1. Pergamos
   Rev 2:12
   To the church of Pergamos, the Lord refers to Himself as the one who has the sharp two edged sword. What does the sharp two edged sword tell us? There were two types of governors in the Roman Empire. Some governors are given the right to impose capital punishment; to execute or to allow someone to live. Some governors have not received this right. This is like the governors in China who were given swords and were able to impose capital punishment.

Pilate had the right to impose capital punishment. That’s why he said to Jesus, “Do you not know that I have the power to release and crucify You?” He had the two edged sword and the right to impose this punishment. But Jesus replied him, “If the power wasn’t given to you on high, you wouldn’t be able to impose this punishment on me. Only the true God in Heaven has the power to judge someone to die or stay alive.”

Matt 10:28 (read)
The Roman governors have the right to carry out execution and can kill anyone at will. But they can only kill the body and not the soul. That’s why Jesus says not to fear them. Rather fear Him who’s able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

The Lord says He has the sharp two edged sword. He’s the Lord truly able to judge the living and the dead. He’s able to deliver the bodies and souls of Man into eternal life. At the same time, He’s able to judge the bodies and souls of Man to be delivered to hell. He’s the one we should fear.

John 12:47-48
Jesus says that if anyone hears His words and doesn’t believe, He wont judge them because He didn’t come to judge but save the world. In this time of deliverance, the word of the Lord is the word of life meant to save people unto eternal life. But the day of judgement will arrive. And those who reject Jesus and don’t receive His words will be judged on the last day. Therefore we have to heed the words of the Lord because His words pertain to life and death. Perhaps we don’t feel the importance of His word; we may deem the knowledge of the world is more important and practical. They teach us how to earn money, how to upkeep health. Health and wealth are important to us. If we have health but not wealth, it’ll be difficult to pass through our days. We’ll salivate when we watch people eating. If we have wealth but not health, that’s even more torturous. We have a table of good food but we don’t dare to eat for the sake of our health. So most people will esteem earning more money and staying healthy. They don’t reckon the word of God can give them good health and wealth. Because they see people who listen to His words don’t have good health nor wealth. They neglect the fact that the word of God doesn’t just pertain to the life of today. It’s supposed to save you unto eternal life. In the future, this word is also going to judge on the last day. That’s why the word of God is indeed a sharp two edged sword - meant to deliver and to judge.

Heb 4:12
The word of God is living and powerful. It’s not just a theory or a form of knowledge. Rather, it’s a power that’s able to deliver and has the power to judge. That’s why Jesus says, “The words I speak to you are spirit and life.” Therefore we have to heed the words of the Lord and obey them. Don’t dislike or reject His word because there’ll come a day this word will judge us. That’s why whenever we read Revelation, we keep coming across the phrase “let him who has ears let him hear”. It doesn’t concern your health or wealth, but your soul.

The word of God is a two edged sharp sword. On one hand, it’s a blessing. On the other hand, it’s a curse.

Deut 11:26-29
Moses instructed the people of Israel to put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal when they enter Canaan. They can see these mountains everyday. Even people afar off know of these mountains. One represents blessings, one represented curses. This wasn’t Moses idea but God’s command. Purpose was that many things would change but these two mountains wouldn’t. When they look upon the two mountains, they’ll remember the word of the Lord. Both the path of blessing and the path of curse is laid before you. Which will you tread upon? Don’t just look at the blessing and forget the curse. Many people think God only blesses and never cursed, they think only the devil curses us. But the very first curse was from the Lord. After Adam and Eve sinned, God cursed the land. From henceforth the good land bore thorns and thistles. Many people overlook this.

Some people took a tour to Mount G and Mount E. The guide said that if they were to look at Mount G from afar, it’s green. But Mount E is bald and baring. Giving testimony that G is the one of blessing and E is cursed.

When we read the Bible and listen to the Bible, we know the blessings and cursings of the evil Lord. We want God’s blessings but we must be careful His blessings don’t turn into w curse.

Mal 2:2
The Lord spoke to His priest that this command is for you. If you don’t fear and don’t take it to heart, I’ll send a curse upon you. Your blessings will become a curse because you don’t take the commandments to heart. Time and again the Lord reiterated we have to keep the commandments of God and have to place it in our hearts. If we don’t, the blessings will turn to curse.

God personally wrote the 10 commandments up in Mount Sinai. His commandments are not many. Of course in the Old Testament they have ordinances and statutes. But at the very beginning, the Lord only gave 10 commandments. He wrote it to show these things will never change and how important they are. But have we as Christians esteemed these commands? That depends on where we place it. We won’t tell others where we put our important things. We’ll definitely place it in the safest place. Are the commandments of the Lord important to us? Where do we place it? Some believers place it with the preacher lol. “Preacher, what’s the 6th commandment ah?” Some believers place it in the Bible. When they forget, they refer to the Bible. What’s worse is some believers don’t even know where they place it! They don’t place it in their hearts.

Remember what the Lord says. If we don’t keep it to heart, His blessings will become a curse.

Recall when Naomi and Ruth returned to Bethlehem. When they last saw her, she was so honourable. But now she was so downcast. That’s why they asked if she was really Naomi. Naomi said she was but didn’t want to be called Naomi (sweet) anymore but Marah (bitter) because she had been afflicted by the Almighty; she went out full but came back empty. Initially Naomi and her household were blessed but departed from the house of the Lord to the house of Gentiles. Their blessings turned to curses. Later Naomi repented and returned, and received the blessings of the Lord. Her testimony tells us fearing the Lord and keeping His commandments will result in blessing. But disobeying will lead this blessing into curse. And how do we turn this curse into a blessing? Only one way. To return to the Lord. Then we’ll receive the blessings once again like Naomi.

1. Sardis
   Rev 3:1ff
   To the church of Sardis, the Lord refers to Himself as the one who has the 7 Spirits of God and the 7 stars.

Previously, the 7 stars have been explained to be the messengers of the 7 churches. They’re held fast in the hands of the Lord. They’re honoured and treasured by the Lord. It also goes to show their submissiveness to the control of the Lord. Yet we see how weak the church in Sardis is and how she failed. “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.” They became alive after baptism but are now dead because they’re only Christians in name. Their conduct doesn’t complement the gospel of Christ. They believe in the Lord but haven’t been transformed to be a new man.

Yet we see they are still in the hand of the Lord; they are one of the 7 stars held fast in the right hand of the Lord. Even though they were weak and failed, God didn’t cast them away. The Lord continues to call them to repent. If they don’t repent and continue to degrade, then there’ll come a day they won’t be in the hand of the Lord anymore; they’ll be discarded.

Sardis was such a weak church that was a failure. With a name that it’s alive yet is dead. “I’ve not found your works perfect before God.” In the eyes of Man, what’s the point in holding on to them? But the Lord continued to hold on to them.

Matt 12:20
In our life of faith, we won’t always be strong. There’ll be times we’re weak and fall. Or we witness those strong become weak. They’re like be brushed reed or smoking flax. Some Christians are like the bruised reed that are easily hurt. A little criticism can cause one to be moody the whole day. An attack can cause hopelessness. It wasn’t a great matter but just a petty issue that causes hurt. Will anyone be bothered by a bruised reed? No. “Just let it die lah! Not like we haven’t seen a corpse.” Many people aren’t bothered with our lives. But the Lord does. The Lord will not break the bruised reed but are we willing to turn to Him? Furthermore, let us not use our status as a bruised reed to make excuses for ourselves. Instead rely on His help to be strengthened.

Have you seen a smoking flax? We just wait for the bulb to fuse and then we throw it away and replace it. Who will take notice of a smoking flax? Our Lord cares for the smoking flax. He won’t quench or discard it. He’ll bestow it with the oil of the Holy Spirit, to once again shine forth. A smoking flax God will not quench, but is the smoking flax willing to request the Holy Spirit to help him to shine once again.

The Lord also says He’s the one with the 7 spirits. That doesn’t mean there’re 7 Holy Spirits. 7 is a perfect number. There’s one Spirit but He has various gifts and effects.

Isa 11:1-3
The rod from the stem of Jesse refers to the Messiah. Jesse is the father of David and the Messiah is the descendant of David. The prophet talks about the spirit upon the Messiah. There’re 3 pairs of titles. Why is the Holy Spirit known in these 3 pairs?

Some people explain its because the golden lampstand has 3 branches that comes from the right and left and one in the middle. If these 3 pairs are separated, there’re 7 titles of the Spirit.

These 7 titles refer to the 7 works of the Holy Spirit:

1. The spirit of the Lord
   This tells us the spirit is from the Heavenly Father to testify He’s the son of God.

2. The spirit of wisdom
   To cause Him to have wisdom; to allow him to discern between good and evil. Some people are full of knowledge yet lack wisdom to discern between good and bad knowledge. We need wisdom to discern between truth and falsehood.

3. The spirit of understanding
   The spirit of understanding allows you to perceive something. The Holy Spirit is able to guide us in the truth and understand things pertaining to God. The Holy Spirit helps us to know how to fear the Lord and lead a life that’s God fearing. What happens when the understanding comes from the world? The things he perceives will be from the world; the way he leads his life is very self centred. We see people who’re very intelligent are very self centred. They are able to comprehend much better than others but are also full of pride. Such an understanding causes them to fall because they deem the gospel of the cross as something to despise. We see people who oppose Christ aren’t foolish but clever. That’s why there’s the phrase: people will die in their own wisdom.

We hence shouldn’t just pursue the understanding of the world but from the spirit. The spirit of understanding gives us understanding of the word.

1. Spirit of counsel
   A spirit that comforts and counsels. There’re times we cry. What’s worse when we can’t even cry. At that time, nobody is able to comfort us. Only you know your own sufferings. Yet the spirit knows our hearts and will comfort our hearts. The comfort of the spirit is able to comfort our hearts. Why the disciples who went through much physical and mental suffering able to continue? Because they received the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Very often we require the comforts of Man. Which is why whenever we’re frustrated, we’d want to call someone. But who has the time to listen to you all the time? Often we say, “I’ll pray for you.” But we just say only. Rightfully we should say, “The spirit will comfort you.” You have to pray for this. We seem to have overlooked this work of the spirit. The spirit is the spirit of counsel. We truly need the comfort of the spirit. Perhaps there’ll come a day we will be lonely and in pain, remember the Holy Spirit is our counsellor.

2. Spirit of might
   A man’s strength is limited and weak. Often, we know we should do certain things but we can’t do it. Things we shouldn’t do, we do because we can’t control ourselves. We’re controlled by the lust of our flesh. The Lord knows our limitations. That’s why He gave the Holy Spirit to help us overcome the lists of our flesh and abide in Him.

3. Spirit of knowledge
   Knowledge from Man causes him to be full of pride. But knowledge from God causes Man to know Him and fear Him. Which knowledge will we pursue after?

4. Knowledge of the spirit of the fear of the Lord
   It’ll cause us to fear the Lord. If we have the Holy Spirit but don’t fear the Lord, we’ll grieve the spirit. If we continue not to fear the Lord, one day the Holy Spirit will depart from you.

Therefore these 7 spirits tells us that the Holy Spirit has sufficient gifts and ability to help Sardis to be strengthened once again. Their weaknesses will become strengths and their failure to victory.

We hence have to pray for the Holy Spirit to help the church, to give the church workers gifts to edify the church. To give the believers the ability to overcome the lusts of their flesh. The Lord has the 7 Spirits and 7 stages. He will help us. But do we entirely believe in the help the 7 Spirits can give us? We overlook and think the Holy Spirit is just a guarantee. The 7 spirits will help to strengthen the church and build her up.