A program without the Spirit is an activity that has no life. Dr. Tony Evans describes the difference between being in ministry and just being in motion. If the Holy Spirit is not operating in your life, in your home, in our church, there is no life there, even though there are folk there. This is the alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr.
Tony Evans. Dr. Evans says increasing your Christian commitment isn't a matter of just taking on more activities. It calls for something deeper than that. And we'll find out what it is as we turn to Revelation chapter 3 for today's lesson.
We are studying overcomers as John the Apostle writes the seven churches of Asia. As a template for all the churches. that would come. Today we take a tour. To Sardis, Sardis Bible Fellowship.
Located some fifty miles east of Smyrna. Sardis was the church of what's happening now. It was the in-place to be. It was the hot location in town. For folk who wanted to go to church.
If you wanted to go to church. You went to Sardis Bible Fellowship. 'Cause that place was Smoking. That that place had it going on. In fact, he says in verse 1, You have a name that you are alive.
If we were to ask the folk around town about your church, they would say, oh, they know what they're doing over there, they got it going on over there. Oh, they serious over there. He says, you got a name, meaning you got a reputation.
So here's a church that was not lacking notoriety. It was not lacking for recognition. It was not lacking. For people Having a feeling about it that was positive and wholesome. And good.
The problem comes in verse 1 when he says, But what I say about you is not what folks say about you. What I say about you is not the same as the reputation that you have around the city of Sardis. He says, because when I look at the church, I see a bunch of dead folk walking. He says, but you are Bid.
So that means it's possible to look like you're alive. Dress like you alive. Walk like you alive. Talk like you alive. Carry your Bible like you alive.
Dress Sunday morning like you alive and be. Comatose. He says you are Dead. There is no life working with you.
Now obviously they're physically alive. Oh. They're still going to church. What does he mean that they are dead? We find the explanation in his introduction.
To the pastor of the church, it's not just right. He who has the seven spirits of God. And the seven stars. Remember that the number seven remains Completeness. or fullness or wholeness in the Bible.
So when you read sevens, A seven is a number of completeness. God created seven days. He finished his work on the seventh day. It's God finishing something. When he says the one who holds the seven spirits, he's referring to the completeness of the Holy Spirit.
SARDIS had a program. Sardis had people. Sardis had a preacher.
Sorry, said some kind of music. But what they didn't have was life.
So you can have a church that has no life. And the reason it didn't have life is that the Spirit of God was missing. A program without the Spirit is an activity That has no life. He says, you are dead because the one who holds the seven spirits, namely the fullness of the spirit, which is discussed in Isaiah chapter 11, verses 2 to 5, he discusses the fullness of the spirit and what that sevenfold fullness includes. It is the full presence of the Holy Spirit that brings life.
Therefore, if the Holy Spirit is not operating in your life, in your home, in our church, then that means that there is no life there. even though they're folk there. programming there. He says, you are dead. But see the thing about being dead if everybody's making you think you're alive.
If everybody's complimenting you on how alive you are. Then you don't feel dead. Even though you are dead. Because they making you feel alive. Have you ever lied to somebody to make them feel better?
You know. You know. Oh girl, you look good. Yo That hairstyle, you look good. She talked to her girlfriend.
That's a hot mess over there. You know, you you trying to make them feel good, but It's not reality. It's like when a mother tricks a baby with a pacifier. No, a pacifier is a trick. Baby start mm yeah.
Uh Man, but you're in church and you want to look holy, so, and you don't want to get up and leave.
So I got to get this baby quiet. But I don't have milk right now. I can't feed the baby milk right now.
So I'm going to trick this baby. Because this baby don't know better.
So I'm gonna put this pacify in his or her mouth. to quiet them down.
Now what the baby thinks on the front end is that you're giving the baby food.
So you put the pacifier in the baby's mouth, the baby starts sucking because the baby has expectations. And for a while. The baby is Pacify. Until the baby discovers Mama, you messing with me. Cause that ain't real.
And that's when she disturbs my sermon. and starts making a bunch of noise. Having a reputation. That's not real is a pacifier. Cause it makes you think You all that in a bag of chips.
When that's not reality. Because there's no life. Or as 1 Timothy 3:5 says, you have a form of godliness. You you got a form of godliness. You look in the part Verse two.
Wake up! Wake up. Wake up! He says.
Well, if he's telling you to wake up, you sleep.
So he's not talking about folk who are physically dead, he's talking about they're spiritually dead, they're spiritually asleep. Wake up. You ever had folk in your house that don't want to get up? Any of you ladies married to men who don't want to go to work?
Okay, leave that alone. The kids don't want to go to school. Get up, get up. The reason you're calling them to wake up is that you know there is no progress if they stay asleep. They stay sleep.
If they stay sleep, there is no progress. What was the problem? He tells them in the second line of verse 2. He says, wake up and strengthen the things that remain. which are about to die.
The things that remain. Here's our problem. The problem at Sardis Bible Fellowship with the church and with many of its members, not all, as you'll see, but with many of them, is they have become. Spiritually asleep.
So they got started but wouldn't keep going. The things that remain. They began following Christ. But then they got used to it. They begin serving the Lord.
But then they quit.
So they were not continuing. To build on the faith. They were getting so comfortable being a Christian. That there was no Aggressiveness to complete. What it meant to fully follow Christ.
You see, you can get used to being saved. You get used to being forgiven. When you first get saved, all your sins are forgiven. You're on your way to heaven, and you're excited to be with the Lord, to spend time with the Lord, to read His Word, to pray, to witness for the Lord. But after a while, you can get used to it.
And so you can get sleepy. And I don't want to be Fully committed. I only have one like favorite, favorite snack. And that's Zaps potato chips. Jalapenia.
Halapinion zaps are my snake. I got jalapenos in my desk drawer. I got jalapenos in my house. When we have meetings, they bring jalapenos, potato chips, and set them on it. I love.
Zap's jalapeno chips. That's my snack. But me and Zap recently have been having issues. Me and Zaps, I haven't issues. In fact, Probably this week, I'm going to call them.
Because they got a little customer service number, because I looked on the back of the bag, and they got a customer service number because me and Zaps have issues right now. Let me tell you my issues with zaps. My issue with zaps is that the bag is half full. That's my issue with Zaps. The bag is half full.
But the price is the same. See? They didn't cut back on the chip and cut back on the price. They cut back on the chips and kept the price. But when you first Pick it up.
It's so full of air. That you think is full. Till you open it up, and the air pops out, the chips settle in. And you got a half a bag of chips at full price. Give me a full bag for a full price.
But don't give me a full price for a half Bag. Because that's not what I paid for. I didn't pay for a half bag. Jesus Christ paid full price on the cross. His words on Calvary was, it is finished.
The Greek phrase telerastai means paid in full. He paid a full price, but he didn't pay it for. half a Christian. He didn't pay it for half a commitment. He didn't pay it for half of dedication.
He says, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. I paid a full price for a full commitment. What are you doing giving me half a Christian? He says, give me the things that remain.
Now, I know you go to church, and I know you say grace, and I know you do that, but I. I paid for a little bit more than that. I paid for your eternal destiny in heaven and for you to follow me as a disciple of Christ on earth. That is what I paid for. Give me what I paid for.
He says, that's not what you're doing. You're not plugged into the spirit, and that lack of commitment is keeping the spirit from operating in your midst. Dr. Evans will return in a moment to tell us about three practical steps we can take to start experiencing the life of the Spirit again. But first, we are working our way through Tony's current series, The Jesus Challenge, an important look at what the Lord has to say to the seven churches in the book of Revelation.
and to us. We've assembled a huge package of resources as a way of following up on what we're learning through this series. It includes all eight full-length audio messages to study in depth on your choice of CD, flash drive, or digital download. Along with these, we are also including some helpful companion material. The Living as an Overcomer book, workbook, and Bible study video that includes custom introductions by Tony for each of the study topics.
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Well Doctor Evans is back now with more of today's lesson.
So what is there in your life, my life, and in our church? that is going lacking spiritually. that we need to complete. Because activity without the Spirit is death. When the spiritual is secondary or there, not at all.
He says, for I have not found your deeds, verse 2, to be completed in the sight of my God. You don't finish. You make a commitment to me, but you don't complete it. You don't follow it through. And so he tells him to do three things in verse 3.
He says, Remember what you have received, heard, and keep it and repent. Yeah, but I'm not sure. Remember what? Remember what you have heard. He's referring to the Bible teaching they had gotten from the apostles.
What you had heard. They had learned some things. That they were not Applying. A lot of times we don't need new sermons. We need to do something with old sermons.
Because all we doing is add new information we're going to do nothing with. His point was I want you to remember what you already have learned. And he says, and keep it. In other words, Act on what you know to do. Don't just go to Bible studies to get more information.
Act on what you know to do. Why? Because the Holy Spirit. And the electrical current only flows from the Spirit to you. When there is motion.
Not merely when there's information. You want to keep the Holy Spirit away? Hear the word and do nothing with it. There will be no life because the Spirit responds to the word kept, not just the word heard. Gnomes.
Amen. appreciated, valued. And when I or you or we collectively as a church Don't do that. We just become a church of a reputation. Without a reality.
Because the Spirit is not moving. And then he says, repent. Repent of what? Repent means to turn. Turn from what you're not doing that the word says to do and start doing it.
Because that's the order. You see, people have the order. They will do a little bit of what God says, ask God to bless them, do something. Get mad at God because why isn't he not coming through? And God has said, Because you didn't finish.
What I ask you to do. And my commitment to you is when you finish it. Not when you start it and think you've done a great job. We got people going around, bless me, bless me, bless me, bless me. They're disobeying God.
They don't have any time for God. They don't want to pray. They don't want to get in the word. They don't want to even mention about their association with Him. But they want their blessing.
He says, no, remember what you've heard, act on that, repent for your failure to act on that. Which repentance is good news because that means that you're turning back to him. Yeah, yeah. I know folk know who you are. They can say where your church is.
They know that you got, you know, they see the cars in the parking lot, they know you got jobs. They see what you wear, you doing all right. Say, but you you bunch of zombies. Spiritually. Because there's no life because there's no spirit.
Because the spirit's not comfortable. Because remember the spirit's like a dove. He's real sensitive. That's why the Bible says grieve not The Holy Spirit, because he'll... Fly away real quick.
When he's not comfortable. in the environment.
So He tells them to remember. to obey and to repent. Because if you don't, he says. You don't know the hour that I will come to you. Like a thief.
To let you know how serious this is.
So here's the problem with SARDIS and the problem with so many Christians and Christian churches today. Worldliness.
Okay, let me put it another way. Trying to accommodate the culture. Compromise with the culture rather than commitment to Christ within the culture. We want to be so acceptable for the non-Christian world, we'll compromise our Christian values so they will like us. That's why you don't read about any persecution in Sardis.
You don't read about anybody coming against them in Sardis, because everybody was applauding Sardis, even the pagan un-Christians. Why? Because the Christians were so secularized.
So culturized. Wanted to be so popular. That their commitment was missing.
So they would just do enough. You see. You can do enough Just to make folk think you love Jesus. Because you can throw up God's name here, God's there, you can say grace, and people will feel a little bit, you must be religious. You can do just enough.
to give the impression. That you are a fully visible, verbal follower of Christ. But the problem was That they lost their uniqueness because of their compromise. He says, I don't want you to soar your gum, and I got a few folk in there. I don't know how many members there were at Siddharth's Bible Fellowship, but there was only a few.
Who took their stand in a responsible, loving, caring way, but in a clear way, so that you did not have to question their spiritual value system. You did not have to question their commitment to Christ, because it was absolutely clear that this world was not their first obligation. When you have to push God to the sideline because you don't want to offend anybody, when you have to push Jesus Christ to the sideline because of what they're going to think about you, how they're going to feel about you, whether they're going to like you, whether they're going to accept you, whether they're going to date you, whether they're going to whatever you that it is, if you have to push Jesus to the sideline in any category, you just became worldly. If you gotta hide the fact. Jesus says, if you deny me before men, I will deny you before my Father.
If you confess me before men, I will confess you before my Father. Not I believe in God. That's vague and generic. No, I am a follower of Jesus Christ. This is not time for weak Christians, you know why?
Cause With the way the culture's going now, you can't hide no more. See, there used to be a time when Christians could hide. Because everybody was religious and everybody kind of respected the Christian faith and everybody kind of went to church. But now you can't hide anymore because your kids in public school are going to confront things that you didn't have to confront. There are things coming across social media that you didn't have to used to deal with.
There are viewpoints out there in the public now that would knock you back on your heels.
So now the culture's gonna force you to put up or shut up. He says to the overcomers. You are committed to me. When you strut out in your tuxedo and gown, And you cross over Gold Street and Silver Boulevard, everybody's gonna know, oh, that's Ruth, oh, that's Betty, oh, that's Butch, or that's Ralph, oh, that's one of those overcoming folk, because look at how they are dressed. God is going to recognize in perpetuity those who are committed even through difficulty and even though you didn't get the registration or recognition that others got on earth.
And so he concludes and he says in verse 6, I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. And he gonna advertise you. You're going to be a billboard. Dr. Evans will return with a final question for us to consider in just a moment.
But in the meantime, if you want to be one of those overcomers God recognizes and calls out, The first step is to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That can happen for you today. Just visit tonyevans.org and and click the link near the top of the home page that says Jesus. Tony will explain what it means to become a real Christian. and tell you about some free resources to help you follow up on your decision.
And while you're on the website, check in to getting a copy of Dr. Evans' current series, The Jesus Challenge. As I mentioned earlier, you can get instant digital downloads, followed up with C Ds or a USB flash drive, containing all eight messages in this collection. They're our gift to you when you'll help us keep this program coming your way by making a contribution to Tony's ministry. Along with the messages, you'll also receive the Living as an Overcomer book, workbook, and Bible study video.
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Again, one eight hundred eight hundred three two two two. A lot of people want to take what Jesus offers, but don't want to follow what He says. Tomorrow, Dr. Evans will explain why that strategy doesn't work. Right now, he's back with a few words about the bottom line of today's lesson.
So, here's the question we got to ask in closing. Do you want to be a mortuary? Where dead folk live? Do you want to be a mausoleum? Which is a monument to where dead folk hang out.
Or do you want to be a ministry? that God can use. to bring glory to him, good to you, and benefit to others. Do you want to give him the whole deal?
So that He can work all the good that he has in your life.
