By Shelby Lakes

On Sunday, Brother David Conrades continued a series of messages from the first chapters of Revelation in which Jesus addresses seven churches.

On this day, we looked at the church of Philadelphia.

The church was located along a major trade route, Brother David said, and this introduced various beliefs, ideas, and religions to infiltrate. Christians became a minority. How did the church respond? Brother David asked.

Today, the measure of success of churches seems to be its size, the reputation of the pastor. In some huge churches, the services are syndicated around the world. We get hung up on the numbers of members, dollars, and staff members.

Many Christians measure things so, Brother David said, but God does not.

“A true church is a faithful church,” Brother David said. He spoke of mother Theresa saying that we are not called to be successful, we are called to be faithful.

In the face of persecution, the church of Philadelphia refused to deny the Lord and Savior, Brother David said. They kept the word of God and His commandments.

Is that who we are? He asked.