Reference

Revelation 2:1-17
Jesus Diagnosis & Prescription for a Healthy Church Part 1

Revelation 2:1-17

I don’t like going for checkups.  I don’t like going to the doctor for my annual physical. I don’t like it when my mechanic looks over my car.  I haven’t been to the dentist for a long time.  I don’t even like the computer diagnostics because of all the things it might find.                

Maybe you’re a little like me.  I don’t want to know all the possible things that could be wrong. Usually, we don’t want a diagnosis unless something is really wrong.  We don’t feel well so we go to the doctor.  Our car does not run well so we go to the mechanic.  Our tooth hurts so we go to the dentist.  Our computer runs slow.  So we submit to the diagnostic.                 

Though we may not really want to hear the diagnosis, we need to hear it if we’re going to get better or fixed.  The doctor explains & then prescribes some medicine or treatment.  The mechanic explains what needs to be done and how much it will cost.  The dentist discovers the source of our pain and proposes a course of action.  The computer diagnostic tells us we need a new computer.  And we likely fill the prescription or get the work done on the car or sit in the dentist chair or get the new computer.                 

But sometimes we wait too long.  We keep ignoring the pain until we finally go to the doctor and she reveals that we have a deadly disease that has advanced all over the body.  The mechanic discovers major problems that will cost 4 times the value of the car to fix for it get back on the road.  So you’re suddenly faced with a major bill or a car purchase.  The dentist discovers green bugs infesting your teeth which require they all get pulled and you suddenly have to get dentures.  You get the picture.