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How to keep your church alive “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.” —Revelation 3:1 This church at Sardis looked alive with action, activity, motion, and machinery. But when Jesus took their pulse, dead! This can happen to a church, not only then, but it can happen now! As a matter of fact in America alone, 3500 churches per year close their doors because they are dead. Once thriving and dynamic ministries, now dead! Shut the doors. Seventy to eighty percent of churches in this country are dead or are dying. Again, there may be activity, there maybe programming, there may be tradition and structure, but no life! What’s happening to this church in Sardis that is so dead is there’s no spiritual life, there’s no breath! He’s going to be talking to this church about renewing and reviving and resuscitating their lives and their church, and so this is a church in need of revival. This is a church in need of the Holy Spirit. And every church is in need of the Holy Spirit. Our traditions must be laid aside in favor of the truth. The church is all about Jesus! And when it’s no longer about Him, it’s over! You may keep meeting, you may still have a religious club, but if you don’t have Jesus, you don’t have a church! There’s no life without the Spirit of Jesus!

 Nota bene: "…do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John. 4:1)

 Thursday, November 15, 2018

Don’t Just Know—Do

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?”

Romans 2:21–23

In 1953, Fred Vinson died unexpectedly from a heart attack at sixty-three years of age. He had a long and distinguished record of service to his country, having been a Congressman, Secretary of the Treasury, and for seven years the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. But when Vinson’s heirs attempted to probate his will, it was ruled invalid, because it did not contain the necessary signatures of witnesses. Despite his legal background and many years of training, Vinson had failed to properly execute his own will.

It is not the things we know or believe or proclaim, but what we actually do that determines the course of our lives. There are so many people in our day who think that the problem with conduct is a lack of education, so that if people only knew more they would do better. That ignores the teaching of Scripture and the example of history. Because of our sin nature, knowing what is right does not guarantee good conduct.

In fact, God’s Word specifically warns us of the danger of not putting our knowledge into action. “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17). God is measuring us by the standard of how much we do of what we know, rather than the standard of how much we know. Satan has often lured people into complacency, and then into sin, by convincing them that knowledge substitutes for obedience. Our focus should be on doing what God has revealed to us in obedience to His commands.

Today’s Growth Principle: 

It is only when we practice what we know we should do, that we please and honor God with our conduct.