DEAR SARDIS: YOU ARE DEAD! (5 OF 7)
by Bob Ingle
Scripture: Revelation 3:1-6
This content is part of a series.
Dear Sardis: You Are Dead! (5 of 7)
Series: 7 Letters- part 5
Bob Ingle
Revelation 3:1-6
Before we jump into the message, can I brag on you just a little bit as a church? Would that be alright? I'm so proud of you. I really am. As you know, two weeks ago we had to cancel our services due to weather. Of course, that always affects churches financially when you have to do that. Some churches never recover. Our weekly need to meet our budget is $66,000. Last week, you all gave over $131,000 almost exactly what we need for two weeks. We've cancelled two weeks this winter, and are still making budget easily. Isn't that awesome? What a blessing! Praise God. I thought we were gonna have to fire Pastor Joey or something.
But I guess we'll have to keep him now. One of the ways you see the maturity of a church is in the giving of the church. Mature churches have healthy givers. So, I'm totally proud of you and your commitment.
Have you ever visited or been a part of a dead church? I mean the people are there, but the Spirit has departed and you know it's just dead. Have you seen that? I read a true story this week about a pastor who was frustrated because his church was dead, so he got up one Sunday and said, ''This church is dead, so this afternoon I'm going to preach its funeral. Come to the service at 2:00.'' The church was packed with people who were curious to see what would happen. The pastor even had a casket at the front. After he preached the funeral of the church he said, ''Just in case you don't believe this church is dead, I want you all to file by the casket and look in at its remains.'' As they filed by, they looked in and the pastor had put a mirror in there.
Unfortunately, there are dead churches everywhere. Did you know that more than 20% of Southern Baptist churches last year did not baptize one person? Not one. There are thousands of churches in our nation who haven't baptized anyone in the last decade. Listen, that's dead. One preacher w ...
Series: 7 Letters- part 5
Bob Ingle
Revelation 3:1-6
Before we jump into the message, can I brag on you just a little bit as a church? Would that be alright? I'm so proud of you. I really am. As you know, two weeks ago we had to cancel our services due to weather. Of course, that always affects churches financially when you have to do that. Some churches never recover. Our weekly need to meet our budget is $66,000. Last week, you all gave over $131,000 almost exactly what we need for two weeks. We've cancelled two weeks this winter, and are still making budget easily. Isn't that awesome? What a blessing! Praise God. I thought we were gonna have to fire Pastor Joey or something.
But I guess we'll have to keep him now. One of the ways you see the maturity of a church is in the giving of the church. Mature churches have healthy givers. So, I'm totally proud of you and your commitment.
Have you ever visited or been a part of a dead church? I mean the people are there, but the Spirit has departed and you know it's just dead. Have you seen that? I read a true story this week about a pastor who was frustrated because his church was dead, so he got up one Sunday and said, ''This church is dead, so this afternoon I'm going to preach its funeral. Come to the service at 2:00.'' The church was packed with people who were curious to see what would happen. The pastor even had a casket at the front. After he preached the funeral of the church he said, ''Just in case you don't believe this church is dead, I want you all to file by the casket and look in at its remains.'' As they filed by, they looked in and the pastor had put a mirror in there.
Unfortunately, there are dead churches everywhere. Did you know that more than 20% of Southern Baptist churches last year did not baptize one person? Not one. There are thousands of churches in our nation who haven't baptized anyone in the last decade. Listen, that's dead. One preacher w ...
There are 24461 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.
Price: $5.99 or 1 credit
