THE CHURCH WITH A REPUTATION

SARD IS: THE CHURCH W ITH A REPUTAT ION
Revel at ion 3:1-6
'le know a few t hing' s of historical interest about the city of
Sardis. he k 0now th-at it was tho cap-liolt of Lydia. It was the city w h ic h- was
cow -ercially quite prosperous and well off. In the city of Sardis, for the
fir at t im, Coiiis were 0liinted. It was also a place wiCt- w as known as a Center
of tfje woolen -nd the carpet industry. It was a place that was filled w -- ith
snopkeepers and asnat eur dance band Triusicianss. It was a city which had had a
veroi:, nooble past. They were very proud of what they had been in the past.
Located oa a hill th'e city of Sardis considlered itself to Cb)C absolutely
i-precnable. There seemed to be no way that an enoemy could approach that city
and 0" overt ake it . Because of this they developed a kind of Comiplacency . Thoy
felt thoy could never be taken and so because of that they were often
uapnprepareU . On one part icular occasion an eneTiemy had coCo-ie and laid siege
aOhail st the city of Sardis, yet they couldn't find any way to get up the
secret way and get in the city of Sardis. A man in the enemly arwiy beg-an to
look carefully at what was going on. one day he saw a soldier in Sardis drop
iS h-ielo-et and fall fromi the side of the eribanki,.eatts. lie watched carefully as
tCe soldier went down a path to get th-at hel et, retrieve it and then go back
up. In so observing he saw the secret of how the city of Sardis could be
I" 0ll. So, in a tie 11 when they were not watching, in a tinae when they thou'ah t
ti ey -re-' absolu-telIy seC re the enemy came by night, CvercamCae the ani a d the
city was taken. So, the city, in some ways, was living on a past glory. It was
on I- a shell of what it had been. It was a t own that bad a reput at ion. P'ut th Ce
reality did not correspond to the reputation. The city, in sosie ways, was
looked down upon and despised because they were trying to pretend to be
0ii1,,sel a 1 5s the o0. ...

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