Sermon Notes

(1)…”‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. (2) Wake up,…” (Rev. 3:1-2)

We hear about different churches and people all the time. They have a reputation. Judgements are made about them, “That church is alive,” or “That church is dead.” “He’s a good Christian man,” or “I don’t think she is even saved.” What do we base those assessments on? Do we use the same criteria as God does? The real issue at hand is what God thinks. It’s possible for people to think a church is alive when it is in fact dead. It’s possible for people to think a church is dead when in fact it is alive. Does it have anything to do with the music style, building size or age, volume of singing and preaching, enthusiasm or excitement, size of the congregation, whether they serve coffee or not, whether they talk about missions or not, whether they have small groups or Sunday school classes, whether the pastor is young or old, whether the pastor preaches sermons from the Bible or sermons he get’s from the pastor of the largest church in the country at the time, whether they have a cool marketing strategy or no strategy at all, whether they fast at the beginning of each year, how big their budge is, etc., etc., etc.?

Today we will see what Jesus has to say about this as we continue our journey through the book of Revelation. The title of the message is “Sleeping in Sardis: Dead or Alive?” In a world where it’s so easy to be naive, duped, misled, tricked, and psychologically manipulated, we need true wisdom, discernment, and truth that comes only from God. I look forward to seeing you all at 10 as we gather to worship our great God together!

He is alive! Are you? Are we? Is _____________ Church?

Pastor Deric