It is only the Gentle King, Jesus, who can come to you in your brokenness and weakness, in your sin and helplessness and save you.

From the content of this letter to Pergamum we can conclude that this is largely a church comprised of Gentiles who have come out from Paganism.

When you come out of paganism and false religion you continue to face the pull of family, friends, and the world to draw you back in. Though you have become a new creature in Christ, the world you live in has not changed (home, work, neighborhood, friends, family, etc).

Every day you fight to keep believing the truth that is in Jesus Christ. The moment you let your guard down you may be drawn back in.

Sometimes the encouragement to go back into the past life comes from surprising places. Here in Pergamum there were teachers who encouraged compromise with false religions and unbiblical standards of morality.

The love at the first – is the love that is centered in the gospel. It is the love that is created in a heart that is captured by the wonder of what Christ suffered for sinners at the cross. It is a love that responds to God’s great love for me an unworthy sinner. It is this love that results in loving God and loving others.

9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 Jn. 4:9-11 ESV)

Four messages from the birth narrative in Luke, listening to the various voices who answer the question, 'who is Jesus?'

Four messages from the birth narrative in Luke, listening to the various voices who answer the question, 'who is Jesus?'