Letters

I am reading a book called 'Unlocking the Bible' at the moment which my Dad got me, it is an overview of the entire bible, so it is a book which I will probably read at different times and not a book that I will read from back to front, but I can pick out the book it corresponds with in the bible that I am reading at the time.

To start though I went straight to revelation, because many people find it the hardest book to understand and I wanted a good rounded understanding of it. To quote the book, some students were trying to study the book and took a break in their frustration in the gym of their school, there they saw an old black janitor reading his bible, they asked him what part he was reading, he said revelation, they said, do you understand it, he said, sure, Jesus wins.

I have read some great stuff though on the letters, which I want to pick out.

Firstly, Sardis and Laodicea are both succesful in worldly terms, but not in Jesus' eyes, as it says in the book, 'large congregations, big collections and full programmes are not necessarily signs of spiritual health.'

Secondly, Jesus commends before He criticizes, good thing to do.

Thirdly, the problems Jesus had with what was going on, forsaking their first love, idolatry and immorality, starting new ventures and not seeing them through, being sick and not knowing it, being lukewarm. The last one is interesting because of how many warm churches there are, Jesus stands outside, He says, how horrible.

Fourthly, Jesus says sort it out, or I will. In the book, the author ( David Pawson) says 'Jesus has a ministry of closing churches down! A compromised church that is not willing to be corrected is worse than useless to the kingdom of God.'

Fifthly, overcome, don't change churches, don't follow the trend in a church, if it ain't right.
' A christian may have to learn to resist pressures in the church first before facing them in the world. If we cannot overcome the former, we are unlikely to overcome the latter.'

Sixthly, listen and apply. Hear and heed. Understand and act.

These were some things that really stood out for me in this book, I really wanted to share, I hope they are of some help to somebody. The picture is just random.