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NASB | Revelation 1:11 saying, "Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Revelation 1:11 saying, "Write on a scroll what you see [in this revelation], and send it to the seven churches--to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea." |
Bible Question:
Ephesians 3:7-11 ...to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. I was raised Pentacostal and remember the pastor talking about end times, and the enemy and to always be carefull or else... (use your imagination). I've also heard many preachers teaching doomsday and be on watch, because these other churches, etc... Are we really members of a weak, just barelly making it by church, or are we a glorious church known throught heaven that the enemy fears? Maybe I'm just on a tangent here. I visited a church last night, great worship, I always feel so buisy doing stuff at my church I can't just stop and enjoy. The sermon though, for some reason just jumped out at me like fingernails on a chalkboard. He was talking about how things are about to get get real difficult for the church and how many are going to fall away if we don't pray and do this and that, etc. I know there is truth to this in one aspect but also didn't Paul say , " many would fall away, if it were possible"? I don't know, but I am starting to feal we are much more united than many percieve, much more powerfull and glorious. Anyway, maybe I'm missing something, I would like to hear others thoughts on this. Are we weak and misserable or is it what God sais? In love, Mike |
Bible Answer: i think the state of the church from God's eyes can be seen in revelation when He addresses the 7 churches. the church is doing many wonderful things, but Spirit led believers are becoming harder to find, and division is becoming rampant in the churches. There is also way too much "bad fruit." I believe it saddens God's heart. God bless them all, I consider you all my family but we can do so much better. Jesus also spoke as well as a considerable amount of others concerning the false prophets and the frequency of them in the end of the ages. Some of these wear sheep's clothing as well. I believe this is sad for us all but from an optimistic point of view this leaves us all awaiting a ripe harvest we did not work for, our lights will shine brighter in dark places, and this does not have to be the best that it gets. Lets be the salt that preserves us all and makes things taste better, the shining city on a hill; it all begins inside of one, every person has to sign on for themself; If Christians everywhere would put love at the top of the list and stop arguing about relatively unimportant things and do our best to evangelize, wow: what Jesus prayed for: heaven here on earth. Do we have the faith to see it through? |