Truth Matters 92

Hello, I'm Dr. Cheryl Davis and I want to thank you for listening to truth matters. Every last couple weeks we have covered the book of Revelation, and particularly in our last session, we covered the church of Laodicea. The last church in the series of the seven churches of Asia minor.

I have to admit we have taken a deep dive into each church.

We have examined the force by looking at each tree. Today I want to take a broad look at the forest. I'd like to get into church history and try to synthesize the first three churches of Revelation as a whole, but I call this session is the interlude history of the church age. A summary of revelations chapters 1 through three. I'd like to talk about another aspect of looking at this on if you look at seven stages, each each stage has its own letter really and looking in the seven ages. You can divide the seven ages into two groups. In chapters 4 through 19. We will encounter 707 vials, seven bowls in each Group of Seven they were to divide.

They were divided into subgroups and in group 1, there are four churches are four stages in group 2. There are three let's get it group 1 to group 1. I'm describing as a successive.

The first four periods of church history, followed one another meeting as the first. Rise and falls in the second period starts, rises and falls the third.

Rises and falls in the fourth. Rises and falls they come in succession, one on the end of the other ethicists, which is the post-apostolic was followed by Smyrna, which was the period of persecution which was followed by Pergamum's which is the time of Rome, which was followed by Thyatira, the time of the dark ages that I'd like to really spend more time on group to, as I believe these churches exist contemporaneously, meaning that they exist around the same time. It's just the height of these churches may differ in their time frames. What I mean is that currently in modern day. I believe there are elements of Sardis there elements of Philadelphia.

There are elements of Laodicea. Laodicea is the most prominent church at this time but I believe they all coexist together. As you remember.

Sardis was the church that was dead but had a name. Philadelphia was alive with an open door and Laodicea is sickly. What I mean by contemporaneous is that when the door to ministry was opened in the Philadelphia. The previous Sardis. The dead church did not in.

We still have the Roman church today and churches bogged down in deadness and apathy when the expansion of the church began the Reformation. Did not end it continues today. The effects of the previous periods are still around but the Laodicean characteristics are dominant. I believe we had three forms of church on the scene today. The Sardis formed the Philadelphia form in the Laodicean form. Our challenge is to recognize that the Lord could come today. So what is keeping us from laying our sins down. We are on the threshold of the end of the age. Luke 18, eight says nevertheless when the Son of Man cometh, will he find faith on the earth and according to the three contemporaneous forms of churches that are on the scene today. As we said before, we studied the church of Philadelphia Philadelphia is the remnant in which the Lord is coming back for in the rapture. The letters to the seven churches are God's x-rays given to us so that we might examine our own lives and our own ministries, knowing that your church or even your Christian life could fall into these three categories dead name only alive and thriving or sickly sinner righteous or ungodly. Which one do you fall into have even taken the time to survey your own life and even your own church speaking to pastors what is the spiritual condition of is it more like Philadelphia is it more like Laodicea or Sardis. I pray that you are will thank you for listening to truth matters on Dr. Cheryl Davis