Sunday 10 July 2016

Wake up

Wake up!

“To the angel of the church in Sardis write: 
These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.  
Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.  
Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. 
Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.  
He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.  
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelations 3:1-6
To me when I see the church in Sardis I see a church that has fallen asleep. They may have a reputation for being alive but they are not.
 They have rested if you will on the works they have done in the past. Even though the work they have to do for Christ is still unfinished. Many churches have become social clubs. Where people come to feel good and spend time with friends.
They have a lot of activities going on but they are not reaching out to the lost souls around them. The work of evangelism they are suppose to be doing is not complete.
You can see their unfinished works in the decrease of their congregations.
Matthew’s gospel tells us,
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20.
There is however hope in what Christ tells the church at Sardis.
Christ tells churches like Sardis that there are those within them that have not let Him down That the are doing God’s work.
To those people Jesus says they will walk with Him in heaven in robs of white. White being the symbol of purity.
We as believers in Christ should be examining not only our own life but the church congregation we are part of. We should be asking the question, Am I and the church congregation I am part of doing all we can for Christ?
Is the church I attend truly alive and doing God’s will?
Please think about it.

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