Key Thought: The messages to the seven churches show that Christ is connected with His church throughout history.

The Church Militant March 12- 18, 2016

1. Have a volunteer read Revelation 2:1-7.

Image © Lars Justinen Goodsalt.com

a. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
b. What does Ephesus mean and why is it applicable? Why is it easy to leave our first love?
c. Personal Application : What could happen to us individually or as a church for our love to grow cold? Share your thoughts.
d. Case Study : One of your relatives states: “Who or what are the Nicolaitans and why did God hate their deeds?” How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read Revelation 2:20-25.

a. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
b. These people had charity, works, faith, and patience; and yet God is not pleased with them. Could they actually have done anything to change the influence of the Church during the Dark Ages?
c. Personal Application : How tolerant should we be with the ascendancy of the Papacy and the Protestant churches in promoting and propagating their false doctrines and teachings? Share your thoughts.
d. Case Study : One of your friends states, “Why is He saying they suffer Jezebel? Wasn’t she killed in the Old Testament? How does or did God kill her children with death?” How would you respond to your neighbor?
(Note: A woman is a church. Jezebel was married to the king of Israel – God’s people, and led them into false worship. So the church leads people astray during the Dark Ages. Afterward, the Black Death or black plague raced across Europe killing unnumbered people.)

3. Have a volunteer read Revelation 3:7-10.

a. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
b. What is the open door that no man can shut?
(Note: Here is the beginning of judgment in heaven when Jesus went from the Holy Place to the Most Holy Place in 1844.)
c. Personal Application: If Jesus were to speak to you today, what counsel might He give you or to the church? Share your thoughts.
d. Case Study : One of your neighbors states, “Why does it say the members of the church in Philadelphia will be kept from the hour of temptation? What does this mean?” How would you respond to your neighbor?
(Case Study : The Second Coming and the Great Tribulation would not occur during this church era.)

4. Have a volunteer read Revelation 3:14-19.

a. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
b. How is it possible for a person who serves the Lord to be lost in the end?
c. Personal Application: What is Jesus telling His church in Laodicea? What does this mean to us today? Share your thoughts.
d. Case Study : Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared.”Ministry of Healing, p. 148).

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