#service #story #mystory #witnessing #church #marriage #5016 – 7000
What is the way of Balaam and how do we identify them in our churches today? Let explore the church in Pergamum.
Discipleship 101 in the marketplace 5016 of 7000 – The obedient disciples of
Christ is a bride of Christ waiting for the return of the groom to the marriage supper of the lamb and must be kept pure without spots or wrinkles.
Proverbs 3:5-12 Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don’t try to figure out everything on your own.Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;he’s the one who will keep you on track.Don’t assume that you know it all.Run to God! Run from evil!Your body will glow with health,your very bones will vibrate with life!Honor God with everything you own;give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst,your wine vats will brim over.But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline;don’t sulk under his loving correction. It’s the child he loves that God corrects; a father’s delight is behind all this.
Revelation 2: 12 Write this to Pergamum, to the Angel of the church. The One with the sharp-biting sword draws from the sheath of his mouth—out come the sword words:
13 “I see where you live, right under the shadow of Satan’s throne. But you continue boldly in my Name; you never once denied my Name, even when the pressure was worst, when they martyred Antipas, my witness who stayed faithful to me on Satan’s turf.14-15 “But why do you indulge that Balaam crowd? Don’t you remember that Balaam was an enemy agent, seducing Balak and sabotaging Israel’s holy pilgrimage by throwing unholy parties? And why do you put up with the Nicolaitans, who do the same thing?16 “Enough! Don’t give in to them; I’ll be with you soon. I’m fed up and about to cut them to pieces with my sword-sharp words.17 “Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches. I’ll give the sacred manna to every conqueror; I’ll also give a clear, smooth stone inscribed with your new name, your secret new name.”
Revelation 19:7-9
7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.”8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
9 Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”
Comment: Pergamum served as the capital of the Roman province of Asia Minor for over 25 years and was an important religious center for a number of pagan cults. It was the first city in Asia to build a temple to Caesar and it became the capital of the cult of Caesar worship.Of Pergamum an ancient writer said it was “given to idolatry more than all Asia.”
Pergamum comes from the Greek word gamos that means marriage. This letter pictures a church married to the world rather than to Christ. The church in Pergamum never repented and they were obliterated by an invading force.
Oh Lord God, deliver us from greed and the bottomless fascination and unsatisfactorily exploits that the world presents in Jesus name, amen
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