Morning Thoughts - by Elder Philip Conley

Morning Thoughts

Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."

This morning, there are many in the Arminian camp that are unable to rightly divide a timely from eternal text. They try to run everything the same direction, and are easily confused when things do not add up. This text is NOT talking about eternal things, as so many would like to believe. They say that we must open up our hearts to receive Him, and He is knocking on the heart of everybody just waiting to come in. Brethren, He does not knock on the door of our heart for a relationship. He breaks the door down, and rips out the old heart, and He gives us a new one. This is done without our consent, counsel, or supplication. (Ezekiel 36:25-26)

So, now that we understand what this text is not, let us move on to what it is. John has just concluded his address to the seven churches of Asia. The church at Laodicea is the last, and it has the most problems of the seven. John talks in the preceding verse (19) about the Lord chastening His people and churches for their disobedience. This chastening is done to us out of love and instruction. Therefore, now that we know who is chastening us and why, we can move on to the time of fellowship. The verse under consideration has reference to the fellowship of the CHURCH with God primarily, and the fellowship of the individual to God secondarily.

The primary application is that the Lord comes and sups with us during meeting time if we do some things. Notice, this supping is only done by those who hear His voice. Sometimes He is not in fires, earthquakes, etc. He is in the still small voice. Therefore, we have to be in the right frame of mind to be able to hear the voice of our Lord. If we come in to the meetinghouse with a lot of clutter in our head about what is going on in the world, what our bank account is like, etc, we will not be able to hear His voice and sup with Him.

Also, our mode in the service should be that of servitude. Notice that we are called to do some things. By opening the door, we are actively involved in this. It is the duty of every member of the congregation to do something. Not everyone is called to preach, lead singing, etc. However, we are ALL called to pray without ceasing, sing and make melody in our hearts to God, and encourage each other in the Lord. These are things that we do to occupy till He comes.

Primitive Baptists are often rapped with the notion by the outside world that we have a "do-nothing" religion. However, I have never heard that type of preaching, and hope that I never do. There is plenty for us to do, we just need to understand why we are doing it and what frame to do it in. May He continue to grant us the grace, mercy, and strength to carry on in His service and earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints. His church will always be here, but we pray that we will always be a part of it and never lose our spiritual eyesight.

In Hope,

Bro Philip