Title Pergamum/Rev 2:12-17
The church that had many members who were experiencing this conflict of faith was the Church of Pergamum. We would like to take a look at the church of Pergamum, the third church among the letters that the Lord sent to the 7 churches in Asia Minor that existed in the first century. And through this church, we would like to share the vision of a healthy church that we should pursue.
1. The appearance of the Lord speaking to the Pergamum church
2. The Lord's Praise for the Pergamum Church
Nevertheless, the Pergamians who lived in a church community in a corner of the city were not swept away by the atmosphere of this city and were living their lives firmly keeping their faith in Jesus Christ. “I did not forsake my faith in me” (verse 13), and some of them even produced martyrs to keep their faith. It is said that one of the representative martyrs was a man named Andiva. The Lord teaches him to say, "Antiphas my faithful witness." In the city where Zeus confessed that Zeus was Lord, or that Caesar was Lord, he boldly confessed that Jesus is Lord and that He is the only Lord and was martyred. Even today, if you visit this city of Pergamum, you will visit the Red Court (the site of the Temple of Serapis, the sun god) built in the Byzantine period to commemorate this Pergamian community that kept the faith under the Acropolis, the market site of a huge idol temple. You can. However, not all members of this church kept their faith like this. There were not a few saints who needed reproof.
3. The Lord's Rebuke to the Pergamum Church
But if we overcome this worldly hedonism and mammonism, the Lord promises in verse 17 that He will fill them with the presence of the manna hidden from them, the presence of Jesus, the heavenly bread, more satisfying than the world's. And he promises to fill us with a new name on a white stone, a holy experience of change, not the ugly pleasure the world promises, and a testimony of this amazing change known only to us, unknown to the world.
4. The vision of the well-being church to learn from the Pergamum Church
After that, he met evangelist Billy Graham and worked with him for the rest of his life, devoting himself to the ministry of serving the Lord through praise and testimony. Faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord because I knew that this was more precious and precious than anything else in the world. He is now 96 years old, and he is still doing praise ministry. A church full of church members with testimonies who have lived their lives by faith - isn't this a healthy well-being church? Will you pray for our church to become such a church that heals sick neighbors and transforms the sick world?