Letters To The Churches, Revelation 2-3

KristiStephens.
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Letters to the Churches, Revelation 2-3
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The Letters to the Churches

Revelation 2-3
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A Note of Introduction
Hello!
Im thrilled to be opening up the Word of God with you thank

you for your interest in this guided study. Before we jump in, I
would like to introduce myself and explain what this study is all
about.
I am a full time homemaker who loves to teach Gods Word

through our local church and through my blog,
www.KristiStephens.com.. This particular study focuses on Revelation 2-3,2 Christs
letters
rs to seven churches. This is the first portion of a longer ongoing study on my
blog to overview the entire book of Revelation if you enjoy these devotional studies
I hope you will join us for more!
I trust that what I have written here will be useful aand

nd helpful for you, but in no way is
this intended to be used in lieu of your own Bible study. In fact, as you progress
through these studies I am assuming that you are reading and studying these texts on
your own as we go. While I strive to be accurate iin n my explanations and applications,
nothing can take the place of spending time directly in Gods Word!
May God bless you as you dig in!
- ^||
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up
in him, strengthened
thened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
Colossians 2:6-7
KristiStephens.com 2
Contents
A Note of Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1
If Christ Sent a Letter to Your Church ........................................................................................................ 4
A Visit to Ephesus .......................................................................................................................................... 5
Revelation 2:2-3 ........................................................................................................................................ 5
Heart Disease ................................................................................................................................................ 7
Revelation 2:4 ........................................................................................................................................... 7
Jesus Prescription for Heart Disease............................................................................................................ 9
Revelation 2:5 ........................................................................................................................................... 9
A Prayer for the Ephesian in Us .................................................................................................................. 11
A Visit to Smyrna ......................................................................................................................................... 12
The Easter People ....................................................................................................................................... 14
Revelation 2:8-11 .................................................................................................................................... 14
Passing Through Pergamum ....................................................................................................................... 16
Revelation 2:12-17 .................................................................................................................................. 16
Deadly Compromise .................................................................................................................................... 18
Revelation 2:14-16 .................................................................................................................................. 18
Trouble in Thyatira ...................................................................................................................................... 20
Revelation 2:18-29 .................................................................................................................................. 20
The Weight of the Millstone ....................................................................................................................... 22
Revelation 2:20-23 .................................................................................................................................. 22
Sardis: The Slow Fade ................................................................................................................................. 24
Revelation 3:1-6 ...................................................................................................................................... 24
The Church of the Living Dead .................................................................................................................... 26
Revelation 3:1b-5 .................................................................................................................................... 26
The Weak Things of This World .................................................................................................................. 28
Revelation 3:8-9 ...................................................................................................................................... 28
An Amazing Promise ................................................................................................................................... 30
Revelation 3:10 ....................................................................................................................................... 30
Laodicea The Church That Made Christ Sick ............................................................................................ 32
Revelation 3:15-17 .................................................................................................................................. 32
The Laodicean Syndrome ............................................................................................................................ 34

Revelation 3:15-17 .................................................................................................................................. 34
The Last Warning to the Church ................................................................................................................. 36
Revelation 3:18-20 .................................................................................................................................. 36
23 Ways to Pray for Your Church ................................................................................................................ 39
If Christ Sent a Letter to Your Church
In chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation, we find seven letters to seven churches. These

were actual churches which were present in the cities named during this time period
when John received the Revelation.
These letters fascinate me. They haunt me. They make me want to examine my
motives and plead daily for God to search my heart and see if there be any offensive
way in me. They drive me to pray for the leadership of our church.
Yesterday we discussed that Christ is the ruling Lord of the Church. He is walking
among the lampstands He is in the midst of the local bodies of believers, holding the
individuals over each church body in His sovereign right hand.
Jesus begins each address to the churches with the statement I know. He knows our
deeds, good and bad. He knows our reputation and whether or not it matches reality.
He knows our suffering. He knows our sin. He knows.
These letters make me wonder if Jesus Christ sent a letter to my church, to your
church what would it say? If He sent a letter to me individually, what would it say?
Would we be commended for our faithfulness?
Would we have a reputation for being spiritually alive and growing, but in reality are
dead?
Would He call us to repent?
These churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and
Laodicea are far removed from us in time and culture, and yet these bodies of
believers have much to teach us in what they did well, in where they struggled, in
where they were called to repent.
We will begin to look at these letters more closely tomorrow, but until then I hope you
will spend some time reading Revelation 2 and 3 on your own. Chew on these words.
And consider with me what a letter to your church, to you, might say.
i
A Visit to Ephesus
Revelation 2:2-3
The first letter in Revelation 2 is addressed to the church at Ephesus. We talked about
Ephesus back inWhy Were Homeschooling: Part Three. Quoting from that post:
Ephesus would probably blow our minds. Ephesus offered asylum

to any criminal. It was the slave capital of the world. There was not a single
believer in Jesus Christ when Paul arrived on the scene. The worship of Diana
(or Artemis) was so central to life in Ephesus that we are told in Acts 20 that
eventually as more people placed their faith in Jesus Christ and abandoned
idolatry, it was upsetting the local economy and actually caused a riot!
In his commentary on Revelation, John MacArthur1 writes,

The worship of Artemis was unspeakably vile. Her idol was a gross, many-
breasted monstrosity, popularly believed to have fallen from heaven (Acts
19:35). The temple was attended by numerous priests, eunuchs, and slaves.
Thousands of priestesses, who were little more than ritual prostitutes, played a
major role in the worship of Artemis. The temple grounds were a chaotic
cacophony of priests, prostitutes, bankers, criminals, musicians, dancers, and
frenzied, hysterical worshipers. The philosopher Heraclitus was called the
weeping philosopher because no one, he declared, could live in Ephesus and
not weep over its immorality
Huddled in the midst of such pagan idolatry that characterized Ephesus was a
faithful group of Christians. (58)
The church in Ephesus most definitely had some wild stories to tell. They also had
quite a rich spiritual history. Their first pastor was Paul. Their second pastor was
Timothy. It is believed that the Apostle John himself pastored this church in later
years. Surely his pastors heart beat faster as Christ began the address to this
congregation he so deeply loved.
Jesus address to them begins with commendation.
I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that
you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be
apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and
have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
Revelation 2:2-3
MacArthur1 notes that hard work or toil denotes labor to the point of sweat and
exhaustion. It describes an all-out effort, demanding all that a person has to give
physically, mentally, and emotionally. These people were committed to Christ in
the midst of a horrifying setting. They didnt water down the Truth, they didnt
tolerate evil, and they confronted and eradicated false teaching. No doubt living in a
city like Ephesus was draining and full of persecution, but they persevered and
endured hardships in the name of Christ. In the midst of it all, they pressed on and did
not grow weary in doing good. (Galatians 6:9)
But all was not well. Tomorrow we will look at the heart disease which was
silently killing this dynamic Ephesian church.
The Church, the bride of Christ, is intimately close to the heart of God. As we
continue through these letters it is easy to turn a magnifying glass on our churches
and diagnose the wrongs we see there. May God search our own hearts first, and
may we be willing to accept His correction. I encourage you to use these posts as a
reminder to pray earnestly for God to move in and rule over your local church, in
whatever state it may be in. May His name be lifted up, may we be faithful.
Heart Disease
Revelation 2:4
Yesterday we visited the church at Ephesus. In the midst of a wild and pagan city,
this faithful church labored on working with all their hearts, persevering under trial
and persecution, rooting out false teaching, continuing on without growing weary.
From an outside perspective, this church would have been impressive, to say the
least.
But Christ doesnt look at His Church from the outside. His blazing eyes and
the sword of His Word cut to the heart of the church and what He found was
disease. A silent cancer eating the church from the inside out.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Revelation 2:4
The Bible is full of commands, laws, exhortations, and descriptions of those who
follow God. Inevitably, it seems that our human nature wants to know the rules.
Do I have to do that? What does God expect me to do? How far can I go before
I cross the line? We easily slip into serving Him out of duty, a feeling of self-
righteous superiority, habit, or culture. We fear what others will think of us when
we sin more than we fear our holy God and lovingly desire to please Him.
When experts in the law questioned Jesus about which commandment was the
greatest, His answer was simple and profound.
Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And
the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the
Prophets hang on these two commandments.
Matthew 22:37-39
If we love God, we will obey Him as a natural result. (1 John 2:4-6, 2 John 6). If we
love the Lord, we will love others. (1 John 2:9-10). Love is essential to everything
we do! (1 Corinthians 13). Love is the foundation of all the commandments.
As we discussed in our post about The Great Shema,
Why isnt have no other gods before me the greatest commandment?

Because if I love the Lord with all that I am, I will not serve other gods. Why
isnt thou shalt not kill the greatest commandment? Because if I love the
Lord with all that I am, I will not degrade and seek to take the lives of those He
created and loves.
Remember our previous posts about the law the law was not a means to salvation by
works. Following the law evidenced true faith true relationship. If a person truly
loves the Lord their God with ALL their heart, with ALL their soul, and with ALL
their strength, the rest of the law falls into line! Relationship comes FIRST,
obedience comes second.
Relationship FIRST, obedience SECOND. When we get those turned around, we

begin to obey thinking on some level that we are earning merit with God that He
will love us more if we do what He wants. We develop a skewed perspective that
says, God, I did all of this for you I scratched Your back, now You scratch mine.
You owe me. Rather than being compelled to obey because we love Him, our
relationship cools and we treat our obedience as a bargaining chip.
Love comes first.
Jesus Prescription for Heart Disease

Revelation 2:5
Yesterday we discovered the cancer eating the Ephesian church from the inside out:
they had left their first love. The diagnosis was serious. The prescription is direct
and clear.
Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you
did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand
from its place.
Revelation 2:5
Remember. I dont know about you, but sometimes the greatest rebuke to my
spiritual walk comes from talking to new believers in Jesus. They are so passionate
for their newfound Savior and His Word! Their eagerness to learn, their willingness
to obey, their enthusiasm for sharing Truth with others are refreshing and challenging
to me. Ive often had new Christians comment to me that their new friends in the
church dont seem to want to talk with them about everything they are learning and
their zeal to obey and I think theyre right. We dont like to hear it. It makes us
uncomfortable. We need to remember to remember where we would be without
Jesus Christ, to remember the amazing gift of forgiveness of sins He has offered to us,
to remember that we do not earn grace with all of our good works!
Repent. Why are they repenting? Because failing to be motivated first and foremost
by love was sin.SIN.
Consider this: if the greatest commandment is to Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, then loving God with
anything less than ALL our hearts and ALL our souls and ALL our minds is SIN.
And sin calls for repentance to agree with God that our sin is deeply offensive, to
desire His righteousness, to turn around and head in the other direction!
Do the things you did at first. Dig into the Bible like youve never read it before.
Pray with the awe and excitement that the Creator and Ruler of the Universe has
invited you into His throneroom! Worship God out of the deep gratitude of one who
knows that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for US.
Ive been thinking off and on for quite a while now about the Sermon on the Mount
it strikes me that there is a reason why blessed are the poor in spirit is the first
beatitude. Until we realize how truly poor and undeserving we are of the rich grace
He has lavished on us, we will not love Him like the woman in Luke 7.
Take a good long look at yourself today, friend. See the ugliness of your sin.
Recognize the truth of what you deserve versus what God has given you. Stop piling
up your good works before God as payment and recognize that they do not make
you any more deserving of salvation we are utterly poor in spirit, we are utterly
dependent on grace. Until we realize that we are the forgiven much, we will not love
Him lavishly. We need to remember, repent, and turn to Him in deep gratitude.
A Prayer for the Ephesian in Us
As weve been discussing the letter to the Ephesian church, have you seen a portrait of
yourself? Of your church?
These letters to the churches are challenging and convicting because we can easily
fall into the traps these other local churches, removed from us by thousands of years,
fell into before us.
These letters open our eyes to the bigger picture what God sees when He looks upon
us. They should drive us to prayer, for ourselves, for our church bodies. Lets close
this week of looking at the church in Ephesus with a prayer for the Ephesian attitudes
that might be present in our own hearts and our own churches.
Lord, we are a forgetful people.
Like the Israelites we forget the slavery you redeemed us from and grow discontent.
We pile up our works before You and feel that we have earned the lavish gifts You
have given us.
We love ourselves, our comfort, our reputation more than we love You.
Forgive us, Lord, for any self-righteous attitudes of entitlement that have crept into
our hearts.
Shine Your light of Truth into our lives and reveal it to us drive us to repent.
Forgive us for failing to love you with all our hearts, all our souls, all our minds.
Renew the passion in our hearts remind us of your grace that is greater than all of
our many sins.
We bring our churches to you, the Lord of the Church.
Examine our church bodies convict our hearts, expose our wrong motives, drive us
to bow our knees before you in awe and worship and overflowing in love.
We long for our churches to be a lights into the darkness in the surrounding
communities we beg you to renew our love and not remove our influence from
where you have placed us.
Teach us to love you more.
A Visit to Smyrna
The church is always purified by fire. It is painful no one wants to suffer. But it
seems that in places of extreme suffering and persecution, Gods people grow stronger
and false believers stay far from the church in the cross-hairs of persecution.
Smyrna was one of these places of suffering and purity. Interestingly, this church
and the church at Philadelphia (which was also suffering) are the only two churches in
the book of Revelation to receive commendation free of any rebuke from the Lord.
Smyrna was a powerful and wealthy city, noted for its beauty and well situated for
trade by land and sea. It was also a city fiercely loyal to Rome. In 195 B.C. the
citizens of Smyrna built a temple dedicated to the worship of Rome. In 26 A.D., this
city was selected as the location of a temple for the worship of Emperor Tiberius. The
Christians at Smyrna faced incredible pressure to worship the emperor and severe
persecution if they refused. Thats not all.
Smyra worshiped an eclectic mix of gods, including Zeus, Apollo, Aphrodite,
Asklepios, and especially, Cybele. The Christians rejection of the pagan
pantheon of idols, coupled with their worship of an invisible God, caused them
to be denounced as atheists. Much of Smyrnas social life revolved around
pagan worship, and Christians were viewed as antisocial elitists for refusing to
participate in it.
MacArthur1, 71
When I consider the faithfulness of believers like those who lived in Smyrna, it causes
me to examine my heart. What would I do? Would I cave to social pressure? Would
I stop sharing my faith and cower in fear? Would I try to externally blend in to the
rest of society and keep my faith hidden? Am I so compelled by the Truth of Jesus
Christ that I would be burned at the stake, fed to the lions, cut in two for what I
believe?
A few years back I was challenging a Christian group of high school students from
the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I was shocked by their responses.
We discussed the fact that these young men knew the suffering they would face and
stayed faithful to God in the midst of it all and they argued with me that it wouldnt
have been a big deal if they had just pretended to worship the idol. They could
have actually been praying to God! They could have been looking at the grass!
No one would know what they were actually doing they wouldnt actually have to
worship it!
I nearly wept.
What a poignant statement about the state of the American church. Just look like the
rest of the culture and keep your faith private. Avoid persecution. You can appear to
be an idol worshiper your true allegiance is a private matter.
It is not a private matter. If we believe in the core of our being that Jesus is who He
said He is, if we have cast ourselves upon His grace, if we have clung to Truth we
will not deny Him.
As we will discuss tomorrow, the church at Smyrna loved His life more than their
own.
The Easter People

Revelation 2:8-11
Ann Voskamp often talks of the Easter people I love that concept. As we
discussed earlier this spring, the reality of Jesus resurrection should compel us. It
should change us. Those of us who follow Jesus should be deeply marked, every hour
of every day, by the Truth of that empty tomb it cannot be something we merely
sentimentalize one day per year!
The church at Smyrna was full of the Easter people.

To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is
the First and the Last, who died and came to life again.
I know your afflictions and your povertyyet you are rich! I know the slander
of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do
not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some
of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days.
Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who
overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.
Revelation 2:8-11
This church was deeply afflicted. In the midst of a wealthy city, these believers were
poor most of the believers in this church were most likely slaves or destitute free
men. They were severely persecuted both by their pagan culture and by unbelieving
Jews who handed them over to Rome under false accusations and Jesus prepares
them that the worst is yet to come.
His message, His encouragement, the basis for His command to not fear?
He is the one who died and came to life again!
Their death may come soon, but they will receive the crown of life!
The overcomers, those who are truly His and stand firm, will not be hurt by the
second death their debt has been paid, their punishment suffered on their behalf,
their life secured by His own.
The empty tomb will make you a radical. Belief in a Jesus who lived, died, and
conquered sin and death itself the Jesus who is the First and the Last turns us into
Easter people.
Polycarp was the pastor at Smyrna around 50 years after this letter was penned
his remarkable martyrdom has been recorded for us in early church writings. I will
give you just a sampling here.
They, therefore, did not nail him, but bound him. But he, having placed his
hands behind him, and being bound, like a notable ram appointed for offering
out of a great flock, prepared as a whole burnt-offering acceptable unto God,
having looked up unto heaven, said, O Lord God Almighty, Father of thy
beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have received our
knowledge concerning thee, the God of angels and powers, and of the whole
creation, and of all the race of the just who lived before thee,
I thank thee that thou hast deemed me worthy of this day and hour, that I
should have my portion in the number of the martyrs, in the cup of thy
Christ, unto the resurrection of eternal life, both of the soul and body, in the
incorruptibility of the Holy Spirit. Among these may I be received before thee
this day as a rich and acceptable sacrifice, even as thou hast prepared and made
manifest beforehand, and hast fulfilled, thou who art the unerring and true God.
On this account, and concerning all things, I praise thee, I bless thee, I glorify
thee, together with the eternal and heavenly Jesus Christ thy beloved Son, with
whom to thee and the Holy Spirit be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
May we be faithful to the end. May we be radical Easter people, clinging with all we
are to the hope of the resurrection.
Passing Through Pergamum

Revelation 2:12-17
So far in our trip through the letters to the churches in Revelation we have
visited Ephesus and Smyrna. Today we come to the church at
Pergamum, addressed in Revelation 2:12-17 .
To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:

These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword.
I know where you livewhere Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my
name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my
faithful witness, who was put to death in your citywhere Satan lives.
Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold
to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by
eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. Likewise
you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against
them with the sword of my mouth.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him
who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a
white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.
Pergamum was a powerful and influential city known for its vast library. Similarly to
Ephesus and Smyrna, Pergamum was also known for devoted worship to pagan
deities as well as Roman emperors.
Pergamum was an important center of worship for four of the main deities of
the Greco-Roman world, and temples dedicated to Athena, Asklepios,
Dionysos, and Zeus were located there. But overshadowing the worship of all
those deities was Pergamums devotion to the cult of emperor worship.
Pergamum built the first temple devoted to emperor worship in Asia (29 BC),
in honor of Emperor Augustus. Later the city would build two more such
temples, honoring the emperors Trajan and Septimus Severus. The city thus
became the center of emperor worship in the province, and there, more than in
any other city in Asia, Christians were in danger of harm from the emperor
worship cult. Elsewhere, Christians were primarily in danger on the one day
per year they were required to offer sacrifices to the emperor; in Pergamum
they were in danger every day. (MacArthur1, 85)
The spiritually oppressive atmosphere in Pergamum surely could not be stated any
more clearly in verse 13 their city is noted as the location of Satans throne and
also where Satan lives. I wonder what it was like to live there surely the spiritual
oppression and presence of pure evil was palpable, the danger imminent, fear ever-
present.
Danger did not exist solely outside the church walls. Apparently a portion of this
church, although not all, had fallen prey to dangerous false teachings and had
capitulated to the pressure and influence of their surrounding culture. Tomorrow we
will look more closely at this sobering reminder to stand firm for truth.
Deadly Compromise
Revelation 2:14-16
Yesterday we began looking at the letter to the church in Pergamum, found in

Revelation 2:12-17. This church was located in a spiritually oppressive climate, to
say the least verse 13 describes Pergamum as the place where Satans throne is and
where he dwells. And yet even while the majority of this church remained faithful
to Christ in the face of severe persecution, the church at Pergamum had a serious
problem. Apparently a significant portion of this church had begun to compromise
both doctrinally and morally.
Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold
to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by
eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. Likewise
you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent
therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with
the sword of my mouth.
Revelation 2:14-16
Both the teaching of Balaam and the teaching of the Nicolaitans encouraged
believers to compromise, to accept practices and beliefs that had no place in the lives
of followers of Jesus. The idea of Christian liberty was abused and twisted, and
believers were even swayed to attend and participate in pagan feasts. These believers
thought that they could live with one foot in the world and one foot in the body of
Christ.
John MacArthur1 notes,
The majority of the believers at Pergamum did not participate in the errors of
either heretical group. They remained steadfastly loyal to Christ and the
Christian faith. But by tolerating the groups and refusing to exercise
church discipline, they shared in their guilt, which brought the Lords
judgment. (89)
The church at Pergamum offers a serious warning for our modern churches. We all
know that our culture has heartily embraced tolerance as the ultimate virtue and
unfortunately this thinking has found its way into the church. The Bibles admonition
to not judge and slander our brothers and sisters in Christ (James 4:11-12) has been
embraced to the exclusion of Biblical commands and patterns to lovingly confront sin
and for church leaders to practice Biblical church discipline. Many individuals who
claim to follow Christ boldly proclaim that doctrine is unnecessarily limiting that to
claim that we know what the Bible says and who God is is arrogant, narrow-minded,
and wrongly exclusive.
Jesus warning is clear: the church as a whole faced looming judgment for tolerating
doctrinal error and sinful living.
Speaking truth isnt going to win you any popularity contests. The way to do this is
not always clear-cut or easy. It must be done in love. It must be done in a spirit of
grace and humility lest we fall into self-righteous judgmental legalism, destroying
those around us and presuming we can discern the motives and intentions of others.
But grace and humility are not the same thing as overlooking sin.
We as believers need to know the truth, first of all the church is largely Biblically
illiterate, coasting by with small bites of inspiration from music, large-group
teaching, or simply cultural Christianity rather than studying and knowing the Word
for themselves. We need to speak truth to one another, sharpening one another, being
willing to confront sin in appropriate and humble ways. We need to pray fervently for
our churches for God to purify the body, for our leaders to have wisdom and
courage to do and teach what is right even when it is becoming increasingly
unpopular, and for believers to be wise and discerning as we live in a culture that
increasingly pressures us to compromise and exchange the truth of God for a lie.
The prescription is serious. The stakes are high. Get into the Word and hit your
knees.
Trouble in Thyatira
Revelation 2:18-29
Our next stop on the tour through the letters to the churches in Revelation is Thyatira.
Thyatira differs from the other cities we have discussed in that it was not known as a
major center of worship to deities or emperors. Thyatira was a hard-working city
known for its trade guilds the 1st century version of labor unions.
The letter to the church in Thyatira in Revelation 2:18-29 is sobering. Jesus
introduction in verse 18 gives a hint of what is to come:
These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and
whose feet are like burnished bronze.
Jesus, the Son of God, is worthy and able to judge His Church. His blazing eyes cut
through reputation and appearances, piercing to the heart of each individual and the
church as a whole. As we stated at thebeginning of this series, a kings feet
symbolized authority in ancient times. The fact that Jesus feet are red-hot shows His
authority to judge and discipline. This introduction sets the stage for the letter to
come. The issues in Thyatira are deep, serious, and will be judged rightly from the
one who sees it all.
Verse 19 begins on a positive note -

I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that
you are now doing more than you did at first.
I am so struck by the mercy of our God. Not only does He see all of our sin, all of our
twisted motives, all of our junk but He also sees what is good. He sees it all. The
good AND the bad. His merciful commendation does not last long, however.
Nevertheless, I have this against you (v. 20)
If you read through the letter to Thyatira , you will notice that their problems do not
originate from outside the church walls this church was being eaten from within as
they tolerated deep sin and doctrinal error. Unlike Pergamum, however, the issue was
not localized to a small minority in the church.
Most of the church at Thyatira seems to be culpable in this situation and much of
the issue stemmed back to one female teacher in the church. One woman who has
taken on an inappropriate role in the body. One woman whose influence was leading
many around her into destructive sin. One woman who refused to repent.
You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her
teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of
food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality,
but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make
those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her
ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I
am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according
to your deeds.
Revelation 1:20-23
Sobering words. Words that strike me to the core as a female teacher in the church!
To be continued
The Weight of the Millstone

Revelation 2:20-23
Yesterday we began looking at the somber letter to the church in Thyatira, found
in Revelation 2:18-29. We find in this letter that the deep and troubling issues in this
church found their root in the influence of one woman within their midst a woman
who had arrogantly taken on the title of prophetess, a woman who was practicing sin
and leading others to do the same. A woman who refused to repent.
You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her
teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of
food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality,
but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make
those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her
ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I
am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according
to your deeds.
Revelation 1:20-23
The words about this Jezebel are sobering, to say the least.
By her teaching she was misleading Gods servants she intentionally
encouraged others to follow her lead, teaching her own twisted version of truth
and encouraging sinful behavior
God had mercifully given her time to repent, but she was unwilling she was
arrogant, hard-hearted, and unwilling to bend her will to Gods.
God promised to cast her on a bed of suffering, and would cause those who
followed her to suffer unless they repented.
Jesus reminds us here that He is the one who searches hearts and minds He knows it
all, and He will repay each of us according to our deeds. If we use our influence to
lead others astray, we will be held accountable for it.
Position and leadership brings greater accountability. In Leviticus, if a leader

committed the same sin as Joe Israelite, the cost of his sacrifice was greater even
though they did the same thing! Jesus warns in Matthew 18:6 that it would be better
to have a millstone hung around ones neck and be drowned in the sea than to cause a
child to sin! James 3:1 tells us that teachers in the church will be held to greater
accountability.
The church is near and dear to the heart of God. I, for one, do not want to look my
Savior in the face and tell Him that I led those around me into sin and doctrinal error,
that I caused His church to be crippled, torn apart, riddled with sin. The thought
makes my heart tremble. How are you using your influence? Whether you are a
pastors wife, a staff member, a teacher in the church, or just someone talking in the
halls between services or posting a status update on facebook, all of us have some
level of influence over someone. Perhaps it is just over your own children, or perhaps
hundreds of people pay close attention to what you say and do. But YOU have
influence over someone.
My friends, it is a sobering thing to think of Jesus as the divine Judge who is worthy
to rule and judge His church. He is the one who can see into our very hearts.
May we daily search His Word.
May we pray fervently, Search me, O God, and know my heart! See if there is
any offensive way in me! and may we be willing to repent when He calls us to.
May we guard our tongues, from which can flow both life and death.
The millstone is heavy the weight of leadership and influence is great. May we not
look on it lightly.
O Lord, I pray that our church is a better place because You have placed me there.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in Your
sight, O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer.
Sardis: The Slow Fade

Revelation 3:1-6
The letter to the church at Sardis, found in Revelation 3:1-6, is next on our tour of the
seven churches in Revelation. Sardis was one of the greatest cities in the ancient
world, wealthy and placed in an ideal location. Its history is sobering, however.
John MacArthur1 notes:

Sardis was located about thirty miles south of Thyatira in the fertile valley of
the Hermus River. A series of spurs jutted out from the ridge of Mouth
Tmolus, south of the Hermes River. On one of these hills, some fifteen
hundred feet above the valley floor, stood Sardis. Its location made the city all
but impregnable. The hill on which Sardis was built had smooth, nearly
perpendicular rock walls on three sides. Only from the south could the city be
approached, via a steep, difficult path
Its seemingly impregnable location caused the inhabitants of Sardis to become
overconfident. [pg. 110]
At two different times in history this fortress-like city was conquered both times
because the ruler and inhabitants felt so confident in their secure location that they
failed to keep even one man as a guard to watch the steep walls, looking only to the
most accessible path to the city. Enemy invaders painstakingly scaled the walls one-
by-one, coming into the slumbering city.
Several hundred years later, the city having been rebuilt by Rome, this letter should
have hit home.
I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are
dead. Wake up!Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not
found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.
Revelation 3:1-3
Like the citizens of Sardis, slumbering unaware as their enemies captured their city,
the church at Sardis needed to WAKE UP.
This letter is a powerful reminder to us as 21st century believers that we can far too
easily be lulled to sleep we begin feeling safe in our comfort zones, we place our
trust in circumstances or wealth or people, and we drop our guard. That would never
happen to me. Our church isnt like that. Feelings of self-sufficiency and self-
righteousness convince us that our fortress is secure. We take refuge in our
own names rather than remembering Proverbs 18:10 The name of the LORD is
a strongtower; the righteous run to it and are safe.
Spiritual warfare rages on the question is not IF there is a battle, but whether or not
we are prepared. The church at Sardis was caught unaware, and as we will discuss
tomorrow, the diagnosis was grim.
The Church of the Living Dead

Revelation 3:1b-5
Yesterday we looked at the geography and history of Sardis which paralleled the
issues Jesus addressed in the church located there. Today were going to look more
closely at what had happened spiritually.
I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found
your deeds complete in the sight of my God.
Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent.
But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at
what time I will come to you.
Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They
will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.
He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his
name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father
and his angels.
Revelation 3:1b-5
This church, like the city in which it was located, was dying a slow death. Its glory
years were in the past. They had a reputation which did not match the current reality.
The once-hot fire of their faith and obedience was now dying embers. The truth they
had received had been forgotten, ignored, pushed aside.
In fact, the church was full of people who never really embraced the truth with all
their hearts. It was full of dead men walking.
Jesus called this church to repent. He warned them that His coming would be swift
and unexpected and they would face judgment. He said that there were only
a few people in this church who had remained faithful who were worthy to be
dressed in white and be acknowledged before the Father. The implication: the rest
were never really alive they were never His to begin with.
I am convinced that many of our churches today are populated with the living
dead people who have never truly cast themselves upon the grace of God and been
radically and supernaturally changed. This problem seems especially prevalent

among those who have been given legacies of faith their grandparents and/or parents
were devoted followers of Jesus. They know lots of Bible phrases, perhaps they have
memorized hundreds of verses in AWANA programs as children. They have attended
thousands and thousands of services through their lifetimes. They have lived good,
moral, Christian lives but they are blinded by their self-righteousness and fail to
see the depth of their need. They have embraced Christian culture but theyve
never truly embraced Jesus Christ. Some churches may have only a few individuals
who fit this description. Some, like Sardis, may be populated almost entirely with
them and the church as a whole is truly dead.
It is interesting to me that, as in the other letters, Jesus says, I know your deeds
and yet he has nothing good to say to them. The reason? Their deeds have not been
found complete in Gods sight. Apparently, they had done some things but
they werent complete.
As individuals and corporately as churches we can do good works and miss the point.
You can work in a soup kitchen every day of your life. You can clean the church
every week. You can carefully watch the list of dos and donts that you believe
defines a good Christian, being careful to look the part. You can wear yourself out
with good works and actually be found lacking! Unless we have been transformed
from the inside out by Jesus Christ unless our good works flow from a deep
gratitude in our hearts for what God has done for us, rather than trying to prove our
righteousness or earn His favor our righteousness amounts to nothing more than
filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6)
Jesus prescription for this dead church? Remember the truth, obey it and repent!
Study the Word read it not with a forgetful passing glance but with attention and
reflection, considering what it says. (James 1:23-25) Obey it. See the truth about who
you are apart from Christ how desperately you need His saving work on your behalf.
Recognize the depth of your sin, turn away from it, cast yourself on His grace.
Only when we do this are we worthy our own goodness leaves us dressed in filthy
rags, but when we cling to His righteousness, He dresses us in white.
The Weak Things of This World

Revelation 3:8-9
In the midst of letters which seem to keep getting worse, we find the letter to the
church at Philadelphia. While their contemporaries in surrounding towns were falling
away, becoming overrun with heresy and moral compromise, and embracing dead
religion, these believers stood firm.
I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can
shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and
have not denied my name.
I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews
though they are not, but are liarsI will make them come and fall down at
your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.
Revelation 3:8-9
This church had little strength. Perhaps small in numbers, perhaps composed
primarily of slaves or other poor and unimportant members of Philadelphian
society, Jesus looked on this church with different eyes. This passage calls to mind
for me 1 Corinthians 1:26-29-
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were
wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble
birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God
chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly
things of this world and the despised thingsand the things that are notto
nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.
Some of the other churches we have looked at appeared outwardly strong. From a
human perspective they may have seemed healthier, more spiritual, more effective.
But it was this church, this church with little strength, that Christ looked at with his
laser-clear vision and had nothing but good things to say. It might not have impressed
us, but Jesus saw them for what they truly were. They kept His Word. They did not
deny His name. They suffered persecution and remained true and how He loved
them.
Tomorrow we will look at the specific promises given to these believers. For today,
just consider this: I dont know what you are going through in your life, but He sees.
The Apostle Paul knew a little about suffering and looking foolish in the eyes of the
world, and His perspective is one we should all take to heart.
But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made
perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my
weaknesses, so that Christs power may rest on me. That is why, for Christs
sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in
difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
He must become greater, we must become less.
An Amazing Promise
Revelation 3:10
Yesterday we looked at the refreshingly positive letter to the church at Philadelphia.

Today we want to look briefly at the sweeping promise Jesus gives to them, and by
extension to us, in the next verse.
Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from
the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who
live on the earth.
Revelation 3:10
This was not telling of a future localized persecution. It speaks of a future hour of
testing that would come upon the whole world. Those who live on the earth is a
phrase used several times in the book of Revelation referring to unbelieving people.
The conclusion: this promise was Gods word to faithful believers that they would be
kept from the hour of trial, the tribulation, described in the remainder of this book
that hour of testing was intended for unbelievers, and those who stand faithful with
Christ have already passed the test they are already overcomers! To read a more
detailed explanation of this verses meaning and how this promise extends worldwide
to all believers, I recommend you read or listen to this sermon from John MacArthur
he gives a much more thorough look at this topic!
Obviously the issue of the timing of the rapture is one that has been hotly debated in
Christian circles for years. As I stated at the beginning of this series, it is my desire to
avoid debate and argument about theological positions during this series. I am
convinced that Satan has used these ongoing debates to distract us from the clear
message of this book.
That being said, I do want to be clear that I do hold to a pretribulational view of the
rapture, meaning that Christ will return for His church before the beginning of the
tribulation. This is not a hill Ill die on, but the more I study the Scriptures the more
I feel that this view best fits with what I see in the text from Old Testament to New.
These letters to the churches give me incredible confidence they remind me that we
serve a God who sees everything and is fully in control of the affairs of this world.
They remind me that He will reward and He will judge, and I rest in His justice and
holiness. So no matter when you or I think the rapture will be quite frankly it
doesnt matter in the end. I rest in His sovereign plan and take confidence that He is
in the midst of His church.
For further reading, I appreciated the explanation in this article: Are you looking for
the Christ or the Antichrist? A discussion of the Biblical basis for the time of the
rapture from Friends of Israel.
Laodicea The Church That Made Christ Sick

Revelation 3:15-17
When we looked at the church at Sardis, I shared the burden on my heart for the
number of living dead populating our churches today. As we turn our attention to
the letter to the church at Laodicea, this message becomes all the more urgent. This
letter is the most sobering of all and the one which sadly most reminds me of the
modern American church as a whole.
I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either
one or the other!
So, because you are lukewarmneither hot nor coldI am about to spit you
out of my mouth.
You say, I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.
But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
Revelation 3:15-17
Jesus harsh words were specifically worded for this particular church. Laodiceas
main problem as a city was that they had to pipe their water through stone aqueducts.
By the time the water arrived in the city it was tepid and unpalatable it was neither
refreshing water straight from a cold spring or rejuvenating and healing water from a
hot spring. This church, like the lukewarm and foul water of the city, actually made
Christ sick.
These people had not openly rejected the gospel. They also had not cast themselves
completely on Gods grace. They were outwardly wealthy, self-contented, and smug
they were culturally Christian but were not compelled by Christ. The situation is all
too common today.
There are many people in churches, even entire congretations who are lost.
They may be sincere, zealous, and outwardly religious, but they reject the
gospel truth. They have all the rich New Covenant teaching about Christs
life, death, and resurrection contained in Bibles they neither believe nor obey.
As a result, they are doomed, just as unbelieving Israel was. Paul described
them as holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power,
and then wisely counseled believers to avoid such men as these. (2 Tim. 3:5)
MacArthur1, 132
This last letter is a serious warning to us today. We must examine our hearts, we must
pray for our churches. The rest of this book gives us a sobering look at wrath of God
against sin we do not want to face His judgment without the covering of Christs
righteousness. No amount of religiosity can save us.
To be continued
The Laodicean Syndrome

Revelation 3:15-17
Yesterday we began looking at the church at Laodicea. This church had the dubious
distinction of making the Lord Jesus Christ sick He wanted to spit them out of His
mouth! They also were seriously disconnected from reality.
You say, I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.
But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
Revelation 3:15-17
The spiritual version of The Emperors invisible clothes was afflicting this body of
Christians-in-name. In their own eyes, they were rich, self-sufficient, and wise.
However, the laser sharp eyes of Jesus saw differently. In reality, they were not a
healthy church they were wretched. They were not rich and self-sufficient they
were pitiful and poor. They were not wise they were blind to truth. Like the
emperor marching through the streets in his shame, these false believers thought they
were displaying rich garments of their own righteousness and in reality, they were
naked.
Self-righteousness is incredibly enticing and deceptive.
Sometimes self-righteousness evidences itself as legalism legalists proudly keep

track of the rules they have kept and grade those around them based on their
individualized rule book. Legalists often fall into a trap of failing to see their
desperate need for grace. Rather than falling empty-handed before the cross,
acknowledging that they deserve nothing, they pile their good works before Gods
throne and expect them to be enough. They believe that they deserve grace.
In other cases, self-righteousness rears its head as liberalism. A perception of

intellectualism, wisdom, and insight convinces some people that they are above
the need for Gods grace and simple faith. Following Satans example of old, they try
their best to reduce God, to make Him small and tame, and to place themselves upon
the throne. If they dont like what Gods Word says, they deny or reinterpret with
complicated intellectual-sounding arguments. They remake God in their own image
and their Christianity revolves around their own thoughts, their own ways, what is
right in their eyes.
Self-righteousness is enticing because leaning on the righteousness of Christ makes us
small. Realizing that we cannot earn grace, that we cannot out-think God, that we
must humble ourselves before Him and see ourselves as what we truly are makes us
uncomfortable. We are forced to realize that we are incredibly small and profoundly
sinful before an awesome and unspeakably holy God. So instead, we choose to
believe the same lies that Satan has been feeding humanity since Eden.
Did God really say? [Just disregard what you see there in the Bible. You
know better than that. You are more enlightened than those simpletons
thousands of years ago. The world has changed.]
You will not surely die! [A "good" God would never judge sin. Hell isn't real
- it's a figure of speech!]
You will be like God! [It's all about you! You are the center of the universe!]
Those same lies can be repackaged in a myriad of ways, but fundamentally they boil
down to the same thing over and over. They might even be paraphrased as I am rich;
I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.
The Laodicean syndrome of self-righteousness convinces you that you are clothed in
grandeur, but in reality you are shamefully naked. It convinces you that you are wise
and significant when in reality you are pitiful and blind. In the next post we will look
at Jesus prescription for this syndrome, which is something we modern Christians
need to hear the sickness has reached epidemic proportions.
For further reading, I would recommend Sarah Maes excellent post about
legalism and this post about truly being saved.
The Last Warning to the Church

Revelation 3:18-20
On Wednesday, we contemplated The Laodicean Syndrome. We noted that the

Laodicean syndrome of self-righteousness convinces you that you are clothed in
grandeur, but in reality you are shamefully naked. It convinces you that you are wise
and significant when in reality you are pitiful and blind. After His straightfoward
rebuke of this church, Jesus words are direct but merciful.
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich;
and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness;
and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I
am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the
door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
Revelation 3:18-20
Jesus diagnosis of this church had been grim you do not realize that you are
wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. They had thought themselves rich of their
own accord Jesus says that in reality, they are poor. The remedy? Buy from Him
true gold which has been refined in the fire. They needed to trade in their fools gold
for the real thing true salvation through Christ.
They needed gold that was free of impurities, representing the priceless riches
of true salvation. Peter wrote of a faithmore precious than gold (1 Peter
1:7), while Paul defined saving faith as rich in good works, having the treasure
of a good foundation for the future (1 Timothy 6:18-19). Christ offered the
Laodiceans a pure, true salvation that would bring them into a real relationship
with Him.
MacArthur1, 138
They thought they were clothed in the splendor of their own self-righteousness, but
they were actually shamefully naked. Jesus offers them white clothes to cover
themselves. Throughout Revelation we find Gods people clothed in pure white
garments once they came to Him in true saving faith, casting themselves on His
grace and not clinging to their own rags of self-righteousness, He promised to clothe
them and make them truly holy in His sight.
They thought they had great wisdom and insight, but they were actually blind. They
needed the kind of salve that only Jesus could provide, restoring their spiritual sight.
In Acts 26:18, Paul records His commission from Jesus He was to go to open
their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God,
so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are
sanctified by faith in me. The Laodicean church, although they thought that they
were spiritually healthy with 20/20 vision, was full of individuals blinded by self and
desperate for a supernatural healing through saving faith in Jesus.
It is compelling to me that Revelation 3:20 (Here I am! I stand at the door and
knock. If anyone hears my voice), a verse that is so very familiar to us within the
context of evangelism, is addressed to a church. Friends, as I have shared before I am
absolutely convinced that there are droves of pastors, church leaders, members, and
attenders who seem to look the part and are dreadfully lost. These people are
confident in their spirituality they see themselves as richly robed in their good works
and endowed with great spiritual insight. In reality, they are wretched and spiritually
lost, blind to their need for Christ and unable to fully see the truth, naked before the
holiness of God when their self-righteous rags fall away.
Verse 19 gives clear instruction So be earnest, and repent. Working harder is not the
trick. Being more committed is not the cure. The only thing that can remedy the
spiritual sickness in our souls is to recognize our wretchedness and repent to ask for
the Lord Jesus to cover our shame with His righteousness, to take the scales off our
eyes and allow us to see, to humbly receive the riches of true salvation that we will
never be able to earn.
As this last letter to the churches comes to a close, the emphasis of Revelation will
switch from earth to heaven, from present to future, from the church to Israel. The
church is not directly referenced from chapters 4-18 of Revelation and I believe the
reason for that is the rapture: the church has already been taken from the earth when
this timeline begins. This letter to the Laodicean church is the final statement to lost
Christians the last warning in the sequence before the rapture takes place.
Be sober, be diligent. Examine your hearts, share truth with those around you and
never assume that the person next to you in the pew is already a true follower of Jesus.
I think we need some evangelists in our churches, sent to church people who are
blind to their spiritual poverty.
Behold, He stands at the door and knocks time is ticking.
23 Ways to Pray for Your Church
On Friday we concluded our look at the letters to the churches in Revelation. I hope
that you have found these letters to be practical, applicable, and meaningful in your
own life and I also hope that they will give us a sense of urgency as we pray for our
own local churches. Today I thought wed recap these letters with specific ways they
can remind us to pray for our churches.
Ephesus [A Visit to Ephesus, Heart Disease, Jesus Prescription for Heart Disease]
1. Pray that your church will stand strong in the face of any persecution or
pressure from the surrounding culture.
2. Pray that the individuals in your church would grow to love Christ more each
day, and that their service in the church would flow naturally out of their walk
with Him.
3. Pray that there would be people coming to Christ in your church. Pray that the
more established believers will disciple them well and also be re-energized by
their new faith and enthusiasm.
4. Ask the Lord to search your own heart and show you areas where your love is
lacking, and for you to have humility and a desire to repent.
5. Pray for the leadership in your church to grow deeper in their own love for the
Lord Jesus, and that this motivation of love would undergird everything they do
from the most mundane and unseen to what is done from the platform and
pulpit.
Smyrna [A Visit to Smyrna, The Easter People]
6. Pray for the individuals in your church to love Christ even more than their own
lives.
7. Pray that the resurrection of Jesus will be taught clearly and powerfully, and
that the truth and reality of it would compel your church to stay faithful to Him
no matter what.
8. Ask the Lord to impress your own heart so deeply with the reality of the empty
tomb that it would radically change every aspect of your life.
Pergamum [Passing through Pergamum, Deadly Compromise]
9. Pray that the leadership and individual members of your church would be more
aware of the spiritual warfare going on around them and that they would daily
put on the full armor of God. [Ephesians 6:10-20]
10. Pray for wisdom and insight for the church leadership, that they would
recognize any error that is being taught in any portion of the church, and that
they would have courage to confront and deal with false teaching head on.
11. Pray for an uncompromising commitment to truth in a day when doctrine is

often seen as unnecessarily limiting.
12. Pray that as you study the Bible for yourself that you would develop a more
clear understanding of what you believe, a deep commitment to Gods Truth,
and discernment to recognize doctrinal error when you hear it.
Thyatira [Trouble in Thyatira, The Weight of the Millstone]

13. Pray specifically for the teachers you know in your church from childrens
Sunday school teachers to Bible study leaders to preaching pastors. Pray that
they would be humbly teaching only what is true and that they would be
sensitive to the conviction and leading of the Holy Spirit.
14. Pray that the individuals in your church would have a greater commitment to
personally studying the Bible for themselves, searching to see if they are being
taught what is in line with Gods Word.
15. Pray that God would reveal to you how you are influencing those around you
that you would consciously use the influence you have to teach truth and model
righteousness, and that you would repent of any areas where your words and
behavior might cause another to stumble.
Sardis [Sardis: The Slow Fade, The Church of the Living Dead]
16. Pray that your church would be awake and alert to spiritual attack that you
would not be caught slumbering and unaware of sin and areas of vulnerability.
17. Pray that the individuals in your church would not take confidence in their own
names or in the people and ministries of the church, but only in the name of the
Lord. [Proverbs 18:10]
18. Pray for people in your church who may never have come to a saving faith in
Jesus Christ. Pray that the gospel would be clearly preached and taught. Pray
that they would have the humility to recognize that their faith was not genuine,
truly repent, and cast themselves on Gods grace alone.
Philadelphia [The Weak Things of This World, An Amazing Promise]
19. Pray that the leadership and members of your church would not judge their own
significance and the health of the church based on attendance, number of
programs, the offering total, etc. Pray that there would be a spirit of humility
and commitment to gaining only the approval of Christ.
20. Pray that your church would be looking for the return of Jesus and living
righteous and holy lives in anticipation of His appearing.
Laodicea [Laodicea: The Church that Made Christ Sick, The Laodicean
Syndrome, The Last Warning to the Church]
21. Pray that God would expose any self righteousness in the lives of individual
believers and also in your church culture as a whole.
22. Pray for your pastors and teachers to be willing to say hard things when they
need to be said to confront sin, false motives, and legalism or liberalism
motivated by self-righteousness rather than the righteousness of Christ.
23. Pray that you would have a heart of humility and and that you would not be
blinded by self. Pray for opportunities to share the truth of Gods Word and
that the unbelieving Christians around you would be impacted and brought to
saving faith in Christ.
i
MacArthur, John. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Revelation 1-11. Moody Press: Chicago, 1999.

Letters To The Churches, Revelation 2-3

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Letters To The Churches, Revelation 2-3

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KristiStephens.

The Letters to the Churches

Im thrilled to be opening up the Word of God with you thank

I am a full time homemaker who loves to teach Gods Word

I trust that what I have written here will be useful aand

May God bless you as you dig in!

The Laodicean Syndrome ............................................................................................................................ 34

If Christ Sent a Letter to Your Church

In chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation, we find seven letters to seven churches. These

Ephesus would probably blow our minds. Ephesus offered asylum

In his commentary on Revelation, John MacArthur1 writes,

Why isnt have no other gods before me the greatest commandment?

Relationship FIRST, obedience SECOND. When we get those turned around, we

Jesus Prescription for Heart Disease

A Prayer for the Ephesian in Us

The Easter People

The church at Smyrna was full of the Easter people.

Passing Through Pergamum

To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:

Yesterday we began looking at the letter to the church in Pergamum, found in

Verse 19 begins on a positive note -

Nevertheless, I have this against you (v. 20)

The Weight of the Millstone

Position and leadership brings greater accountability. In Leviticus, if a leader

Sardis: The Slow Fade

John MacArthur1 notes:

The Church of the Living Dead

radically and supernaturally changed. This problem seems especially prevalent

The Weak Things of This World

Yesterday we looked at the refreshingly positive letter to the church at Philadelphia.

Laodicea The Church That Made Christ Sick

The Laodicean Syndrome

Sometimes self-righteousness evidences itself as legalism legalists proudly keep

In other cases, self-righteousness rears its head as liberalism. A perception of

The Last Warning to the Church

On Wednesday, we contemplated The Laodicean Syndrome. We noted that the

23 Ways to Pray for Your Church

11. Pray for an uncompromising commitment to truth in a day when doctrine is

Thyatira [Trouble in Thyatira, The Weight of the Millstone]

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