ENCOURAGEMENT FOR AN ORDINARY CHURCH (7 OF 8)
by Drew Hunter
Scripture: Revelation 3:7-13
This content is part of a series.
Encouragement for an Ordinary Church (7 of 8)
Series: Seven Challenges Facing Every Church
Drew Hunter
Revelation 3: 7-13
Jesus is addressing challenges that Christians and churches face.
And this morning we see him speak to those who are tempted to think they don't matter. They are small; they don't have much power; they are excluded. And so they could be prone to discouragement. This is the challenge that Jesus addresses here.
Is that how you feel? Do you feel insignificant?
Maybe you often wonder if you matter.
You wonder if anything you do makes any real difference in people's lives.
You wonder if you should just coast until this life is over. Or you wonder if you should get out of your current life as it is-leave and start over somewhere else.
You trust in Jesus, you know he's your king and friend; but you don't think you matter much to him. You don't think you matter much to anyone else.
Jesus says to his people this morning: You matter to me.
Jesus is writing to a local church that needs encouragement.
?This church didn't have a reputation like the one we saw last Sunday. They weren't well-known. They weren't influential. They weren't very big. People didn't talk about them and recommend them to others. They were overlooked and excluded in the city.
And Jesus gives a message to strengthen his people when they feel like this. He encourages his people by giving them three images: a key, a door, and a pillar. These images are what we need to understand in order to be strengthened.
Jesus is appealing to our imagination here.
Let me give a fifteen second plug for the imagination here. Imagination has had a bad rap among many Christians. It shouldn't. We use our imagination all the time-it's how we make sense of the world. It's how we see patterns in life. It's how we interpret facts and make sense of what we see.
When Jesus appeals to our imagination with these images, he isn't asking us to believe things that a ...
Series: Seven Challenges Facing Every Church
Drew Hunter
Revelation 3: 7-13
Jesus is addressing challenges that Christians and churches face.
And this morning we see him speak to those who are tempted to think they don't matter. They are small; they don't have much power; they are excluded. And so they could be prone to discouragement. This is the challenge that Jesus addresses here.
Is that how you feel? Do you feel insignificant?
Maybe you often wonder if you matter.
You wonder if anything you do makes any real difference in people's lives.
You wonder if you should just coast until this life is over. Or you wonder if you should get out of your current life as it is-leave and start over somewhere else.
You trust in Jesus, you know he's your king and friend; but you don't think you matter much to him. You don't think you matter much to anyone else.
Jesus says to his people this morning: You matter to me.
Jesus is writing to a local church that needs encouragement.
?This church didn't have a reputation like the one we saw last Sunday. They weren't well-known. They weren't influential. They weren't very big. People didn't talk about them and recommend them to others. They were overlooked and excluded in the city.
And Jesus gives a message to strengthen his people when they feel like this. He encourages his people by giving them three images: a key, a door, and a pillar. These images are what we need to understand in order to be strengthened.
Jesus is appealing to our imagination here.
Let me give a fifteen second plug for the imagination here. Imagination has had a bad rap among many Christians. It shouldn't. We use our imagination all the time-it's how we make sense of the world. It's how we see patterns in life. It's how we interpret facts and make sense of what we see.
When Jesus appeals to our imagination with these images, he isn't asking us to believe things that a ...
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