{"id":2288,"date":"2016-03-20T18:06:24","date_gmt":"2016-03-20T22:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/?p=2288"},"modified":"2016-05-29T16:41:19","modified_gmt":"2016-05-29T20:41:19","slug":"sardis-the-dying-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/?p=2288","title":{"rendered":"Sardis, The Dying Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

Message by Dr. David Drake<\/h3>\n

rec0320-102907<\/a><\/h3>\n

Sardis … The Dying Church<\/h3>\n

Revelation 3:1-6<\/h3>\n

Revelation 3:1-6 (NASB)
\n<\/strong>1 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0“To the angel of the church in Sardis write:<\/span> <\/span>He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.<\/span>
\n2 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0‘Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.<\/span>
\n3 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0‘So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it,<\/i> and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.<\/span>
\n4 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0‘But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.<\/span>
\n5 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0‘He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.<\/span>
\n6 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Sardis” means … Remnant<\/h3>\n

The Church age it represents … 1500-1700<\/h3>\n

(the time of the Reformation)<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

I. The Testimony Of The Church … vs. 1<\/h3>\n

Revelation 3:1 (NASB)
\n<\/strong>1 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0“To the angel of the church in Sardis write:<\/span> <\/span>He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

It was an outward testimony of life<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was actual a testimony of death<\/strong><\/p>\n

Note: This was a church revealing a character of hypocrisy\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Death (defined): A permanent cessation of all vital functions, the end of<\/strong>
\nlife, the state of being dead<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Question … Why is the church\u00a0<\/span>today<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>dying?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

1. The ignorance and apathy toward biblical and scriptural truth<\/p>\n

2. The overt influence of modernism and materialism<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0The adopting of the spirit of exclusiveness instead of being inclusive of all men<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

II. The Apathy Of The Church … vs. 2-3<\/h3>\n

Revelation 3:2 (NASB)
\n<\/strong>2 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0‘Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n-They were apathetic about their spiritual condition by not beginning the <\/strong>right things spiritually. <\/strong><\/p>\n

-They were apathetic about their spiritual condition <\/strong>by not staying faithful to their commitments.<\/strong><\/p>\n

-They were also apathetic about their spiritual condemnation … vs. 3<\/strong><\/p>\n

Revelation 3:3 (NASB)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n3 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0‘So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it,<\/i> and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

III. The Spirit (the Saints) Of\u00a0 The Church … vs. 4-5<\/h3>\n

Revelation 3:4-5 (NASB)<\/strong>
\n4 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0‘But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.<\/span>
\n5 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0‘He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.<\/span><\/p>\n

-There were those who walked FROM the world – vs. 4a<\/strong><\/p>\n

(READ: Ephesians 4:17-24)<\/strong><\/p>\n

-There were those who walked WITH the Lord – vs. 4b-5<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

God has always had a people!<\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Message by Dr. David Drake rec0320-102907 Sardis … The Dying Church Revelation 3:1-6 Revelation 3:1-6 (NASB) 1 \u00a0“To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-messages","category-sermon-series"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2288"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2300,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288\/revisions\/2300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}