THE COMPLACENT CHURCH (13 OF 41)
by Jerry Watts
Scripture: Revelation 3:14-19
This content is part of a series.
The Complacent Church (13 of 41)
Series: The Unveiling
Jerry N Watts
Revelation 3:14-19
September 25, 2011
* The story is told of a preacher going to his deacon chairman and asking, "Do you think the problems we face in the church is tied to ignorance and apathy?" After a moment the man replied, "I don't know and I don't care."
* Today we look at the church in Laodicea, the complacent church, which it would seem, 'didn't know and didn't care' that they made God sick. For the dispensationalist, we are living in the age of the Laodicean church. To see clearly the church in Laodicea is to see a church which, by human reason, is doing well. That is, they had plenty of money. The thinking of man seems to be that "money in the bank = the blessing of God." This past week heard a message from Acts 3 about the lame man who was laid at the gate beautiful. For years he was laid at the gate because he had a need and he thought his need could be met with money. We were reminded that the worshipper and worship leaders seemed to agree with him. For all those years he spent at the gate, the good church going people gave him money. However, they never invited him inside for something better. They simply threw 'quarters' at him and thought that was good enough. Let your imagination run away with you; these were not bad people, they were regular church going people who wanted to help a needy man. Dennis Simmons rightly said, "They were willing to meet the visible need, but the visible need is rarely the critical need."
* The church at Laodicea was probably meeting the visible need because they were a wealthy church, but in their physical wealth something had happened to their spiritual riches. Herein we discover a deep spiritual truth that is explained by the 'eye of the needle' principle. When we become so wealthy that we can meet the visible needs which we 'think' we have, we are tempted to become complacent to the critical needs.
* Such was the case in ...
Series: The Unveiling
Jerry N Watts
Revelation 3:14-19
September 25, 2011
* The story is told of a preacher going to his deacon chairman and asking, "Do you think the problems we face in the church is tied to ignorance and apathy?" After a moment the man replied, "I don't know and I don't care."
* Today we look at the church in Laodicea, the complacent church, which it would seem, 'didn't know and didn't care' that they made God sick. For the dispensationalist, we are living in the age of the Laodicean church. To see clearly the church in Laodicea is to see a church which, by human reason, is doing well. That is, they had plenty of money. The thinking of man seems to be that "money in the bank = the blessing of God." This past week heard a message from Acts 3 about the lame man who was laid at the gate beautiful. For years he was laid at the gate because he had a need and he thought his need could be met with money. We were reminded that the worshipper and worship leaders seemed to agree with him. For all those years he spent at the gate, the good church going people gave him money. However, they never invited him inside for something better. They simply threw 'quarters' at him and thought that was good enough. Let your imagination run away with you; these were not bad people, they were regular church going people who wanted to help a needy man. Dennis Simmons rightly said, "They were willing to meet the visible need, but the visible need is rarely the critical need."
* The church at Laodicea was probably meeting the visible need because they were a wealthy church, but in their physical wealth something had happened to their spiritual riches. Herein we discover a deep spiritual truth that is explained by the 'eye of the needle' principle. When we become so wealthy that we can meet the visible needs which we 'think' we have, we are tempted to become complacent to the critical needs.
* Such was the case in ...
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