The grace of God is for the people of God who desperately need God. And we do. We need His mercy over us. We need His hand on us. We need His wisdom in us. We need His guidance for us. And it doesn’t stop there.
We have been challenged. Being in places where it is easy to not see there is a purpose or even a plan there is a challenge to loose our focus or even to stop all together seeking God and serving Him. There is good news because God is not done with us.
There is good news because the world needs the message that God has given us. No matter where we have been, what we have been through or how bad we have acted, there is good news that God still loves people and desires for our good and His glory.
Do you get that? It is still all about Him. It is not about us. In fact we get it wrong when we think it is even a but about us. We get in the way and off of His path when we follow anything or anyone other than Him.
We are in a series at The Community Fellowship about the 7 churches of Revelation, and I am stuck thinking about the power of John’s testimony. He was being so loud about his father that leaders exiled him. The Apostle John stuck on an island all by himself and heard God or saw God and wrote this …
Revelation 1:9-13 NLT
I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering and in God’s Kingdom and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us. I was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the word of God and for my testimony about Jesus. 10 It was the Lord’s Day, and I was worshiping in the Spirit. Suddenly, I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet blast. 11 It said, “Write in a book everything you see, and send it to the seven churches in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.” 12 When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands. 13 And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest.
There is more to that story, but that is the meat of it. Write this down. Share it with the churches. Seek to help maneuver the church to the place where they can serve and be the most effective for God and His purpose.
That is us, people. We need God. We need His word. These churches not only tell us about history. They tell us about us. Do you get that? We need to hear this. We need to adjust.
John, exiled to the island of Patmos, continued to refuse to leave his faith, and John encountered God who told him to write down these things.
Revelation 1:3 NLT
God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the church, and he blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says, for the time is near.
There is more to hearing. It is about doing or following. There is more to faith than just knowing. There is putting it in to practice and being who God made you and me and the church to be. We will be blessed if we follow God.
Here is God. Right in front of John is the one he has preached about and pointed to. In this somewhat of a mystery or science fiction, if you will, He holds the stars, walks among the lamp stands and speaks to the people He loves. He speaks to the angel or the messenger of the church. This is most likely the pastor who has direction and responsibility of the church.
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