The Seven Cities and Seven Churches of Revelation: Laodicea

Here are some websites and articles that give some information about the city of Laodicea. You may need your MyValleyForge login information to access some of these articles.

Laodicea had a medical school.  Here are some websites about Roman medical practices:

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Laodicea

The Compromising City

The Lukewarm Church

Has Your Lethargic Complacency Destroyed Your Transformational Potentiality?

Introduction

Living with Passion

·         “If there is no passion in your life, then have you really lived?  Find your passion, whatever it may be.  Become it, and let it become you and you will find great things happen FOR you, TO you and BECAUSE of you.”  Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel 

I.  Looking at the Text:  Revelation 3:14-23

A.  Commission – v: 14

o   To the Angel of the Church in Laodicea

B.  Character – v: 14

o   Drawn from Revelation 1

§  The Amen

§  The faithful and true witness

§  The beginning of the creation of God

C.  Commendation – Nothing

D.  Condemnation – v: 15, 16, 17

o   “I know your deeds”

o   Lukewarm, wretched and miserable, poor, blind, naked.

o    “Condemnation is laid upon it because of its smug complacency and because of its lukewarm allegiances.  It was drifting, not driving.  It was both indifferent and ignorant.”   Merrill C. Tenney

E.  Correction – v:  18, 29, 20

o   They needed to repent

F.  Challenge – v: 21

G.  Call – v: 22

o   Listen; Listen; Listen

II.  Looking At Practical Lessons

·         Ephesus:  Has Your First Love Become Your Last Priority?

·         Smyrna:  Has Your Greatest Fear Contaminated Your Genuine Goodness?

·         Pergamum:  Has Your Deceptive Behavior Contradicted Your Orthodox Doctrine?

·         Thyatira:  Has Your Consistent Progress Eroded Your Eventual Endurance?

·         Sardis:  Has Your External Reputation Overtaken Your Internal Reality?

·         Philadelphia:  Has Your Present Performance Anticipated Your Ultimate Opportunity?

·         Laodicea:  Has Your Lethargic Complacency Destroyed Your Transformational Potentiality?

“So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

We are at the threshold of the finale of the 2010-2011 year.  Graduation is next week.  The possibilities before us are endless. 
Yet, could we become passionless?  Here are 7 cautions I would give you today.  It could happen if we are…

1.  Sitting on the Past – Laziness

·         Achievement can be limiting if we stop there.

·         Isaac Canales, “Guard us from the complacency of past achievement.”

2.  Running on Empty – Emptiness  

·         Sooner or later the fuel gets used up.  It is inevitable.  But you can’t only give it away.

·         Stanley Kunitz, “What makes the engine go?  Desire.  Desire.  Desire.”

3.  Aiming too Low – Smallness

·         Small dreams will not quicken your heart rate.  But, when you aim high – when you climb big mountains, something stirs in the soul.

·         No one gets a gold medal for jumping over 3 foot hurdles.

4.  Trying too Much – Messiness

·         Some things must be eliminated from your priorities.  No one can serve two masters.

·         Focus.  Focus.  Focus!

5.  Overstaying your Welcome – Aimlessness

·         When your mission is accomplished, move on.

·         Life is too short to spend it marking time at the base of a mountain you have already climbed.  Lift up your eyes!

6.  Relaxing in the Familiar – Barrenness  

·         Passion grows when we  move into the unknown

·         Passion dies when we know the end of the story, we get root-bound, stuck in the mud.

7.  Losing the Wonder – Gloominess

·         Vance Havner … “Have you lost the wonder?”

Conclusion

Has your lethargic complacency destroyed your transformational potentiality?

·         Marcus Aurelius Antonius, “Waste no more time talking with great souls and how they should be.  Become one yourself.”

·         Gordon MacDonald, Restoring Your Spiritual Passion

o   The King is in the audience

o   Don’t wait until you are terminally ill to find passion in life.

·         C.S. Lewis, “The problem with our desires is not that they are too weak, but not strong enough.  Thus they are too easily satisfied.”

·         Brandon Samuel, “As a child I didn’t want to leave McDonald’s Playland for Disney World which was 2 miles away where my parents wanted me to go.”

·         Dr. Jim Bradford – Thoughts on Religion:  Pharisees – Externalized religion.  Scribes professionalized religion.  Sadducees secularized religion.  Zealots politicized religion.      

To the Church in Laodicea

 ¹⁴"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
      These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. ¹⁵I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. ¹⁸I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. ¹⁹Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. ²⁰Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. ²¹To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. ²²He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

Here is some information about Roman aqueducts, baths, and roads:  

The following articles were originally published in our local newspaper, The Phoenix.