Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Christ at the Campfire Misleading Reputation and Dependence on the Holy Spirit

Misleading Reputation.

Like the Protestant reformation, the church at Sardis had a glorious beginning but it soon deteriorated into a works religion. This church of Sardis had established a reputation when it was first founded, but by the time the book of the Revelation was written the church was for all practical purposes dead. The church was surviving by reputation only. There were still good Christians there, and Christ tells them to be watchful and strengthen those things which remain. The working of the Holy Spirit keeps a church alive. When a church dies it is because the Spirit has left.

God tells the church at Sardis that it had a reputation and a name, but it was in fact dead. They were trying to function without the Spirit by reputation only.

Jesus did not birth us spiritually so that we could just repeat vain dead works. We cannot as Christians continue to make excuses for our sins. We must come to a place where we admit that just as we could not be saved by our own labors and by our own action, so we cannot be sanctified by ourselves. We cannot live a sanctified life by our actions, or with accountability partners, or any other way. We need the Holy Spirit alive and functioning in our lives. We must begin to live up to that Spirit of Pentecost we were baptized with. We can only do so with and through the Spirit of God.

The cure.

The cure to a dead church is:
1. Remember the past.
Rev. 2:3. (Galatians 3:1-7) Be mindful of what we were told about God, and how we needed God to be saved.

2. Hold fast to the faith and repent.
Recognize that we are dependant upon God in all things, and repent of the self-dependant life we are leading.

3. Readiness for the future. Come back to the realization of the return of Christ, and our need to depend upon Him. We need to abide in Him, and the only way to do that is to depend upon Him.

1st John 3:1-3
2nd Peter 3;1-12
1st Peter 4:1-10
Titus 2:9-14

Another way of saying this is with three "A" words.

Admit. Admit that you need God's Spirit in your life, that you have failed miserably to come out of the world and that you have sin in your life.

Ask. Ask for the presence and power of His Spirit.
Eph. 6

Attempt Again.
Like a child learning to walk, we must get up and try again and again, for we will fail time after time. We have to try again and again and not quit.

Children see their parents walking and seeing that example keep on trying again and again until they succeed. They often fall, sometimes skinning their knees and elbows. They even occasionally bloody their nosees, but they keep trying.

There are few adult examples for us to walk in a sanctified life. Often we try for a while, but the first time we fail and bloody our nose, spiritually speaking, we give up and say we can't do it, but we must try again. We can't do it, it's true, not by ourselves or in our own efforts. We have to learn to rely upon the Lord in our daily walk. We don't have many role models around us, but Paul is a good one. We have to pick ourselves up and try again.

Admit, Ask and Attempt Again, depending on the Lord and not our own actions.

This goes right along with 2nd Chronicles 7:14:
"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

Revival must always start in the house of God, and to do that we, the people of God, must sanctify our hearts. We can't do that ourselves, but He will, if we admit, ask, and attempt again.

Amen!

1Peter 4:17

"For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?"

Nice post Bro Sanlen. Reminds me of the church I grew up in. My mom still goes there and they just passed, over the objections of the older members, a 400K+ building project in a stagnant church. All it represents is debt burden to the membership. Some think if they put on a new facade and rearrange the chairs it may attract new folks. I haven't been there for a while but the last I was, the only Spirit there was the one we brought. Sad.

Sanlen, Overall a good bunch of thoughts and scriptures..
I liked this particular part:
"We need the Holy Spirit alive and functioning in our lives. We must begin to live up to that Spirit of Pentecost we were baptized with. We can only do so with and through the Spirit of God."

amen..

so what will we or you do differently, and what will we expect to happen when we surrender to His Holy Spirit after ernest prayer?
Walk in the Spirit?Continue to do the works that Jesus did in deliverence, healing and witnessing to the true power of God?
Starting with a New Life in His image where we are no longer in bondage to the old man, world flesh or satan?
what a concept!!!!!!!!

How will our lives be?.....It is ALL of faith, AFTER THE RENEWED MIND AND THE WILLINGNESS TO BE BAPTIZED)IMMERSED) in first Christ death, and THEN His Life..Jim

Jim,
I suppose to answer your question we would have to ponder what God means by "sanctified". It is indeed a marvelous concept!

Amen brother..