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Sardis, The Dead Church - Revelation 3:1-6 · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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Good morning, everyone. Calvary Chapel, Westmoreland,
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Amen. Thank you so much for everyone
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being here today. We, our sister, gave us a very,
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very gracious welcome to everybody, including those who
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are behind prison walls. So we don't have to repeat that
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this morning. So we can just get ready to go
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into the word of God. Thank you so much just to Karen
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for doing that. So let's just get ready to go
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into the word of God. Let's pray, Father, once again
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we come before your presence, Lord, just asking for what only
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you can give, looking to hear what only you can say, and
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looking to be done what only you can do.
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Father, we need you this morning.
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We don't even need me to be here this morning, Father, and it
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means nothing if you don't show up, Father.
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We pray this morning that You would open our eyes to hear
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these precious things, Lord, that are written in Your word,
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not only for our encouragement, but to warn us, to exhort us,
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and to cause us, O God, to be more like You.
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Father, I pray that You would bless everyone that's here even
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now. Open each and every one of our
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hearts so that we can receive Your word and that it would
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bring forth fruit. Lord, that would be pleasing to
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you. Now, Father, hide me behind the
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cross. No one needs to see me, no one
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needs to hear me. But I pray God that Your voice
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will come through with power, with articulation and clarity
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and authority and that we receive it as it is.
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And that is the word of God. In Jesus holy name we pray,
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Amen. So this morning we are going to
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start in the 3rd chapter. We start the 3rd chapter.
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We've finished the first of the first two chapters and we're now
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at the Church of Sardis. I'm going to read through these
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six scriptures and then we'll go back and we'll make comment
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where the Lord says this and to the Angel of the church and
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Sardis write these things, says he who has A7 spirits of God and
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the seven stars. I know your works, that you have
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a name, that you are alive, but you are dead.
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Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are
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ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before
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God. Remember, therefore, how you
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have received and heard. Hold fast and repent.
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Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a
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thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.
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You have a few names even in Sardis, who have not defiled
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their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they
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are worthy. He who overcomes shall be
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clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from
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the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before my
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Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear
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what the Spirit says to the churches.
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Thank you, Jesus, for that word. AW Tozer once said this.
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Churches can be busy, active and well organized while being
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spiritually dead. The activity of programs, the
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busyness of the people with the multiple ministries without
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fruit can have the appearance of life while being flat lined and
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be dead. If you remember, Jesus cursed
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the fig tree not just because it didn't have fruit, but because
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it gave the appearance that it had fruit.
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There are only two churches that's in this whole 7 churches
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that he writes letters to, that he gives absolutely no
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commendation to, gives no praise report for.
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One of them is the Church of Laodicean and we'll talk about
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later, and the other is this church, the Church of Sardis.
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Well, please let me warn you before we go into talking about
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the Church of Sardis. And I've always said, if you've
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ever heard me say this, that when we come to the Word of God,
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there's two things that we can bring to the Word.
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We can either bring a rake, which rake things to us, or we
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can bring a pitchfork that throws things away from us,
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throws us elsewhere. I pray that when we go before
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the word of God, we come into the word of God for all of these
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churches, although there are things that are marked as not
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praise reports for these churches, but things that the
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Lord has condemned them for. Let us not look at these
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churches like, oh boy, those poor people, those terrible
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people, those dishonest people, those loveless people, those
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corrupt people. But let's look at each and every
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one of those churches and cause us, may cause us to examine
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ourselves, not just as a church as a whole, not just as Calvary
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Chapel Westmoreland, but let us examine ourselves as a church,
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ourselves individually. What am I hearing in this that I
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myself need to be alert to, that I need to repent for, that I
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need to turn for? What is the Holy Spirit saying
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to me in addition to what He's saying to the churches?
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What is He saying to me? I pray that you that we all will
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do that because as we go through these, we find plenty that the
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Holy Spirit will find in our own lives or in our own hearts that
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He can warn us about and cause us to be able to turn from those
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things. Because we serve a loving God.
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We serve a caring God, we serve a merciful God that it doesn't
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matter what we've been doing or how long we've been doing it, We
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can turn from those things. We can repent and turn from
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those things. His arms are always open wide
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for us to come back to Him, just like a parent.
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So we needed to hear that this morning as we go through this
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because it can be very tempting to look at that church as being
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isolated from ourselves. But actually he's speaking to
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each and every one of us as we go through this.
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So just to give a little background about this church,
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Sardis that was mentioned to be a, a dead church.
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And we don't have to go far by when we're, you know, to, to
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hear why this church is considered dead.
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We won't have to go for we won't have to go beyond the first
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verse. But the background of Sardis is
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that it is located 30 miles South of Authoritaria for
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defense. For defense purposes.
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Sardis is built on a hill about 1500 feet on top of a hill.
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And it had suffered, but after it suffered an earthquake back
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in AD 17, the city was completely destroyed.
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It was later rebuilt by Rome, the Roman Empire, Tiberius
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Caesar, for whom a temple was actually built there in his
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honor. And of course, they did Pagan
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worship there in that temple to the the emperor Caesar.
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It was once the capital of the Kingdom of Lydia.
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Sardis was a wealthy and powerful, but a sinful city.
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It was well known for its textile industry.
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It was well known for gold and, and, and silver.
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There was a river that ran through Sardis that had silver,
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that had gold in that particular river and, and it was known for
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that. In fact, coinage itself was said
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to be invented there in Sardis. But like just about all the
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other Asian, those Asian minor cities that we looked at and the
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ones that we will look at, they had their issues with idolatry,
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they had their issues with sexual immorality.
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And of course, Sardis was no different than those.
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No different. Now in Sardis, they did worship
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a particular goddess or goddesses.
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They worship the goddess of Artemis.
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And if I think, if I'm not mistaken, wasn't there recently
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an aircraft or some kind of space capsule that's been
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launched from here named Artemis?
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Very interesting name. And the other is, is Sybil or
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Sibeli, that the goddess, the God, the God, the goddess called
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Sibeli. Now being surrounded by these
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pagans, by being surrounded by all this idolatry, the Church of
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Sardis failed to let their light shine in this dark place.
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They failed to allow the salt to keep its flavor.
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In fact, their salt had lost their flavor.
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And as we look at verse one, we kind of see what the problem was
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with this church. Verse one says into the Angel of
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the Church of and Sardis write these things says who is coming
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from. Remember we said last week who
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said, who said? Well, the one who's speaking
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here is the one who has the seven spirits of God and the one
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who has the seven stars in his hand, the seven spirits of God.
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Now we hear the name, the word 7 mentioned quite a bit in the
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word of God. The word actually there is a if
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those of you who are in the numbers and things like that
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word, the number 7 actually is symbolic for completion,
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symbolic for perfection finished.
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But here the the the seven spirits that he's talking about
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here is Speaking of the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
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It's a description taken from from John's vision, you know,
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back in one and four, you know, back in Revelations chapter 1
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and verse four, he talks about the seven spirits of God and he
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talks about it again over in the verse 20 of chapter 1.
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It's a complete character of God, the fullness of all of His
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power through the Holy Spirit. This reference of the Holy, of
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the Holy Spirit is of the Messiah, and it's explained over
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in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah Chapter 11.
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It talks about the Messiah and how he'll come filled with the
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Holy Spirit. He'll come filled with the
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Spirit of God, and he mentions the sevenfold Spirit there in
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Isaiah Chapter 11. He says this, the Spirit of the
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Lord, and this is the spirit that has fallen upon them.
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It's the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of wisdom and
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understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of
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knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the honest, the reverence
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of the Lord. What?
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These are the things that we're missing in the Church of Sardis
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that caused them to be considered dead and in our own
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lives that we don't have the presence of the Holy Spirit.
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Our walk in Christ can be dead. Our experience can have a dead
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experience. You know, James said that the,
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the, the body without the Spirit is dead.
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Well, the body of Christ without the Spirit of Christ is dead.
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We need the Holy Spirit. You know, I can understand why
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when the disciples were with Jesus on that last day, when
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they watched him ascend, I can understand how their hearts
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could have could drop. But because he said to them
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prior to that, he says, I'm going to go.
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But when I go, I am going to send you another helper who was
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with you and shall be in you. Oh, thank God for the Holy
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Spirit because he is the one who stayed.
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He's the one who's ever with us because he's ever in us.
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But what happens when that Spirit is quenched?
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What happens when that spirit is grieved and there's no
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manifestation of the Spirit working in our lives?
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We become like dead man. It's almost like Ezekiel.
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The bones that he preached to were dead until the Spirit
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entered those bones. We need the Holy Spirit in our
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own lives, and I pray that we acknowledge the fact that every
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single day we should be asking for a fresh feeling, a fresh
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feeling of the Holy Spirit, a newness of the Holy Spirit in
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our lives every single day to help us with the knowledge, to
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help us with counsel and might, to help us have the fear of the
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Lord to obey His word. Every day.
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We need the power of the Holy Spirit working inside of us to
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help us to walk out this Christian life.
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We can't do it without it. We can't do it without it.
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So in so in Sardis, the, the church had basically ceased to
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function under the power and the fullness of the spirit.
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But then it also says that he's a, that the seven stars he
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mentions the seven stars he needs in this case is the 7
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angels. He's talk, you know, he's
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talking about the, the, the, the, he's talking about the,
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the, the messengers of the church.
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He has the pastors and the elders of the church under his
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authority. He has them.
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These are the, the ruling elders of the church.
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As is mentioned over in chapter one verse and verse 16.
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It's important that the church leaders are filled with the
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power of the Holy Spirit. And we, we should serve, always
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serve under the power and being led by the Holy Spirit.
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It's the only way that we can do this ministry or do anything in
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this ministry, the only way that this ministry can be fruitful,
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as if we are led by the power of the Holy Spirit.
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So it was the fullness of the Holy Spirit who fell upon the
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apostles on the day of Pentecost.
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And, and the New Testament churches were born out of the
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Spirit, but this church, this church had a reputation for
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being alive based on the past, but it was dead.
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Look at what what he says here in verse, in verse 2 with a
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bottom of verse 1, he says, I know your works, that you have a
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name. This is the bottom of verse one
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that you have a name, that you have a name that you are alive,
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but you are dead. And then he says here that you
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know well if you have a reputation.
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And sometimes we see people who have a reputation in the faith,
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they have a reputation in the church, they have a reputation
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and and and ministry. We can see that and we can just
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assume that those people are alive in the spirit.
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But just for reputation does not mean life does not mean life
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doesn't matter what our reputation is.
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The truth of the matter is, what's working in our hearts?
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What's really working in my heart?
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What's working in my heart When I come here on a Sunday or a
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Wednesday? What's working in my heart When
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I leave my home every day and I'm out among other people,
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What's in my heart? What's leading me?
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Am I being led by the Spirit or am I being led by my flesh?
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Do I respond to things based on the Spirit or do I respond to
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things based on my flesh, my own understanding, leaning on my own
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understanding? Those are things that as a
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Christian that we have, we have access to this power, this power
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that dwells in us. We have access to it.
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So why not call on that power, be led by that power, so this
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church have that reputation. What's really important for a
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church? They probably had it.
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They looked that way from the outside.
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You know, it was a church that looked like it was alive.
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It was probably a church that was polished, had a polished
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praise and worship ban. It was probably a church that
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had a pastor that was charismatic or progressive
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preaching, secret friendly messages, or because there was
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such a massive group of attendees for that church.
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And you can go on TikTok and you can go on X or you can go on
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Facebook and you can see all these churches that look like
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they're so popular, just so happening.
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And people were just like flogging to these churches
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because of the marketing that these churches do.
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But what's really leading that church?
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Is it the Holy Spirit or is it the flesh of someone with good
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eye, with good marketing ideas? Because the Spirit is
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everlasting, but the flesh dies. The flesh dies Lord Jesus, but
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without the power and the anointing of the life given
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Spirit. It's just going through the
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motions. There's no real life, no real
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life. So Jesus addresses this issue of
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this dead church, and he also did it with the Pharisees.
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If you remember, he talked about how the Pharisees over in
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Matthew 2023, he talked about how the Pharisees look so good
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on the outside. He talked about how they were
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like whitewashed tombs or they shined.
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And, and I'll never forget Pastor Clark's description of
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when he was in Israel. And excuse me, he's in.
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He saw the tombs, he was on the hill and he saw the tombs parts,
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the clock. Where was that?
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Where you saw the tombs? And you look down and you saw
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the tombs on the, from the hill and how they were glistening.
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You're on the Mount of Olives. And he saw the he, he could look
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down and, and into Jerusalem and he saw the, the tombs and how
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they were glistening and how they were white.
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But meanwhile, the Bible says that inside they were full of
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dead men's bones, full of corruption, full of deceit, full
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of defilement, the good on the outside, but on the inside it
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was nothing but dead. And then in verse 2, he says
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here, so he kind of gives a a way to deal with these issues.
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He says be watchful and strengthen the things which
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remain, things that are ready to die for.
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I have not found your works to be perfect before God.
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When a church is dead, spiritual activity ceases.
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The work is not perfect. That means that the work is not
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complete. The work is unfulfilled.
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It's not it's it's unfinished work.
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Maybe this was a a church who at at one point was very zealous
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about getting out and sharing the gospel, very zealous about
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rendering social service help to to people, very zealous about
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reaching the lost. But as a spirit is no longer
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functioning within these people, it's not manifested.
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Those things don't become important anymore.
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They lose the the desire to go out and share the gospel.
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They lose the boldness to stand in front of someone who's
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opposing them and to stand and talk on, to stand on the Word of
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God. You lose the boldness for you
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lose the enthusiasm. You lose the energy to want to
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go out and just do a work that the Lord initially gave you the
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zeal to do. Now those things start to wane.
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Church becomes slothful, it's not move to go out and do those
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things anymore. No longer seeks holiness when
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the Spirit of the Lord is not active.
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Holiness is not something that that the church will pursue.
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So we always have to check ourselves to see where are we at
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in terms of seeking holiness. Where are we at with that.
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But he says be watchful. That means wake up, wake up,
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wake up, become aware, become alive, wake up in the spirit,
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wake up to what the Lord is saying to you, wake up, he said.
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Be watchful and wake up from that slumber.
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The worst thing that can happen to a church is that it loses his
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life or its power and no one is even aware and no one is even
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aware. I was talking with Pastor Clark
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the other day and and then we were praying together and
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talking and, and I was just reminded as I was studying
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through this that one of the saddest statements in the Bible
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is over in the book of Judges, chapter 16, verse 20, and Bible
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is speaking is speaking about Solomon, Samson speaking about
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Samson who had lost his way, who had fallen into sin.
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But he was strong. But after he allowed this woman
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to cut his hair, he lost his power, He lost the presence of
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the Holy Spirit. And the Bible says this, the
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Bible says this, that after he had lost that power, he was
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sleep. And when the enemy came in upon
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him, he thought that he could still do what he had done
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before. When the presence of God was
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with him, he thought he could still get up, and he can shake
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and, and he can go and destroy and, and, and, and still defend
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himself. The saddest statement in the
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Bible was this. But he did not know that the
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Lord had departed from him, did not know.
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If we don't know that the Holy Spirit is not functioning in US,
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temptation can take us. The enemy can send attacks
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against us and overtake us, because we can't defeat those
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things in our flesh. And that's why we have to always
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be aware. So we have to always seek the
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the power of the Holy Spirit before anyone comes up here and
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teaches anything out of the word of God.
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We're back there praying and asking the Lord to please Holy
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Spirit, manifest yourself. Holy Spirit, you be the one to
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do this. You teach this, lead us, guide
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us through the Scriptures. It doesn't matter who's there's.
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There's seminaries that are full of people who can study this
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word and be able to give a good interpretation of what this
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means. But without the Holy Spirit, it
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means nothing to the here. The Holy Spirit is the teacher.
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The Holy Spirit is the one that reveals knowledge and truth.
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We need the Holy Spirit always. Always.
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Sardis was asleep and had become complacent.
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That means they became satisfied, content with routine.
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I always tell when I, when I train people in basketball,
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always tell them there are four enemies that every athlete has,
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but they're also four enemies. These are the same 4 enemies
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that every church has, which are the same 4 enemies that every
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Christian has. And I've committed this and,
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and, and I've worked on this with kids all the time because
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you need to know when one of these enemies are attacking
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them. And the enemies are as follows.
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First of all, the enemy of fear. You cannot play basketball being
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afraid. You can't participate in it.
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You can't participate in any sport being afraid, but neither
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can the church function in fear, unless it's the fear of the
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Lord. Laziness.
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Any athlete that's lazy will not grow.
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A church that's lazy will not grow.
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A Christian that is slothful will not grow.
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Pride. Pride is that thing that you
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have that you don't even know that the other things aren't
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there. You're so prideful you don't
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even know that you're lazy. You're so prideful that you
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don't even know that you're afraid.
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You're so prideful you don't even realize that things have
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been have been changed and you have dropped.
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You have not grown. You have not been that person
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who runs after holiness anymore because you become prideful.
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You don't even pray because we we become prideful and we can
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all fall into these things, be too prideful to pray, too
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prideful to seek God. And then the 4th, 1 And this is
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the one where the Church of Sardis fell into which many of
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us fall into. I have fallen into this
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complacency that means you're satisfied with where you are.
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If there's one thing that any of us as a Christian have to be
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aware of, it's being complacent. To ever get to a point where
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we're complacent, we feel we don't have room to grow anymore.
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I don't have to come to service that much anymore.
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I've already read that I don't have to listen to it again.
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I'm already comfortable with exactly where I'm at in my
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faith. I don't have to grow anymore
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complacency, being satisfied with just the way things are.
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And that's how this church was and didn't even know that it was
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under the attack of a vicious enemy.
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Didn't even know. Unfortunately, many of us, many
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churches, many Christians, become victims of complacency.
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It comes upon you so fast, but it also comes subtle, and we
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don't even realize that we're dealing with these things.
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But when a church is only concerned with reputation, or
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they're only concerned with filling seats and only concerned
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with popularity, when that happens spiritually, they die.
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They no longer seek souls, they just seek members.
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They no longer desire to grow spiritually, but just seeking to
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grow financially. They are no longer seeking the
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things that are above, but they're now.
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It's just seeking the things that are upon the earth.
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Desire to be friends with the world instead of being the
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servants of Jesus Christ. When we seek to please men, then
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we're no longer the servants of Christ.
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We're no longer the servants of Christ.
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And then he tells us, he says, straighten the things he says
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strengthen, I'm sorry, strengthen the things which
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remain that are ready to die. We got to do an inventory of
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ourselves, do a thorough inventory of ourselves and, and
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find out what's there that remains.
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What are the things that are still good?
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Do I still like to go to Bible study?
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Do I still like to pray? You know, do I still have this
30:30
love for, for for the Lord and for other people?
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What's in me that I can strengthen?
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Do I have a desire for for for souls that I need to strengthen
30:44
it? Do I have a desire to study the
30:46
word? I need to strengthen it,
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Strengthen those things that remain.
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And he says, I found that your works before God we're not found
30:58
to be perfect. They were not found to be
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complete. And then he says, remember
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therefore how you have received. Now some versions may say, and
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this is in verse 3. Some versions may say, remember,
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or you know, it may say, remember therefore how you have
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received and heard, or remember what you have received and
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heard. Either way, it's that deposit of
31:26
truth that was deposited into you that you once heard, that
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you once believed, and you received it with a manner that
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was of great zeal and great all and reverence for the Lord.
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You received it with enthusiasm and faith.
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Need to go back to that and remember that time that we we
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that we received the word of God every time we had an
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opportunity. We received it with this
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enthusiasm. We received it with this all
31:57
that is coming from the mouth of God.
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When we lose that all, when we lose that zeal, when we lose
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that enthusiasm, eventually we lose our desire for the word all
32:10
together. So he says, remember therefore
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how you've received it or what you've received and heard.
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And then he says, hold fast. Once you remember how you
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received that word of God, once you remember what you received,
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grab onto it. Grab onto it tightly and hold on
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to it tightly. You know no, no be.
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Have a firm grip on it, guard it, guard it and continue to
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obey those things. Even though apathy was all
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around this church and apathy was, was, was penetrating the
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walls of this church just like it could be here.
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You know, there could be apathy here as well as enthusiasm here.
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But the but but when we are able to grab hold firmly on the word
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of God and we're able to guard those things that we've heard
33:07
and continue to obey those things regardless of what's
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going on around us, we can continue to grow and be a
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blessing to somebody else and be a blessing to someone else.
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In other words, he's saying to this church and he's saying to
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us, be steadfast, be unmovable and always abounding in the work
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of the Lord because any work that we do in the Lord is never
33:34
in vain. There's always fruit.
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A dead church or a dead Christian must realize that a
33:42
change is necessary. So we must examine ourselves and
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see what it is that we've become complacent.
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Where have we become complacent? Where have we become lazy?
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Where have we become fearful? Where are we with those things?
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What is leading? What are we doing that we're
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leading it with our flesh instead of leading it by the
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Spirit or being led by the Spirit of God?
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Where are those things? We have to be aware because
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sometimes the appearance of the church becomes more important
34:14
than other things. The the the appearance of the
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building, the tradition, the way things used to be.
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That's one of the things that can kill a church.
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Well, this is just the way we always done it.
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This is what we've always did. You know, we'll when those
34:30
things start to override what the scripture says, that's a
34:33
problem. That's a problem.
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Be overly involved in divisive political parties or material
34:42
gain or blending, just wanting to blend with the culture.
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Having more concern about those things than the concern to stand
34:52
on God's Word, sharing the gospel, winning souls, and
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growing and holiness. That's when there's a danger of
35:02
a church dying, when it no longer seeks holiness, no longer
35:08
has a desire to seek holiness. And then over here in verse 4,
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I'm sorry, Let's look at the bottom of verse 3.
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It says, therefore, if you will not watch, if you will not
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watch, if you will not hold fast, OK, It says that they He
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will come upon you quickly as a thief.
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He will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know the
35:36
hour that I will come upon you. But the grace of our God tells
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us that we can repent. That's what he tells us.
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We can repent even if we're in these areas of lack, these areas
35:58
that have become dead or become cold in our Christian walk.
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When we concentrate, we meditate on those on on the word of God
36:08
and the Holy Spirit then touches our hearts and let us know, you
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know, you have backed off from this or you don't pray as much
36:15
as you used to, or you don't read your word as much as you
36:18
used to, or you don't, you know, allow or or or or or appreciate
36:23
the fellowship with like minded people the way you used to.
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Your, your group has changed. Your influence has changed.
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When you realize those things, the Lord says repent, repent.
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This is awesome because see, there are some things in the
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world that you can be associated with.
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And the moment you do something that's contrary to what they
36:48
like or what they believe or what they think, you're done.
36:53
You're done. You're gone.
36:56
Your name is off the road. You're no longer invited to the
36:59
socials. You're no longer getting called
37:02
to the picnics. I've experienced that with some
37:06
family members. You know, you're done.
37:12
But Jesus says repent as a church or individually, we can
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repent. That means we can turn from
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those things. We can change your minds and we
37:20
can change our directions. I love what David says to us in
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in, in, in in Psalm 119 and, and and 59, he says, I thought about
37:30
my ways. I thought about what I was doing
37:33
and I turn my feet toward your testimonies.
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But then over in Psalm 51, he says, Lord, do not take your
37:45
Holy Spirit from me. David knew he sinned.
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He knew he had blown it. He knew he messed up, and he
37:57
knew that there was going to be a consequence for the things
37:59
that he's done. There was going to be judgment
38:01
for those things, David said. Lord, I can deal with anything
38:04
else that you want to do to me, but please don't take your
38:11
spirit from me in church. I would say that's the way we
38:20
should value the Spirit of God. It's precious.
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It's precious the fact that we as believers have the Holy
38:32
Spirit living in us. The Bible says that the moment
38:35
that you believe the Spirit of His Son came into your heart.
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The moment we believed, we have that and it should be precious
38:47
to us. It should be sought after.
38:51
It should be our relationship with the Holy Spirit should be
38:54
strengthened. He says, if you don't, then he's
39:00
coming quickly and he's bringing judgment.
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This is not this judgment that's going to happen at the last day.
39:06
We're talking about a judgment that he will bring as a
39:10
chastisement. And thank God that he loves us
39:13
enough that he wants to chastise us when we're wrong, when we're
39:17
off. And then in verse four, he says,
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I have a few things. He said there's a few names even
39:21
in Sardis who are not defiled, who have not defiled their
39:27
garments. I have a few.
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There's a few people there that have not defiled their garments,
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he said. And they shall walk with me in
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white, for they are worthy Jesus.
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Jesus always has a remnant. There's always a remnant of God,
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no matter where we go, no matter who we're with.
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There's always a remnant of God in Christ.
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Even if we do sin, we can be cleansed.
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Even if we do defile our garment, we can be cleansed
39:57
again. I love the fact that we have
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first John 1:00 and 9:00. That tells us basically that if
40:04
we confess, if we humble ourselves and confess that this
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is where we are, this is the sin we've committed, we are in
40:11
agreement with God that we're off.
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He says if we do that, He says He all we have to do is confess
40:18
it. Repent, confess it.
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He said that He will forgive and He will cleanse.
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He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness because He is
40:30
just and He is righteous. So he's admonishing these, these
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few who have not defiled their garments, He's who have not
40:40
soiled their garments. He's encouraging them to remain
40:43
faithful, that the church could be revived.
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See, the church could be revived with just a few people.
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You all remember back in the Old Testament in in Genesis, how,
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how, how Abraham basically bartered with the Lord and said
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Lord, if there's 10 that's in this city that will pray, will
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you not destroy it for 10 people?
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And he said, I will not destroy it for 10 people.
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He was talking about destroying Sodom and Gomorrah for their
41:12
sexual immorality. Even as bad as that was, if
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there were 10 people there that would have prayed, that city
41:18
could have been spared. I totally I I personal
41:23
personally believe that the reason why our country has not
41:27
been just totally destroyed is because of churches and people
41:32
and Christians that are praying got a president that's reading
41:37
the Bible. You have Congress people that's
41:41
reading the Bible. You have personalities that's
41:43
reading the word of God. If it wasn't for people who were
41:46
praying, I believe this country will probably have been already
41:51
destroyed. 10 people serious could have saved Sodom and
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Gomorrah, but there wasn't 10 that pray.
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God can always use even a small remnant, even a small remnant.
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And then we go to verse 5. We're about to come in praise
42:09
and worship team, please come forward.
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In verse 5, He says he who overcomes shall be clothed with
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white garments. That's awesome.
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He'll be clothed with white garments.
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And I will not blot out His name from the book of life, but I
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will confess His name before my Father and before his angels.
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So here in verse 5 we see that Jesus gives this church, and He
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gives us 3 promises. Those who overcome, those who
42:41
are victorious, those who are conquerors of Christ, He gives
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us 3 promises. And the first promises is he
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says that he will, He will give us a white garment.
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We will be clothed in white garments.
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Garment always has to do with our character.
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Garment always deals with the character of God.
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So he says, I'll give you the, I'll give you a white garment,
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meaning that he will give us a garment of purity, a garment of
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righteousness, a garment of glory.
43:10
It denotes the fact that we are the redeemed.
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And if we're already redeemed, then we should say so.
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The Bible says, let the redeemed that the Lord say so, right?
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So we shouldn't be ashamed of being the redeemed of the Lord,
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but we should be bold about it and we should say so.
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Isaiah 61 and 10 says, For he has clothed me with the garments
43:29
of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
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and then he gives a second promise over in he he gives
43:38
second promise. He says He will not blot out the
43:42
overcomers name from the book of life.
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Now this does not mean that one can not.
43:49
This isn't saying here that one can lose their salvation that he
43:52
will blotch some names out. No, but he's actually talking
43:56
about what he says over here in in chapter 20 of Revelations
44:00
verses 20, verses 12 through 15, he says, and I saw the dead,
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small and great standing before God and books were open and
44:10
another book was open, which is the book of life.
44:15
And the dead were judged according to their works by the
44:18
things that were written in the books.
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The sea gave up its dead who were in it.
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And death in Hades delivered up the dead who were in them and
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they and they were judged each one according to his works.
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Then death in Hades were cast into the lake of fire.
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This is the second death, and anyone not found written in the
44:39
Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire.
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So he's telling us, he's telling us that there is a list that we
44:50
can be on, that we will never be erased from.
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We can never be erased from that book.
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Your name is in it. It's there.
44:58
It's there for eternity, and that is the Book of Life.
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He told his disciples when he gave them power to cast out
45:06
devils and to heal, and they came back and they were talking
45:09
about how much authority they had over the demons.
45:13
And Jesus said, no, don't rejoice because you have some
45:17
authority over some demons, He said, but rejoice because your
45:20
name is written in heaven. We have a lot of things that we
45:24
may have accumulated here on this earth.
45:26
We may have had a lot of accomplishments, whether it's in
45:29
the faith or otherwise, but the truth of the matter is the most
45:33
valuable thing that we have is the fact that our names are
45:36
written in the book of life and no one can erase it.
45:40
They will never be erased. And then the third thing, the
45:45
third thing, he says he will confess the overcomers name
45:49
before his Father and before his angels.
45:53
These are heavenly angels that he's talking about, these spirit
45:55
beings, the celestial beings. But what an encouraging thought
45:58
it is that Jesus Christ, the King of glory, the one who
46:02
created heaven and earth and the end of the earth, He Himself, He
46:10
said one day that he will acknowledge and announce our
46:14
names before His Father and before the angels, that we,
46:20
bold, overcoming, enduring, faithful conquerors belong to
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Him. What an encouraging thing.
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That's what we have to look forward to.
46:31
We are on a list that we can never be taken off of, and we
46:37
are loved by a God who will never turn His back on us.
46:41
Jesus says that he will never leave us nor forsake us if we're
46:48
not ashamed to confess Him before men.
46:50
He will not be ashamed to confess us before his Father and
46:55
before his angels. And then just simply says in
47:01
verse 6, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to
47:06
the to the churches. If you've heard it, let it get
47:11
into your heart, believe it, obey it, take it with you, seek
47:19
the Holy Spirit, the help of the Holy Spirit.
47:22
Value the power, the presence of the Holy Spirit, a valued
47:29
anointing of the Holy Spirit, the wisdom that we get by
47:34
listening and being led by the Holy Spirit.
47:38
But maybe there's areas in our lives that we have allowed
47:41
ourselves to become complacent in.
47:44
Maybe there's areas of our lives that we have allowed to almost
47:48
die. Maybe there's things that we've
47:52
kind of walked away from in our lives and we have not been as
47:55
zealous and the Holy Spirit has been trying to talk with us
47:59
about this to kind of point those things out.
48:02
I definitely have one that the Lord talked with me about
48:05
myself. So I'm asking that if that is
48:11
you as the praise and worship team, we'll play the last song
48:14
after communion. I pray that as you sit, as you
48:17
sit there or stand there, that you take that time to repent.
48:22
Once the Lord brings it to your attention, you know what it is,
48:25
just like I know how my what mine is.
48:27
Take that time to repent. So Father, we do thank you for
48:36
your word, we thank you for your message.
48:38
We thank you for your truth. We thank you, Lord, that you
48:42
love us so much that you would give us these things in your
48:45
word and talk to us. These are real things that
48:48
happens to real churches just like it can happen to us.
48:52
Father, I pray that as you sent Jesus Christ your Son, to be our
48:59
sacrifice, and that as He ascended back to be with you,
49:05
Lord, He left with us His Holy Spirit, who indwells us, who
49:12
keeps us, who walks with us, who teaches us.
49:16
I pray that we never grieve Him or that we never quench it, so
49:20
that He will always be active, manifested in our lives, and
49:25
that we will seek the holiness, Lord, that the holiness that you
49:31
give us opportunity, Lord, to walk in as Christians because we
49:36
know that the Holy Spirit comes to give witness to You and to
49:42
Your Word. The truth is open by way and
49:47
revealed through your Holy Spirit, Lord, and we thank you
49:51
for that. On the night in which Jesus was
49:55
betrayed, he took the bread, and after he gave thanks, he broke
50:02
it. And he said, take and eat.
50:04
This is my body which is broken for you.
50:14
Eat this as often as you eat it. Eat it in remembrance of me.
50:24
And then he took the cup and he said, this is the cup in the new
50:27
of my blood in a new covenant. And it was shed for the sins of
50:34
many. We are still cleansed by the
50:38
blood that was shared, that was shed by Jesus Christ.
50:43
Those who are new Christians and new believers, their sins are
50:49
washed clean by the blood that was shed 2000 years ago.
50:56
Our sins that we commit from time to time, that stains our
51:00
garments are still cleansed by the blood that was shed by Jesus
51:05
Christ. He said drink this and as often
51:10
as you drink it, drink it in remembrance of me.
51:17
For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you do.
51:20
Show the Lords death until he comes.
51:23
Amen. The Lord bless you all.