“Seven” study week 7
Joy’s Notes:
History of Sardis: (show map)
• 60 miles NE of Smyrna
• Sardis today would be our modern day progressive Christianity
The church of Sardis asked the question:
“Can’t we just all get along?”
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You have your god and I can have mine. Your way is your truth.
And my way is my truth.
“You’ve got your truth.
I’ve got my truth.
We’ve all got a little TRUTH TRUTH! “
“But Jesus didn’t come to COLLABORATE with the religious systems of the world….
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He came to CONQUER them!!!”
“I Am the WAY, the TRUTH, the LIFE.
NO ONE can come to the Father, except through Me!”
⁃ John 14:6 (same author as this book)
Share story:
Stayed in my own Island to
Read & heal & recover for 5 years— no outside influence (except Opc)
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When I came back into the “world” my heart HURT what church’s were saying, doing & believing!
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It was such a STARK CONTRAST to what I was immersed in reading!
Rev 3:1 “Write this letter to the angel (LIGHT) of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the seven Spirits of God (the Holy Spirit) and the seven stars (angels of each church)
“I know all the things you do— and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead.
• Jesus is making it known He is LIGHT
• Luke 11:36 “If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light.”
(Because He’s about to expose what is hidden in the DARK)
Discuss Ezekiel being shown the "secret hidden rooms" in the small hole in wall of the temple where the leaders were worshipping other gods.)
G A R D E N / G R A V E :
Jesus loved to take his disciples to places they could SEE with their eyes (mustard seed, etc)
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Imagine walking with Jesus in a beautiful garden not realizing what you were really walking over
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Luke 11:44
“Yes, what sorrow awaits you! For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on.”
• people think they’re walking in a garden- but they’re stepping on a grave
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But God turns our GRAVES into GARDENS!!!!
Jude 1:12
“… these people (church’s) are like dangerous REEFS that can shipwreck you. They are like shameless SHEPHERDS who care only for themselves. They are like CLOUDS blowing over the land without giving any rain. They are like TREES in autumn that are doubly dead, for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots.
🌳STORY OF JESUS & FIG TREE:
⁃ mark 11:12
• My story:
Outwardly I had a reputation for being spiritually “alive” (I was that fig tree🌳)
But inwardly I was spiritually DEAD— NO fruits!!!!
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Just FIG LEAVES- to cover my shame:(
• Is your outward “fullness” masking your inward dullness?
1 Sam 16:7 “man looks at the outward appearance— but God looks at the heart.”
• Are our churches so focused on OUTWARD appearances of being alive— that it’s actually spiritually dull & dead inside???
🔥 numbers at a church do not determine if the church is DEAD OR alive !
⁃ there are small churches, alive
⁃ There are MEGA church’s, dead
But….
⁃ there are Mega churches, alive!
⁃ There are small churches, dead
Western/American church is a NUMBER CULTURE!
⁃ David took a census (counted his people) & God punished him greatly!!! (1 chron 21)
⁃ 70,000 died by plague
It’s NEVER been about numbers….but fruit!
(John Bever conference)
• Asbury— looked “dead” on the outside (no performance, no lights, no fog machines, no bells whistles, no gimmicks given to get you to church)
-Name- less
-Title-less revival!
What if the Sardis church of today is:
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man-accomplished church.
Performance-based church.
Impressive-sounding church.
Emotionally-executed church.
Perfectionistic-achieved church.
Perfectly-planned church.
Celebrity-created church.
Culturally-influenced church
• For decades our church’s have been crying out for revival
But what if these man-made revival strategies are BLOCKING THE GLORY OF GOD????
⁃ maybe our PERFECTION is blocking God’s?
Satan’s tactic =
To prevent people from the great commission
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🥲I’ve heard countless people AFRAID to do what Gods called them to— because of the level of excellence & professionalism they see on stage at church—- & think “I could never be like that!”
I think Asbury revival’s proven this to be so.
A revival happened where there was
NO performance,
no schedule,
no programming,
no planning tools,
no growth-strategizing, no fog, no lights — just THE Light.
There’s a straight up REVIVAL happening where no one’s been glorified.
not a person,
not a denomination,
not a pastor,
not a band,
not a musician,
not an actor.
There’s only One name I
and it’s J E S U S .
Just Jesus.
————
REV. 3:2 Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God.
• Ephesus 5:14
“for the LIGHT makes everything visible. This is why it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
• WAKE UP” (discuss Jonah story!— asleep spiritually in the storm!!!!)
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Jonah
1. went in opposite direction of God
2. Got on wrong boat (paid the fare)
3. FELL “into a deep sleep” ON THE BOAT! ( satan puts us in a deep sleep so we don’t see the spiritual storm we’re in!)
WHILE IN A HUGE STORM
Jonah tossed over board & swallowed by a large fish— going from BAD to WORSE.
• Jonah was ‘AWAKENED’ in the fish (spiritually) & experienced an overwhelming gratitude for God’s rescuing hand
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Jonah’s prayer:
“Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. 2 He said,
“I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me. I called to you from the land of the dead, and Lord, you heard me!
You threw me into the ocean depths, and I sank down to the heart of the sea. The mighty waters engulfed me; I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves.
Then I said, ‘O Lord, you have driven me from your presence. Yet I will look once more toward your holy Temple.’
“I sank beneath the waves, and the waters closed over me. Seaweed wrapped itself around my head.
I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. I was imprisoned in the earth, whose gates lock shut forever. But you, O Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit.
As my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord. And my earnest prayer went out to you in your holy Temple.
Those who worship false gods turn their backs on all God’s mercies.
But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise,
(PRAISE IS A SACRIFICE 🙋 and I will fulfill all my vows. For my salvation comes from the Lord alone.”
Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach.”
🔥 Your worst moment— might actually be Gods rescue mission on your life!
(Ninevah worshipped a FISH GOD!! )
God used the MESS (fish) as his MESSAGE!
Could this suffering you’re in NOT be a satanic attack but a RESCUE MISSION OPERATION
Rev 3:3
1. Go back (REMEMBER) to what you heard and believed AT FIRST ;
2. hold to it firmly(‘GUARD’- a military term).
3. Repent
4. turn to me again.
• The ministry of REMEMBER:
Jer 6:16
“This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘that’s not the path we want!”
• Shepherds staff= hook & shovel
• shovel used to flick dirt in sheep’s face to WAKE THEM UP to where they’ve WANDERED!
• OCEAN— Kids DRIFTING -not realizing they were even floating a mile away!!
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Rev 3:3 cont…
….” If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.”
• Story of our GARAGE getting broken into while WE WERE SLEEPING (lazy closing garage doors)… years later finding things missing!
Luke 12:35-38
“Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast.
Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever he comes, he will reward the servants who are ready.”
(Show the oil lamp— every 15 min!!🙌)
REV 3:4 “Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes...”
• SoilS— sin STAINS on my clothes (my heart/ identity)
• put on DIRTY ROBE (revealing all my sin-stains).
Zechariah 3:1-5
“Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you,Satan!
The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you!
Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”
Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel.
The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.”
Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin,and I will put clean/fine robe on you.”(PUT ON WHITE ROBE!!!)
Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood by.”
REV 3:4 CONT…
“They will walk with me in WHITE, for they are worthy.”
Galatians 5:16-18
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
• “walk with Jesus”— His right hand goes into my right hand (ice skating analogy). while Im walking, God is guiding & I am the APPLE OF HIS EYE while walking with him !!!
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3:5 All who are victorious will BE dressed in white garments (a robe) & I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.
• Jude 1:24 Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.
• The CLEAN ROBE IS MY NEW IDENTITY
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• The CLOAK/ROBE represents Gods healing love because...
Love isn’t BASED on me, but PLACED on me.
• Every day we must wake up INTENTIONALLY allowing God to dress us in His finest clean, dazzling, powerful, miracle-giving CLOAK/ROBE
• (Drop the dirty cloths of shame, unworthiness, etc).
“YOU ARE MINE.” -GOD
• W. H. A. L. E (Jonah)
WHOLE
HEALED
ADOPTED
LOVED
ENOUGH
3:6 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches