Seven churches

THE SEVEN CHURCHES
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1 Tim 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were
called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the
other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Now he tells the church, beginning in verse 8, how he will use this power to open and
shut. All missionary activities are directed by Jesus himself through the Holy Spirit. We
have several examples of these in the Acts of Apostles.
On his second missionary journey he tried to go into the province of Asia to preach the
gospel but was forbidden by the Holy Spirit; it was a shut door. Then he tried to go into
Bithynia, on the southern shore of the Black Sea, but was not allowed to go in - another
shut door. But when he came to Troas he had a vision of a man from Macedonia, and he
learned that the Lord had opened a door for him into Europe. .
Three Names
I will write on him the name of my God
and
the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of
heaven from my God;
and
I will also write on him my new name.
This again refers to the Pillars that are found in the Philadelphian High ways where the
emperor honored the citizens for their great services. On it were written the Emperors
name in large letters, then the name of the city and then the name of the citizen who is
honored. Often he is given a new title. Christians of course where a group with very little
power. But comforts them by saying that his honoring will be far more greater than those
writings on the pillars. You will become a pillar which will eternally standing. When a
person is born again he becomes a new creation and Jesus gives him a new name.