So far I've given twelve lessons on the Book of Revelation at the William Booth Corps Adult Bible class. We reflected on the Message to the church at Philadelphia last Sunday. It was not a mega church with excellent resources, but a church described as 'with little strength' with limited resources. In spite of the limitations this church obeyed the commandments of the Lord.
I recall in my teen age years attending Balestier Corps (Church)- a small atap house with no electricity or water at Martaban Road. Compared with many churches in the area, or even with Central Corps, we were really insignificant, yes 'with little strength' and very limited resources. Our Corps officer (pastor) Captain Cecil Watts an Englishman went about riding on an old bicycle visiting his people. On rainy days the roof leaked. But the church was vibrant with life. Doors of opportunity opened before us and many found Christ.
To the Christians at Philadelphia, Christ set before them an open door to fulfil their mission. The Lord has set before His faithful servants who are willing to pay the price the open doors of opportunity to witness for Him. Yes, there is a cost involved. Right in the midst of this church at Philadelphia were the antagonistic Jews - the synagogue of Satan was there! Paul found this out too - open doors and adversaries often come together.
Only two of the seven churches received no rebuke from the Lord. Smyrna was the other one. Both bore persecution bravely.
I love to sing the old song - The cross is not greater than His grace,
The cross that He gave my be heavy,
But it ne'er outweighs His grace;
The storm that I feared may surround me,
But it ne'er excludes His face.
Chorus:
The cross is not greater than His grace,
The storm cannot hide His blessed face;
I am satisfied to know, that with Jesus here below,
I can conquer every foe. (SASB 758)
We have one more church to study - Laodicea. After that we shall be moving to take a peep with John into God's Throne Room.
No comments:
Post a Comment