Ichabod and the Church in America

Top emojis in 3...2...1 locations Top emojis in 3...2...1 locations Top emojis in 3...2...1 locations Top emojis in 3...2...1 locations Top emojis in 3...2...1 locations Top emojis in 3...2...1 locations Top emojis in 3...2...1 locations Top emojis in 3...2...1 locations Top emojis in 3...2...1 locations Top emojis in 3...2...1 locations Top emojis in 3...2...1 locations Top emojis in 3...2...1 locations Top emojis in 3...2...1 locations ♪ Most efficient Mary did what I could not do ♪ ♪ For what we confiscate is eternal now in time ♪ ♪ A life without a limit is a big dream to me ♪ ♪ A record made to die, the Lord could never save us ♪ ♪ Our lawlessness had won until the pure and spotless ♪ ♪ Lamb had finally come, it is done, it is free ♪ ♪ It is no more debt I owe, paid in full, all sufficient ♪ ♪ Mary now my own ♪ ♪ I lay down my garments in the empty bones ♪ ♪ The works now all corrupted by the sinful host ♪ ♪ I'm dressed in my Lord Jesus, the crimson robe made white ♪ ♪ No more fear of judgment, His righteousness is mine ♪ ♪ It is done, it is finished, no more debt I owe, paid in full, all sufficient ♪ ♪ Mary now my own, it is done, it is finished, no more debt I owe ♪ ♪ No more debt I owe, paid in full, all sufficient ♪ ♪ Mary now my own, my own, my own, my own, my own, my own ♪ ♪ All sufficient Mary, firm in life and death ♪

♪ The joy of my salvation shall be my final breath ♪ ♪ When I stand and stand before the throne of God ♪ ♪ I'll gaze upon my Jesus and thank Him for the cross ♪ ♪ Yes, I'll thank Him for the cross, oh ♪ ♪ It is done, it is finished, no more debt I owe, paid in full, all sufficient ♪ ♪ Mary now my own, it is done, it is finished, no more debt I owe, paid in full, all sufficient ♪ ♪ It is done, it is finished, no more debt I owe, paid in full, all sufficient ♪ ♪ Mary now my own, all You're wearing now I own, all You're wearing now I own ♪ ♪ Mary now my own, all You're wearing now I own, all You're wearing now I own, all You're wearing now I own ♪ Well, anybody that has worked in corporate America, really in much of any job at all, is very familiar with the thing called a performance review. I ran across years ago reports that employers made about employees Somehow, this got out where notes were written about certain employees that weren't doing so well in their performance review. One man wrote this, since my last report, this employee has reached rock bottom and has started to dig. Not doing very well. One guy said he would be out of his depth in a parking lot puddle. Not good. He sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them. This is, this employee is deprived, depriving a village somewhere of an idiot. And this is my personal favorite. The gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming. So it's very creative in their assessment of an employee. We have been in a series called Shining the Light, Exposing the Darkness, and today we want to shine the light on the church of the Lord Jesus Christ in America. We know in Revelation chapter 2 and 3, the Lord gives assessment of the seven churches of Asia Minor.

He gives them a performance review, so to speak. And only two of them got a commendable review. The other five were told to repent. And the last church, the church at Laodicea, there was nothing good said about that church. Well, I've entitled this message Ichabod and the Church in America. And you know, when you think of the word Ichabod, I think many people when they, when they hear that word Ichabod, they think of the story called The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and the main character was Ichabod Crane. You know, that story's been around a long time. It was written by Washington Irving in the 1800s, but it's been made into, I think Disney did something about the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, you know, the headless horseman that's chasing Ichabod Crane. I think Timothy Burton did a movie about it with Johnny Depp, where he's talking about the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Well, Ichabod doesn't come from Washington Irving. It comes from, that word comes from the Old Testament. First time we run into it is in 1 Samuel chapter 4. Now in 1 Samuel chapter 4, things are bad in Israel. The high priest is Eli, and Eli is 98 years old, wasn't a very good dad. He really wasn't doing a good job as a priest because he was just so lax in what was happening in his own family. He had two sons, Hapni and Phinehas, and the Bible says they were worthless fellows. They were committing all sorts of terrible sins as priests at the house of the Lord, sleeping with the women at the house of the Lord, and despising the offering of the Lord. It was horrible. And the Lord had told little Samuel, I'm going to bring destruction on Eli's house because of these sins. You don't mess around with the things of God. Well, in 1 Samuel chapter 4, Israel is going up against the Philistines, they're always fighting the Philistines.

And they're going up against the Philistines, and it's not going well, and so Hapni and Phinehas say, let's bring the Ark of the Covenant, and we'll bring that in. And they use the Ark of the Covenant, remember the box that Indiana Jones was looking for? They bring it into the battle because they use it as a lucky rabbit's foot, almost like, we can't be beat if we bring God in a box into the battle. But that wasn't the case. Now Eli is waiting, he's old, the Bible says he's heavy, he's pretty much blind, and he's waiting to hear what is happening at the battle. And he hears a big cry and he waits to get word back, and he said, how did it go? And he said, they said, oh, it's been terrible, there's been a great slaughter. 30,000 Israelites died at the battle, and Hapni and Phinehas have died, your two sons, and the Ark of the Covenant has been taken by the Philistines. And when Eli heard that, it caused him to fall back in his chair and he broke his neck and died. That all happened in one short period of time. And Phinehas' wife, Eli's daughter-in-law, she went into labor with all the stress and all that she heard, and she gives birth to a son. And the Bible says, she called the boy Ichabod, saying the glory has departed from Israel. is glory. Ik is no. No glory. They call this baby Ichabod because the ark of God was taken and because of her father-in-law and her husband she said the glory has departed from Israel for the ark of God was taken. What is the state of the church in America today? I think that in many churches you could write the word Ichabod over the door. The glory of the Lord has departed. Three observations for this morning about the church in America today and I'm not talking about you can always find it's a mixed bag you can find good churches and bad churches but in general what is going on in the church? Well far too many churches have lost the glory of God. Far too many churches have that word Ichabod written over

the door of the church and the splendor and the honor and the majesty and the weight. Ichabod in Hebrew means weight and God is weighty and when his glory when you know Moses prayed Lord if I have found favor in your sight show me your glory and that was his desire he wanted to to see and to experience the weight of God's splendor and his majesty. Well no glory Ichabod the glory of the Lord has departed. Well why does that happen? Psalm 138 verse 2 says this I will bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your loving kindness and your truth for you have magnified your word according to all your name. Now when Moses prayed Lord if I have found favor in your sight show me your glory the Lord declared his glory by declaring his name. You remember Exodus 34 so he puts Moses in the cleft of the rock he covers him there with his hand he said Moses you can't see my face no one can see my face and live so I'm just going to show you the backside of my glory I'm going to show you the edges of my glory and as the Lord passed by he declared his name the Lord the Lord God compassionate and gracious slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness and truth who keeps loving kindness for thousands who forgives iniquity transgression and sin yet he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations. He declared his name and his splendor and the weight of who he is to Moses and when Moses heard that and saw the backside of his glory the Bible said he made haste to fall on his face and worship. The Bible says God has magnified his word according to all his name and what do we see in America today we see people that get away churches that get away from the word of God. The Bible makes it clear

2nd Timothy chapter 4 Paul told Timothy the last chapter ever wrote hey Timothy I solemnly charge you in the name of the Lord Jesus who will judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and by his kingdom preach the word be ready in season and out of season and when you preach the word reprove rebuke exhort with great patience and instruction for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but wanting to have their ears tickled they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. The time will come the time is now. You know I did a little research on stats from Pew Research 2023-2024 in uh 62 percent of people today identify as Christian in America down from 78 percent in 2007 and 71 percent in 2014 so it's it's declining. The nuns the people that say I have no religion they are on the rise up to about 28 percent. More Protestant churches are closing than opening. Mainline Protestant denominations like the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Presbyterian Church, the American Baptist Church, the Disciples of Christ, United Church of Christ. They at one time in 1950 represented one half of all Americans those mainline Protestant denominations. Today they represent 11 percent. percent. From 50% in 1950 to 11% today. You say what happened? They embraced liberalism. They embraced theological liberalism and they said, well, you know, you got to take the Bible with a grain of salt. And what matters is not repentance and faith and turning to the Lord Jesus, but it's just doing good works in his name

and they've adopted the culture's view on gender and sexuality and abortion and social positions. You get away from the word of God. They don't like the word of God and they don't preach the word of God. So what do we see with the Ichabod Church? You get away from the word. You don't preach the word. You don't do what the Bible says to do, preach the word. I told you I think last week that God has called a preacher to be a herald of the good news of Jesus Christ, to be a herald of the word of God. What did a herald do? He said what the king told him to say. The king would write down. This is what I want you to say and then he would say it. He didn't change what the king said because he, you know, he would say to himself, King, I don't think they're going to like that. So I'm going to do some edits here. No, you don't have the authority to do any edits. You are a herald for the king. You say, thus says the Lord. If people get upset about it, so be it. This is coming from the king. But what do we see today in these Ichabod churches? They are not preaching the word of God. They don't preach it. And they don't believe it. The reason they don't preach it is because they don't believe

it. And so it makes sense. Well, why would I preach the word if I don't believe the word, you know, I can have respect for a person who says I have to get out of the ministry because I no longer believe the Bible. Okay. I can I can respect you for that because at least you're holding to some conviction that says I can't I can't preach what I don't believe it would be better that you would believe it because it is true. But if you if you can't believe it and don't believe it then don't continue to go through the motions and pretend like you do because you obviously don't but that we have so many in church today. So many that are supposedly pastors that are in churches. They don't believe the word but they they just do this as a job. Adrian Rogers said the the ministry is a wonderful calling but it's a terrible profession. You don't do this unless God calls you to do it. If you're doing it because you say well, you know, those those preacher guys only work one day a week. That's a it's an easy gig. That's not what it is. You have to be called to do this because this is God's work and God's business. And if you start messing around with God's stuff we found we find early in Scripture people that mess around with the things of God and have a flippant attitude toward the things of

God most often they end up dead. Moses nephews Nadab and Abihu the sons of Aaron soon after they got ordained to the priesthood. They burned strange fire Leviticus 10 before the Lord and fire came out from the presence of the Lord and killed them. It's like you don't mess with the things of God. So we have these Ichabod churches don't preach the word don't believe the word and they don't fear God and obey the word. I love what the scripture says Isaiah 66 verse 2 talks about the greatness of God. And it says but to this one will I look says the Lord to the one who is humble and contrite of spirit and who trembles at my word when we open the Bible. We need to remind ourselves. This is the word of the living God. It's God's love letter to me as his child. I need to spend time in this book. I don't need to be bored to tears in this book is that the living word of the living God and as the Bible says in Hebrews 412 for the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow and is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Ecclesiastes the last two verses in the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 12 Solomon who went on this search for satisfaction. He concludes his search by saying the conclusion when all has been heard is fear God and keep his commandments because this. applies to every person, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished, for the Lord will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.

So we need to fear God. That's the beginning of wisdom, beginning of knowledge, and obey Him. We don't want to be, as James talks about, forgetful hearers. We don't want to read the Word and then forget what it says. We want to be effectual doers. That's what the Bible says, to be a doer of the Word. And so when you read the Word of God, you act upon it. Remember Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, he who hears my words and acts upon them, he's a wise man who built his house on the rock. But the one who hears my words and doesn't act upon them, he's the foolish man who built his house on the sand. Now on the X platform, used to be Twitter, now it's called X, I follow a site called Protestia. And the guys that have that site, they post clips from these churches that have jettisoned the Word that are just littered all across America. And they posted a clip from a lady. She is Bishop Yvette Flunder. She is the senior pastor, put that in quotes, of City of Refuge United Church of Christ in Oakland, California, the presiding bishop of the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, a network focused on LGBTQ plus inclusion. During a talk at a conference in April of 2026, she said this, this is a very dangerous thing that I'm about to say now, but since I'm a bit dangerous, I'm of the opinion that we need a third testament because the Bible has become problematic. She pointed to passages she finds troubling, such as slaves obey your masters and let the women keep silent in the churches. So we have to have, we have the Old Testament, we have the New Testament, and then we have to have, I guess, her testament, where she just makes it up as she goes along. Well, people jump on that. She's not alone in that. Yeah, we don't like what the Bible has to say about homosexuality.

Ichabod, the glory of the Lord has departed. Far too many churches have lost the glory of God because they've jettisoned from the Word of God and from the command, clear command, 2 Timothy 4, to preach the Word. Second observation, far too many churches pretend to be alive when they're really dead. Now Revelation chapters 2 and 3 are the seven letters to the seven churches. And when Jesus appeared to John on the island of Patmos, he was exiled to the island of Patmos, and he had an encounter with the living Christ and the glorified Christ. And John, who had been with Jesus for his whole ministry, three-and-a-half-year earthly ministry, he's the one who laid his head on Jesus' chest at the Last Supper. John was very close to Jesus, but when he sees Jesus in Revelation chapter 1, in all of his glory, he falls on his face like a dead man before the Lord. And the Lord raises him up, and the Lord says, John, you need to write. Write the things which you have seen, and he does in Revelation chapter 1, and the things which are, which he does in Revelation chapter 2 and 3, the seven letters to the seven churches, and the things which are to come. The things, he says, which will take place after these things. So John does that. And Revelation chapter 4 to the end are the things that are coming in the future. And so Revelation 2 and 3, the seven letters to the seven churches, that's what is. That's what's going on right now in John's day in A.D. 95. And those were real churches, those were real places, and we have a route that shows you the seven letters to the seven churches. It starts with Ephesus and it goes up. It was a mail route. So you go from Ephesus to Smyrna to Pergamum, and then down, and you end up the last church, Laodicea. Well, there are two churches of those seven that were really bad, the worst two, Sardis and Laodicea. You have a couple of the churches, two out of the seven where the Lord doesn't give any word of condemnation.

They're good churches, Philadelphia and Smyrna. All the others are told… to repent. Even the church of Ephesus, which was a solid church, John had pastored at that church in Ephesus. Timothy was the pastor in Ephesus. John — or Paul had spent a lot of time in Ephesus. I've been to Ephesus, what a place. Those ruins just go on and on and on. That was a huge city. But even in Ephesus, Revelation chapter 2, the Lord commends them for several things, but He says, but I have this against you that you've left your first love. You don't love me like you used to. And then from there, from Ephesus, we go on. And so I want us to focus in on, as we talk about the church in America, Sardis and Laodicea. You know, if you talk to Bible scholars, they will tell you, you know, where does America fall? What's America like today? What letter would we get in America? I asked Erwin Lutzer, Dr. Erwin Lutzer that. I said, do you think — because most people say, well, the church in America is like Laodicea. And Dr. Lutzer said, no, I think the church in America is more like the church in Sardis. So I want us to look at both those churches, the church in Sardis and the church in America. Let's talk about the church in Sardis first. This is what the Lord says, Revelation chapter 3. He says, I know your deeds, that you have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die, for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of my God. So remember what you have received and heard and keep it and repent. Therefore, if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. Sardis, the church that seemed to be alive, but the Lord, who doesn't see as man sees, man sees the outward appearance, the Lord looks at the heart. He says, you present yourself as alive, but hey, guess what? You are dead. Lots of dead churches in America today. I mean, I think all of us can relate to going to a church that is dead as a hammer. I remember my mother-in-law talked about a particular church. Debbie's mom, Debbie's dad was a pastor and he had pastored this one church in one particular town. And Doris, Debbie's mom would tell me, she said, oh, that church, you could skate down the aisles. It was just frozen. It was, you know, there was nothing going on and you could preach and preach and there's just nothing because the place was just dead. If you've ever gone to a dead church, it's not a lot of fun to be at a dead church. Well, what does it mean

to be a dead church? It means that there's no life there. God's life is not flowing through that place. They just go through the motions of things. So, a dead church. Let's look at some of the characteristics of a dead church. Number one, they mistake church services for Holy Spirit activity. Sardis, did they know they were dead? Well, they did after they got this letter. But they were just so interested in going through the motions of things. Hey, we got a great city. And it was, at one time, Sardis was one of the most wealthy cities. They had a king called Croesus. And there was a phrase that said, rich as Croesus. And, you know, because that guy, that king was so rich. And they had this city that was almost impregnable. It's up on a mountain. You have a mountain on one side and the city down below. I have a picture of Sardis, what Sardis looked like. And so, that's the city in the valley. But protecting that city, you have this big mountain, these cliffs, and this big mountain that protects it on one side. And then they had a huge wall, 60 feet at the base. And it would be up 30 or 40 feet high that would cover the city. And they just felt like, you know, we're an impregnable city and we're so wealthy and everything is going so well. And they had church services, but they were mistaking the church service for the Holy Spirit doing a work in people's lives. You know, when we gather, one of my prayers, every time we gather, whether it's Sunday morning or Wednesday night or whatever we do, Lord, if you're not here, then it doesn't matter. Because I want people to have an encounter with a real God. I need to have an encounter with the real God. It's not just checking a box while I went to church, while I went to Sunday school. You know, what a good boy I am. It's God, I need you, that's why we raised our hands. Lord, we need you and do a work in my heart, do a work in our hearts. W.A. Criswell, the great pastor of First Baptist Dallas for so many years, he said, you know the difference between a live church and a dead church? He said live churches, in live churches, people bring their Bibles and they follow along. In dead churches, they don't,

and they're not following along at all. David Dykes, who was the pastor at Green Acres in Tyler, he wrote a commentary on Revelation, I was reading it this week, and he was talking about when he was in Alabama serving as a pastor, he said a man from Alabama came to one of our associational meetings and he was giving a report on his church, and this is what he said, we didn't baptize anyone this year, we didn't have many new members, we didn't take in much money, we're not doing much at all, but praise the Lord, no other church in our area is doing anything either. It's like, that's a praise, that's your praise? What's up with that? But he was thinking, hey, we're still doing good as a church because we're keeping up with everybody else who's doing nothing, and we're still having services Sunday morning and Wednesday night. That doesn't mean anything if the place is dead. So don't mistake church services, don't mistake church programs for Holy Spirit activity, a dead church does that. And they mistake the social gospel for the real gospel. Now we hear a lot of this today, where people are, you know, if your church is not out there, you know, feeding the hungry and clothing the naked and doing all these social ministries, well, your church really isn't much of a church. We think about what Jesus said in the Great Commission.

Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you, and, Lord, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. The disciples, all of them were killed for their faith except John, and tradition says that he was boiled in oil and then put on, and when he didn't die, they put him on an island in Patmos on exile, but they were all treated harshly to the point of death for doing what? For feeding the hungry and clothing the naked? No, for preaching the gospel, for saying there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved, that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through him, and people are like, oh, that's too narrow. How do you know? You can't say that. Well, we say that. Why? Because it's true. As I've told you before, I mean, we're like Noah, and think of this like Noah. Every time you meet somebody, think, I'm Noah. This person is getting ready, without Jesus, is getting ready to perish because judgment is coming, and so there is only one ark of safety, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Noah's ark served as a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's not like a bunch of arks.

Hey, Noah, build 10 arks. If they don't like this one, maybe they'll like that one. No, you have one ark. You have one Savior, and his name is Jesus, and we tell the world that this world is perishing, but there's one Savior, the Lord Jesus, who will save anybody who will come to him in repentance and faith. Well, people don't like that message because they don't like the narrowness of it. They like to say, well, you know, there's lots of ways to heaven, and when Oprah Winfrey some years ago had a show and she was talking about it just can't be that there's only one way to heaven, and a lady got up and said, well, it can't be because you say it can't be, but it is that way because that's what the God of the universe has said, and Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead, and last I checked, nobody has ever risen from the dead, never to die again except Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. There's only one way, and so when you preach the real gospel and not the social gospel, well, people get upset about that. Adrian Rogers was the one that said, listen, if all you give people is soup and soap and you don't give them salvation, all you do is make this world a better place

from which to go to hell. Men need to know. Women need to know. Boys and girls need to know. You're in trouble. Because you're a sinner and you're lost and you're on the highway to hell and Jesus died so that you could have salvation. But you have to turn around and you have to put your faith and trust in Him. A dead church is not preaching that. And this dead church in Sardis, they desperately needed to wake up to the truth. To wake up to the fact that they were dead. That's what he says to them. Verse two, wake up and strengthen the things that remain which were about to die for I've not found your deeds completed in the sight of God. So remember what you have received and heard and keep it and repent. And guess what? If you don't wake up, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. You know, wake up. That's exactly what Jesus said to the guys when they were in the Garden of Gethsemane. He said, watch and pray, be alert, be awake and be alert and be vigilant because the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. So pray that you will not enter into temptation. You need to be alert. The enemy is all around. He's trying to steal and kill and destroy. And just like what happened in Sardis, you know, they thought they were impregnable because they had that big mountain on one side and a big wall on the other side and who can get in here? Well, Cyrus the Great found out how to get in there. 546 BC, he was able to topple Sardis because they came in. They found a secret way to come in through those mountains because the people of Sardis

said we don't even have to cover this big mountain, I mean, nobody can get in through there. And so they weren't watching and they weren't vigilant and they weren't guarding it. And then the enemy came in. We need to wake up and see what's really going on in our lives. Chuck Swindoll in his commentary on the book of the Revelation, he writes about five marks of a dead, ineffective, useless church or a dead believer. You know, you can, the church is made up of believers. And so if the church is dead, it doesn't mean a Christian has lost his salvation, but it can mean that you have just gone so far away from the Lord that there's just, you don't feel him anymore. You don't sense his conviction and his working in your life. So, what are five marks of a dead church or a believer who is going down that road? Number one, that church worships its past. It's always about the way it used to be. Testimonies, you ask them, hey, give a testimony, well, way back and ought for, you know, I mean, it's just so, it's like, that was like 30 years ago. That's your freshest testimony is from 30 years ago. So, always talking about things in the past, it worships its past. It's inflexible and resistant to change. We ain't never done it that way before. That's their theme song. I like what Billy Graham, when he was with Youth for Christ, they had a little motto that said, geared to the times, anchored to the rock. We have to be able to know what's going on in the culture so we can speak to the culture. Just like if you were sent to Russia or something like that as a missionary, where you have to understand the culture so that you, and the language so that you can communicate. But a dead church is inflexible, resistant to change. Number three, carnal and lazy leadership. They're just coasting to the finish line.

They've become very complacent. That's a great enemy to the church. The Apostle Paul said, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And you and I have to be pressing on. We can't live off yesterday's quiet time. Number four, a dead church neglects children and students. When I first came here, I told the church, I said, listen, we have to reach young families. Because if we don't reach young families, we're going to get to a place where we're just old. You know who's having all the kids? The young families. Older people don't have kids. And so, if you just cater to the older folks, pretty soon you just grow old and die. The church has to be continually reaching young families. And then number five, lacks evangelism and a missionary zeal. of what somebody told me at Ironwood just a few months back. You know, I had talked about something that Ada Ferguson had taught me, our counselor before Chris, Ada would say, you know, she would always ask the servers at the restaurant, is there anything I can pray for you about? We're gonna pray before our meal, can I pray for you about anything? And she said, Jeff, it's just a great way, a non-threatening way to be able to witness. And so I've practiced that, I've talked to the church about practicing that. I was at Ironwood some months ago,

and I asked the waiter that, and he was very gracious and said yes, and then he came up to me and he said, what church are you a part of? And I said, well, I sometimes go to First Baptist. And he said, you know what? He said, I've had so many people come here, and they've asked if they could pray for me, and then when I ask them what church they go to, he said they always say First Baptist Texarkana. He said, isn't that cool how your church is reaching out in that way? You know, when you get dead as a church, it's us four and no more, you're not thinking about other people, and that's why you just start to implode as a church. Well, you need to wake up, and wake up to the truth. Far too many churches pretend to be alive, and they're not, and then thirdly, far too many churches are lukewarm. That's the church of Laodicea. It was the wealthiest church of the seven, but it was a lukewarm church, and the Lord had nothing good to say about the church at Laodicea. To the angel of the church in Laodicea write, the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God says this, I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot,

so because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth, literally vomit you out of my mouth, because you say I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing, and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed and eyesalve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Lukewarm churches. Far too many are just lukewarm, just middle of the road, just bleh, just tepid, not making a difference, not being salt, not being light. And these churches have become wealthy and proud. The church at Laodicea was so wealthy, because you say, the Lord says, I have become rich and am wealthy, and the Greek word there is for overflowing with riches. Laodicea was a banking center. Laodicea had a medical school, and they made eye salve, and they made black woolen garments that were well known and sold all over the place. And notice how he uses that about white garments and eye salve, because it connected to where they were. Wealthy and proud, and they are blind to their great need. You say, I am rich and in need of nothing, and you do not know that you are wretched

and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Story is told about Thomas Aquinas in the 1100s. He's talking to the Pope, Pope Innocent II, but I don't think he's very innocent, but he went by that name, and Innocent II said to Thomas Aquinas, he was showing him the wealth of the Catholic church, and he said, no longer do we have to say, silver and gold have I none. And Aquinas says, yes, but no longer can you say in the name of Jesus Christ, walk. You don't have any power from the Lord. So what that you have silver and gold? You're bankrupt before the God of heaven. They're blind to their great need. So he says, you need to get some eye salve from me. You guys make eye salve, you sell eye salve. You need to have eye salve on your eyes so that you can see that you're wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Hey, you have to look in the mirror. As a church, as a Christian, you have to look honestly at yourself. Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there be any evil. hurtful way in me and lead me in the way everlasting." Unless we do that, we're just going to be fooling ourselves. That's why he says to Sardis, wake up, smell the coffee, look at what is your Christian life like?

This is as a church, this is as an individual. Because you want to be able to deal with it while you have time. You don't want to blow that off and then you die and stand before God and then at the judgment seat of Christ, you see your whole life go up in smoke because you wasted your life as a Christian and you didn't ever deal with things honestly before the Lord. Blind to their great need and they're nauseating to the Lord. You're lukewarm, he says, I will vomit you out of my mouth. You make me sick. Now lukewarm, they knew what that meant because where Laodicea was in the valley, you had Hierapolis that was close by and you had Colossae which was close by. We have a little map that shows you that. And so there's Laodicea, Hierapolis to the north and Colossae to the east. Hierapolis was known for their hot springs. People would travel from long distances to go to Hierapolis because that's hot springs like hot springs Arkansas. Where did all the gangsters go in the 40s? They went there because there's therapeutic properties there. And then Colossae was known for their cold springs. Well Laodicea didn't have a good water supply so they would have to get water piped in through an aqueduct system. And when the cold water traveled for miles to get to Laodicea, it was lukewarm by the time it got there. And it was rich in mineral content, didn't taste good. Nobody likes to drink things lukewarm. We like cold beverages or hot beverages but not lukewarm beverages. And so the Lord says, hey you guys, you're lukewarm. It's not just your water supply is lukewarm, you, your lives are lukewarm. And you make me want to vomit. Stern words from the Lord. Hey if you're lukewarm in your Christian life and you've lost the joy of your salvation

and it doesn't vex you as it says of even a guy like Lot, a compromiser like Lot said that righteous man while living among the Sodomites felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their lawless deeds. When you just become numb to the sin around you, you are lukewarm and God says that doesn't fly with me. And so what is the solution to the church in America, to Ichabod and the church in America? It is repent. And the Lord says in verse 19 of chapter 3, those whom I love I reprove and discipline therefore be zealous and repent. Behold I stand at the door and I knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into him and will dine with him and he with me he who overcomes I will grant to him to sit down with me on my throne as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And maybe you're here today and you say my life is kind of dead. My Christian life is kind of dead. I know that I've given my heart and life to Jesus but my relationship with him is not on fire like it used to be. I started out like the church in Ephesus and I have left and drifted away from my first love and now my Christian life I just kind of go through the motions but it's just kind of dead and I've become lukewarm and what is there hope for me? Yes, the Lord says those whom I love I reprove therefore be zealous and repent. Turn around from what you're doing and open the door again for me to come in and that times of refreshing would come from the presence of the Lord. The Lord doesn't want anyone to live a life of being, I'm talking about a Christian. He doesn't want us to live tepid Christian lives, lukewarm Christian lives just going through the motions. He wants there to be life and fire and vibrancy and vitality and when it comes to the temptations he wants us to walk in the light not in the darkness and to deal with sin in our lives and to deal with sin in the church and to speak the words of God and to lift up the

word of God and tell people thus says the Lord. We don't say well it seems to me, we say thus says the Lord. If you don't like it, tough. This is what God says, the one who died for you in agony and blood. This is what he says. You can trust him because his word is true. And we have that message to share. You know, in Sardis, they had a pastor that came on the scene in 160, Melito. And he loved the Lord, and he loved his word. And revival came to that church because he strengthened what remained. He was martyred for his faith in 177 AD, but he stood tall and he stood strong. He responded to the word the Lord gave to Sardis. And listen, if you'll respond, as Peter preached and said to the people, repent therefore and return so that your sins may be wiped away in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. And all those who responded, guess what? They experienced a time of refreshing from the Lord. If you want that, I invite you to respond to Jesus. Listen, he does stand at the door and knock. For those who've never trusted him, he's knocking at the door of your heart. He wants to come in, but he's not going to push his way through. You have to open the door. You have to ask him in. And if you'll do it, he'll come in. He says, I'll dine with you and you with me. You'll have a genuine personal relationship with him. So we're going to have a time of invitation. The steps are open for you to pray. If you need to ask God to do a fresh work in your heart as a believer, ask him to do it.

Take that step of faith and make this a declaration, Lord, I'm sick of living like a dead believer, like a lukewarm believer. I want to be on fire for you. And those who have never trusted Jesus, today is the day for you to say, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Now we come to the most important question of all. Have you turned from sin and selfishness and given your heart and life to Jesus? Listen, if not, today is the day for you. Just pray this simple prayer from your heart. Lord Jesus, I need you. I know that I'm a sinner and I can't save myself, but I believe Jesus that you are God in the flesh. I believe you died on the cross for my sins and rose again from the dead. And right now I ask you to forgive me and save me, come into my life, change me, make me the person you want me to be. I surrender my life to you and I promise to follow you all the days I have left. Now, if you pray that kind of prayer and mean it, the Lord will come in and your life will never be the same. Listen, I would love to hear from you. So please contact me and share with me what's going on so we can pray for you. And if you are ever in the Texarkana area, we would love for you to visit us live and in person at FBC Texarkana. Listen, you really are important to God and you're important to us and we're here for you.