Week 3: The Church Founders: The Choosing of Matthias

Day 4 (Yesterday's, sorry I was traveling)

Revelation 1:9-11 (New International Version)

One like a Son of Man

⁹I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. ¹⁰On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, ¹¹which said: "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea."

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John is the brother of James and one of the inner three disciples (along with Peter and James) with whom Jesus shared the most. According to tradition he's the only apostle who did not die a martyr's death. The passage you read today was likely written around AD 95. By this time John was about 90 years old and had been serving Christ for more than 60 years. He'd watched almost all of his friends die, and at this point he's exiled alone on an island for his faith. But look at what John is doing: He's having his own worship service. His devotion is such that nothing--not death, not torture, not long periods of suffering--could shake his faith. Why? Because he know Jesus.


How does your relationship with Jesus help you deal with hard times?

Ask Jesus to help you stand firm when things seem too much to bear.