to the church of......wk 4

We did it! Today we finished out our 4 week series looking at the 7 letters to the churchs in Revelation. Of course they are located in modern day Turkey and Christians there today face serious persecution. Today we looked at Philadelphia and Laodicea. Two complete opposites, Philadelphia being a church that Jesus commends for their deeds and standing firm, Laodicea is the exact opposite and recieves no good comments only bad. All along I have stressed the importance of accurately evaluating our modern church, in particular whatever "local" church we are part of. What is it that Jesus would say to you? I believe that the church today faces the same battles of the 1st century church. Many have become weary of the fight and have looked for "common" ground. I guess if the thought is we can combine forces and conquer, we better be determining what that common ground is. I'm sorry but if you deny Christ as deity we have no common ground. If you worship God and ----, we have no business partnering to do a "non-denominational" "everybodies welcome" type of service. I will not surrender my convictions based on someone elses passivity toward the word of God and I would pray that you would stand firm as well. Even though Jesus had nothing good to say about the church in Laodicea, He spared them and gave them the warning to repent and be zealous for God. Talk about your second chances. I look forward to moving from here to our next series entitled "Bridges". Connecting two points that are otherwish seperated by impassable obstacles. We also hope you'll join us for our Spirtual Gifts seminar beginning Sept. 16th at 6:30pm. A good time of fellowship and study for the sake of building the body and equipping the saints. Till we meet again, seek ye the kingdom. P.M.