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Part 5 of 6
Week 5 of the SEVEN Series
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We begin with the wisdom of King Solomon, who wrote in Proverbs 22:1: "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches and favor is better than silver or gold." A good name is synonymous with your reputation—an intangible identity card built over time through our actions and evaluated by others as they observe our lives.
A good reputation has tremendous worth. In business, in relationships, in the marketplace, and in the Kingdom of God, a good reputation is valuable. It garners trust, brings credibility, and builds relational equity with others.
However, there is one thing deeply damaging to a good reputation: when a good reputation is not undergirded by authenticity. It is like ordering from Amazon based on good reviews, only to find the product is defective. It is like booking an Airbnb that looks perfect in photos but is a disaster in person. It is like pursuing someone on a dating app who seems great online but proves to be someone entirely different.
When reputation is not backed by reality, it becomes a mirage in the desert—something that looks good from a distance but offers no real substance when you draw near.
Jesus addresses the church at Sardis in Revelation 3:1. He speaks as "the one who has the seven spirits of God and the Seven Stars"—reminding them of His authority over all churches and the fullness of the Holy Spirit's power.
But then comes His verdict: "I know your works. You have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead."
Sardis was an ancient city in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), built on a mountain like a fortress stronghold. It was thought to be impregnable, but history tells us it was invaded twice—both times when the soldiers responsible for guarding it were sleeping on their watch. Comfortable and confident in their safety, they neglected their vigilance.
The church at Sardis was like that city. They had an outward reputation for being alive. From the outside, it appeared vibrant. The city thought this was the place to be. But Jesus saw the truth: they were dead on the inside.
This is not obviously dead church. If someone walked in, they would not immediately sense death. A church with a reputation for being alive appears alive. But Jesus sees what is hidden: the absence of the Holy Spirit.
This is a church well put together, well organized, well structured, perfectly manicured—but void of the Spirit. It is popular with people but not popular with Christ. It has a famous name among humans but not in heaven.
This describes churches and believers more dependent on self-reliance than Spirit reliance. We lean on our own programs, our own organization, our own planning—but not on the Holy Spirit for guidance. We treat Him as the Forgotten God, locked away in the basement, where we keep Him contained so He will not disrupt our carefully organized service.
This is programming over presence. We want everything perfect and manicured. God forbid the Holy Spirit wants to take us in a different direction—we will not yield because we do not want Him.
I refuse to lead a dead church. Programming has never healed a sick body. Perfect structure has never brought someone from death to life. But I know women in our church whom doctors said would never have children. The Holy Spirit moved us to pause our program and hold an altar call. My wife laid hands on them, and today those women are rocking babies. Not because of programming—but because of the power of the Holy Spirit.
Many of us leave church with the same tears we came with. We hear a perfect sermon, three perfect songs, a perfect poem, a perfect structure—and we go home unchanged. When was the last time you felt convicted? When was the last time you felt touched by the finger of God? When was the last time you left a gathering transformed?
The church in the Book of Acts was not born from a program. It was born when 120 believers spent ten days in a prayer gathering in the upper room of John Mark's mother's house. When they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they burst into the streets of Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in multiple languages, and 3,000 people were added to the church. The church was born by the power of the Spirit, not by the power of planning.
Yet what we see across America today mirrors ancient Sardis: churches perfectly programmed, perfectly structured, perfectly manicured—with a popular reputation but dead on the inside. People file in and file out unchanged.
I want to be in a church where I can sense and feel the Holy Spirit. I want to be in a church where, during worship, I can feel the power of God. During preaching, I want to feel conviction in my soul. I want to leave touched by the finger of God. I want to shed a tear. I want to feel confronted. I want to be inspired by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit.
I want to come in with a doctor's report and leave healed.
Jesus' charge to Sardis is urgent: "Wake up. Strengthen what remains and is about to die. For I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God."
Wake up. This is the cry of Christ to the church in America. What are we really doing? What are we really trying to accomplish? Are we paying attention to what is happening around us? Are we discerning the time we are living in?
Is it just service in and service out? Sunday in and Sunday out? The return of Christ is closer today than it has ever been. We do not know the hour. Yet we are content with programming and organizational perfection when we do not even know that the Lord is soon to return.
The enemy, culture, and our flesh have lulled us into sleep. We are drowning in apathy, lethargy, and indifference. We have unsafe family members and friends headed to hell, and we do not care. There are people with your last name who are going to hell, and you do not care. If the strength of the church depended on your prayer life, how strong would it be?
Some of us reduced Christianity to just a service, checking off a box. If I went to church on Sunday, God was pleased. Never mind that I cared nothing for the lost. Never mind that I missed the mission of Christ entirely.
God is screaming to His people: Wake up. Wake up, my sons and daughters.
We drag ourselves into gatherings like we are doing God a favor. We come in hoping an entertainer will move us emotionally. Some of us want to be entertained by the worship team. We sit with folded arms, waiting for the preacher to do something for us. Is this Christianity? Is this what the Book of Acts looks like?
We have accepted dead Christianity as normal. We have accepted that this is the way it is supposed to be. But it is not.
Yet Christ offers hope. He says, "Strengthen what remains and is about to die." You can be made alive again.
He gives them—and us—a pathway to revival. "Remember what you have received and heard. Keep it and repent."
Remember what you heard. Remember the gospel. You were once a sinner, separated from God, alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel. But through the power and generosity of Christ via the Holy Spirit, you were made alive. God took your unrighteousness and replaced it with His righteousness. He filled you with His Spirit and made you a son or daughter. Remember how He rescued you from darkness. Remember how He brought you into the light. Remember how He signed your name in the role of Heaven. Remember how He spared you from damnation.
Remember what you received. When God saved you, He did not just give you a sermon. He gave you a piece of Himself.
When God saved me in a bathroom over a toilet seat, He did not give me a sermon. He gave me a piece of Himself. He took a piece of Himself and filled me with that power. He reminded me: there is something inside of me that came from Heaven. I am not an ordinary man. I am a regenerated man. You are not an ordinary woman. You are a regenerated woman. You are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. You are a walking, breathing miracle. You are a walking, breathing house of the power of God.
There is anointing at your fingertips. You can lay hands on the sick and they can recover. Your prayers can shift atmospheres in rooms. Your prayers can take down principalities and powers. From your prayer closet, you can disrupt nations. You have power at your fingertips.
If you believe, lay hands on someone next to you and say, "In the name of Jesus, be healed." Disrupt the atmosphere. Disrupt the room. We are not dead—we are alive.
Let me give you four signs so you know when to run from a dead place—or to pray for it:
When facade replaces fire. When it is all about appearance but not about the Holy Spirit.
When the preference of the people replaces the Passion of Christ. When it is all about what we want, not what Christ wants. We are busy with our mission statement on the wall, but we are missing His mission statement in the Gospels. Jesus told us to go and make disciples. Many of us will arrive in Heaven realizing we missed it the whole time.
When gospel preaching is replaced by people pleasing. When our sermons are only conditioned to not offend anybody because we are worried about you coming back next week. We are not preaching the scriptures. We are not telling the truth because we want to be liked.
When gatherings feel rote and not real. When it is just mechanical, and we do not feel life there.
Jesus closes His letter with a promise: "The one who conquers, the one who fights to last at the end, will be clothed in white garments, and I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life. I will confess his name before my Father and before the angels."
A day is coming when Jesus will open the book. All the names that rejected Him, all the names that were not part of His family—they will not be there. They will be blotted out.
But the names that remained faithful, the names that were chosen, the names that belonged to the Father from the beginning of time—Jesus will take that book and present it to the Father. He will say, "Father, these are those whose names were not blotted out. The ones who walked with Me for real. The ones who made it to the end. The ones who toiled and suffered and labored and gave and prayed. The ones who were misunderstood but did not abandon Me. The ones You chose from the very beginning. They have washed their robes in My blood. Here are the ones You will reward for all eternity. Here are the ones who will reign and rule with Me forever."
From every nation, tribe, and tongue—from Queens, New York to Atlanta, Georgia—they made it. They came up to the altar every week, getting their toes stepped on, yet putting their faith in God. They are the ones who will reign and rule with Christ forever.
The Lord wants you to be alive and not dead. If you are in a dead place, there is only one real pathway back to being alive: stir up a prayer life that sets you on fire again. Access God's word. Be in community with brothers and sisters who are also alive. Worship. Do all the things that put us in His presence.
Father, I pray for every dead person in this room. I pray for every dead church across America that You have ordained but is dying. I pray for all those who are Your sons and daughters who are in a dry and barren place. I pray for those of us who are in the desert.
Father God, I pray You will breathe on this house. I pray You would breathe on churches across this nation. I pray You would breathe upon Your body across this nation. I pray You will cause Your children to come alive in the name of Jesus. Awaken us from our slumber and sleep. Awaken us from apathy and lethargy. Awaken us from our indifference.
Stir up our hearts, oh God. Let us feel Your presence when we are alone. Burn us in our prayer time. Throw down coals of fire upon our homes and our gatherings. I pray for real revival in churches You have ordained. I pray for revival in homes and marriages and hearts. In the name of Jesus, I pray You would make a people come alive.
We want a living faith and not a dead faith. We want to feel the Spirit of the Living God. In these last days, when people are playing around and churches are playing around and we are busy but not truthful, I pray You would look down upon Your body in this nation—every man, woman, and child that belongs to You—and bring about revival in our souls. Let us come alive in this house and in houses all across this nation.
In Christ's name, I pray. Amen.
