Pastor Ike Graham and Nancy
PRESIDENT’S CORNER – Pastor Isaac Graham
How are you doing on your chart of the 7 churches of Revelation 2-3? Have you searched out what the commendation, condemnation, counsel and comfort of Jesus was to the church in Smyrna?
The church at Smyrna was one of two churches in Revelation 2-3 which did not receive any condemnation from the Lord. The other church is Philadelphia. Why doesn’t the church at Smyrna receive any condemnation? On the one hand, the answer is simple – there was nothing to condemn! On the other hand, what brought about the Lord’s praise of this church? It was their understanding of God’s purpose for adversity and their biblical response to it. The first thing that Jesus says to this church is that He was dead and is alive. Death is not the end for Christians. These believers who faced persecution knew their Bibles. They understood God’s purpose for suffering and adversity. If we were to categorize the purposes of God in allowing suffering and adversity, we would come up with at least 5 categories. Now, each category could have a number of subpoints, but there would be at least these 5.
1. God is glorified in our suffering and adversity – John 9:3; 11:4; the believer who has cancer and says, “pray for me to honor God through this trial” glorifies God. Think about the blind man in John 9.
2. We live in a fallen world – Romans 8:22-23; we get colds, sweat, have allergies like everyone else all around the globe.
3. Personal sin has consequences – Deut. 29:19-21; Prov. 16:18; Acts 5:3; there is a story about a skylark who didn’t like to dig worms for food. One day, he saw a man hollering “Earth worms for sale!” He asked, “What’s the deal?” The man traded 2 worms for a feather. Great deal the skylark thought until the day came when he couldn’t fly. Sin and Satan deceive us into “deals.” If I just look at pornography once…God will forgive me for…
4. God is making us like Jesus (sanctification) – Romans 8:29-30; Psalm 119:71; Proverbs 12:10 reads, “A righteous man has regard for the life of his beast, but the compassion of the wicked is cruel.” Are you becoming kinder because you are a Christian? Do you think more about God’s Kingdom as life goes on? How are you becoming more like Jesus? Are you more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kinder, more faithful, gentler, have more self control?
5. Satan and demons – Job; Job’s suffering glorified God as God Himself testifies in Job 42:7.
Jesus says the believers in Smyrna were rich. Being rich spiritually is, hands down, far better than being rich monetarily (Matthew 19:23; Luke 12:13-34).
CHILDREN’S CONFERENCE – Pastor Terry Reese