Hi friends,

This week we engage the Letter to the Church in Thyatira, who excelled in love, faith, service and perseverance, but tolerated false teaching. Such heresy seemed justifiable in the context of everyday life in Thyatira. As a center of trade and commerce, Thyatira was home to a number of guilds (think “trade unions”). To succeed in business, then, you had to be a member.

In the 1990’s, American Express ran an ad campaign declaring “Membership has its privileges.” And there were certainly privileges in Thyatira, too. But there were also demands. For now, let’s just say that such demands were more than merely paying your dues. We could easily imagine someone thinking, “But, I’ve got to make money! How can I feed my family and pay my mortgage unless I…”

What an important question for us today! Here's the study guide in PDF or Microsoft Word.

I look forward to worshipping with you this Sunday at 9am or 11am as we welcome back special guest preacher and my friend, Reverend Bill Crawford!