Cell 4 – Letter to the seven churches (part 1)

 Text: Revelation 1

Icebreaker: What comes to mind when you hear that we will have a message or cell about Revelation? (or) What would be your reaction if God showed up to speak to you?

Introduction: The book of Revelation is taboo for many people, and because of that it is misunderstood and many Christians just don’t read it. With the help of the Holy Spirit, and an understanding of the background to its writing, we can see how it made sense to those who first read it, and can discover how what God spoke to them then still has relevance to us and to our every-day lives with Christ now. 

Today we start our series about the seven churches of Revelation. These churches were located in Asia-Minor, which is now part of modern-day Turkey. So that we are prepared to jump into hearing about the seven churches themselves,  we first need to understand what was happening with John, the Apostle who “wrote” the letters to them, by recording what Jesus gave him to share. Knowing that although John wrote the words, it was Jesus who inspired and gave them, is a valuable lesson to us all about how we come to have the scriptures. 

1. John was in exile when he received the Revelation

The Apostle John was exiled on the island of Patmos, (near the coast of Asia Minor/Turkey)  which in his time was a Roman penal colony. John’s “crime” was to proclaim the gospel; the Roman Emperor was mercilessly persecuting Christians with the aim of destroying Christianity.  So, we know that John was in a prison when Jesus spoke to him and gave him the Revelation. 

This is a good reminder for us that God can speak to us whatever “prison” we find ourselves in and that even in the hardest circumstances, God can deliver His message to us and through us. It’s worth noticing that this message was not a message that would particularly comfort John in his distress;  this message was for others, and John was the one to receive it and to make sure that it was written down and passed on to God’s people. This message was very important and John’s circumstances were not a barrier to him being used by God to receive and share it. 

2. God gave words to the seven churches that would spread into the world.

These particular seven churches may have been chosen to receive Christ’s apocalyptic message because, geographically, they were located along an established circular trade route, which brought together the most populous and influential parts of the province. Once the apocalyptic message was given to the churches in these prominent cities, the message would spread to the Christian communities in the rest of the province through those who would visit for trade or through those who would journey to other places for trading.  It seems that God had a strategy in speaking to these seven churches which would help the growth of Christianity around the world. 

The seven lampstands that we read about represent the seven churches and we hear how Jesus, who was “One like the Son of Man” (v13), was moving amongst them in John’s vision.  Jesus came as the ‘Light of the world’ and commissioned us to be the light of the world. We are not the light itself, but we reflect the Light of Jesus into the world.

We can ask ourselves are we open and attentive to the Spirit in a way that means God can use us to receive from Him, not necessarily for the benefit of ourselves, but for the benefit of others, as John was here?

3. We cannot stop! 

Today nothing remains of the churches that were named in the Revelation given to John. Persecution has been an ongoing threat to Christianity in Asia Minor, particularly since Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453. Estimates place the current number of Christians as being about two percent of Turkey’s population. God’s strategic use of churches to share the gospel message continues today, particularly in places where there is severe persecution of Christians, but wherever we may be living, as the church we are called by Jesus to “make disciples” that His glory might be known. 

This is a privilege and a responsibility that we cannot ignore - now we are carrying the message and speaking of the power of Jesus to save in this time and place as the seven churches of the Revelation were called to do in their time. 

Conclusion:

Although the seven letters in Revelation are tailored to the named churches, these churches and their stated deficiencies can symbolize all churches and Christians in one respect or another and so the instruction given to Revelation’s congregations, is a valuable source of God’s word to Christians and churches today.

Localities of the 7 churches:

Cell 3 – Where is our hope?

 Text: Proverbs 3.5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight”.

Icebreaker:  Every day we make many decisions. What kind of decision-maker are you? Do you decide quickly? Do you find it difficult to make decisions? Do you sometimes find it hard to know what the right decision is?

Introduction:

Often when we make decisions, we are relying on our own understanding. The difficulty with this is that human understanding is always subject to error. What appears to be the right choice may be the wrong choice. What appears to be solid and a source of hope may be revealed instead, to be a source of deceit. The Lord sees the bigger picture and He always knows what’s best for us. The point here is that we need to recognize our own limitations. Many times we desperately seek for hope, but in the wrong places. Today, the big question is, ‘Where are you seeking for hope?’ 

1. What does it really mean to trust and have hope in God’s way?

Trusting in God means that we are leaning away from our own understanding and towards God’s by acknowledging and following His path. It means actively pursuing God’s will for your life and doing things God’s way instead of your way (if your way is different). It is being teachable and being willing to say to God “OK, I don’t understand, but I know You do so I’m going to go Your way.” It is living with active confidence in the truth that God always does what is best even when it doesn’t seem so to you.

Hope (Hope in the original Greek is the word Elpis = ἐλπίς) can be defined in two ways:

1. Joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation (Strong’s Concordance)

2. An expectation that God will intervene. (Bible dictionary Vida Nova).

So we have trust and hope, in the way God commands, when our joy, expectation, vision, obedience and life reflect Him and His will for us.

2. What if people had the same hope and expectation in God, that they have in the COVID vaccine?

I see a world mobilizing, planning and blindly relying on the function of a vaccine that is the hope of millions of people. But what if we had the same hope that God is real and has real impact in our lives? How different would the world and our lives be? Of course we pray that the vaccine will help the situation, but it is not where we should be placing our hope, only God can give us hope of a better future.  

3. To have Godly HOPE is to never forget the truth about who we are.

We cannot forget who we are, the truth and purpose of our lives. If we do, we might end up living like we will never die and dying like we never lived.

You were made for so much more than this. So much more than earthly life. Everything begins on this side of eternity, but we shouldn’t be so focused on this life, and today, that we forget that there is a life to come, beyond this one. 

Conclusion: 

The following poem was written by an American soldier that gave his life to Jesus one day before he died in the war. Listen and reflect on it. 

 

"Lord God I have never spoken to you

But now I want to say, "How do you do?"

You see, God, they told me You didn't exist

And like a fool I believed all this.

Last night from a shell hole I saw your sky

I figured right then they had told me a lie

Had I taken time to see the things you made

I'd have known they weren't calling a spade a spade.

I wonder, God, if you'll take my hand

Somehow I feel that you'll understand

Funny I had to come to this hellish place

Before I had time to see Your face

Well, I guess there isn't much more to say

But I'm sure glad, God, I met you today

I guess zero hour will soon be here

But I'm not afraid since I know

 you're near

The signal!

Well, God, I'll have to go

I like You lots, I want you to know

Look now this will be a horrible fight

Who knows, I may come to Your house tonight

Though I wasn't friendly to You before

I wonder, God, if You'd wait at Your door

Look, I'm crying, I'm shedding tears

I'll have to go now God goodbye

Strange now, since I met You, I'm not afraid to die"

Cell 2 – When God does the impossible

 Text: Matthew 17.20 “He replied, "Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Icebreaker:

What words do you use to describe the challenges that you face in life? Maybe you call them giants, hills to climb or mountains to be moved? The good news that we’ll hear today is that Jesus will help us to face and overcome those challenges because in Him, even our little faith becomes a powerful force. 

Introduction

One of the greatest challenges Jesus continually gave his followers was to have faith. He knew that having faith held the power to make amazing things happen. Peter had a little faith and walked on water (Matthew 14:29). A woman who suffered from bleeding had a little faith and was healed after 12 years without hope (Matt 9:20-22). A little bit of faith enabled the blind to see (Mark 10:46-52) and brought the dead back to life (Hebrews 11:35).  

How can we tell when there’s an absence of faith in our life? We stop believing that the impossible is possible with God, and we settle for living a ‘small’ life,  confined by our feelings and by what we can see around us.

If today, we want to go deeper in our relationship with the God of all things impossible, it is necessary that we take the following 5 steps: 

1. Acknowledge your mountains

If we are going to let God move these mountains, we need to acknowledge that they exist. We can’t pretend that the mountain that is dominating our life is not real, or that it does not produce feelings in us– we need to name it and acknowledge it for any kind of emotional healing or journey of peace and health in Jesus to begin. God wants us to be honest with Him about our mountains. 

The thing I’ve been learning is that the mountains I need to move in my life aren’t necessarily the circumstances I see in front of me. My biggest mountains are usually inside me: fears in relationships, doubts about whether I can change, disappointing moments when I tried to have faith but still suffered defeats in my life that didn’t only impact me but also had an impact on friends and family around me.

If I am going to let God move these mountains, the first step I need to take is to acknowledge that they exist.

2. Deal with denial

Do you believe that the mountain can be moved? Don’t deny it if you don’t – but run to God instead. Remember the story of the man who came to Jesus to ask for healing for his son (Mark 9:24). In one moment he confesses his faith that his son can be healed, but he also realises that his faith is small and says “Help me with my unbelief”. This is the amazing love of Jesus,  that allows us to be honest so that we can say to Him “I believe, help me with my unbelief”. We have to remember that it doesn’t help to ignore or to try to hide something or to pretend that it isn’t there – denying reality keeps us trapped. 

3. Don’t be afraid of the difficult facts

In the Old Testament Abraham received a word that He would have a son, but when he heard that, he wasn’t able to think beyond the fact that he was really old to have one and so was his wife. Frankly he thought that it might be impossible, but even with that thought he expressed His faith in God. At the right time, God kept the promise and showed Abraham, and all of us who read his story,  that by God’s word the impossible will happen. Don’t put facts before faith, God can do what He plans and desires, no matter what the facts of a situation are. 

4. Ask God for help

We are becoming a generation that murmur and complain to God, to our friends and on-line, but who rarely ask for help. Do you know that there is a difference between the two? Complaining and asking for help are two very different things. When we complain we are simply rehearsing the problem over and over again. When we ask for help we are recognising that something needs to happen to change the situation. 

Are you committed to your prayer list? Let’s pray and seek until we hear His voice in every situation!!!

5. Decide to walk by faith and in obedience instead of by feelings.

Feelings are a roller coaster and our hearts are deceitful, so we shouldn’t walk based in what we feel, but in what the word of God says to us. We should be a people who walk in accordance with His word. When we do that, miracles happen according to His will and purpose. Sometimes we might not be able to feel anything or sometimes we can be overwhelmed by a complicated combination of feelings and that’s why it’s so important that we walk by what we know in Jesus because He will always tell us the truth.  

Conclusion:  Today is a new opportunity to seek God as never before! Would you like to go an extra step in His direction today? Let’s surrender everything to God and pursue Him. It might seem difficult today to even have a tiny bit of faith, but God can change that if we are honest – He is able to do the impossible. He is able to transform us, transform our situation and he can fill the emptiness that is in us with the peace and joy that can only come from knowing Jesus.