The Sardis spirit overtakes us whenever we begin to take God’s gifts for granted. How quickly we can become the Church of the Living Dead and not even know it.
Text: Revelation 3:1-6You can have the cheap thrills of the world and feel sick to your stomach the next morning. Or you can have Jesus now, a new life now, forgiveness now, real pleasure now, and you will one day rise to shine like the Morning Star.
Text: Revelation 2:18-29When we believe we will receive.
Text: 1 John 3:19-24Christians are narrow-minded about God’s truth. We believe something the chattering classes find incredible. We believe that God has spoken in his Word and that his Word is to be obeyed, not debated.
Text: Revelation 2:12-17To those who stand strong in the midst of trials, the best is yet to come. We will receive the “crown of life” and reign with Jesus forever. The “second death” in hell cannot touch us at all.
Text: Revelation 2:8-11How easy it is to substitute knowledge for a warm heart toward Jesus. How quickly we justify our hard hearts by pointing to all our well-intentioned religiosity.
Text: Revelation 2:1-7God has more grace in his heart than you have sin in your life. Jesus is a better Savior than you are a sinner.
Text: Luke 19:10God intends for the church to become a body of committed, loving truth-tellers. Easy to say, hard to
do.
We can’t look to the past and focus on what others have done for Christ. Nor can we live in the future, thinking about what the
children of today might do thirty years from now. The only generation we can reach is our own.
God will do whatever it takes to bring us to the place where we remember him. He’ll stop at nothing. Whatever it takes to get us on our knees is good for our spiritual growth.
Text: Jonah 2