{"id":625,"date":"2017-10-16T05:00:34","date_gmt":"2017-10-16T13:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=625"},"modified":"2017-10-16T05:00:34","modified_gmt":"2017-10-16T13:00:34","slug":"devotion-revelation-31-6-letters-to-the-seven-churches-sardis-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=625","title":{"rendered":"Devotion\u00a0\u00a0 Revelation 3:1-6\u00a0\u00a0 Letters To The Seven Churches, Sardis Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Revelation 3:1-6 <\/strong>–\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cTo the angel\u00a0of the church in Sardis\u00a0write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.\u00a0I know your deeds;\u00a0you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.\u00a02\u00a0Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.3\u00a0Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent.\u00a0But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief,\u00a0and you will not know at what time I will come to you.\u00a0 4\u00a0Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes.\u00a0They will walk with me, dressed in white,\u00a0for they are worthy.\u00a05\u00a0The one who is victorious\u00a0will, like them, be dressed in white.\u00a0I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life,\u00a0but will acknowledge that name before my Father\u00a0and his angels.\u00a06\u00a0Whoever has ears, let them hear\u00a0what the Spirit says to the churches.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo the angel\u00a0of the church in Sardis<\/span>\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Sardis was a city placed where five roads met.\u00a0 It was a natural place for business and Sardis was very wealthy.\u00a0 It was located at the top of steep hill which served as a natural defense.\u00a0 So much so that the people of Sardis became complacent in their defense.\u00a0 They let down their guard and so were defeated as Cyrus the Persian defeated them in 549 BC by coming through what they did not think needed to be defended.\u00a0 It is bad that they allowed themselves to be defeated while they slept, but they allowed it again when Antiochus did it again in 218 BC.\u00a0 This steep precipice that the people of Sardis thought would keep them safe, so they did not defend, was the exact thing that was exploited to bring their defeat\u2026twice.\u00a0 The people of Sardis were wealthy, lived a good life, and seemed to depend on the sharp cliff for their defense.\u00a0 So they were soft.\u00a0 They were not diligent to protect themselves.\u00a0 And so evil attacked and overcame them as they slept. It was when things were good that they became soft.\u00a0 Some troubles and tribulation would have benefited them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars<\/span>.\u201d \u00a0The seven spirits of God is referring to the Holy Spirit. \u00a0Isaiah 11:2<\/strong> \u201cAnd\u00a0the Spirit of the\u00a0Lord\u00a0shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the\u00a0Lord<\/span>.\u201d In Revelation 1:20 <\/strong>it is revealed that the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know your deeds;\u00a0you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0 As previously said to the churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum and Thyatira He now says to the church at Sardis \u201cI know your\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Jesus, at all times, is living with His church.\u00a0 He said that He would always, no matter where we are or what we are going through, always be with us (Hebrews 13:5<\/strong>).\u00a0 Him being with us, even living within us, He knows us better than we know ourselves.\u00a0 He sees the good works we do and He sees the bad things we do.\u00a0 And He sees, He knows, when we have stopped loving, and stopped doing, the works He has given us to do.\u00a0 He tells the people of the church of Sardis that they have been able to fool people so that people think they are spiritually alive and doing well, but He knows their true spiritual condition and that they are dead.\u00a0 Wow!<\/p>\n

\u201cWake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus told them to wake up, to be watchful.\u00a0 That must have struck a raw nerve in them.\u00a0 Their city had twice fallen to an enemy army because they were not watchful and now He is telling them that the reason they are in the spiritual state they are in is because they have not been watchful.\u00a0 Once again, this time with more dire consequences, they have fallen asleep.\u00a0 That is a tear your clothes, throw ashes in the air and smear your face with ashes moment.\u00a0 It is an \u201cOh God how did this happen again?\u00a0 I know better!\u201d moment.\u00a0 It is a horrible thing when the right path is known but not travelled and then trouble befalls one on the wrong path.\u00a0 The cold horror of their condition and the reason for it must have been a cold hard blow.<\/p>\n

Praise the Lord!\u00a0 Jesus come with truth and love.\u00a0 He has told them a truth, now He lovingly tells them \u201cbut wait, all is not lost!\u201d\u00a0 They do have embers that have a little glow to them.\u00a0 If one stirs the final embers to bring back what was once a fire, the life of the fire can be restored.\u00a0 If left unattended, the fire will die and the ashes, and now dull and cold embers, will be thrown away.\u00a0 Jesus says to stir the embers.\u00a0 What do they need to do?\u00a0 They need to consider what they once did in the service of the Lord and what their hearts felt as they were living out love for their Savior.\u00a0 Jesus is telling them to wake up, to be careful and attentive to their walk, that their fire will burn brightly again. He is telling them to get back to work and finish the walk that He has called them to.\u00a0 Yes, He has warned them of something that could most assuredly happen, but like He did with Peter, John, and James, He called them to wake up.\u00a0 Jesus is faithful, we may inexplicably stop walking the walk that He has called us to, but He will always wake us to call us to start walking again.\u00a0 At least He will warn us and lead us.\u00a0 It is up to us to follow. We are not sleeping behind the wheel of a car being steered by the Lord.\u00a0 He gave us the ability to drive the car, He gave us the car, He gave us the fuel, He gave us the step by step directions, He gave us food for the journey, but Family, He does expect us to steer the car.\u00a0 He does expect us to follow His directions.\u00a0 This is clear if we are reading the Word.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent.\u00a0But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief,\u00a0and you will not know at what time I will come to you<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0 The believers at Sardis are called to begin anew what they formerly were doing.\u00a0 They know what to do, just do it.\u00a0 Family, it\u2019s not rocket science, do what we clearly know God has told us to do in His Word.\u00a0 That\u2019s it.\u00a0 God has made it simple for us in Micah 6:8<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cHe has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.\u201d\u00a0 We are called to have faith in Jesus and to live in love (Mark 12:29-31<\/strong>).\u00a0 Jesus spoke a mystery of an unfathomable depth when He said that the all the Word of God hangs on these two commandments of love.\u00a0 For those who have strayed, who are struggling, your return to being a roaring fire is not complicated. \u00a0Begin, and keep doing, the things you formerly did.<\/p>\n

Again, God will not force the people of Sardis to love and follow Him.\u00a0 He is the one who gave mankind a free will.\u00a0 He says that if they do not heed His warning, then He will come like a thief in the night.\u00a0 People who are expecting, waiting and yearning for His return are not surprised, and not caught unprepared.\u00a0 They are ready and joyous.\u00a0 Those who are caught like a thief in the night are those who have never yearned for the appearance of the Lord, or who once looked and then stopped.\u00a0 That stopping is not abrupt, rather it is a slow poisoning, a gradual pulling away, a slowing down to a stop.\u00a0 The people of Sardis are encouraged to just start doing what they know to do and they will not be caught by surprise.\u00a0 The Lord would say the same thing to the church today.\u00a0 In God, who loves us so dearly, there is always hope!\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n

Psalm 150:6<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah 7:7<\/strong>\u00a0– But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah 6:8<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Revelation 3:1-6 –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cTo the angel\u00a0of the church in Sardis\u00a0write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.\u00a0I know your deeds;\u00a0you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.\u00a02\u00a0Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[104,103,93,94,17,711],"class_list":["post-625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-hebrews","tag-isaiah","tag-mark","tag-micah","tag-psalm","tag-revelation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=625"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":626,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625\/revisions\/626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}