Monday

REVELATION 3:1-6

1. Take time to be quiet, until you can focus on being in the presence of God. Read the text until you can understand what it says. If you have any initial thoughts, write them down.

2. “I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” In what way can a church have a reputation of being alive but are dead? How could they have gone so wrong?

3. “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.” What does the call to wake up imply about the church? How can the church awake (v3)?

4. Can this warning and instruction apply to you as an individual Christian?

5. Write down a prayer in response.

Tuesday

REVELATION 3:1-6

1. Take time to be quiet, until you can focus on being in the presence of God. If you have any initial thoughts, write them down.

2. Read the passage. Review the answers/thoughts you wrote down yesterday. Is there anything that you need to respond to?

3. Review the past day. What concerns/joys/events occupy your heart?

4. Write down a prayer in response.

Wednesday

REVELATION 3:7-13

1. Take time to be quiet, until you can focus on being in the presence of God. Read the text until you can understand what it says. If you have any initial thoughts, write them down.

2.  “I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” What does this tell you about our Lord?

3. Vv7-10: Do these promises apply to all churches who resemble Philadelphia? What do these promises reveal about Jesus?

4. Can these words of Jesus to the Philadelphia Church apply to you as an individual Christian? What comfort can you draw from what you have learned about Jesus our Lord?

5. Write down a prayer in response.

Thursday

REVELATION 3:7-13

1. Take time to be quiet, until you can focus on being in the presence of God. If you have any initial thoughts, write them down.

2. Read the passage. Review the answers/thoughts you wrote down yesterday. Is there anything that you need to respond to?

3. Review the past day. What concerns/joys/events occupy your heart?

4. Write down a prayer in response.

Friday

REVELATION 3:14-22

1. Take time to be quiet, until you can focus on being in the presence of God. Read the text until you can understand what it says. If you have any initial thoughts, write them down.

2. What do you think is meant by Jesus as neither hot nor cold but lukewarm? What was the problem with the Laodicea Church?

3. What was a further indictment of the Church in vv17-18? Has this contributed to their lukewarmness?

4. “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” What do you learn here about Jesus?

5. Can these accusations and the invitation by Jesus to the Laodicea Church apply to you as an individual Christian?

6. Write down a prayer in response.

Saturday

REVELATION 3:14-22

1. Take time to be quiet, until you can focus on being in the presence of God. If you have any initial thoughts, write them down.

2. Read the passage. Review the answers/thoughts you wrote down yesterday. Is there anything that you need to respond to?

3. Review the past day. What concerns/joys/events occupy your heart?

4. Write down a prayer in response.

Sunday

I KNOW YOUR DEEDS

These words can be a comfort or a terror. But when you listen to Christ, you can hear the clarity of his heart. His desire is not to butter you up, nor to cast you down. It is a clear sighted analysis that calls for remedy, not condemnation.

Sardis was hiding behind her reputation. And the Lord called her out. She had started many things that are good, but had not followed through. Why so? Was she intoxicated by numbers? Was she led by people who had vision and passion but little stamina? Or was she so shallow, only interested in the praise of men, but little real interest in the people they are involved in? Whatever it may be, Christ knows the true situation.

Philadelphia was not a powerful church, but that did not bother Jesus. It is her faithfulness that the Lord saw and praised. The powerful around her have maligned her but she has kept her eye firmly on  the Lord who promised her this mysterious blessing: an open door that no one can shut.

Laodicea perhaps straddled the two: nothing so bad that can be called out, but nothing so wonderful either that can be praised. Lukewarm! What an indictment. There is no passion, no conviction, nothing she would endure and suffer for. Here is a church that chugs along, doing the right things, saying the right words, regularly and without fail. But produces nothing either. Perhaps it is because she is materially rich and so in a material sense, has no need. Her self satisfaction kept her from feeling the need in others which in turn kept her from seeing her true poverty.

The Lord is no fool. He knows. Yet he remains gracious: “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”

1. Take time to be quiet, until you can focus on being in the presence of God. If you have any initial thoughts, write them down.

2. Review the answers/thoughts you wrote down in the past week. What conclusion can you draw from the passages of Scripture you have been considering? Is there anything that you need to respond to?

3. Read the short sharing above. Does it add anything to your conclusion? 

4. Review the past week. What concerns/joys/events occupy your heart?

5. Write down a prayer in response.