- The
Lord’s counsel to each of the seven branches of the Church in Asia follows
a pattern:
-
§ He
told the members of the branch what they were doing that pleased Him.
§ He
told them in what ways they needed to repent.
§ He
told them of the blessings that would come if they were faithful.
- Fill in the chart below with information you find
in Revelation 2–3:
City
|
What They Did
That Pleased the Lord
|
How They Needed
to Repent
|
Promised
Blessings
|
Ephesus (2:1-7)
|
thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how
thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say
they are apostles, and are not,
and hast found them liars:
|
Forgotten
why they had been sent to this earth and needed to remember from whence the
had fallen.
|
Eat
of the tree of life.
|
Smyrna (2:8-11)
|
Handled
their burdens well.
|
Blasphemy
|
The
Crown of Life. Not taste second death.
|
Pergamos (2:12-17)
|
Held
fast and denied not the faith.
|
Fornication
|
Give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new
|
Thyatira (2:18-29)
|
Works,
charity, service, faith, and patience
|
They
sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth
herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit
fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
|
Have power over
the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers:
even as I received of my Father.
|
Sardis (3:1-6)
|
Received and heard, and
hold fast, and repent.
|
Only
a few had not defiled the garment.
|
Not
have his name blotted out in the book of life and have the Savior confess of him
to the Father
|
Philadelphia (3:7-13)
|
Hast a little strength,
and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
|
Lies
|
Him that overcometh will
I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out.
|
Laodicea (3:14-22)
|
Faithful and true witnesses
|
Being lukewarm
|
Sit in the midst of the Savior and the Father in
their thrones.
|
- Write
a paragraph about what counsel given to the seven branches of the Church
in Asia applies to you today. Which of the promises the Lord gave to the
seven Churches most inspires you to seek eternal life?
The counsel given to the seven
branches applies to me today because it encompasses almost every aspect of
things we learn in the temple and in church. The one thing that inspires me the
most is the ability to sit with the Savior and the Lord to rule with them
together.
- How does Doctrine and Covenants 14:7, 63:20 give meaning
to the phrase "to him that overcometh? To me the meaning that it
gives is that we are destined for greatness and by being such our Lord has
prepared an equally great prize for us if we endure to the end.