Imagine being faithful enough to endure persecution, but not enough to accept accountability; holding fast to Jesus’ name, but not to His Word. That’s exactly where the church of Pergamos found themselves in Revelation 2:12-17. Jesus commended them for being faithful in persecution, for holding fast to His name, for keeping the faith while living in Satan’s domain. With all the strength they showed, there was also a weakness that He said He had against them, they lacked accountability. Specifically, Jesus said that within the church they had people who lived outside of God’s Word, who could endure persecution but would not endure the Scripture, who tried to live in Christ without being devoted to His Word. What is interesting is that Jesus held against the church, not the error, but the allowance. Jesus didn’t hold against them the false doctrine, that was only being followed by a few, He held against them their unwillingness to confront the few with the truth. Tonight, we will talk about the weight of God’s Word among us, that His Word is not something we just carry in our hearts as individuals but it is what holds us near to God as the body of Christ, it is what ties us together as brothers and sisters and it is also what we must use to purify ourselves and each other. God’s Word is not only for our instruction and revelation, it is for our accountability to God, but just as much, it is for our accountability to each other. We will discuss the doctrine of Balaam, the throne of Satan and what it means to have Jesus send His Word to fight against us. Most of all, we will consider together our calling to not just encourage and bless each other, but to use God’s Word to confront and charge each other. According to Jesus, accountability is not a cultural buzz word, it is a kingdom characteristic.