Wednesday, August 15, 2012

To the angel of the church in Birmingham write...


This Sunday we are wrapping up our #sevenletters series with an 8th letter – one to the church in Birmingham.  As a disclaimer, right from the start, I did not receive a revelation from God while in a cave in Clemson (Clemson fans usually don’t head into our caves until later in the football season).  What I’ve imagined is definitely not Scripture but as I’ve worked through these 7 letters this summer I have wrestled with what specifically Jesus might say to His church today and this Sunday’s message is my best sense of what that might be. 

It’s a message I’ve been working on for months now as God has been burdening my heart about His vision for Mountaintop this fall.   This may be the most important message I’ve shared with you since I arrived last November.  To help you prepare here’s what I imagine Jesus might write to His church at Mountaintop:

To the angel of the Church in Birmingham write:  These are the words of the Lord of the Banquet who satisfies those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.  I know your deeds and your heart for those who have wandered away from Me.  You have opened a door and welcomed them home.  Yet I have this against you; you have grown complacent and there is still room.  Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town, to the roads and country lanes and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.  Compel them to come so that My house will be full.  All who respond to My invitation will come from east and west and north and south and sit with Me at the feast in the kingdom of God.  Whoever has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the church.

Sunday morning I will be unpacking what I am convinced this means for you and for me as we join in the new things God is doing all around us.  This is a Sunday you don’t want to miss.

1 comment:

  1. I think this is exactly what Jesus would write to the church in Birmingham. I also think He has seen that in recent months, Mountaintop has begun to awaken and is less complacent than a few months ago. I praise Him for this change in the hearts of the members.

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