This Sunday is a fun morning at Crestview Church – Worship at 9:30am, followed by a church wide Care Group time of connection at 10:30am, followed by a church wide brunch/lunch of fellowship. Bring a dish to pass/share – a salad, a casserole, a crock pot something, a dessert, something to add to the feast. If you are feeling frisky, bring two items to share :).
The message for Sunday is the over-the-hump message of our series in Revelation as we tackle church #4: Thyatira. Thyatira was a military outpost that protected the capital city of the region, Pergamum. It also had several flourishing trade guilds. The difficulty for followers of Jesus in Thyatira had to do with the trade guilds. Membership to be included in a trade guild involved engagement in pagan worship practices.
Think of the difficulty. Imagine you are a potter or a tanner. All your business connections are with people who engage in parties (worship practices) where things happen there that are against God’s call on your life to be ‘set apart’ and to give glory to God in your living practices. If your faith in God keeps you from engaging in these events and social gatherings, over time, you are excluded and your business ties dry up. Actually, it gets much worse than this – after a while you become a target for vandalism, ridicule, and scorn. And this kind of thing carries over to your family and your children. This is the kind of scenario the followers of Jesus faced in Thyatira: Economic hardship and social isolation. What would you do? Are there similarities in what you may face at work or school or in your neighborhood when it comes to your witness for Jesus?
There was one more thing that was going on in Thyatira – an enticement to seek some ‘secret knowledge.’ This is a powerful ploy of Satan throughout history: If you engage in this or that you will gain some ‘secret knowledge.’ Sounds like the kind of thing that got Adam and Eve in trouble in the first place…
Text for Sunday is Revelation 2:18-29. Looking forward to Sunday: Worship, Communion, Care Group Connection, and a Fellowship Feast! Be there or be square!
Pastor Mark