A Model Church

“I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich!” – Revelation 2:9

 Afflicted, dirt poor and slandered. It was just another day for the Christians in Smyrna.

 Although the ancient city of Smyrna was the most beautiful city in the Roman Empire, it had some really ugly stuff going on inside city limits. You see, Christianity was outlawed. So, it was open season on followers of Christ. But in Revelation 2:8-11, Jesus sends a little message to the Smyrna Christians, and He praises them for patiently enduring three things:

1. The Smyrna Christians endured afflictions. Christians were persecuted in every one of the seven cities in Asia Minor, but the persecution against the Christians in Smyrna was particularly cruel. In the city of Smyrna, everyone was expected to worship the Roman Emperor. Refusal to do so was treason. So, if a resident of Smyrna neglected their patriotic duty to worship the emperor, they were discriminated against. They were kicked out of the local trade guilds—leaving them unemployed. And many vendors in the marketplace wouldn’t sell them food. So, starvation was a real possibility. Many of them endured torture. It was stifling, even crushing, and Jesus knew it.

Remember, Jesus is not oblivious to our pain and suffering. He KNOWS what we’re going through, and He knows what it feels like: “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering…. He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and … afflicted” (Isaiah 53:3-4). In Revelation 2:9, Jesus says to the Smyrna Christians, “I know your afflictions.” And He means it. He’s been in their shoes. He’s felt the crushing weight of persecution for the sake of the Gospel.

2. The Smyrna Christians endured poverty. The Christians in Smyrna were dirt poor. They had nothing. Under the persecution of the emperor, these Christians had their homes and property confiscated. They lost their jobs when they were kicked out of the local trade guilds. And many Bible scholars believe that since Christianity was illegal in Smyrna, the Christians had their smaller possessions looted by both Jews and the Romans. So it’s remarkable that Jesus tells them in verse 9: “You are rich.”

But Jesus isn’t as shallow as we are. In 2 Cor. 6:10, the Apostle Paul says, “[We are] sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, poor, yet making many rich, having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” How was it possible for Paul and his fellow missionaries to have nothing, yet possess everything? The short, sweet answer is: Because they had Jesus. Anyone who has Jesus is rich. Forgiveness, grace, love, eternal salvation, adoption into God’s family, peace, purpose and joy: All of these riches and so many others are ours in Christ. As far as material possessions go, the Smyrna Christians had nothing. But they actually had the greatest Mother Lode of treasure that money can’t buy. So, Jesus tells them in verse 9, “You … are … rich.”

3. The Smyrna Christians endured slander. Sadly, much of this slander came from people who called themselves “Jews.” The Jews in Smyrna seem to have practiced their religion only to the extent that it made their lives easier, while ignoring God’s commandment to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The Jews jumped on the bandwagon and slandered Christians’ good names. They accused Christians of having orgies at their church services, and of eating human flesh and drinking human blood when they took the Lord’s Supper. They called the Christians “cannibals.” Was any of it true? Of course not! But that’s one more reason why the Smyrna Christians’ endurance was so remarkable.

If you’ve been a follower of Christ for any length of time, you have probably faced discrimination and persecution for your faith at one level or another. And when it comes to endurance, the church at Smyrna is a model church. Like the Christians in Smyrna, we need to remain faithful to Christ and endure, no matter what the world throws at us. When we are afflicted, we must faithfully endure. When our Christianity costs us our jobs, we must faithfully endure. And when we are slandered for the name of Christ, we must faithfully endure. And with Christ’s help, when the heat is turned up in the kitchen, we will do just that: We will faithfully endure. And as Jesus promises at the end of His message to the Smyrna Christians, every bit of endurance for Christ will result in a heavenly reward. 

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church in Victorville. His new book, “Buoyed Up: Jesus’ 8 Steps to an Unsinkable Life,” is available on Amazon in paperback, e-book and audiobook. Join us at Impact for Sunday services: in person at 9 a.m., or online at 10 a.m. on Facebook Live or YouTube. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.

Why Does God Allow COVID-19?

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” – 2 Corinthians 4:17 

Seventeen years ago my wife Christine and I went through one of the most difficult times of our lives. Our daughter Kayla had just turned a year old, and we had just found out that Baby #2 was on the way. We were so excited. Our little family of three was going to expand to four! About five weeks into the pregnancy, Christine and I saw the baby’s first ultrasound. The baby was tiny but looked like it was doing great. But when we went back a month later for the second ultrasound, we noticed something odd. The baby didn’t look like he had grown, and he didn’t have a heartbeat. A few minutes later the doctor sat us both down and told us that our little baby hadn’t survived.

Christine and I were devastated. Over the next week we prayed and prayed, but nothing changed. A follow-up ultrasound revealed that the baby had, in fact, died in Christine’s womb. Christine and I wanted to know: How could a loving, all-powerful God allow our precious baby to die? We had followed and served God faithfully for years. We knew that He could have saved our baby if He wanted to. So, why didn’t He?

The question of why God would allow our miscarriage is part of the same broader question as “Why does God allow COVID-19?” That broader question is: “How could a loving God allow pain and suffering?”

First, it’s important to understand that God doesn’t CAUSE all of our pain and suffering. Let’s be honest with each other: Much of our pain and suffering is our own darn fault—caused by our own poor choices and sin. At other times it’s the result of other people’s poor choices and sin. Some pain and suffering is the result of Satan’s attacks. Still other pain and suffering results from natural disasters that are part of the fallout of living in a sin-cursed world.

Well, that’s all well and good, but it still begs the question: If God is both loving and all-powerful, why doesn’t He snap His fingers and stop all the agony?

I’ll give you the honest answer, but I must warn you—you probably won’t like it. In fact, more than a few Christians have walked away from the faith because they felt let down by the answer. You see, the answer is … we don’t know. Why did God allow my wife to have a miscarriage? We don’t know. Why did God allow that horrible tornado to sweep through Mississippi on Easter Sunday? We don’t know. And why does God allow COVID-19 to linger? We don’t know. When it comes to pain and suffering, there are so many things that we just don’t know. But allow me to share with you four things that we DO know.

#1: You are not alone. Of all the promises that God makes in the Bible, guess which one is repeated the most? “I will be with you.” If you are a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, God doesn’t promise that your life will be free of pain and suffering. In fact, it’s just the opposite. Jesus promised us that in this life, we will have trouble and experience suffering. But in the midst of our pain and suffering, we are not alone. He is with us. God tells us in Isaiah 43:2-3,“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you…. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned…. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

#2: Jesus knows how you feel. In Hebrews 4:15, we read these words about Jesus: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.” Not only was Jesus tempted in every way that we are, he has also suffered in every way that we have suffered. So, you can be certain that when you hurt, he hurts. He knows how you feel.

#3: Your pain has a purpose. I cannot tell you why God allows every bit of pain and suffering in your life. But I can tell you this with certainty: If you are a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, your pain always has a purpose. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” Personally, I think God gets a bad rap for not stopping all of our pain and suffering. We look at COVID-19 and assume that God is letting all the viruses run rampant. We don’t stop to consider the possibility that this pandemic is a walk in the park compared to the more wretched pandemics that God has kept at bay. Friends, our pain always has a purpose.

#4: Your pain will be over soon. Would you jog 5 miles for $20? Probably not. But my guess is, most of us would do it for a million dollars. Why? The pain and suffering is worth it if the reward is big enough. Well, we’re told in 2 Corinthians 4:17, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” Did you catch those words, “light and momentary”? I guarantee you: Everything in this life is light and momentary. When you’re a billion years into eternity and you look back at your life here on earth, it’s going to seem like a quick blip on a radar screen. Compared to the length of eternity, your life here on earth is so short. And compared to the absolute joy and thrill of heaven, this life’s trials are tiny.

So, press on, Christian. Persevere! God is good! God is in control, and He knows what He’s doing. Trust Him! You may not understand today, but one day you will.

Dane Davis is the Pastor of Impact Christian Church. Please join us for our online worship service tomorrow at

10 a.m. at Live.GreaterImpact.cc or on our YouTube channel (Impact Christian Church) or on Facebook.

How to Deal with a Living Nightmare

“After [Paul and Silas] had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer…put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.”

– Acts 16:22-24

Can you remember a time in your life when a celebration suddenly turned into a nightmare? May 2015 was one of those times for my wife and me. The month started off well with a Mother’s Day celebration. And we were looking forward to my wife’s birthday and our seventeenth wedding anniversary at the end of the month. But just four days after Mother’s Day, my wife and I found ourselves sitting in the Loma Linda Medical Center ER with our five-year-old daughter hooked up to an IV.

Our daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, and effective immediately, we would have to prick her fingers to test her blood sugar at least seven times a day and give her shots of insulin at least four times a day. If her blood sugar dropped too low, she could pass out and suffer life-threatening injuries. If her blood sugar elevated too high, her organs could be permanently damaged. It seemed as if we were in a bad dream from which we couldn’t wake up.

As our happy little family’s life was suddenly turned upside down, we found ourselves asking God the question, “Why?” My wife and I had dedicated our lives to serving Christ and following his will, so this gut-wrenching curve ball didn’t make sense. We knew in our heart of hearts that God must have a clear purpose for our daughter’s disease, but we wanted to know: “Why is this happening to us?”

In Acts 16, the Apostle Paul set out on his second missionary journey with his sidekick, Silas. After they visited many of the churches he had previously planted, the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision, instructing him to preach the gospel message in Europe, not in northern Asia as he had originally planned. So, the two missionaries obeyed God’s command. They traveled west into Europe, and the first city where they preached was the Greek city of Philippi.

Very quickly their ministry efforts produced much fruit. An influential Jewish woman named Lydia, along with her entire family, chose to follow Jesus Christ. And on one occasion Paul was empowered by God to cast a demon out of a poor little slave girl. On the heels of such life-changing ministry and the clear demonstration of God’s power, Paul and Silas must have thought that they were on the verge of witnessing a great spiritual revival in the city.

But their celebration quickly turned into a nightmare. In the matter of a few hours, Paul and Silas were dragged into court, stripped, beaten to a bloody pulp, thrown into prison, and placed in foot stocks. And if I had been in Paul’s shoes I would have been asking, “Why, God? You told us to come to Northern Greece, so we came. And look where it’s gotten us. We are shackled in a jail cell with our backs bruised and bleeding. And who knows what they’re going to do to us tomorrow? We don’t understand! Why, God? Why?”

Sometimes when we obey God, things seem to go terribly wrong. Oftentimes, persecution and heartache and pain increase when we’re in the center of God’s will. But as Jesus taught us in Matthew 5:11-12: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Honestly, Jesus’ command in these verses seems idealistic. Come on, Jesus, do you really expect Christians to “rejoice and be glad” when we’re being beaten up for our faith in Christ?

Surprisingly, yes. That’s exactly what He expects. And that’s exactly what Paul and Silas did as they sat in agony on the cold prison floor in Philippi. In Acts 16:25 we read these amazing words: “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” What a remarkable response to such unjust, excruciating persecution! Bruised, bleeding and with their feet confined in stocks, Paul and Silas spent their time praying and singing to God. And in response, God sent a fierce earthquake that flung open the prison doors, unlocked everyone’s chains and, more importantly, put the fear of God into both the prisoners and the prison guard.

The prison guard fell on his knees before Paul and Silas and asked them, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” You see, revival had come to that prison, and before the end of the night, the jailer and his entire family had accepted Christ and proven that decision by being baptized. If Paul and Silas had been wondering a few hours earlier, “Why is this happening to us?” by the end of the night God had answered clearly, “This is why I brought you to Europe. This is why I allowed you to be arrested, beaten and thrown into this Philippian prison. This is why. This is why.”

When the inevitable times of persecution for Christ come, you and I have some important questions to answer. Will we gripe and complain and shake our fists at God, or will we patiently praise God anyway? Will we simply trust our own five senses, throwing God’s commands to the wind, or will we trust God and continue obeying His will? My friend, when you are in the midst of the pain, you may not understand what God is up to, but one day you will. So, rejoice in Him. Trust Him. And obey His commands. Weeping may remain for a night, but joy will certainly come in the morning. In God’s plan, pain always has a purpose.

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information, visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com  and join us for our first worship service of 2019 Sunday at 10 am.