Revelation: A Message to Sardis

Good morning.

For anyone who doesn't know me, my name is Eric Scott.

I'm the youth director here at Watermark Church.

As most of you know, I got engaged recently.

And contrary to any crazy rumors you may have heard,

she's not actually working at the church.

The last few weeks, we've been looking at the letters

to the churches in Revelation.

There's seven letters to seven different churches.

Each of them has a unique set of circumstances,

unique issues and trials that it is facing,

and unique ways that it is responding to these trials.

And today we're looking, as you just heard, at the church in Sardis.

And what we're going to see today is that although the church at Sardis

had a reputation of being alive, of being strong,

actually it was dead.

And we need to examine ourselves to see whether the same is true of us.

So the first thing I want us to see about this church

is that appearances aren't everything.

Appearances aren't everything.

Pretty much every other church that we've looked at so far

has some really serious issues going on within the church,

but God finds something positive to say about each of them.

We looked at the church at Ephesus,

and they had lost their first love of God,

but they endured through trials,

and they wouldn't stand up, or they wouldn't tolerate false teachers.

The church at Pergamum,

they tolerated false teachers,

and they had sexual immorality going on in the church,

but they held fast their confession of Jesus' name,

even to the point of death.

Last week we looked at the church in Thyatira,

and there was a false teacher they allowed into the church

that led the church into sexual immorality.

And there were major issues going on there,

and they were eating food sacrificed to idols,

but God praises them for their love,

for their faith,

for their service,

and for their endurance.

Each of these churches had major serious issues going on,

but each of these churches had something going for them

that God could look at and say,

you're doing this well.

See this area where you're doing well?

Keep pushing on in that area.

And today we come to a church

where if you were to look at them from the outside,

you would think this church has it going on.

This church is alive.

This church has none of these big issues

that the other churches have,

and yet they're dead.

You know, God comes,

and he talks to the church at Sardis in this letter.

He doesn't complain about sexual immorality.

He doesn't complain about false teachers.

He doesn't complain about eating food sacrificed to idols.

You know, they have this reputation of being alive.

If they were around today,

their pastor would be invited

to all of the big conferences

because he is the expert

on how to build a healthy, lively church.

If he wrote this book called

Building an Alive Church,

Building the Living Church,

maybe that could be the title,

Building the Living Church.

You know, seminary students would go out

and they would buy it

and they would read it

and they would discuss it with their friends

because this guy is the expert.

His church has got it going on.

They've got this reputation

as being a church that is alive,

and yet despite all their appearances,

the church is dead.

Even though everything outside looks great,

there's death inside.

It's like Jesus used the analogy one time about tombs.

He said, you know, you're whitewashed tombs.

You're painted and fresh and pretty on the outside,

and inside you're full of dead men's bones.

And that's the picture that we get

when we look at this church in Sardis.

Everyone else is deceived

concerning their spiritual health.

But the scarier thing

is that most likely they themselves

are deceived concerning their spiritual health.

Nowhere in this letter to the church at Sardis

does Jesus come and say,

hey, I can't believe you guys are lying to everyone

about what's really going on in your church.

He doesn't rebuke them

for trying to trick other churches

into thinking everything's great with them

when it's not.

Every indication in this letter

would lead us to believe

that they themselves

believe the same things about themselves

that everyone else believed.

They looked at the church

and they said, there's no false teachers here.

There's no sexual immorality here.

There's no food offered to idols

that's being eaten by the people here.

We've got it together.

And he says, there's a deeper issue.

There's a bigger issue

that you've missed out on.

And because you're focusing

on the appearances

and on the outside

and on your behavior,

you think you're alive.

You think you have it all together

when in reality,

you're dead.

You're a whitewashed tomb.

You're pretty on the outside,

but you're dead on the inside.

You know, appearances

don't tell us

of true health.

It's really easy

to look at ourselves

or at our churches

and assume that

because certain things are going on,

they are healthy.

Right?

Like, think about it.

With our churches,

there are certain things

that if we look at a church,

we think that church is healthy.

Like, numbers.

I can't tell you

how many times

I've had a conversation

with someone

where I tell them,

oh, I'm working at Watermark.

And they're like,

oh, how old is Watermark now?

And I say, oh, you know,

we're four years old.

And they say,

and how big are you guys now?

And I tell them,

and they say,

oh, that's great.

God's doing great things there.

No question about, like,

what are you guys

teaching about Jesus?

No question about,

do you guys love

the lost in your community?

No question about anything

other than,

how big are you?

Awesome.

And we have this philosophy

that, you know,

living things grow.

If it's healthy,

it's going to grow,

which in some sense

may be true.

But as Tobin reminded me once,

weeds grow.

And oftentimes faster

than the plants

that you actually want

in your garden.

Other things we look at,

buildings.

I was at a church

in the States one time.

this church had spent

tens of millions

of U.S. dollars

building a new auditorium

for them to hold

their Sunday services in.

And this money

that they had spent,

they didn't have.

They had gone into

massive debt

that the church

was having lots

of trouble paying off.

The gospel wasn't being

preached there faithfully.

The church had sacrificed

their ability

to reach out

to the community

because they were crippled

by the debt

that they had

from this new auditorium.

and one day

this guest preacher

comes in,

a very well-respected guy.

He gets up

to start preaching

and he opens the sermon

by saying,

you know,

I can tell just by

looking at this building

that God is doing

great things here.

He looked at

the external appearances.

He looked at

the facilities

and judged

how God was working

at the church

based on that

and had a totally

wrong judgment

about what was happening

because he was looking

at the wrong thing.

Programs,

we think the more

that's going on

at the church,

the healthier that church is,

the better that church is.

The music,

does the music

put me in the right mood

to worship,

to connect with God?

We look at all

these different things

to determine

whether a church

is healthy or not,

but are they

the right things?

And then personally,

we look at ourselves

and we try and figure out

how am I doing

in my walk with God?

Maybe we look at

church attendance.

You know,

I've been at church

every week

for the last month.

I'm doing great.

Or church involvement.

You know,

they wouldn't have asked me

to sing in the choir

if I wasn't doing okay

in my relationship

with God.

It's scary to me

the times in my life

that I've like known

that there are issues

in my relationship

with God

that I need to deal with.

And I brush them off

because I'm like,

you know,

they asked me to preach

this week

and they wouldn't ask me

to preach

if I was really

that messed up, right?

If we're looking

at our service,

we're looking

at the wrong place.

We're looking

at appearances.

We're looking at

what other people

think about us,

about our reputation,

rather than this primary,

most important thing.

Maybe we look at

obedience to God's commands.

You know,

I'm not sleeping

with my girlfriend,

so I must have

something good

going for me with God.

I'm not robbing the banks.

My relationship

with God must be okay.

Or the opinions

of others.

We know something's

messed up

in our relationship

with God,

but someone comes up

to us and they say,

you know,

you're a really

strong Christian

and you encourage

and inspire me

to follow Christ more.

And we think,

eh,

I can't be doing

that bad, right?

It's scary to me

the number of times

that's happened

with me

where I know

something is messed up

in my heart

and someone comes up

and they're like,

you know,

you're a really

strong Christian.

You encourage me.

You inspire me

to follow God more.

And I think to myself,

if they say that about me,

I can't really be

that messed up, right?

The problem is,

while all of these

things are good,

while numbers in a church,

it's great to have

a big church.

Or great to have

good facilities

in your church.

Great to have programs.

Great to go to church.

I'm not saying

don't go to church.

It's great to be involved

when you're at church.

But none of these things

are the primary thing

that indicates

spiritual health

in a church

or in us

as individuals.

There's something

bigger.

There's something

more important.

And that's Christ.

We need to look

at Jesus

and our relationship

with him

to determine

spiritual health

for us as individuals

and as churches.

If a church

has lots of numbers

and has great facilities

and has dynamic

speakers

but doesn't teach

about Jesus,

it's dead.

If we're going

to church

every week

and we're involved

in church

and we're singing

in the choir

and we're playing

in the band,

we're teaching

Sunday school

but we aren't

loving Jesus,

we're dead.

Even if we're

following all the rules,

even if we're doing

everything right,

even if we're putting

our money in the offering

every week,

if we miss out

on a relationship

with Jesus,

if we miss out

on the gospel,

the fact that we're

sinners that have

separated ourselves

from God,

that we desperately

need Jesus

to forgive us,

to restore us

to that relationship

with God,

we can have

everything right

on the outside.

All our appearances

can be great

and in reality

we're nothing more

than a tomb,

painted white

so it looks nice,

full of dead men's

bones inside.

Appearances

aren't everything.

The second thing

I want us to see

from this church

at Sardis

is that assumptions

are deadly.

Assumptions

are deadly.

Now there's

not actually a lot

that we know

about this church

at Sardis

so a lot of

what I'm going to say

today is sort of

somewhat speculation

based off

pretty,

I think,

good guesses

based on what we see

here.

But we do know

a little bit

about the city

of Sardis

and one thing

that we know

about the city

of Sardis

is that it was

a very strategic

military city.

It was built

up on top

of a hill

and sort of

the city

went down

into the valley

but on top

of this hill

they had a fortress

that no attacking

army could get into.

They had the high ground,

they had a strong

building on top

of it

and to make it

easier to defend

one side

of this hill

was a cliff

that was so steep

that no one

could climb up it

which meant

that even when

they were under attack

they had the high ground,

they had this great

building to keep

them safe

and they only

had to defend

against two or three sides

not in every direction

at once.

It was a very

strategic military city

but the problem

is twice,

not once in their history

but twice in their history

about 200 years

or so apart

from each other

their strongest point

became their weakest point

on two different occasions.

You'd think they would have

learned after the first time

but they didn't.

They were under attack

the first time

by the Persians

the second time

by the Greeks.

They were under attack

and the attacking army

brought all their forces

up against the front gate

of the fortress

and started attacking

and attacking

and attacking

and the people

that were in the city

at the time

defended against

this front gate

and while they were

being attacked

at the front gate

a couple of attackers

climbed up

this unclimbable cliff

under the cover

of darkness

snuck through the fortress

opened up the front gate

from the inside

and let their troops in

and the first time

it happens

it's understandable

you think no one

can climb the cliff

but 200 years later

the exact same thing

happened.

You think that they

would have learned

just leave one guy

back there to look

and make sure

they're not climbing

up the cliff.

They didn't learn

their lesson.

This point

that they thought

was their strongest point

their best wall

of defense

this cliff

that no one

can get up

turned out to be

their biggest weakness

because they left it

completely undefended

and they allowed

the attackers

to get in

through their backs

without them noticing

because they were

so distracted

by the fighting

up front.

And I think

there's a really

good reason

to believe

that the church

at Sardis

was going through

a similar experience

to those soldiers.

Looking at the other

letters that we've

been reading

there's good reason

to believe

that there were

attacks and temptations

coming from every side.

False teachers

sexual immorality

other stuff

from the world

just coming at them

saying come

follow

join in.

And like I said

there's nothing

in this letter

indicating that

they were doing

any of that stuff.

They were probably

doing a good job

fighting against

the false teachers

at least somewhat.

They were probably

doing a good job

fighting against

sexual immorality.

But the problem

is they put

their primary focus

on these things

rather than on

maintaining a

relationship with Christ.

And as they did

this well

as they said

hey we're sexually

pure

yes

they began

to find their

identity

in these

external behaviors

rather than

in their

relationship

with Christ.

Satan kept

them distracted

by these

things that

seemed to be

big issues

at the front gates

and subtly

crept in the back

and crumbled

their relationship

with Christ

because they

were so distracted

by these

other issues.

And because of that

they were able

to maintain

this appearance

of being alive

when in reality

the life

was slowly

falling

and fading

out of the church.

And this is a

big issue

in the church

even today.

You know

back in the

late 1900s

there was a

group of

pastors

and Christian

leaders in

America

who looked

around at

the moral

scene in

America

and said

this is a

mess.

We need to

stand up

for proper

morals.

And they

got together

and they

formed some

groups.

You've

probably heard

of them

things like

the moral

majority

the religious

right.

And they

said we

need to

stand up

for what's

right.

They said

we need to

fight against

things like

abortion or

sexual promiscuity

that's coming

up all across

our nation.

And while I'm

all about

standing up

for morality

the problem

with this

group is

that as

they did

this a

lot of

times they

would implicitly

spread the

message that

if you do

these things

that is what

makes you a

Christian.

You are a

Christian not

because you

love Jesus

but because

you rally

against the

doctors who

perform abortions.

You are a

Christian not

because you

love Jesus

but because

you vote

for the

right

presidential

candidate.

And these

leaders

implicitly

spread the

message that

Christianity is

more about

what you

do than

it is about

loving Jesus.

It's more

about what

you do than

about who

you are.

And it's

led to

my generation

being brought

up believing

that Christianity

is about

our actions

and what we

do and

who we

hate and

not about

loving Jesus.

And now

don't get me

wrong I'm not

saying we

shouldn't stand

for morality

but look at

the fruits that

have come from

this.

There are in

the states

today there

are so many

Christians who

are looking to

prominent Mormon

leaders for

spiritual and

moral leadership

because these

guys stand for

the same morals

that Christians

stand for.

When fundamentally

they believe

different things

about the

identity of

who God

is and we

shouldn't be

looking to

them for

spiritual

leadership.

And now I

know that's

one extreme of

the pendulum and

there's another

extreme of the

pendulum maybe

that would say

forget about

morals it's just

about a

relationship with

Christ so we

can do whatever

we want.

God's going to

forgive us

anyway so let's

go sleep around.

Let's go do what

we want and not

worry about the

consequences and

I'm absolutely not

advocating that.

The Bible says

that God has a

moral code that

he expects us to

follow.

But there's a

third way that

Christianity offers

us.

Not by defining

ourselves by our

morality and

clinging to

Christ.

And it says that

if we do that

our behavior will

change.

We will become

more like him.

But that's a

secondary thing.

It's something that

happens in response

to who we

already are.

It's not what

makes us a

Christian.

It's what happens

in our lives

because of the

fact that we're

already Christians.

And so just like

the church at

Sardis the church

today is so

susceptible to

these attacks.

To seeing a

big issue on the

horizon and

focusing on that

and losing our

sight of Christ

in the process.

And when we

see ourselves

fighting against

these big issues

well and we

think we're doing

great we have

this assumption

that we as a

church are alive

and strong when

the foundation that

the church is built

on has crumbled

from our lives.

The assumption

is deadly.

The third thing I

want us to see

about this church

at Sardis is

that current

circumstances don't

seal our fate.

Current

circumstances don't

seal our fate.

You know Christ

comes to this

church and he

says you guys

have a great

reputation.

Everyone thinks

you got it going

on.

Everyone thinks

you're great.

Everyone thinks

you're the church

to look at and

you're not.

You're dead.

But I'm not

giving up on you.

I'm not

abandoning you

and saying it's

over.

No he gives

him a challenge.

He says wake

up strengthen

what remains and

is about to die

for I have not

found your works

complete in the

sight of my God.

Remember then

what you received

and heard keep

it and repent.

He says I'm

giving you another

chance.

You've messed

up a lot.

but I forgive.

I'm the God

who forgives.

I'm the God

who gives

second and

third and

fourth and

fifth chances.

I'm giving you

another one.

Wake up.

Yeah a lot of

you are dead

but it's not

too late.

Judgment

hasn't come

yet.

It may soon

but it hasn't

yet.

And I

think if we

here today

feel that

as we listen

to this that

our lives sort

of reflect this

church at Sardis

that we have

everything going

on good on

the outside

but on the

inside this

relationship with

Christ that's

fundamental has

sort of crumbled.

God's telling

us it's not

too late for

you.

Wake up.

Repent.

You know I

had a startling

reminder this

week of how

short life can

be.

One of my

friends, he's

younger than I

am, had a

heart attack, a

very serious

one.

He survived

this reminder

that at any

moment none

of us knows

when our time

is going to

come.

This guy was

in his early

20s, heart

attack.

None of us

knows when

our time is

and God's

calling us to

wake up right

now.

So I have

some questions

that I want

us to think

about today.

The first

one, if

God were

writing one

of these

letters to

you, like

he's writing

to the seven

churches, what

would he say

in it?

What would

he list off

as your

strengths?

What would

he list off

as your

weaknesses?

What would

he list off as

your weaknesses?

Would the

overall mood

of the letter

be a positive

thing?

Like, good

job, you're

holding fast

to Christ, you're

standing up for

me?

Or would it

be something

like the

church at

Sardis?

You know,

everyone else

thinks that

you've got it

going on, but

you don't.

Or would it

just be, you

don't even

pretend.

Everyone knows

that you're not

following me.

And I want to

be careful with

this because I

know that we

live in this

culture where

we're perfectionist

and we hold

ourselves to

this super

high standard

that if I

get 99% on

the exam and

miss one

question, then

it's basically

the same as

failing.

And I don't

want us to

judge ourselves

super harshly,

but at the

same time, I

also know that

we have this

tendency to

justify ourselves,

to approve of

actions in

ourselves that

we would never

approve of in

others, to

overlook our

faults, to

overlook our

failures and

our weaknesses

because we

want ourselves

to be better.

And so my

challenge is,

think honestly

about it.

Where is our

hope?

We were saying

earlier, my hope

is built on

nothing less than

Jesus' blood and

righteousness.

Is that actually

where our hope

is?

Or is our hope

built on our

morality?

Is our hope

built on our

church attendance?

Is our hope

built on our

reputation, whether

we deserve that

reputation or

not?

My second

question for us

today is, where

is our battle?

You know, the

city of Sardis,

they had fights,

they had lots of

battles because it

was such a

strategic city.

And like we

saw, their huge

weakness that

happened to them

twice was that

the place they

thought they were

the strongest was

actually the place

where they were

the weakest.

The place they

thought they didn't

need to defend was

the place where the

enemies were able

to get in.

And the Bible

tells us that for

each of us, our

lives are a battle.

That every day

there's a war going

on for our souls

and the souls of

everyone around us

where God is

saying, hey, come

follow me.

And Satan is

trying to distract

us and show us

why we don't need

God and convince

us that God's not

really as good as

he says he is.

There's a battle.

And Satan loves

to distract us

from this battle.

One of his

primary tactics is

making us so

comfortable we

forget there is a

battle.

But where is

our battle?

Have we forgotten

that we're in a

battle?

If so, we're

already losing.

But if we know

we're in a battle,

are we focusing

on the right

enemies?

You know, this

church at Sardis,

they were probably

fighting very

vigilantly to

stand up for

their morality,

to stand up for

what they saw as

right.

They were fighting

so hard, but

all their focus,

all their attention,

all their energy

was on the wrong

part of the battle.

they left a

deadly weakness

that killed

them.

And in our

lives, yes, we

struggle against a

lot of things.

There's temptation

all around us

every day.

Temptation to

conform to what

our boss wants

rather than what

Christ wants.

temptation to

sort of blend in

and fit in with

the crowd and

not stand up for

the fact that we

actually believe in

Jesus.

temptation sexually

everywhere in our

culture.

All sorts of

temptations.

And it's good to

fight against these

things.

But if we fight

against them

exclusively and

lose sight of the

primary battle,

which is the

battle for us to

hold on to

Christ,

then no matter

how hard we

fight, no matter

how well we

fight, we're

going to lose

because we're

fighting primarily

against the

wrong enemy.

You know, there

was a time in my

life when I was

relatively new in

Hong Kong.

I struggled a lot

with loneliness

during this time.

I was settling in

a new city, and I

just didn't know how

to cope with the

loneliness.

And there was

definitely this

spiritual battle

going on.

And in my

youth and

immaturity, I

didn't know the

proper response to

it.

And I could see

that there were

spiritual elements to

it, but I

couldn't see the

full picture.

And I began to

focus primarily on

this problem of

loneliness and

fighting against it

rather than

primarily on

holding on to

Christ and

clinging to him.

And so what I

would do is

whenever I felt

this loneliness,

I would find

ways to cope

with it.

I would watch

TV or a movie

because that would

make the loneliness

go away until the

end of the episode.

I would hang out

with friends because

when I was around

people, I wasn't

lonely.

I would read a

book or play

guitar or focus

really hard on my

work.

What I found was

that each of these

things that I would

do,

did get me

through the day.

They'd numb the

pain long enough

for me to go to

bed that night and

wake up the next

morning.

The problem was,

as I continued to

focus exclusively on

this feeling of

loneliness rather

than focusing on

Christ, I fought

and fought and

fought and inside

me, the life was

crumbling apart.

And I knew it.

people would come

up to me and

they'd see that I

had this great

reputation because

I'm working in the

church.

I'm impacting

people's lives and

things must be great

for me.

And I knew I'm a

fake.

I remember one time

someone was praying

for me during this

time.

They were like,

Eric, as I pray,

I just see this

picture.

I don't have any

idea what it means,

but I see this

castle.

And it's big and

it's beautiful and

it has these huge

like turrets or

something on top of

it.

And it's nice and

painted fresh on the

outside and it looks

so strong.

But then inside, it's

just crumbling apart.

There's no one there.

Everything inside it is

dead.

And I knew that that

was a description of

my life at that

moment.

There's this beautiful

castle.

Anyone who looked at

it from the outside

said, it's great.

Because I was

focusing on the

wrong battle.

Because I was

focusing on this

battle of the way

that I felt rather

than on focusing on

knowing Christ and

loving him.

I kept up all the

external appearances.

I kept up the great

reputation when I was

dead.

And thankfully, God

has brought people

into my life who

have called me out

on that and helped

me work through that

and helped point me

back to Christ.

But I know that this

tendency is so common

in the church today.

We see a problem, we

know that it's wrong.

And yet we focus on

that problem rather

than on Christ.

And as we focus on

that problem, it draws

us further and further

from Christ.

And while we do a

great job defeating

that problem, the

life crumbles because

we lose hold of

Christ.

I mean, think about

it.

How many guys groups

are out there in

churches around the

world focused on

fighting against porn?

And what's the

approach?

Don't do porn.

Don't do porn.

Don't do porn.

And as you're

focusing on this, your

focus is always on

porn.

It's a focus on don't

do it, but it's still

a focus on porn.

And you're never

focusing on Christ.

It's rampant in the

church.

We focus on our

problems rather than

on Christ, just like

the church at Sardis.

We're able to have

great behavior, great

reputations on the

outside.

And the life is

crumbling inside.

But there's hope.

Just like the church

in Sardis, there's

hope for us.

Jesus didn't give up

on them.

Jesus isn't giving up

on us.

He tells them, wake

up.

And he tells us, wake

up.

He tells them, you

haven't been doing a

good job.

But it's not over.

There's still time.

There's still a chance.

And if you turn to me,

if you trust in me,

there's still a reward

waiting for you.

He says, you still

have a few names in

Sardis, people who

have not soiled their

garments, and they

will walk with me in

white, for they are

worthy.

This white garments,

this white clothing,

it's a picture of

purity and holiness

and victory.

And Jesus promises

that to those who

will walk with him,

not just in

appearance, but in

truth and reality.

He continues on.

He says, the one who

conquers will be

clothed thus in

white garments.

And I will never

blot his name out of

the book of life.

This word for

conquer that he uses

here, it means to

win in the face of

obstacles, to be the

victor, to conquer

or overcome.

So this is not going

to be easy.

But it's possible.

It's going to be a

battle.

You're going to have

to fight.

But when your

strength comes from

me, you have the

power to win.

And when you look

to me, when you

trust in me, he says,

I will give you the

strength to overcome,

to be a conqueror.

I will never blot your

name out of the book

of life.

We'll be welcomed

into God's kingdom

if we hold on to

Christ, if we hold

fast to him.

He continues, I

will confess his

name before my

father and before

his angels.

Jesus says, look,

if you do these

things, if you hold

on to me, not just

appearing to follow

me, but truly

trusting in me,

truly being

desperate for me,

I won't be ashamed

to be called your

God.

When the day comes

when you're at

judgment and you're

standing before the

father, I will be

standing there next

to you.

I'll say, Father,

this one's with me.

Let him in.

Father, I love this

one.

I died for him,

for her,

so that you can

accept them.

There is hope.

There is a promise.

God's love.

It requires that we

wake up.

We can't rest on our

appearances.

We can't rest on our

assumptions.

We can't rest on our

reputations.

We can't rest on our

obedience.

We have to rest in

Christ, in Christ

alone.

I don't know what it

means for everyone in

here to wake up today.

Maybe for some of us,

we've never trusted in

Christ before.

And waking up means for

the first time ever

acknowledging our need

for him.

Acknowledging that we are

messed up, that we need

him to forgive us and

save us and give us this

new relationship with God.

Maybe for some of us,

you're like me, where you

have this issue in your

life and you're fighting

against it, but you

realize, I'm fighting

against and against and

against this issue, but

never fighting to hold on

to Christ.

And waking up means

turning and holding on

to Christ.

Maybe some of us in

here, we're doing great

at all these things.

We're holding on to

Christ.

And he's calling us to

strengthen what remains,

to turn to the person

next to us and help them

do that in their life

too.

Regardless of where you

are, Jesus is calling

us to wake up,

strengthen what remains,

turn to him, look to

him, rest in him, find

our identity in him, in

him alone.

Let's pray.

Jesus, we thank you for

your love.

We thank you that you

are the God who forgives,

who gives second chances

and third chances and

fourth chances, who hasn't

given up on us, but is

giving us the chance

even today to wake up,

to repent, to come

back, even if we've

wandered far away.

We pray that we would

see you, we would know

you, we would trust you

and follow you, that we

wouldn't just have an

appearance of being alive,

but that we would truly be

alive.

and that one day we'd be

able to walk with you in

these white garments, that

our names would not be

blotted out of the book

of life.

And that at that day, when

we stand before the

Father, that you'll be

standing there beside us,

saying that we are yours

and you are ours.

In Jesus' name, amen.

And I saw CO250.

Can you ask someone to

raise your hand in both

girls' layout and

Doug Smith?

Yes.

You may be near

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