LETTER TO THE LAODICEAN CHURCH 1
MEMORISE: And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. Luke 9:23
READ: Revelation 3:14 -18
14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Luke 9:23 -24
23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
MESSAGE
The Laodiceans were very rich people, but they were lukewarm. Jesus said He would spew them out of His mouth because they said they were Rich and thus had need of nothing. Jesus told these people that they were poor and to be rich, they needed to come and buy gold tried in the fire from Him. To be clothed, they needed to buy white raiment from Him too. This reminds us of what we learnt when we discussed the letter to the Smyrna Church earlier this month (10th and 11th of August).
Jesus didn't say they should come and get from Him the gold tried in fire or the white raiment; He said they should come and buy it. In other words, they would have to give up something in order to get it. This is where the problem is with lukewarm Christian. They want convenient Christianity and that does not exist. They want to come to Church when they like and do only what is convenient for them in the word of God. If you are not giving something up to stand in the faith, you are a lukewarm Christian. If you discover that for some time now, the Lord has not taken anything from you that was difficult to give up - whether it is material or in your character, you are a lukewarm Christian. You don't get the white raiment, or the gold tried in the fire without giving something up. You don't become spiritually rich without giving up something in the physical.
If you don't tell anyone about Jesus, or you indulge in the lust of the eyes or pay people to do the work of God because you can no longer work for Him with your own hands as that will be beneath your social class, you are a lukewarm Christian. If you are finding it difficult to let go of a particular thing or pick up something new so as to gain spiritual riches, you had better change your ways now because the Lord says He will spew you out of His mouth.
God has spewed some people out of His mouth, but they don't know it. They think they are still in Christ, but they're long gone. I hope that today's message can help shed some light on whether you have become lukewarm or not.
I really do pray that the Almighty God shows you the area where you may need to reignite the fire, in Jesus' name.
PRAYER POINT
Father, any area where my fire has become lukewarm, please show me and help me to become hot for you again, in Jesus name.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Isaiah 55-59
HYMN 3: DEEPER DEEPER IN THE LOVE OF JESUS
1. Deeper, deeper in the love of Jesus
Daily let me go;
Higher, higher in the school of wisdom,
More of grace to know.
Refrain:
Oh, deeper yet, I pray,
And higher ev'ry day,
And wiser, blessed Lord,
In Thy precious, holy word.
2 Deeper, deeper! blessed Holy Spirit,
Take me deeper still,
Till my life is wholly lost in Jesus,
And His perfect will.
3 Deeper, deeper! tho' it cost hard trials,
Deeper let me go!
Rooted in the holy love of Jesus,
Let me fruitful grow.
4 Deeper, higher, ev'ry day in Jesus,
Till all conflict past,
Finds me conqu’ror, and in His own image
Perfected at last.
