We live in a world where we are constantly needing to check the emails that we receive. Every day, we receive unsolicited and unwanted emails. It is a constant battle to empty our trash and spam folders lest they overflow with hundreds and thousands of unread messages. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. DELETE, for instantly removing unwanted and fictitious digital messages from long-lost family friends, banks, pastors, and so-called legitimate sources offering once-in-a-lifetime deals. Responders and buyers, beware! Answering the incorrect email could cost you as online hackers have mastered multiple ways to access your confidential information, making your life miserable, painful, and costly.
With this stern warning in place, I want to invite Willowdale Church members to check your Biblical email inboxes. This week, all of us will be invited to open our Bible for a seven-week Biblical journey in the first three chapters of Revelation. The email originates from a tiny little landmass in the Aegean Sea called Patmos. The Apostle John has been imprisoned on a six-by-ten-mile island surrounded by an expanse of blue sea. John has had a vision and is compelled to share his message of the risen Christ with the seven churches of Asia Minor. John’s message transcends the original first-century readers and applies to twenty-first-century readers and listeners who have built their lives and faith on Jesus Christ. Jesus: “The Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, and the One who is, and the One who was, and the One who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8).
The seven-week journey through Asia Minor (modern Turkey), with visits to seven unique church locations, promises to remind us of old truths that we have held dear and reward us with new hidden truths yet to be discovered. As we dig deep into God’s Word, open additional biblical attachments, and listen to the compliments and complaints associated with each church. May we learn how to be a worshiping community! After each message, a promised reward is available to modern-day readers, listeners, and doers of the Word. I am encouraging true Bible students to prepare in advance for each message by personally taking inventory of one’s spiritual life as we “visit” each one of the churches over the next seven weeks.
Finally, to the members of Willowdale, on behalf of the pastoral staff (myself, Pastor Henry, and Pastor Kim) and our spouses, thank you for expressing your appreciation and kindness last Sabbath with the Pastoral appreciation acknowledgment of food dining cards and written cards of kindness (I read each card). Truly, we are blessed to serve at Willowdale.
Thank you again!
Pastor Glenn DeSilva