So far in this series, we’ve looked at the unexpected messages to four churches in modern-day Turkey.
UNEXPECTED MESSAGE:
• It’s better to have no church than an unloving church.
• It’s better to let a church suffer than to prevent it.
• It’s possible for a church to stand up for Jesus while standing against Jesus.
• It’s possible for a church to wrongly value staying together over staying faithful.
• It’s possible for everyone but Jesus to be convinced that a church is alive and well.
• A church may be strongest when it's weak.
Message Scripture Passage:
Revelation 3:7-13
Series Thesis:
KNOWING the truth doesn’t change anything. SUBMITTING to the truth changes everything.
Topics Discussed Today:
- 00:00 Intro
- 01:53 Additional discussion from last episode on Sardis: how do we know if our church is alive?
- 04:31 God is committed to making us more like Jesus. What are the signs of the Spirit in us?
- 09:36 Is it good for churches to have non-believers among them?
- 12:50 Responding to these letters individually and collectively.
- 14:14 Engaging in serving others individually and collectively.
- 18:11 Pastoral moment on not just knowing the truth but also submitting to it.
- 20:14 Rick's experience of gaining social standing in the community and the challenges it brought in his own life.
- 23:38 What do we do when our own perspectives get in the way of success in following Jesus?
- 28:22 Looking at love, purpose, and unity as key themes in Jesus's seven letters.
- 30:22 Testing of character and gaining clarity on our spiritual health is a gift of Jesus.
- 34:51 Jesus' description of himself in letter to Philadelphia, he claims to be God but then also talks about "his God". How do we understand these ideas?
- 39:31 Our goal is for people to say, "Look at what God did in and through this church."