Coach Chelsea G - Life in Christ

Boasting About Tomorrow - Warning to Rich Oppressors - James 4-5 - Scripture Prayed Out

Read Scripture and Pray with me and grow in your relationship with the Lord, praying what is from His heart, from His Word, so we can align our hearts and our lives with Him!
 
*Scripture read from the Zondervan NIV Study Bible 
*Background Music: Prayer Instrumental Music with Scriptures - 24/7 - DappyTKeys Piano Worship 

Submit Yourselves to God - Let Jesus Purify and Heal your Heart - James 4 - Scripture Prayed Out

Read Scripture and Pray with me and grow in your relationship with the Lord, praying what is from His heart, from His Word, so we can align our hearts and our lives with Him!
 
*Scripture read from the Zondervan NIV Study Bible 
*Background Music:    Prayer Instrumental Music with Scriptures - 24/7 - DappyTKeys Piano Worship 

Taming the Tongue - Two Kinds of Wisdom - James 3 - Scripture Prayed Out

Read Scripture and Pray with me and grow in your relationship with the Lord, praying what is from His heart, from His Word, so we can align our hearts and our lives with Him!
 
*Scripture read from the Zondervan NIV Study Bible 
*Background Music: Prayer Instrumental Music with Scriptures - 24/7 - DappyTKeys Piano Worship 

Favoritism Forbidden - Faith and Deeds - James 2 - Scripture Prayed Out

Read Scripture and Pray with me and grow in your relationship with the Lord, praying what is from His heart, from His Word, so we can align our hearts and our lives with Him!
 
*Scripture read from the Zondervan NIV Study Bible 
*Background Music: Prayer Instrumental Music with Scriptures - 24/7 - DappyTKeys Piano Worship 

Trials and Temptations - Listening and Doing - James 1 - Scripture Prayed Out

Read Scripture and Pray with me and grow in your relationship with the Lord, praying what is from His heart, from His Word, so we can align our hearts and our lives with Him!
*Scripture read from the Zondervan NIV Study Bible 
*Background Music:    Prayer Instrumental Music with Scriptures - 24/7 - DappyTKeys Piano Worship 

The Laodicea Culture - What the Holy Spirit Says to the Church living in that Culture

This Culture and City was rich in wealth, cared about the Jewish Community and helped them!
But what were the Christians like in that Culture? What does Revelation say about believers in Christ living in that place? In that lifestyle?
To the Church in Laodicea
“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. 
 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 
 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 
You 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. 
 I 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.
 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. 
So be earnest and repent. 
 Here 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 that person, and they with me.
To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. 
 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

The Philadelphia Culture - What the Holy Spirit Says to the Church Living in that Culture

To the Church in Philadelphia
"To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. 
What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.
I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. 
I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.
Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.
I am coming soon. 
Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.
The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. 
Never again will they leave it. 
I will write on them 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 them my new name.
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

The Sardis Culture - What the Holy Spirit Says to the Church Living in that Culture

The Sardis Culture:
To sum it all up in two words:
*Tolerance.  And   *Loose Living 
An article about the Sardis Culture explained:
Sardis was a city of legends.
It was the capital of the sixth-century BC Lydian empire, whose kings were thought to be the descendants of Hercules.
At its height, Sardis was a land of riches and military might.
Midas, the mythical ruler whose touch turned everything to gold, was thought to have bathed in the Pactolus River, near the metropolis, and filled its waters with gold.
 There were high concentrations of gold dust in the river, which translated into sumptuous wealth. Historians consider Lydians the first to mint gold and silver coins, as well as the first to build permanent retail shops. 
 Nearby Mt. Tmolus was considered the birthplace of the Greek god of wine and revelry, Bacchus.
During the end of the first century AD, Sardis remained a booming cultural center. Due to its prime location on a trade route, its wool and carpet industry, and its thriving economy, the city “lived the high life.” 
A type of religious freedom flourished in Sardis. Despite the city’s worship of all sorts of gods, Christians did not live under fear of persecution.  They lived in peace and were able to go about their trades and Christian owned businesses in peace.
So why does Revelation 3 warn the Church in Sardis?

The Thyatira Culture - What the Holy Spirit Says to the Church Living in that Culture

1 Kings 16-19 tells us about Jezebel and how she influenced actions and behaviors in people in the Thyatira Culture.
Acts 16:13-40 shows us what the culture was like in Thyatira, and also what the Church dealt with in that Culture.
Revelation 2:19-29 says:
"To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:
These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. (Jesus)
I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
(The church was doing so great in certain areas. Doing a lot for the Lord!)
Nevertheless, I have this against you: 
You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. 
(Jezebel is from the old testament times. During the times of Prophet Elijah.)
 
 So why is Jesus saying, “you tolerate that woman Jezebel?”
I believe he’s talking about the spirit of Jezebel.
Just like people get in the spirit of Christmas and everyone has the same vibes with how they decorate, music they’re playing, cozying up in their onesies with hot chocolate to watch Christmas movies…. Everyone has the same actions and behaviors, operating the same way during Christmas time.
 Just like that, people also get in the spirit of other things. Like the spirit of Jezebel. Where everyone has the same vibes with how they go about their actions and behaviors in the same way as Jezebel did, with the same character that Jezebel had.
Revelation 2 continues to say about Jezebel:
"By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 
 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 
So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 
 I will strike her children dead. 
Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,
 ‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’
 To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—  that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery
just as I have received authority from my Father. 
 I will also give that one the morning star.
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Pergumum Culture - What the Holy Spirit Says to the Church Living in that Culture

Ancient Pergumum Culture:
The large famous structure, the Pergumum altar, also called the Temple of Zeus, was created in the 3rd Century BC, and was consecrated to the gods because of “favors” they had bestowed.
This large throne-like altar, built on a cliff that overlooked the city, was for the Greek god Zeus. And also for Zeuses daughter, Athena.
There are also other smaller temples to other gods around the large Pergamum Alter.
The Gigantomachy frieze in the Pergamum Alter show panels of sculptures on the walls that reveal scenes of sacrifice, including human sacrifice, that they made to their gods, and the sculptures display their beliefs depicting the cosmic battle of the Olympian gods against the Giants (also called Titans), who in Greek and Roman mythology, were believed to be the children of the primordial goddess Gaia ( goddess of the Earth). Born when Uranus (god of the sky) was castrated by his son Cronus. Gaia received the blood that fell, ending up giving birth to these Giants, Who were a race of great strength and aggression.
The Church in Pergumum:
During these times, everyone who would not offer sacrifice to the Greek gods they idolized or the Roman emperors they idolized, lived under threat of exile or execution by order of the emperor.
(Meaning they cancel you, isolate you and cut off all your resources , or they kill you).
Antipas, a disciple of the Apostle John was bishop of the Church of Pergamum during the reign of the emperor Nero.
Antipas was persecuted because of his personal example in the way he lived following Christ, persecuted because of his firm faith in Christ, and persecuted because of his constant preaching about Christ.
As Antipas began to turn the people of Pergamum away from offering sacrifices to idols, the pagan priests reproached the bishop for leading the people away from their ancestral gods, and they demanded that he stop preaching about Christ and offer sacrifice to the idols instead.
Antipas told them that he was not about to serve the demons that fled from him, a mere mortal. And that he worshiped the Lord Almighty, and he would continue to worship the Creator of all, with His Only-Begotten Son, and the Holy Spirit. 
The pagan priests said that their gods existed from of old, whereas Christ was not from of old but was crucified under Pontius Pilate as a criminal. 
Antipas replied that the pagan gods were the work of human hands and that everything said about them was filled with iniquities and vices.
Then he steadfastly confessed his faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
The enraged pagan priests dragged Antipas to the temple of Artemis and threw him into a red-hot copper bull, where usually they put the sacrifices to the idols.
In their pagan alter, while he was being burned to his death, Antipas prayed loudly to God, imploring Him to receive his soul and to strengthen the faith of the Christians.
 
Revelation 2:12-17 says:
"To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:
These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword.  
I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. 
You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.
Nevertheless, I have a few things against you:
There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality.
Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 
Repent therefore! 
Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. 
To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. 
I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it."