The core of the message is that the church is doing well in some areas: love, faith, service & endurance.
All of that seems very good, but the problem is the church tolerates immorality.
It is great that the church does so well, serving others and being a good witness. But then it lets itself down by falling into sexual immorality - and when people discover this, they will accuse the church of hypocrisy.
It's very easy to preach to people telling them what they should do, and even easier if we're doing loads of good things ourselves, but we should strive for integrity above all things.
Have a read through this passage - Revelation 2:18-29. This is a pretty long one, and there's a lot on what punishment awaits those who stray.
When I first became a Christian, I was very hesitant in telling my old school friends, as they had seen the 'un-Christian' side of me, and would question this. And I wasn't sorted then, not by a long way.
So what's the solution? To let our good deeds to the talking, and to be honest about areas where we struggle.
Find an appropriate person to talk to about areas of difficulty - preferably someone of the same sex, and with more life experience than you. Once you open up about the hard things in your life, you will often find you are not alone, and also that there's a way out!
What the up side then?
vv26-28 says 'he [or she] who overcomes...will have the same authority I received from my Father' (see Psalm 2:8-9 for the source of this idea). If we walk in the light, there is essentially no limit to what we can do! The power we have is also power over evil, which is rather useful is you ask me!
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