Friday, November 28,
2014, 6:45 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song, “Living Water.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Revelation 3:1-6 (ESV).
“And
to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven
spirits of God and the seven stars.
“‘I
know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake
up, and 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. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief,
and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you have still
a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will
walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be
clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book
of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who
has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Your Reputation
In the church here in America, and perhaps in other
locations throughout the world, the church has a reputation of being spiritually
alive, but in many cases they are not, but they are dead. They are still the
church, so they are not dead in the sense of being condemned to hell, but
rather they lack the life of the Spirit of God in their midst. So, why is this?
I believe that much of the Body of Christ, which is
comprised of true followers of Christ, has slowly and gradually moved away from
God’s original design for his church, and they have, instead, turned to
following after human design for what the church should look like and act like:
They have moved away from walking in the Spirit to walking according to the
flesh; away from true worship of God to forms of worship which often have
nothing to do with God at all. They have moved away from awe, honor, respect
and reverence for God to playing games, entertaining and making jokes about
what should be taken very seriously. They have moved away from being followers
of God to being followers of man; away from the teachings of scripture to the
teachings of humans; and away from the authority of God to human authority. God
could be totally missing, and they probably wouldn’t even notice.
The sad reality of this all is that today’s modern church
here in America is only a shell of what God intends and desires for her to be. She
looks good on the outside, but inside she is filled up with the flesh, and she
is very worldly. In fact, she has invited worldliness into the church because
she wants to attract the world to her meetings in order to grow her “churches.”
She has also opened the door wide to invite in false teachers (wolves in sheep’s
clothing) – cunning, crafty, poisonous and predatory creatures who spin their
(spider’s) webs in order to catch their unsuspecting prey in their webs of
trickery and deceit. These poisonous and predatory leaders of the people twist
scripture and dilute the gospel to make it more appealing and pleasing to human
flesh – non-judgmental, and with no requirement at all for the follower to die
with Christ to their old life of living for sin and self. So, they give out a
false hope of salvation and a false hope of eternity with God in heaven.
As well, her true loyalties and devotion fall not with God,
but with humans and with human institutions. And, she tries to lead others to
follow in her footsteps into the same kind of lighthearted, casual and often
disrespectful to God kind of worship and service to their Lord. As well, God’s
authority is often treated with contempt and dishonor, while human authority is
often given greater honor.
The presence of God is not required at all, in fact, for the
worship services to even begin in many of these churches. Thus, they do not truly
meet in the name of Jesus, because he is not central to and involved (engaged)
in most of what they do, beginning with their corporate times of worship and
praise to the teaching and preaching, and to the times of fellowship, too. As
well, the bulk of their meetings is not according to God’s will and purpose,
but is according to the will and purpose of human beings. If Jesus himself were
to walk into their meetings, they probably would not even recognize him and
would treat him no differently than they treat anyone else, or worse. In fact,
he would probably be asked to leave most of these churches, because he would
not be a “good fit” with their target audience, goals and visions, and they
would probably suggest he go someplace else.
A Few
This picture of much of today’s modern church here in
America is kind of depressing, yet not all is bleak. I do believe revival is
going to come to America, but that it will come through tribulation of some
kind, and that the unsuspecting church will be caught off guard by it. As well,
I do believe there are many Christians in this country who have not soiled
their garments with the ways of the flesh and the ways of this sinful world,
but they have remained faithful to God, committed to obedience, surrendered to
his will for their lives, and that they are truly walking according to the
Spirit, and are no longer living to gratify the desires of their sinful flesh.
They are not perfect people, mind you, but their lifestyles
reflect ones who love the Lord Jesus and who are fully devoted to following him
wherever he leads them, and to doing whatever he has called them to do, even in
the face of much worldly opposition, and even in the midst of strong opposing
forces from within the worldly church with its venomous and predatory leaders
who are full of trickery, deceit and hypocrisy.
These who are faithful to the Lord Jesus will walk with him
in white (in his righteousness and holiness), for they are worthy. This means
that we have died with Christ to our lives of living for sin and self, we have
been transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God, and we are daily
putting off the deeds of the flesh and are putting on Christ and his holiness.
We do not, however, do this in our own strength, but only in the power and working
of the Spirit within us (See: Ro. 6-8; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Pet. 2:24-25; Tit.
2:11-14 & 1 Jn. 1-5).
Wake Up!
So, God is calling out to this modern church of today, which
has made MUCH PROVISION for the flesh, in order to gratify sinful desires (cf.
Ro. 13:11-14), and he is telling her to WAKE UP! She needs to strengthen what
remains and is about to die, i.e. she is not completely dead, yet she is only a
little bit alive. The way in which she will be able to wake up is that she
needs to remember the truth from God she has received and heard. She needs to
keep (obey) it, and she needs to turn from her idolatry, spiritual adultery and
worldliness and begin to walk in the ways of God, according to the Spirit, and
not according to the flesh. She needs to take God seriously, and honor and
respect and reverence him for the holy God that he is. In other words, the
modern church of today which is caught in the spider’s web of deceit, and is
following after the flesh instead of after the Spirit, needs to be revived.
If the church does not wake up, Jesus Christ will come like
a thief, and she will not know what hour he will come against her in judgment –
in divine discipline and correction in order to bring her back to him so that
he can restore her. So, don’t wait! If you are living a worldly lifestyle, and
you are immersed in the culture of today, and you are not giving God the honor
and respect he deserves, but you are going your own way and doing your own
thing, instead, then repent of your sin today and allow him to revive your
heart. If you have forgotten the Living Water which springs up like a fountain
within those who believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, and you have chased after
what can never satisfy, then surrender your all to Him today while you still
have today, because none of us knows if we have tomorrow.
Living Water / An
Original Work / November 21, 2013
Based off Various Scriptures
My people have
forsaken Me,
Their Savior, who died
on a tree;
Made idols, and they
worshipped them;
So empty, they will
ne’er fulfill.
Lord, You are the hope
of Your chosen ones.
Those who turn away
from You will be shamed;
The Spring of Living
Water left behind.
Living Water
satisfies.
The thirsty, let them
come and drink;
Believe in Jesus as
their King;
The gift of Jesus
given them,
So they will never
thirst again.
Indeed, the Living
Water flows within.
It springs up like a
fountain cleansing sin.
Eternal life in heaven
promised them.
Living Water
glorifies.
Oh people, won’t you
come to Him?
Obey Him and repent of
sin.
Let Jesus come and
live within.
Surrender all your
life to Him.
My people, won’t you
turn your hearts to Me?
Forsake your idols and
then you’ll be free.
Won’t you come now to
Me on bended knee?
Living Water
sanctifies.
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