Title: Letters to the Seven Churches
Contents
December 20, 2009 Sermon
Text: Revelation 1:1-11 (Revelation)
1. This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him by sending the angel to John his servant and giving instructions to show his servants what must happen soon.
2. John testified both the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, the things he saw.
3. Blessed are those who read and hear the words of this prophecy, and those who keep what is written in them, for the time is near.
4. John to the seven churches in Asia: He who is, who was, and who is to come, and the seven Spirits before the throne
5. Grace and peace to you also through Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, firstborn from the dead and head of the kings of the earth, who loved us and freed us from our sins by his blood.
6. To him who made us a kingdom and priests to God his Father, to him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
7. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, and those who pierced him will see him, and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. Amen
8. I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God, who is, and was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
9. I, John, your brother and a sharer in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus, was on an island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
10. On the day of the Lord, in the Spirit, I heard a loud voice behind me like a trumpet.
11. And he said, Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
Title: A Letter to the Seven Churches
1. The Christian life in modern times
“A rich man begged God to take his property to heaven. God reluctantly allowed it after insisting on it. “There is one condition. You can bring your possessions, but you can only put them in one bag.” So the rich man who sold all his possessions and exchanged them for expensive gold was delighted and said, “You didn’t know you could do this!” At the gates of heaven, Peter was checking his belongings. When Peter opened the bag, he was astonished and asked, “What did you bring with you all these road pavers? said.”
(Heb 9:27) It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment. Even those who live in a world full of power, honor, and wealth, when God calls them, they must put down everything, shake their hands, and take only one body with them. However, as we go, only whether we have accumulated spiritual merits in the kingdom of God by measuring how we served God according to God's standards is our reward and crown that will follow the kingdom of heaven. Why is the name Saint? It is a pilgrim on the holy path. What is a pilgrim? It is a difficult and painful journey. Sunday is a day to practice by participating in the briefing for permanent residence in heaven after stopping all good and busy things in the world. As I look back on the year as a saint in heaven who was saved, how much I attended the workshop in heaven, as an excuse or excuse that I was busy with various worldly things, I habitually skipped the Lord's workshop on Sundays and was indolent in spiritual matters. Let's turn around and repent. Without true repentance and resolution, let's think about how much I truly accept and acknowledge the Lord as the Lord of my soul and life.
The comfortable pleasures and pleasures of the world are temporary. Our saints are believers who are separated from the world by excluding such things and keeping the laws of heaven, and they are believers who insist on God's citizenship on this earth. Humans cannot solve the fate of death, pain and despair, famine and disease, riots, discrimination and oppression, hatred and strife, division and conflict, and the cursed fate. The coming of Jesus, the Son of God, in human history is to solve these human problems in life and to solve them with eternal life. In order to solve this problem with eternal life, God took on a human body and came to the impossible road to take the suffering and humiliation on our behalf. He paid the devil in charge of this and brought us back to God. Therefore, December should be a meaningful month to think more about Jesus and to think about the will of the Lord if you are a believer, a month of repentance, penance, and obedience.
2. A letter to all the churches of the world
First, we must not lose sight of what was heartbreaking and hot when we received grace. As time goes by, we lose our emotions and are pushed to the environment as others do, and our religious life becomes dry. I pray that this will be a time of settlement to become a believer who recovers, continues his passion, and searches for it, thinking about where it came from.