Today we begin our new summer teaching series called “The Seven Churches of Revelation”

Over the next several weeks we will seek to understand the importance and relevance of this text in our lives today.

Just like the rest of our Bible, we believe that Revelation is valuable and integral to our faith- It’s there for a reason.

Through this study we want to hear and understand the warnings and instructions to these churches. As we do that, we also want to discern how we can learn from these warnings in our lives and through our local church.

It would be a mistake if we believe that this was only about something back then- 2000 years ago.

Our desire is to renew and refine our vision of life and what the church should be.

What we know about Revelation:
-This entire book is a vision, given by God to the apostle John.
-John is in exile on the Isle of Patmos. He has been exiled to Patmos to try to keep him from preaching the Gospel in the Roman Empire.
-John's banishment is a form of 'the death penalty'. They sent him away to die.
-While in exile, the Lord chose that experience to reveal world-changing truths to John. And He writes them down here, in the book of Revelation.

The focus of the letter comes immediately: Revelation is a Jesus letter.

Consider some of the ways Jesus is described here:
-"him who is, and who was, and who is to come," (verse 4)
-"the faithful witness" (verse 5)
-"the firstborn from the dead" (verse 5)
-"the ruler of the kings of the earth" (Verse 5)
-"who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood" (verse 5)
-"has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father" (verse 6)
-"I am the Alpha and the Omega” (verse 8)
-"who is, and who was, and who is to come" (verse 8)
-"the Almighty" (verse 8)

1. These words are relevant today
Our tendency is to take anything complicated, thought-provoking, or potentially challenging and excuse it or minimize it. The temptation may be to make these words only applicable to the churches in Asia Minor 2,000 years ago. But these words are relevant today.

2. These words are for you
One of the biggest dangers we can make in reading Scripture is applying it to everyone else, and not ourselves. In the coming weeks, as we journey through Revelation, believe that there will be specific wisdom that you need right now, encouragement for the season you are in right now, a challenge for you that may not be easy but a challenge from the Lord that you need. These words are for you.

3. Jesus is your past, your present, your future
We see it from the very beginning: Revelation is a Jesus book. Jesus has been there since the beginning. He's right here in the beginning of Revelation and He's been there, seated at the right hand of the Father, long before this moment. No matter what you face today, the picture we see of Jesus, the picture John writes down so vividly, is the picture of Jesus for you, right now.