My Faith is Connected to the Church
Notes
Transcript
My Faith is Connected to the Church
INTRODUCTION
Wewoka
1920’s and 30’s -- Most prosperous oil town in the world- 2 decades.
The Church - T. J. Nanny - baptized hundreds a year.
Today- empty downtown
The Church - a shadow of its former glory.
600 in Sunday School in 1960
declined 90% by 2004.
Church’s glory needs to be in the present, not past.
COVID has magnified this.
Over 6,000 churches a year die. Double over COVID
Churches as they decline get protective.
They don’t want to use the building in fear of something getting broken.
Eventually building gets too expensive and they run out of savings.
ILL- Is the church a cruise liner or a battleship.
David Jeremiah, “Some churches resemble mausoleums, pretty and well-kept on the outside, but devoid of life on the inside. Why do churches die? Most of the reasons people give are wrong. When any living body dies it is only because the individual cells began dying long before the end came.”
Sardis
Junction of 5 main roads.
Trade Center
Military Center
Inaccessible Plateau 1500 ft. above the roads.
Artemis- nature cult- idea of death and rebirth.
Manufactured woolen garments- usually white.
Shadow of former splendor- no longer a necessary city.
Pax Romana - Peace of Rome- No threat of invasion.
Revelation 3:1-6
1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.
3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.
4 Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
5 Characteristics of Great Church Members
1- Powerful
1- Powerful
Revelation 3:1
1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
7 Spirits= reference to the Holy Spirit= Power
We must be filled with the Holy Spirit
John 14:15-19
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
Acts 1:4-8
4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me;
5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
We are told to do nothing without the Holy Spirit.
Church at Sardis was dead.
Not a doctrinal problem
They had a power problem.
Not a works problem.
They had a power problem.
Wiersby, “Man-made programs can never bring life, any more than a circus can resurrect a corpse. The church was born when the Spirit of God descended on the Day of Pentecost, and its life comes from the Spirit.”
Great programs, choirs, outreach ministries, and evangelistic endeavors are useless if we are not living through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Great church members use the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
2- Discerning
2- Discerning
Revelation 3:1
1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
Seven Stars= Messengers to the Churches
Know when someone is speaking truth.
Recognize leaders that are controlled by Christ and not man.
Willing to hear truth
Ears Tickled
2 Timothy 4:3-4
3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
Know Scriptures well enough to recognize false doctrine.
2 Timothy 2:15
15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
Great church members discern truth through God’s Word.
3- Alert
3- Alert
Revelation 3:1-3
1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.
3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.
“wake up”
They were about to lose what they had because of sleep.
Twice in Sardis’ history they city had been captured.
Croesus, ruler of Sardis, went to battle against Cyrus, King of Persia.
Drive back into city where he felt completely safe.
Cyrus offered reward to whoever could find way into city.
A soldier noticed a guard drop his helmet over the city wall.
He then appeared a few moments later outside the wall and then disappeared -- secret passageway.
In the dark a Persian raiding party went into the city and opened the gates from the inside.
No one was on guard.
This happened again 100 years later.
Church was asleep because they had no persecution.
No friction= no heat= no energy.
Church wasn’t a threat to anyone because they were asleep without power.
ILL- me and pen in pocket while studying in seminary.
Wake UP
Rely on God’s power.
See reality.
Matthew 24:42-44
42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.
44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Revelation 3:3
3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.
Remember, Obey, Repent
Great church members are alert.
4- Pure
4- Pure
Revelation 3:4-5
4 Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
Garments not soiled
White garments- city manufactured wool clothing.
Sin ruins us.
Isaiah 1:18
18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
Purity is not just about what we do not do. It’s about what we do.
Titus 2:11-14
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,
12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Great church members are pure.
5- Faithful
5- Faithful
Revelation 3:5
5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
There was a remnant- a small number of faithful people.
Finish the deeds- do not stop.
ILL- Jonathan’s birth- life is hope- just keep heartbeat.
Do no stop even if it is hard.
Conquerors= overcomers= proof of salvation.
Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
1 John 5:4-5
4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
CONCLUSION
Are you living out your faith through the church as God has called?
Are you a surrendered follower of Jesus Christ?