Insight from Revelation 2:<\/p>\n
This section includes seven letters to seven local churches. While these letters were addressed to seven real churches that were in Asia in the first century, the greatest value of these letters to churches today will not be in studying the history of conditions that were in Asia at that time. Remember, these seven churches are representative of all churches, in all places, for all times. The preacher or teacher should study these letters to discern what they are saying to the present-day church. This means far more than reading these letters and applying them to the global church (all Christians on earth) in a general way. Christ expects this book to be used by local churches in a very specific way. He expects local churches to hear what he is saying to them through these letters. He expects local churches to respond to the commands he is giving them through these letters.<\/p>\n
It is evident, based on these seven letters, that all churches are not the same. Each church will have its own difficulties. It is also evident, based on these letters, that Jesus expects every local church to address the difficulties that they are facing. No local church, no matter what country or city or village it might be in, no matter how rich or how poor it might be, and no matter how educated it may or may not be, is free from Christ\u2019s examination. Christ expects all churches in all situations to be healthy churches.<\/p>\n
These letters, then, are gifts to all churches in all times. These letters are intended to help them flee from sin and to persevere in righteousness.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_crdt_document":""},"class_list":["post-4739","reading-plan","type-reading-plan","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan\/4739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/reading-plan"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}