"POP" CHRISTIANITY

Not many people, in today’s modern culture, care to be part of an organization, or club, or clique unless it is popular. There is, it seems, a broad stamp of approval in being in with a group that others are eager to be part of. It offers assurance that “we’re OK” — actually better than OK; it swells our pride, which feels good; it validates our existence.

The Assurance of Spiritual Life

Ephesians 1:13-14 says, In Him (we) also trusted, after (we) heard the word of truth, the gospel of (our) salvation; in whom also, having believed, (we) were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Our inheritance is eternal life. There is no eternal life without spiritual life which is fellowship with God. He made us, who were DEAD  in sin, alive in Him, Christ. That life is forever. A spiritual life of fellowship with God is guaranteed. What is not guaranteed  is our spiritual perfection in Him... our growing into the mature man, to the measure (standard of judgment; determined extent, which is lofty) of the stature of the fullness of Christ; which is our spiritual completeness in Him. It’s not guaranteed because that part is up to us, and apparently there are some believers in the world who either don’t know that we have to grow  into it (ignorance of the word), or have decided it’s not necessary (complacency).

THE VAST NURSERY

In the "ward" called Christianity, there is a vast nursery of babes, which encompasses most of the domain. They are fed milk sporadically but it is of little nourishment. So the newborns come in, and they grow…ever so anemic.

Day Care is but one day a week. The rest of the time they are left to their own devices. Some mature to kindergarten. Few graduate beyond the elementary. The scholar is an unrecognizable mutant. This is the vast nursery of today's Christians. There are few attendants and even fewer doctors. The babes are sometimes left to lie in their own ineffectuality.

The Price of Redemption

The price of redemption was very high, not for us, but for God... probably beyond our comprehension. God, of course, is Sovereign, Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent. Nothing is impossible to Him, Luke 1:37; Jer. 32:27; Gen. 18:14; Matt. 19:26. This is not a statement of faith... it is fact.

To consider the price, we must understand what happened at the “fall” of both Adam and lucifer. satan,as he is now called, was the author and possessor of sin and death. Before Gen. 1:1 is a HUGE study. 
For us, it began in the Garden with the sacrifice of that innocent animal to clothe Adam and Eve back into a state of fellowship with God. We should note that it was God’s own sacrifice of, I believe, sheep. God Himself had to “submit” that innocent animal to death in order to take its hide. I wonder if we can understand the profound significance of what God did.

Grace in Jesus

2 Peter 3:18 says, Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; to Him is the glory both now, and forever. Amen

How do we grow in Grace? Well, maybe we can search out the answer to that question in a Bible study. But allow me to introduce some thoughts and comments for discussion.

The exhortation is, we MUST grow in Grace, otherwise we remain babes in Christ coasting along on God’s loving-kindness and mercy. God, our Father, does not want that.

The Glory and Fullness of Jesus

1 John 4:16-17 AMP
We have come to know by personal observation and experience, the love which God has for us, and have believed with deep, consistent faith. God is Love, and the one who abides in love, abides in God, and God abides in him. In this union and fellowship with Him, love is made perfect among us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment with assurance and boldness to face God and not fear judgment; because as Jesus is, so are we in this world.

Thyatira: Revelation 2:18-29

 from: “The Addresses to the Seven Churches” by Hamilton Smith (unedited)

In order to rightly interpret the address to Thyatira, and the addresses that follow, it is important to see the characteristic differences between the first three addresses and the last four.

It is clear that the first three Churches set forth the condition of the whole professing Church at three successive periods of its history. Moreover, the general condition set forth by these Churches does not continue throughout the Church's history; though, indeed, the evils that develop, during the periods set forth by these Churches, continue to mark the Christian profession for all time.

Thus the united testimony of the Church that marked the Ephesian period has passed away; though the loss of first love has ever since marked the Christian profession.