not stand against the pressure from the people.

How about Eli who was warned about the way his sons were defiling women who came to worship in the temple. God warned Eli but he could not remove, chastise or discipline them. God had to send little Samuel to deliver a message of judgment to him. This is how some leaders allow everyone to do what they like, Christ has something against such leadership.

The right thing to do:
i. It is good to repent and no more be a jellyfish and ask God for a strong backbone to stand.
ii. You can withdraw from the service of God since you know that your work is ushering more people into hell than heaven and you do not have the courage and backbone and strength to do the work. Continuing in the work will bring greater punishment and judgment at the end.

2. The Defilement From Perverted Prodigals. Revelation 2:20-21
This Jezebel has the propensity to do evil like the one in the Old Testament. She had hatred against Elijah the man of God and threatened him with death because of what he did to the prophet of Baal. She made Baal worship to spread. She framed up Naboth concerning his vineyard and killed him after which she got the vineyard for Ahab.

Jezebel refused to repent hence the judgment was pronounced upon her. Some pastors are always afraid of the members of the church, therefore, they leave them to continue doing all that they want and the whole church that should be holy become defiled and corrupt (I Corinthians 3:16-17) The body of believer is the temple of God, anyone who defiles it shall be destroyed.

The church is the temple of God and the body of Christ. She ought to be holy, sinless and unblameable. If anyone, Jezebel, Jeroboam, Aaron, Eli or the spineless pastors and leaders allow the defilement of the church, God shall destroy them. The temple of God must remain holy.

3. The Damnation Of Polluted People. Matthew 23:15; Hebrews 13:4
When we marry, it is honourable but there are widows and widowers who are still of marriageable age. They should remarry if they are burning inside, otherwise, if they are not careful, they might become Jezebels in the local church. Marriage is honourable, so they must marry and not lure other people into immoral acts. They must not be projecting to others that they are alright when they are not, and be keeping to the unspoken tradition of showing people around they love their late spouses. They must not listen to their children who are urging them to remain faithful to the memory of their dead spouses who have gone to be with the Lord and they are enjoying what they have in heaven. As long as they cannot remain pure, they must marry instead of seducing people into immorality and thereby pollute the church. Some people appear to be holy and pure but in their hearts, spirit, behind closed doors and curtains where no one can see them, they are defiled and are whoremongers. They are like Jezebels in the church of God.

Revelation 21:8. All these things should not be in the church of God:
The permissive pastor, permissive pioneer pastor who will allow abomination, defilement, adultery, whoremongering and abortion. The pastors allow some people to be untouchable, witches and sorcerers, idol worshippers and occultist, liars who lie to the Holy Ghost and pastors who practice these things themselves.

Jezebel was unbelieving, she never thought that judgment would come upon her so she continued in her evil practice. So also are those who are involved in evil, sin, polygamy, abortion, they think judgment will not come upon them. The Lord will judge them all. The Lord is calling us to immediate repentance, righteousness, and restoration. His coming is so near, so He wants us to hold on to the end.

C. THE PROMISE FOR CONQUERORS. Revelation 2:24
Those who conquer all the defilement coming from the company of those who purposely to corrupt the church, the Lord gave a promise that has many parts unto them.

1. Preservation Through Insulation From Satan. Revelation 2:24; II Corinthians 6:17-18
Some people who are prayer warriors, and have the promise of God for answered prayers, start digging into the depths of Satan. They go to buy books to get information on how those people who do not have complete reliance on the cross of Calvary operate, they want to know about the activities of demons and the power behind all the cults and gangs, what gives them boldness and courage. They want to know the operation of familiar spirits, witches and wizards and the powers of darkness.

If you say you are praying for people, you want to hold crusades and evangelize and you are delving into the depths of Satan, Jesus said He has not given you that assignment to do because it can rope you in and pull you into hell fire. Leave all those things and repent. Be separate from them. Do not go back into magic, occultism, do not go back and be asking how they cast out demons or evil spirits, do not get involved in the depths of Satan. Come out and be preserved by being insulated and isolated from Satan.

2. Perseverance With Integrity And Steadfastness. Revelation 2:25; II Timothy 1:13-14
The Lord said that which you have you should hold fast till He comes. If you are born again, you have Christ and the Father and the Holy Ghost and He is with you and will dwell with you. You have the anointing and unction that abide in you, you have the greater One abiding in you, and the teaching of the word of God: salvation, regeneration and rebirth, freedom and forgiveness from sin, confidence and faith in Christ, the assurance that if we ask anything in His name, He will answer.

You have holiness and purity of life if you have consecrated yourself to God and He has sanctified you, Christ is not ashamed to call us brethren. Hold fast to the work He has given you to do till He comes.

3. Power For Being Immovable In Service. Revelation 2:26
He that believes on Jesus will do greater works than He did. Some people used to believe in the work of Christ that He was a healer who went about doing good: preaching the gospel, healing the sick, delivering the oppressed. But now, they have abandoned these works. To them, it is like Jesus has changed, whereas, He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

The Lord wants you to overcome all the doubts from the theologians, doubters and unbelievers. He wants you to believe on, affirm, and be passionate about His works. You are not moved but continue in the works of the Master.

4. Partaker Of His Influence And Sovereignty. Revelation 2:27
Jesus is the one who has the final authority and supremacy and sovereignty. He is the One the Father promised will break the nations to pieces like vessels of the potter. But as for you, if you are an Overcomer, you will be partakers with Him in that unchallengeable and sovereign influence, and you will rule with the rod of iron just as Christ has received of the Father.

5. Possession Of Illumination As A Star. Revelation 2:28
When you came to the Lord, you came alone and did not know anyone: Jezebel, Samson, Delilah, so you must not allow anyone to influence you because at the end, none of them will stand for you, you will bear the punishment for the all sins you have committed. You must have the backbone to stand alone.

6. The Peculiarity Of Instruction From The Spirit. Revelation 2:29; Mark 4:23-25
The spirit says so many things to the church, it is those who overcome who will listen and obey with the ears of a victor and achiever. When they hear, they pray for grace to obey the instructions from the Lord. My brother and sister, what kind of ear do you have? Is it the ear of an overcomer, of a victor, of an achiever, of a saint of God, of a rapturable and obedient member or the ear of a shepherd in the church of God?

He that has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. When you hear the word of God, you will rise up and internalize and personalize the word so that you will have the power to do all that you need to do to become a conqueror, an Overcomer, a victor and a person that will not be corrupted by any Jezebel or anyone else.

Prayer:

• Pray that you will not be part of those who corrupt and pollute the church of God
• Pray that God will bless and reward our Pastor for his labour of love over us.