The Seven Sealed Book (Part 2)

Revelation 5:5

And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold,

the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David,

hath prevailed to open the book, and

to loose the seven seals thereof. 

         We are now approaching one of the most dramatic moments in the Revelation, The Lamb appears in the center of the scene. The elder tells John that Jesus Christ has won such a victory that he is able to open the book and to loosen the seals. That means three things. It means that because of his victory over death and all the powers of evil, and because of his complete obedience to God he is able to know God's secrets; he is able to reveal God's secrets; and it is his privilege and duty to control the things which shall be. Because of what Jesus did, he is the Lord of truth and of history. He is called by two great titles.
         His the Lion of Judah. This title goes back to Jacob's final blessing of his sons before his death. Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? (Gen. 49:9). He is the Root of David. This title goes back to Isaiah's prophecy;  And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: (Is. 11:1)
        Here is the supreme moment of this vision of the Lamb in the scene of heaven, and the Lamb is the center of the whole scene. This same Lamb, with the marks of sacrifice still on it, is the Lamb with the seven horns and the seven eyes. The seven horns stand for omnipotence, and in the Old Testament the horn stands for two things, "sheer power, and for honor."  The Lamb bears the sacrificial wounds upon it; but at the same time it is clothed with the very might of God which can now shatter its enemies. The Lamb has seven horns, and the number seven stands for perfection; so the power of the Lamb is perfect, beyond withstanding.
        The Lamb has seven eyes, and the eyes are the Spirits which are dispatched into all the earth. The picture comes from Zechariah. There the prophet sees the seven lamps which are "the eyes of the Lord, which range through the whole earth" (Zech. 4:10). It clearly stands for the omniscience of God, and says that there is no place on earth which is not under the eye of God.  After John had seen all this, he saw the Lamb, which is "Christ" take the Book From God's right hand.
        Amen!!

Reading: (Rev. 5:5-7)
Ref: (HGSB; BSB)

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

The Seven Sealed Book (Part1)

Revelation 5:1

And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne

a book written within and on the backside,

sealed with seven seals."

        Try to visualize the picture which John is using to explain what he saw.  It is taken from the vision of Ezekiel: And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe (Ezek. 2:9-10).  
        We must note that it was a roll and not a book which was in the hand of God.  In the ancient world, down to the second century A.D., the form of literary work was the roll, not the book. The roll was made of papyrus, manufactured in single sheets about ten inches by eight. The roll commonly had a wooden roller at each end. The Revelation itself would occupy a roll 15 feet long.  It was that kind a roll that was in the hand of God.
        When a roll was finished, it was fastened with threads and the threads were sealed at the knots. The one ordinary document sealed with seven seals was a will. The roll may be what we might describe as God's will, his final settlement of the affairs of the universe.  It is more likely that the seven seals stand simply for profound concealment. The contents of the roll are so secret that it is sealed with seven seals. The tomb of Jesus was sealed to keep it safe (Matt. 27:66). The apocryphal Gospel of Peter says that it was sealed with seven seals. It was so sealed to make quite certain that no unauthorized person could possibly open it.  However this gospel of Peter was proposed as an addition to the New testament, but rejected by major canons.
         As John looked at God with the roll in his hand, there came a challenge from a strong angel.  A strong angel appears again in Rev. 10:1 and Rev. 18:21.  In this case the angel had to be strong so that the challenge of his voice might reach throughout the universe.  His summons was that anyone worthy of the task should come forward and open the book.  There is no doubt that the book is the record of that which is to happen in the last times.
     In response to the challenge of the angel no one came forward; none was good enough to open the roll.  And at this John in his vision fell weeping.  It seemed to him that there was no one in the whole universe to whom God could reveal his mysteries.  And, indeed, this was a terrible thing; because  here was a world so far from God that there was none able to receive his message.
        Amen!!

Reading: (Rev. 5:1-4)
Ref: (HGSB; BSB)

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

The 24 Elders, And The 4 Beast Of John's Vision

Revelation 4:4,6)

"And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I

saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had

on their heads crowns of gold. And before the throne there was a sea of

glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about

the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind" 

         We now approach one of the difficult passages for which the Revelation is notorious. In it we meet twenty-four elders and then four living creatures; and we have to try to identify them. The likeliest explanation is that the twenty-four elders are the symbolic representatives of the faithful people of God. Their white robes are the robes promised to the faithful (Rev. 3:4), and their crowns  are those promised to those who are faithful unto death (Rev. 2:10). The seats around the throne are those which Jesus promised to those who forsook all and followed him (Mat. 19:27-29). The description of the twenty-four elders fits well with the promises made to the faithful. We must remember that this is a vision, not of what yet is, but of what shall be; and the twenty-four elders stand as representatives of the whole Church which one day in glory will worship in the presence of God himself.
        The voices are the voices of the thunder; and thunder and lightning are often connected with the manifestation of God. In the vision of Ezekiel lightning comes out of the fiery haze around the throne (Ezek. 1:13). The Psalmist tells how the voice of the thunder of God was heard in the heavens, and the lightnings lightened the world (Ps. 77:18). The seven torches are the seven Spirits of God. We have already met the seven Spirits before the throne (Rev. 1:4; Rev. 3:1). The "glassy sea" has exercised a strange fascination over the minds of many people. There was something which was beyond all description, but which could be only like a great sea of glass.
        It appeared like a sea - stretching afar. It resembled, in its general appearance, glass; and this idea is strengthened by the addition of another image of the same character; that it was like a crystal, perfectly clear and pellucid. This would seem to be designed to represent the floor or structure on which the throne stood. So Maybe what we see in John's vision is that the empire of God is vast, as if it were spread out like the sea; or, it may be symbolic of the calmness, the satisfied complacent of the divine administration; like an undisturbed and unruffled ocean of glass. Perhaps, however, we should not press such circumstances too far to find a symbolical meaning.
        Here we come to another of the symbolic problems of the Revelation. The four living creatures appear frequently in the heavenly scene: So let us begin by collecting what the Revelation itself says about them. They are always found near the throne and the Lamb (Rev. 4:6; Rev. 5:6; Rev. 14:4).   From all this one thing emerges clearly; the cherubim are angelic beings who are close to God and the guardians of his throne.  They have six wings and they are full of eyes (Rev. 4:6; Rev. 4:8). They are constantly engaged in praising and in worshiping God (Rev. 4:8; Rev. 5:9; Rev. 5:14; Rev. 7:11; Rev. 19:4).
        They have certain functions to perform. They invite the dreadful manifestations of the wrath of God to appear upon the scene (Rev. 6:1; Rev. 6:7). One of them hands over the vials of the wrath of God (Rev. 15:7). There can be little doubt that we find the ancestors of these living creatures in the visions of Ezekiel. They are clearly part of the imagery of heaven; and they are not figures whom the writer of the Revelation did not create.
        The lion symbolizes the powerful and effective working of the Son of God, his leadership and his royal power. The ox signifies the priestly side of his work, for it is the animal of sacrifice. The man symbolizes his incarnation. The eagle represents the gift of the Holy Spirit, hovering with his wings over the Church.
        Here is the sleepless praise of nature; "Man rests on the Sabbath, and in sleep, and in the end in death, but the course of nature is unbroken and unbroken in praise." There is never any time when the world God made is not praising him.
        It praises his omnipotence:  God is the Almighty. The people to whom the Revelation was written are under the threat of the Roman Empire, a power which no person or nation had ever successfully withstood. Think what it must have meant to be sure that behind them stood the Almighty. The very giving of that name to God affirms the certainty of the safety of the Christian; not a safety which meant release from trouble but which made a man secure in life and in death.
        It praises his everlastings:  Empires might come and empires might go; God lasts for ever. Here is the triumphant affirmation that God endures unchanging a midst the enmity and the rebellion of men. We have seen that the living creatures stand for nature in all its greatness and the twenty-four elders for the great united Church in Jesus Christ. So when the living creatures and the elders unite in praise, it symbolizes nature and the Church both praising God.  
        The elders cast their crowns before the throne of God. In the ancient world that was the sign of complete submission. The picture looks on God as the conqueror of the souls of men; and on the Church as the body of people who have surrendered to him. There can be no Christianity without submission. God is The Creator!  It is through his will and purpose that all things existed even before creation and were in the end brought into actual being. Man has acquired many powers, but he does not possess the power to create.  He can alter and rearrange; he can make things out of already existing materials; but only God can create something out of nothing.  Everything in the world belongs to God, and there is nothing a man can handle which God has not given to him. God Is The Almighty.
         Amen!!


 Reading: (Rev. 4:4-12)
Ref: (HGSB, BSB)
        (C. Larkin)

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross life Ministry

The Throne Of God

Revelation 4:1a, 2

"After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the

first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking to me;

And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne 

was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne."

         In Rev. 2:1-29; Rev. 3:1-22;  Christ was walking in the midst of his churches upon earth. And now the scene changes to the court of heaven. When John entered the door into heaven, he fell into an ecstasy.  John saw One seated upon the throne, we know that to be God! There is something very interesting here.  John makes no attempt to describe God in any human shape.  He describes God in "the flashing of gem like colors," but he never mentions any kind of form.  It is the Bible's way to see God in terms of light. The Pastorals describe God as "dwelling in the light that no man can approach unto" (1Tim. 6:16). And long before that the Psalmist had spoken of God who covers himself with light as a garment (Ps. 104:2).
        John sees his vision in terms of the lights which flash from precious stones. We do not know what exactly these stones were. But the three names we have are the jasper, the sardine and the emerald. One thing is certain; these were typical of the most precious stones. It is possible that the jasper stands for the unbearable brightness of the purity of God; and the blood-red sardine stands for his avenging wrath; and that the gentle green of the emerald stands for his mercy by which alone we can meet his purity, and his justice.
        The presence of God which John saw, was like the blinding flash of a diamond in the sun, with the dazzling blood-red of the sardine; and there flashed through both the more restful green of the emerald, and due to the brightness of the light through the stones, a human eye could not bear to look upon the rainbow that surrounds God's Throne.
        Amen!!

Reading: (Rev. 4:1-3)
Ref: (HGSB; BSB)

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Laodicea, The Church Condemned

Revelation 3:15

"I know thy works, that thou art neither

cold nor hot: I would thou wast

cold or hot." 

        The church of Laodicea portrays the apostate church of the last days (A. D. 1900---present).  Laodicea has the grim distinction of being the only Church of which Christ has nothing good to say. The words of Christ comes directly from the prosperity and the skill in which Laodicea took so much pride in.  In their minds the citizens, and even the Church, eliminated the need for God. Of all the seven Churches Laodicea is most unsparingly condemned; because in it there is no redeeming feature. 

        The condemnation of Laodicea begins with a picture of almost crude vividness; because the Laodiceans are neither cold nor hot, they have about them a kind of nauseating quality, which will make Christ vomit them out of His mouth. The one attitude which Christ unsparingly condemns is indifference. The problem is that to so many Christianity, and the Church have ceased to have any relevance to social issues, and men regard them with complete indifference. This indifference can be broken down only by the actual demonstration that Christianity is a power to make life strong and a grace to make life beautiful.
        The one impossible attitude to Christianity is being neutral.  Jesus Christ works through men; and the man who remains completely detached in his attitude to Him has by that very fact refused to undertake the work which is the divine purpose for him. The man who will not submit to Christ has necessarily resisted Him. Amen!!
        The tragedy of Laodicea was that it was convinced of its own wealth and blind to its own poverty.  Humanly speaking, anyone would say that there was not a more prosperous town in Asia Minor.  Spiritually speaking; Christ declares that there was not a more poverty-stricken community.  The Church of Laodicea was not burden with debt, but it was burdened with Wealth.  
        The trouble with the Church of Laodicea was that it's "Gold" was not the right kind, so they were told to buy of the Lord "gold tried in the fire" (v-18. What kind of gold is that?  My friend, it is a gold that has no taint upon it, and was not secured by fraud. They were not only poor , but blind and naked as well.  They were "near sighted," they could see their worldly prosperity, but that were "short sighted" as to heavenly things, so Christ told them "and anoint their eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see" (v-18).  However; they possessed no salve that would restore impaired Spiritual Vision, only the Unction of the Holy One can to that.    
         Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth; therefore, despise not the chastening of the Almighty" (Job. 5:17).  "We are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world" (1Cor. 11:32).  "For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves and chastises every son whom he receives.  It is for discipline that you have to endure.  God is testing you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?  If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons" (Heb. 11:6; Heb_11:8).  It is, in fact, God's final punishment to leave a man alone.  "Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone" (Hos. 4:17).
        In Rev. 3:20, we have one of the most famous pictures of Jesus in the whole New Testament.   "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:  We see the pleading of Christ. He stands at the door of the human heart and knocks. The unique new fact that Christianity brought into this world is that God is the seeker of men. No other religion has the vision of a seeking God. The promise of Christ is that the victor will sit with Him in His own victorious throne. We will get the picture right if we remember that the eastern throne was more like a couch than a single seat. The victor in life will share the throne of the Victorious Christ.
        Every letter finishes with the words: "Let him who has an ear hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches."This saying does two things.   It individualizes the message of the letters. It says to every man: "This means you." It generalizes the message of the letters. It means that their message was not confined to the people in the seven Churches nineteen hundred years ago, but that through them the Spirit is speaking to every man in every generation. We have set these letters carefully against the local situations to which they were addressed; but their message is not local and temporary. It is eternal and in them the Spirit still speaks to us.  My friends, this is the most startling thing recorded in the New Testament; that it is possible for a church to be outwardly prosperous, and not have Christ in it's mist, and be unconscious of the fact. This is a description of some of our churches today;  "A Christ-less Church." 
        Amen!!

Reading: (Rev. 3:14-22)
Ref: (HGSB; BSB)
        (C. Larkin) 

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A.  Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Philadelphia, City Of Praise

Revelation 3:8

"I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door,

and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and

hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name." 

        Philadelphia was the youngest of all the seven cities.  It was founded by colonists from Pergamos under the reign of Attalus the Second, who ruled in Pergamos from 159 to 138 B.C. for there was little danger there.  It was founded with the deliberate intention that it might be a missionary of Greek culture and language to Lydia and Phrygia; and it did it's work so well that by A.D. 19, the Lydians had forgotten their own language and were all but Greeks. 

        Philadelphia was  "the center for the diffusion of Greek language and Greek letters in a peaceful land and by peaceful means."  That is what Christ means, when He speaks of the open door that is set before Philadelphia. Three centuries before, Philadelphia had been given an open door to spread Greek ideas in the lands beyond; and now there has come to it another great missionary opportunity, to carry to men who never knew it the message of the love of Jesus Christ.
        Of all the cities Philadelphia receives the greatest praise and it was to show that it deserved it.  For centuries it was a free Greek Christian city a midst a pagan people.  It was not till midway through the fourteenth century that it fell; and to this day there is a Christian bishop and a thousand Christians in it. With the exception of Smyrna the other Churches are in ruins, but Philadelphia still holds aloft the banner of the Christian faith.
        There had been one definite act in Philadelphia's past time; and the implication is that there had been some kind of trial, out of which the Church had emerged triumphantly true. They may have only a little strength; their resources may be small; but, if they are faithful, they will see the dawn of the triumph of Christ. That which must keep a Christian faithful is the vision of a world for Christ, for the coming of such a world depends on the fidelity of the individual Christian.
        Christ Say's, For those who have kept, I also will keep.  When we are called upon to show endurance, the endurance of Jesus Christ supplies us with three things. First, it supplies us with an example. Second, it supplies us with an inspiration. We must walk looking to Him, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame (Heb. 12:1-2). Third the endurance of Jesus Christ is the guarantee of his sympathy with us when we are called upon to endure. "Because he himself has suffered and been tempted he is able to help those who are tempted" (Heb. 2:18).
        In Rev. 3:12, we come to the promises of  Christ to those who are faithful.  The faithful Christian will be a pillar in the Temple of God.  A pillar of the Church is a great and honored support. Peter and James and John were the pillars of the early church in Jerusalem (Gal. 2:9).

        Jesus Christ will write on the faithful Christians head the name of His God.  It is just possible that we have an Old Testament picture. When God told to Moses the blessing which Aaron and the priests must pronounce over the people, he said: "They shall put my name upon the people of Israel" (Num.6:22-27).  It is the same idea again; it is as if the mark of God was upon Israel so that all men may know that they are his people.
        On the faithful Christian the name of the new Jerusalem is to be written. That stands for the gift of citizenship in the city of God to the faithful Christian.  According to Ezekiel the name of the re-created city of God was to be The Lord is there (Ezek. 48:35). The faithful ones will be citizens of the city where there is always the presence of God.
        Amen!!

Reading: (Rev. 3:7-13)
Ref: (HGSB; BSB)

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

 

Sardis, A Lifeless Church

Revelation 3:2

"Be watchful, and strengthen the things which

remain that are ready to die: for I have not

found thy works perfect before God." 

        Sardis stood in the midst of the plain of the valley of the River Hermus.  To the north of that plain rose the long ridge of Mount Tmolus; from that ridge a series of hills went out like spurs, each forming a narrow plateau.  On one of these spurs, fifteen hundred feet up, stood the original Sardis, prior to the earthquake in A. D. 17.  Clearly such a position made it almost impossible to breech, and only where the spur met the ridge of Mount Tmolus was there any possible approach into Sardis and even that was hard and steep.  It has been said that Sardis stood like some gigantic watch tower, guarding the Hermus valley.  

        The wealth of Sardis was legendary.  Through the lower town flowed the River Pactolus, which was said in the old days to have had gold bearing waters from which much of the wealth of Sardis came.  However; the greatest of the Sardian kings was Croesus, whose name is still commemorated in the proverb, "As rich as Croesus."  It was with him that Sardis reached its splendor, and it was with him that it plunged to disaster. The Sardians thought themselves too safe to need a guard; and so Sardis fell.  A city with a history like that knew what Christ was talking about when he said: Watch!"   

        When John wrote his letter to Sardis, it was wealthy but degenerate.  Even the once great city was now only an ancient monument on the hill top.  There was no life or spirit there.  The once great Sardians were soft, and twice they had lost their city because they were too lazy to watch.  In that  atmosphere the Christian Church too had lost its vitality and was a corpse instead of a living Church.
        In the introduction Christ says,  He is he who has the seven Spirits of God and who has the seven stars.  There are seven Churches, yet in each of them the Spirit operates with all his presence and power.  The seven spirits signifies the completeness of the gifts of the Spirit and the universality of his presence.  The stars stand for the Churches and their angels.  The Church is the possession of Jesus Christ.  Many a time men act as if the Church belonged to them, but it belongs to Jesus Christ and all in it are his servants.  In any decision regarding the Church, the decisive factor must be not what any man wishes the Church to do but what Jesus Christ wishes to be done. 

        The terrible accusation against the Church at Sardis is that; although it has a reputation for life, it is, in fact, spiritually dead.  The New Testament frequently compares sin to death.  In the Pastoral Epistles we read: " But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth" (1Tim. 5:6).  Sin is the death of the will, and the death of the feelings as well as the death of all loveliness.  A Church which is so sluggish as to fail to produce a heresy is mentally dead; and a Church which is so negative as to fail to produce opposition is dead in its witness to Christ.  If anything is to be rescued from the impending ruin of the Church in Sardis the Christians there must wake from their deadly sluggishness and watch.  No commandment appears more frequently in the New Testament than that to watch.  The Christian must be on the watch against the wiles of the devil (1Pet. 5:8). The history of Sardis had its vivid examples of what happens to the those whose watch is slack. The Christian is under continual attack by the powers which seek to seduce him from his loyalty to Christ. Often these attacks are subtle. He must, therefore, be ever on the watch.

        Christ says: "Remember how you received and heard the gospel."Christ is telling the lazy minded Sardians to remember the thrill when they first heard the good news. Christ says: "Repent!" In the Christian life there must be a decisive moment, when a man decides to be done with the old way and to begin on the new.  Christ says, keep the commands of the gospel, and watch.  There is an old Latin saying that "the gods walk on feet that are wrapped in wool."  Their approach is silent and unobserved, until a man finds himself without warning facing eternity. But that cannot happen if every day a man lives in the presence of Christ; he who walks hand-in-hand with Christ cannot be taken unaware by his coming.  

       It is said of the faithful that they, "have not soiled their garments."  James spoke with respect and admiration of the man who kept himself "unstained from the world" (James 1:27)
The man who is faithful to his pledge will, beyond a doubt, some day hear God say: "Well done!"  To those who have been faithful.  They will be clothed with white raiment.  It is said of the righteous that "they will shine forth like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father" (Matt. 13:43); and it is said of God that he covers himself with light as with a garment (Ps. 104:2). What do the white robes signify? No one knows for sure, but in the ancient world white robes stood for festivity. "Let your garments be always white," said the preacher, "and let not oil be lacking on your head" (Eccl. 9:8). The white robes may stand for the fact that the faithful will be guests at the banquet of God. And also in the ancient world white robes stood for victory, and in any land, and in any time white is the color of purity.

        The names that are written in The Book of Life; will not be wiped out of The Book of Life. In the time of judgment those who are written in the book will be delivered (Dan. 12:1).  He who is not written in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15); only they who are written in the Lamb's book of life shall enter into blessedness (Rev. 21:27). To have one's name written in the book of life is to be numbered among the faithful citizens of the Kingdom of God.  Jesus Christ will confess their names before his Father and the angels.  It was Jesus' promise that, if a man confessed Him before men, He would confess him before His Father; and if a man denied Him before men, He would deny him before His Father (Matt. 10:32-33; Luke 12:8-9).  Jesus Christ is for ever true to the man who is true to Him. 

        Amen!!
 

Reading: (Rev. 3:1-6)

Ref: (HGSB; BSB)

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry  

Thyatira, The Church Of Compromise

Revelation 2:20

"Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou

sufferest that women Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess,

to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication,

and to eat things sacrificed unto idols." 

        The longest of the seven letters is written to the least important of the seven cities. The problem which faced Thyatira, and the danger which threatened it were those which were universally involved in the position of the Christians in Asia. Thyatira lay on the road which connected Pergamos with Sardis and went on to Philadelphia and to Laodicea, than linking up with Smyrna. That was the road by which the imperial post traveled; and it was crowded with the commerce of Asia, and to the east of Asia. Therefore, first and foremost Thyatira was a great commercial town. Thyatira lies in the long valley connecting the valleys of the Hermus and the Caicus rivers through which the railway runs today; and it was its geographical position which gave it its importance.
        Thyatira had no special religious significance. It was not a center of either Caesar or of Greek worship. What, then, was the problem in Thyatira? We know less about Thyatira than about any other of the seven cities and are, therefore, seriously handicapped in trying to reconstruct it's situation. The one thing we do know is that it was a great commercial center, specially of the dyeing industry and of the trade in woolen goods. It was from Thyatira that Lydia, the seller of purple, came (Act. 16:14). Here was the problem at Thyatira; the threat came from inside the Church. There was a strong movement, led by the woman addressed as Jezebel, which plead for compromise with the world's standards in the interests of business and commercial prosperity, maintaining, no doubt, that the Holy Spirit could preserve them from any harm, from such things which the Christian must have nothing to do with.
        The letter opens with a description of The Risen Christ which has a threat in it. His eyes are like a flame of fire and his feet like burnished bronze. The description is taken from that of the angelic messenger in Dan. 10:6 ; "His face was like the appearance of lightning, and his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze." The flaming eyes must stand for two things, blazing anger against sin and the awful penetration of that gaze which strips the disguises away and sees into a man's inmost heart. The brazen feet must stand for the immovable power of The Risen Christ. A message which begins like that will certainly be no soothing tranquilizer. The letter goes on to terms of the highest praise. The love and loyalty and service and endurance of the Church at Thyatira are matters for congratulation. We must note how these great qualities go in pairs. Service is the outcome of love and patient endurance the product of loyalty.
        Then comes the condemnation of the woman Jezebel and all her ways and teaching; and one can hardly avoid the conclusion that she had very considerable influence in the Church at Thyatira. This woman is called Jezebel and, therefore, her character must be discovered in the original Jezebel than whom few women have acquired such a reputation for wickedness. She was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Sidon, and the wife of Ahab (1 Kgs. 16:31). When she came from Sidon, she brought her own gods and caused Ahab and his people to worship Baal, and she left behind her a name for "harlot's and sorceress" (2 Kgs .9:22).
         All this must mean that Jezebel of Thyatira was an evil influence on the life and worship of the Christian Church. It must be clearly understood that she had no wish to destroy the Church; but she wished to bring into it new ways which were, in fact, destructive of the faith. The letter to Thyatira finishes with a series of great threats and great promises. Jezebel has been given all the latitude the divine mercy can give her. If she does not repent, she will be cast into a bed of sickness and her 
lovers, and followers will share her fate. This will prove to all men that indeed The Risen Christ,  "triest the reins and the heart." (Jer. 11:20). In Jeremiah the prerogative of searching the inmost thoughts of men belongs to God; but in the Revelation, as so often, the prerogatives of God have become the prerogatives of the Risen Christ.
        The promise from Christ; "I will give him the morning star. Could that be; that the morning star is the glory which will come to those who are righteous and have helped others to walk in the paths of righteousness? That is a soul stirring thought, and there is probably more involved in this promise; but we are quite certain that the correct interpretation is this. The Revelation itself calls Jesus "the bright morning star" (Rev. 22:16). The promise of the morning star is the promise of Christ himself. If the Christian is true, when life comes to an end he will belong to The Risen Christ forevermore.
        Amen!! 

Reading: (Rev: 2:18-29)
Ref: (BSB; HGSB)

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Pergamos, The Seat Of Satan

Revelation 2:13

"I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is:

and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in

those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was 

slain among you, where Satan dwelleth."

        Pergamos had a place all its own in Asia. It was not on any of the great roads, as Ephesus and Smyrna were, but historically it was the greatest city in Asia. The city of Pergamos was fifteen miles from the Aegean Coast and seventy miles north of Smyrna.  An immense alter to Zeus, the chief of the Greek mythological Gods, stood on the higher part of the city, one thousand feet above the plain. This may be what is being referred to as Satan's seat in (v-13). The church in Pergamos represents the age of the state church, which began with Constantine and continued until the first pope was recognized to have authority over the catholic church (A.D. 313-590).   

        And here is the explanation of the beginning of the letter to Pergamos. Christ is called, he who has the sharp two edged sword. Roman governors were divided into two classes those who had the right of the sword, and those who did not. Those who had the right of the sword had the power of life and death; on their word a man could be executed on the spot. Humanly speaking the person, who had his headquarters at Pergamos, had the right of the sword, and at any moment he might use it against any Christian; but the letter bids the Christian not to forget that the last word is still with  Christ, who has the sharp two edged sword. The power of Rome might be satanically powerful; However the power of the Risen Lord is greater yet. Amen!  Here is something very important. The principle of the Christian life is not escape, but conquest. We may feel it would be very much easier to be a Christian in some other place and in some other circumstances but the duty of the Christian is to witness for Christ where life has set him.

        In spite of the fidelity of the Church at Pergamos there is error. There are those who hold the teaching of Balaam and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. We have already discussed these people in connection with Ephesus and we meet them again when we come to study the letter of Thyatira. They sought to persuade Christians that there was nothing wrong with a prudent conformity to the world's standards. It is the word of Christ that he will make war with them. We must note that he did not say: "I will go to war with you;" he said: "I will go to war with them." His wrath was not directed against the whole Church but against those who were seducing her; for those who were led astray, he had nothing but pity.
    For those who would "Repent" He would give them hidden manna and a white stone  with a new name written on it. There may be a wider and more general meaning. Of the manna it is said: "This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat" (Ex. 16:15). The manna is called "grain of heaven" (Ps. 78:24); and it is said to be the "bread of the angels," (Ps. 78:25). Here the manna may mean heavenly food. In that case John would be saying: "In this world you cannot share with the heathen in their feasts because you cannot sit down to eat which is part of a sacrifice that has been offered to an idol. You may think that you are being called upon to give up much but the day will come when you will feast in heaven upon heavenly food." If that is so, the Risen Christ is saying that a man must abstain from the seductions of earth if he wishes to enjoy the blessings of heaven.

         The final promise of Christ to the faithful in Pergamos is that he will give them the white stone with the new name on it. This is a passage of which there are almost endless interpretations. In the ancient law courts white and black stones were used for registering the verdict of juries, black for condemnation, white for acquittal. This would mean that the Christian is acquitted in the sight of God because of the work of Jesus Christ. It has been suggested that the white stone is the man himself; that the Risen Christ is promising his faithful ones a new self, cleansed of all earthly stains and glistening with the purity of heaven. So Abram becomes Abraham when the great promise is made that he will be the Father of many nations and when he, as it were, acquires a new status in the plan of God for men (Gen. 17:5).
         Christ promises a new status to those who are faithful to him. It suggests that the white stone means that Jesus Christ gives to the man who is true to him a new self and that the new name means the new status of glory into which the man who has been true to Christ will enter when this life ends and when the next begins. 

        Amen!!

Reading: (Rev. 2:12-17)

Ref: (BSB)

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

 

Smyrna's Trial

Revelation 2:9

"I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty,

(but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy 

of them which say they are Jews, and are

not, but the synagogue of Satan."

        It was only natural that Smyrna would come second to it's great rival Ephesus. Of all the cities of Asia, Smyrna was the loveliest. Men called it the ornament of Asia, the crown of Asia, and the flower of Asia. The setting of the city was equally beautiful. It began at the harbor, and it traversed the narrow foothills; and then behind the city there rose a hill covered with temples and noble buildings which were spoken of as;  "The Crown of Smyrna." 
        Here we have an interesting and a significant thing which shows the care and knowledge with which John wrote his letters from Christ. The Risen Christ is called, "He who died and came to life." That was an echo of the experience of Smyrna itself. There are three things that the letter says about this trial; Affliction, Poverty, and then there is Imprisonment.
        John forecasts an imprisonment of ten days. That is not to be taken literally. Ten days was an expression for a short time which was soon to come to an end (v-10d). John calls the Jews the synagogue of Satan. He is taking a favorite expression of the Jews and reversing it. When the people of Israel met together they loved to call themselves "the assembly of the Lord" (Num. 16:3; Num. 20:4; Num. 31:16).  It is as if John said: "You call yourselves the assembly of God when, in fact, you are the assembly of the devil. 
        Jesus Christ will be in no man's debt and loyalty to him brings its own reward. To the faithful a promise is made: they will not be hurt by the second death. Of such things it is not given to any man to speak with confidence but, when John spoke of the faithful being unharmed by the second death, he meant precisely the same as Paul when he said that nothing in life or in death, in time or in eternity can separate those who love him from Jesus Christ. Such a man is safe from all that life or death can do to him (Rom. 8:38-39).
        Amen!!

Reading: (Rev. 2:8-11)

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Ephesus, Held Accountable

Revelation 2:4

"Nevertheless I have somewhat

against thee, because thou

hast left thy first love." 

        Let's look at a little history of Ephesus, and learn something of its conditions during it's time. It is easy to see why it comes first in the list of the seven Churches. During the time of John, Ephesus was the greatest harbor in Asia.  All the roads of the Cayster Valley ran to it. The Cayster was the river on which it stood and converged upon it.  It was at Ephesus that the road from Euphrates and Mesopotamia reached the Mediterranean.  It was at Ephesus that the road from Galatia reached the sea, having come by way of Sardis. Ephesus was ''The Market of Asia," and it may well be because in Rev. 8:12-13, John was writing  down a description of the varied riches of the marketplace at Ephesus.  Its position made Ephesus the wealthiest, and the greatest city in all Asia, and it has been rightly called the Vanity Fair of the ancient world.
        The Church at Ephesus had faithfully applied its tests and had weeded out all evil and misguided men; but the trouble was that something had gotten lost in the process. "I have this against you," says Christ, "you have lost your first love."  In Ephesus the enthusiasm was gone.  Jeremiah speaks of the devotion of Israel to God in the early days.  God says to the nation that he remembers, "the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride" (Jer. 2:2).  There had been a honeymoon period, but the first flush of enthusiasm had past.  Maybe, what Christ was saying was; that all the enthusiasm has gone out of the religion of the Church of Ephesus.
        Some where the Church of  Ephesus had gone wrong.  The earnest toil was there; the gallant endurance was there; the unimpeachable orthodoxy was there; but the love was gone.  So Christ makes his appeal and it is for their return journey to Him.  The early Christians did not identify paradise and heaven; so to the early Christians paradise was the intermediate stage, where the souls of the righteous were fitted to enter the presence of God.  But there is something very lovely here.  Who has not felt that the leap from earth to heaven is too great for one step, and that there is need of a gradual entering into the presence of God.  My friends, we must turn our minds to the words of Jesus, to the dying and penitent thief, that said "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thou Kingdom." (Luke 23:42)  And Jesus said, "Today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke. 23:43).
        Amen!!

 Reading: (Rev. 2:1-7)
References: BSB

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

               

The Great Voice From Behind

Revelation 1:10

"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day,

and heard behind me a great voice,

as of a trumpet."

         John was in the Spirit. That means he was in an ecstasy in which he was lifted beyond the things of space and time into the world of eternity. "The Spirit lifted me up said Ezekiel (Ezek. 3:12), "and I heard behind me the sound of a great earthquake."  When John heard the voice it was like the sound of a trumpet. The sound of the trumpet is interlaced into the language of the New Testament. (Matt. 24:31; 1Cor. 15:52; 1Thess. 4:16). The voice of God has a commanding, and unmistakable clarity of a trumpet call. 
        John was in a place where, all he had was God. So John was in the right place and it was in God's time, and must of all he was in God's Heaven when he was told to write the vision which he saw. It was his duty to share the message which God gave to him. Now it was not a special duty, but a duty all Christians have, "Listen and obey God"
        A man must first hear and then transmit, exactly what he heard and who he heard it from, even if the price of the transmission is costly. When a man has a vision he must withdraw to see his vision, then he must go forth to tell it. The Scriptures read that he turned to see the voice. Question? What would we say! Probably this, "I turned to see who it was speaking to me, because I didn't quiet recognize the Voice. My friends; we must know the sound of our God's Voice!
        Amen!

Reading:  (Ezek. 3:10-15)
                (Matt. 24:29-31)
                (1 Cor. 15:51-58)
                (1 Thess. 4:13-18)

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

The Island Of Banishment

Revelation 1:9

"I John, who also am your brother, and companion in 

tribulation, and in the Kingdom and patience of 

Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called

 Patmos, for the word of God, and for

the testimony of Jesus Christ." 

        John tells us about the visions of the Revelation that came to him, while on the isle called Patmos. Patmos, a barren rocky little island belonging to a group of islands called the Sporades,
it is ten miles long by five miles wide. It is crescent shaped, with the horns of the crescent pointing to the east. John was a leader of the Christians, and Christians were criminals, and treated as such. It is a wonder that he was not executed quickly; however banishment for him would involve hard labor in the quarries. John's banishment would be "preceded by scourging, marked by perpetual fetters, scanty clothing, insufficient food, sleeping on the bare ground, a dark prison, and work under the lash of the military overseer."
        Patmos left its mark on John's writing. To this day they show visitors a cave in a cliff overlooking the sea, where, they say, "the Revelation was written". There are magnificent views of the sea from Patmos "Nowhere is the voice of many waters more musical than in Patmos; nowhere does the rising and setting sun make a more splendid, sea of glass mingled with fire. It was to all the hardships and pain and weariness of banishment, and hard labor on Patmos that John went for the sake of God's given Word. And it was John's unshakable loyalty to the word of God, and his insistence on preaching the message of Jesus Christ which brought him to banishment in Patmos.
        The way to the kingdom is the way of endurance. That endurance is to be found in Christ. He himself endured to the end, and he is able to enable those who walk with him to achieve the same endurance and to reach the same goal.
        Amen!!

Reading: (Rev. 1:9-10)

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

John To The Seven Churches

Revelation 1:4
"John to the seven churches which are in Asia:

Grace be unto you, and peace, from him

which is to come; and from the seven

Spirits which are before his throne."

         The Revelation is a letter, written to the seven Churches which are in Asia. In the New Testament Asia is never the continent but always the Roman province. The seven Churches are named in Rev. 1:11 Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea. These were by no means the only Churches in Asia. Why did John single out only these seven? There can be more than one reason for his selection. These Churches might be regarded as the center of seven postal districts, being all on road which circled the interior of the province. 

        Letters delivered to these seven cities would easily circulate in the surrounding areas; and since every letter had to be hand written, each letter would need to be sent where it would reach the greatest number of people. Any reading of the Revelation will show John's preference for the number seven. It occurs fifty four times. There are seven candle sticks (Rev.1:12), seven stars (Rev. 1:16), seven lamps (Rev. 4:5), seven seals (Rev. 5:1), seven horns and seven eyes (Rev. 5:6), seven thunders (Rev. 10:3), seven angels, plagues and bowls (Rev. 15:6-8). The ancient peoples regarded seven as the perfect number, and it runs all through the Revelation.

         Seven is the perfect number because it stands for completeness. It is, therefore, suggested that, when John wrote to seven Churches, he was, in fact, writing to the whole Church. This is all the more likely when we remember how often John says: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches" Rev. 2:7, and all through the Book of Revelation.
       Now for the seven Spirits with the the seven Churches, in Heb. 2:4; we read of God giving "gifts of the Holy Spirit. God gives a share of his Spirit to every man. So the idea here would be that the seven Spirits stand for the share of the Spirit which God gave to each of the seven Churches. It would mean that no Christian fellowship is left without the presence and the power and the illumination of the Spirit. That my friend means all generation's. It would be who of us to read and spiritually understand "The Book of Revelation."

        Amen!!

Reading: (Rev. 1:4-20)

               (Rev. Chap. 2, 3)

 May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

  

Revelation, Unveiling And Revealing!

Revelation 1:1a

"The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God

gave unto Him, to show unto his servants

things which must shortly come to pass,"

        This book is called  the Revelation and sometimes the Apocalypse. It begins with the words "The Revelation of Jesus Christ," which mean not the Revelation about Jesus Christ, but the Revelation given by Jesus Christ. It is composed of two parts which are "unveiling and revealing."
        It is used for the revealing of God's will to us for our actions. Paul says that he went up to Jerusalem by revelation, because God told him he wanted him to go (Gal. 2:2). It is the revelation of God's truth to men. Paul received his gospel, not from men, but by revelation from Jesus Christ (Gal.1:12). In the Christian assembly the message of the preacher is an revelation (1Cor. 14:6). It is God revealing to men of his own mysteries, especially in the incarnation of Jesus Christ (Rom. 16:25; Eph. 3:3).
        It is specially used of the revelation of the power and the holiness of God which is to come at the last days. That will be an unveiling of judgment (Rom. 2:5); but for the Christian it will be an unveiling of praise and glory (1Pet 1:7); of grace (1Pet1:13); of joy (1Pet 4:13).
        Let us not forget that this revelation is connected specially with the work of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:17). We are bound to see that here we have a picture of the whole of the Christian life. There is no part of it which is not lit by the revelation of God. God reveals to us what we must do and say; in Jesus Christ he reveals himself to us, for he who has seen Jesus has seen the Father (John 14:9); and life moves on to the great and final revelation in which there is judgment for those who have not submitted to God; but grace and glory and joy for those who are in Jesus Christ. Revelation is no technical theological idea; it is what God is offering to all who will listen.

        Amen!

Reading: (Read The Introduction

                To The Book of

                Revelations) 

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

  

Persecuted For Righteousness

Daniel 6:16 

"Then the King commanded and they brought Daniel, and

cast him into the den of lions, Now the King spake and

said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest

continually, he will deliver thee."

         The plot was set, However in the end the perpetrators and their families were hated and destroyed. (Dan. 6:24). They dug a pit into which they fell themselves. They thought to flatter the king, and secure Daniel’s destruction. But what that had done, was brought more perilous an end to themselves instead of Daniel and his two friends. God still sends His angels to shut the lion's mouths, of this evil world, and avenges His people. Daniel may or may not have seen the angel in the lions den any more than we behold the angels around us. But Like Daniel, "We Know They Are There!"
        Walk before God in righteousness and peace, and be sure that you are faithful till your work is done. Trust God and study His Word. With study comes wisdom, and wisdom can make changes in circumstances. 
        Amen!!

Reading: (Dan. 6:1-24)

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry 

Serving God Is A Servants Joy!

3 John 1:5

"Beloved, thou doest faithfully

whatsoever thou doest to the

brethren, and to strangers;"

        There is a Christian thought here. A man's circumstances may be such that he cannot become a missionary or a preacher. Life may have put him in a position where he must work a secular job, staying in the one place and carrying out the routine duties of life and living. But where he cannot go, he can spread the gospel through other channels as well as his money, his prayers and his practical support.
        Not everyone can be, or is called to be in the front lines of the gospel; but by supporting those who are there, he can make himself an ally of the truth. Remember that, all giving to the wider work of Christ and his church must not become an obligation but a privilege, not a duty but a delight. The church needs those who will go out with the truth, but it also needs those who will be allies of the truth at home. My friends, no matter how you get the word of God out to this evil world, do it by faith and in truth. 

        Amen! 

Reading: (3 John 1:5-8)

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Never Compromise, Be Steadfast In God's Word!

2 John 1:11

"For he that biddeth him God speed

is partaker of his evil deeds."

        Here John may have addressed the same people that he addressed in the book of 1 John. Here John was speaking of, "Exhortation to Steadfastness."  We have to remember the situation. There was a time when it was touch and go whether the Christian faith would be destroyed by the speculations of false teachers who would commonly travel from church to church spreading heresy. Its very existence was in peril. "If" the church dared to even compromise with these false teachings, it could have led to a destructive corrosion of the faith.
        The problem then, and the problem now, is to find a way of living with those whose convictions  are different from our own concerning the most fundamental matters in life, without either breaking charity or being disloyal to the truth." It is there where love will find a way. The best way to destroy our enemies, is to make them our friends, and be true to that friendship. We must never compromise with mistaken or false teachings, However, we are never free from the obligation of seeking to lead them to the truth of  "The Gospel Of Jesus Christ," as the truth was taught to us, and the truth that remains within us as a Christian people.  "That God For Steadfast Believers"
        Amen!! 

Reading: (2 John 1:7-13)

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

 

Stay True To What You Know

1 John 2:20

"But ye have an unction from the Holy

 One, and ye know all things." 

        John reminds his people that all of them possess knowledge. The people who had gone out were Gnostic's who claimed that there had been given to them a secret, special and advanced knowledge, which is Gnosticism; "practices of doctrines of several, pre-Christian pagan, Jewish, and early Christian sects, which was not open to the ordinary Christian. John reminds them and all Christians, that in matters of faith the humblest Christian need to have no feeling of inferiority compared to the most learned scholar. There are, of course, matters of technical scholarship, of language, of history, which must be the preserve of the expert; but the essentials of the faith are the possession of every man.
        This leads John to his point. He wrote to Christians then, and for Christians today. Not because we do not know the truth, but because we do. The greatest Christian defense is simply to remember what we know. What we need is not new truth, but that the truth which we already know needs to become active and effective in our lives. It is the simple fact, that in the Christian life things would be different, "if" we would only put into practice what we already know. That is not to say that we never need to learn anything new; but it is to say that, even as we are, we have the "True Light" to walk by, "if" we would only use it. 
         Amen!!

Reading: (1 John 2:18-29)

May God Bless You 

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Messiah, David's Son and Lord?

Luke 20: 44

"David therefore calleth him Lord,

how is he then his son?"

        It is worth while for us to take this little passage by itself, for it is very difficult to understand. The most popular title of the Messiah was Son of David. That is what the blind man at Jericho called Jesus (Luke 18:38-39), and that is how the crowds addressed Him at his entry into Jerusalem (Matt. 21:9). Here Jesus seems to cast doubts on the validity of that title. The quotation is from Ps. 110:1. In Jesus' time all the Psalms were attributed to David and this one was taken to refer to the Messiah. In it David says that he heard God speak to his Anointed One and tell him to sit at his right hand until his enemies became his footstool; and in it David calls the Messiah My Lord. How can the Messiah be both, David's son and David's Lord?
        Jesus was doing here what He so often tried to do, trying to correct the popular idea of the Messiah. What Jesus was saying here was, "You think of the coming Messiah as Son of David; so he is; but he is far more. He is Lord." He was telling men that they must revise their ideas of what Son of David meant. They must abandon these fantastic dreams of world power and visualize the Messiah as Lord of the hearts and lives of men. He was implicitly blaming them for having too little an idea of God. It is always man's tendency to make God in his own image, and thereby to miss his full majesty. My Friend, let us not make that same mistake!
        Amen

Reading: (Luke 20:41-44)
               (Matt. 22 41-46)
               (Mark 12:35-37)

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

  

By What Authority?

Luke 20:3,4

"And he answered and said unto them, I will also

 ask you one thing and answer me: The baptism

 of John, was it from heaven or of men?"

        It is no wonder they asked Jesus by what authority He did these things! To ride into Jerusalem as He did and then to take the law into His own hands and cleanse the Temple; they needed some kind of explanation. To the orthodox Jews,  Jesus' calm assumption of authority was an amazing thing. No Rabbi ever delivered a judgment or made a statement without naming his authorities. He would say, "There is a teaching that,"  Or he would say, "This was confirmed by Rabbi So and So. What they wanted was that Jesus should say bluntly and directly that he was the Messiah and the Son of God. Then they would have a ready made charge of blasphemy and could arrest him on the spot. But He would not give that answer, for his hour was not yet come.
        The reply of Jesus is sometimes described as a clever debating answer, used simply to score a point. But it is far more than that. He asked them to answer the question, "Was the authority of John the Baptist human or divine?" The point is that their answer to Jesus' question would answer their own question. Every one knew how John had regarded Jesus and how he had considered himself only the fore runner of the one who was the Messiah. If they agreed that John's authority was divine then they had to also agree that Jesus was the Messiah, because John had said so. If they denied it, the people would rise,, against them. Jesus' answer in fact asks the question, "Tell me--where do you yourself think I got my authority?" He did not need to answer their question if they answered his.
        To face the truth may confront a man with a sore and difficult situation; but to refuse to face it confronts him with a tangle out of which there is no escape. The  Pharisees refused to face the truth, and they had to withdraw frustrated and discredited with the crowd. My Friends, we as Christians have been given, authority through the blood of Jesus Christ; However remember that faith comes before the authority. With out faith you will never, see, feel, or enjoy what God has in store for you in this life, or be prepared for life after death. If you have not choose one of these eternal life's, You need to chose one now!  "Eternal Life" or "Eternal Hell"
        Amen 

"You Have The Authority to Choose"

Reading: (Luke 20:1-8)
               (Matt. 21:23-27)
               (Mark 11:27-33)

May God Bless You

And Your Family 

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

The King Trust's His Servants

Luke 19:13

"And he called his ten servants and delivered

them ten pounds, and said unto them,

Occupy till I come."

        There is no better example like this than Jesus himself. Of his thirty three years of life Jesus spent thirty of them in Nazareth. Had he not show faithfulness to the tasks of the carpenter's shop in Nazareth, and the obligation of being the breadwinner of the family, God could never have given him the supreme task of being the Saviour of the world.
        The Parable of the Ten Pounds, tells us of a king's reward. The reward that the faithful servants received was not one which they could enjoy by sitting down, and folding their hands and doing nothing. One was put over ten cities, and the other over five. The reward of work well done was more work to do. The greatest compliment we can pay a man is to give him ever greater and harder tasks to do. The great reward of God to the man who has satisfied the test is more trust.
        The parable ends with one of the laws of life. To him who has, more will be given; from him who has not, what he has will be taken away. If a man has a goal and stays focused on that goal, he will reach that goal with greater efficiency; if he does not stay focused, he will lose interest and lose much; "fruits of his labor" while reaching for his goal. If we really strive after goodness and master this and that temptation, new things and new heights of goodness will open to us; if we give up the battle and take the easy way, much of the resistance power we once possessed will be lost and we will slip from whatever height we had attained.
    There is no such thing as standing still in the Christian life. We either get more or lose what we have. We either advance to greater heights or slip back. "Let's all stand and stay firm in Jesus Christ!" 

        Amen!!

Reading: (Luke 19:11-17)

               (Matt 25:14-30)

May God Bless You  

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

 

A Shepherd's Joy

Luke 15:4

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, 

if he lose one of them, doth not leave the

ninety and nine in the wilderness, and

go after that which is lost, 

until he find it?"

        The shepherd was personally responsible for the sheep. If a sheep was lost the shepherd must at least bring the fleece home to show how it had died. These shepherds were experts at tracking, and could follow the straying sheep's footprints for miles across the hills. There was not a shepherd for whom it was not all in the day's work to risk his life for his sheep.

        Those whose flocks were safe would arrive home on time and bring news that one shepherd was still out on the mountain side searching for a sheep that was lost. The whole village would be upon the watch, and when, in the distance, they saw the shepherd striding home with the lost sheep across his shoulders, there would rise from the whole community a shout of joy and of thanksgiving.
        That is the picture Jesus drew of God. Jesus said, "that is what God is like." God is as glad when a lost sinner is found as a shepherd is when a strayed sheep is brought home. "God, knows the joy of finding His children that have gone astray. 

        Amen!!

Reading: (Luke 15:1-7)

               (Matt. 18:12-14)

May God Bless You

And Your Family

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Persistent And Not Deterred

Luke 11:7

"And he from within shall answer and say,

Trouble me not: the door is now shut and

my children are with me in bed, I

cannot rise and give thee."   

        The late arrival of the traveler which confronted the man in is home was an embarrassing situation, because his cupboard was empty and he could not fulfill the sacred obligations of hospitality.  It was late, so he went out to borrow from a friend. The friend's door was shut. In the east no one would knock on a shut door unless the need was imperative. In the morning the door was opened and remained open all day, for there was little privacy; but if the door was shut, that was a definite sign that the homeowner did not wish to be disturbed. But the seeking traveler was not deterred. He knocked, and kept on knocking.
        "This story," said Jesus, "will tell us about prayer." The lesson of this parable is not that we must persist in prayer; it is not that we must batter at God's door until we finally compel Him from weariness to give us what we want or to coerce an unwilling God to answer.
         A parable literally means something laid alongside. If we lay something beside another thing to teach a lesson, that lesson may be drawn from the fact that the things are like each other or from the fact that the things are a contrast to each other. The point here is based, not on likeness, but on contrast. What Jesus says is, "If a cruel and unwilling homeowner can in the end be coerced by a friend's shameless persistence into giving him what he needs, how much more will God who is a loving Father supply all his children's needs?" "If you," He says, "who are evil, know that you are bound to supply your children's needs, how much more will God?
        Amen!

Reading: (Luke 11:5-13)

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Ask, Seek, Knock!

Matthew 7: 7

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek

 and ye shall find; knock and it

 shall be opened unto you;"

        Any man who prays is bound to want to know to what kind of God he is praying to. He wants to know in what kind of atmosphere his prayers will be heard. Is he praying to a grudging God out of whom every gift has to be squeezed and coerced. Is he praying to a mocking God whose gifts may well be double-edged?  No! He Is praying to a God whose heart is so kind that he is more ready to give than we are to ask? 

        This scripture was given to us, to show us three ways we can get God's help. It is three ways we access to through prayer, "Ask, Seek, and Knock. But if you really think about it we are slack on using them for godly purposes.  Ask, Seek and knock are words from God. These are steps God gave us for getting His help in our own lives and family and friends as well. If we use them and not include God, they are useless.
        There is a lesson here; God will always answer our prayers; but He will answer them in His way, and His way will be the way of perfect wisdom and of perfect love. If God answered our prayers as we desired every time, it would be the worst thing possible for us; because in our ignorance we often ask for gifts which would be our ruin. Jesus tells us, not only that God will answer, but that God will answer in wisdom and in love. "Just Three Words Can Change Your Life; Ask, Seek, Knock."
        Amen!!

Reading: (Matt. 7:7-12) 
               (Luke 11:1-13)

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry

Trust God More

Psalm 40:4a

"Blessed is the man that maketh

the Lord his trust,"

        One of the greatest lessons I have learned, and one of the greatest privileges of my life, "is to trust God."   My fellow Christians, learn how to walk by faith! The more you trust God the more confident you will be to trust God for greater things, than you are now. What a great opportunity it is for us to walk with the King Of Kings everyday, from the time we awake in the morning, until we go to bed at night.

        I thank my Lord for sacrificing His Life, so that my family and I, as well as any other who calls upon His name, and  "Believes in Him,"  shall be in our Fathers House. " In my Fathers house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:2-3).

        Amen!!     

Reading: (Ps.40:1-11)

May God Bless You

And Your Families

Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.

The Cross Life Ministry