Mega Churches - Wednesday

Sardis.

Wow, what an interesting story this was in the Book of Revelation.

Turn to Revelation chapter three with me.

"To the angel of the church of Sardis, write these things.

Write these things." Number one, "I know your works.

I know you have a name that you are alive, but you're actually dead." You're actually dead, dude.

This is Jesus talking.

Revelation 3:1, this is Jesus talking to a megachurch in Lydia.

It's a megachurch loaded with extremely wealthy people.

It was the Scottsdale of the ancient world.

Very wealthy area.

Lots of millionaires, lots of multimillionaires lived there.

Lots of very wealthy businessmen lived in Sardis.

Pretty impressive place.

It was destroyed by an earthquake in 70 AD, but the Romans rebuilt the city, and it just took off.

It just flat took off.

But that church that Paul f- uh, founded there years and years and years later had started to decline.

It started to sink, which is typical for a megachurch.

They only have a certain amount of years as a shelf life.

And they think they're alive, they think they're vibrantly alive, but spiritually they're dead.

That's what Jesus just said.

"You have a name that you're alive," a reputation, "but you're actually dead." That's very common for a megachurch.

"Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain." Because they're ready to die.

This church was on the way to being completely and totally coffinized, totally dead.

But there were some good things left, and Jesus told them to strengthen them.

Sardis.

Wow, what an interesting story this was in the Book of Revelation.

Turn to Revelation chapter three with me.

"To the angel of the church of Sardis, write these things.

Write these things." Number one, "I know your works.

I know you have a name that you are alive, but you're actually dead." You're actually dead, dude.

This is Jesus talking.

Revelation 3:1, this is Jesus talking to a megachurch in Lydia.

It's a megachurch loaded with extremely wealthy people.

It was the Scottsdale of the ancient world.

Very wealthy area.

Lots of millionaires, lots of multimillionaires lived there.

Lots of very wealthy businessmen lived in Sardis.

Pretty impressive place.

It was destroyed by an earthquake in 70 AD, but the Romans rebuilt the city, and it just took off.

It just flat took off.

But that church that Paul f- uh, founded there years and years and years later had started to decline.

It started to sink, which is typical for a megachurch.

They only have a certain amount of years as a shelf life.

And they think they're alive, they think they're vibrantly alive, but spiritually they're dead.

That's what Jesus just said.

"You have a name that you're alive," a reputation, "but you're actually dead." That's very common for a megachurch.

"Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain." Because they're ready to die.

This church was on the way to being completely and totally coffinized, totally dead.

But there were some good things left, and Jesus told them to strengthen them.