Examining our lives in their light – Part 4

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This week we are reviewing the church of Philadelphia to whom Jesus introduces Himself as the Holy One, the True One and the One Who holds the key of the house of David – which was a reference to Isaiah’s mention of Eliakim’s possessing the key or insignia of authority to David’s kingdom. Used as it is here in reference to Himself, this would indicate Jesus as possessing all authority and power regarding the Kingdom of God.

As such entrance into that kingdom in within His power – if He opens no man can shut and if He closes no man can open.

The assembly of believers in Philadelphia were heavily and negatively scrutinized by the larger Jewish population there – no doubt due to the Jesus the church worshipped was claimed to be the Jewish Messiah. All indicators point to Philadelphia being a small home church which only added to the judgement call of the Jewish people in that city that they were insignificant and unknown by God.

Jesus praises them for their not denying Him, their keeping of His word – especially His word regarding patient endurance. Jesus assures them that this Jews will one day bow at their feet and acknowledge that God… the Jesus their Messiah, had placed His love open these believers.

Many lessons were learned from this, one of the most important being that the opinions of others not only does not matter, but is often detrimental and wrong.

Jesus concludes His letter by telling them that the one who conquers will be made a pillar in the temple of God, which is a beautiful metaphor for not being on the “outside” as the pagan Jewish population in Philadelphia no doubt implied, but that they were in fact built upon its foundation Jesus Himself and were the epitome of strength and being firmly established!

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Old Testament Review – Joshua Part 2

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Joshua begins the unfolding of a very important chapter in Israel’s history and even the world.

Tonight we cover the Battles of Jericho and Ai, but more importantly the abiding lessons they teach including:
• The importance of memorials, reminders and teaching the next generation.
• Preventing 2nd generation faith – The covenant renewed with the 2nd generation of Israel
• Obedience to God, respect for Him as well as His ongoing presence are all intregal to success
• Not making assumptions about passages but study to show yourself approved
• The sins of Pride, presumption and ingratitude and the secondary sins they lead to
• Obedience brings victory and life

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Examining our lives in their light – Part 3

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This week we are reviewing the churches of Thyatira and Sardis. As in our former message on Thyatira, my take is quite a bit different than the majority but I can only rightly teach what I clearly see in scripture. The one advantage in this case is that both my view and the common one both reveal truth, even if it does not perfectly represent the exact situation Jesus was addressing in this church.

Both regarding Thyatira and Sardis the call was to repentance.

Thyatira was a good church who were active in all the arenas of life Paul typically addresses in his letters to the churches. They were loving God and their brethren, their faith was growing, active and producing the fruit of their union with Christ, they were living their faith in their service in kingdom work and they possessed steadfast endurance.

There could hardly be a better report Jesus could give and in addition to all of this, their most recent works were greater than their first!

The fact that Jesus had to address them should be a wake up call to all who fall short in the areas in which He praised them. Almost any church today would be well satisfied if they were living lives like these!

Then in Sardis they believed they were in the condition of the church of Thyatira – accepting the testimony of their human observers who all said theirs was an alive church. Jesus testified that they were in fact quite dead, possessing only the last vestiges of an ever weakening pulse.

Jesus goes on record as saying that what makes a church alive is their works of righteousness of which the believers in Sardis were tangibly bereft. If it had not been for the faithfulness of our Lord, they would have slipped off into spiritual death and never have noticed their final denial of Christ.

Both letters are sobering warnings against our involvement with this world and failing to address sin and safeguard against ungodly influence and teachings of the world around us. Many Christians have been tempted into deception by heeding the words of a flashy preacher or influential, self proclaimed prophet – thinking they were revealing something deeper than they were getting within the safety of their sheepfold. Paul himself said, that though he was not eloquent and captivating in speech they had never heard the gospel ever taught as clearly and accurately as they had from him.

There is MUCH to be said in favor of clear, careful exposition of God’s word!

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Old Testament Review – Deuteronomy Part 3 & Joshua Part 1

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This week we wrapped up Deuteronomy with a comparison between the blessings Jacob pronounced over his sons in Genesis 49 and those Moses proclaims over the 12 tribes before going into the Promised Land. We then read the final chapter of Deuteronomy which covers Moses’ seeing the Promised Land from afar, his death and his burial by God’s Own hand.

Then we read the 1st chapter of Joshua which sets the pace for the entire book and addressed particulars regarding the biblical account of Jericho, the city of Palms and modern archeological verifications of the biblical account.

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Examining our lives in their light – Part 2

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This week we are reviewing the church of Pergamum. This letter and the next are very similar and a little unexpected. In both, it was not those who were sinning who Jesus was addressing with the need to repent, but those who were faithful. Jesus was addressing the fact that they had failed to curtail the advancement of false teaching in the hearts of some in the church. There is no indicator that these were actually spreading their false notions, but they were FOLLOWING false teachings which was very much like that of the Nicolaitans.

We generated a simple list of 5 things every church could do in order to walk out their love for their brother and sister in Christ as well as their honor of Jesus in ways which would sidestep the pitfalls the faithful of Pergamum had fallen into.

1. Stay connected
2. Participate in “the Fellowship” and the “breaking of bread”
3. Pray for and with one another
4. Seek God’s face regarding your siblings in Christ – regarding areas of concern and for grace to impart
5. Don’t be silent and be receptive

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