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Vol. 3 ... #25

Real Christians ... even in Sardis, says Jesus

Revelation 3 ... Jesus said ... 1 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die:for I have not found thy works perfect before God. 3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. 4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with ME in white: for they are worthy.  

Even as bad as it can get in certain church groups, there might still be a person who belongs to God and has not defiled his garment.

A woman said to me:  "I don't believe a Methodist can be a Christian."

But I remembered what the Holy Spirit said to me, "Even in Sardis" ... there was someone worthy.

Sardis must have been very bad ... but even as bad as it was there were a few names "Even in Sardis" who walked with Jesus and were worthy.

This helps us so much when we are upset over the evils and various churches ... 

Here is a very interesting story told by Barbara Preston, a member of our little church group ...

Barbara says: 

My husband is an amateur astronomer and belongs to the local astronomy club.  He receives phone calls from other club members and sometimes they will come over to the house.

One of his astronomy friends is named Scott.  Recently I noticed that when Scott calls and I see by caller ID that it is him, I want to avoid talking to him and if he comes over, I want to avoid seeing him.

I knew I had built up some kind of hardness of heart where he was concerned.  

I talked to God about this when I saw it and asked Him to please help me to settle this.

I didn't want to feel this way about Scott.

When I asked God how this happened, I was reminded that during the last conversation Scott and I had, he told me he was Catholic.  I realized that I had built up some kind of prejudice against him over this and wanted to avoid him.  I repented of this and asked God how to get this resolved.

I was reminded immediately of something else that had happened during the first conversation I ever had with Scott.  We were talking one day, and I told him that God created the heavens and the earth.  And that all those stars they looked at were created by God.

As soon as I said this, he got so excited and said... "I know...I know!"  He told me how he loved to tell this to people when they looked through his telescope (the club has lots of group nights where boy scouts, etc. will show up and want to do this for an evening event.)

When he said this, his excitement and joy really seemed genuine to me.  As soon as God reminded me of this, I could feel the hardness of heart that I had felt concerning him just melt away.

Not long after this, Joan mentioned the church in Sardis in Rev. 3, and how being reminded of this encouraged her to speak the Word of God even to people in churches where there seemed that there could be no Christians.

This reminded me of what happened with me where Scott was concerned. 

Scott and I have had a couple of conversations about God, in the past, and now I know that the way to go is not to avoid him, but, if we talk in the future, and something about God comes up, just share truth with him at that moment.

I was very thankful to have this resolved.