The American church as I see it...sermon post...Revelation 2-3

 

Here is a beautiful old stone church found in England.  It has been a personal goal to insert a stand alone sermon between each of the chapters of our study of the book of James.  We have finished chapter 3 so I had the inspiration from a book on what it will take to reform the church written by John MacArthur, a couple video clips from a recent event as way of illustration, and a great quote from the late A.W. Tozer to take me to the highest concentration in the Scriptures dealing with churches, Revelation 2 and 3.

I created a chart to speak through these churches and also offer the congregation a way to organize the order in which the Apostle John lays out each church's condition.  This is something I will improve on because it was just too much information on the screen.  I think this version would work better with offering the corresponding verses and allowing each person to fill in their own words.

Hopefully the categories are helpful to understand to message of Christ to the churches and relate them to challenges we face today.

Also, I keep sharing the 3 Circles with churches as a way to share and explain the gospel.  I walked into the youth room at WCC to see this on the large chalk wall.

I also want to give you the quote from A.W. Tozer from 1948 in his work The Pursuit Of God that I mention in the sermon.

“Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? 

They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. 

So one hundred worshipers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be,... 

...were they to become 'unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.”

We need some brave Christians of any of the 7 types of churches found in Revelation to hold the church down to the Scriptures.  We do this with the balance given in the Scriptures of speaking the truth in love so we don't fall into the trap of the Ephesus church.  The latest divergents of the church are just that "divergents" from God rather than keeping to Christ as Tozer mentions.  The church will never find the unity the Bible is telling us about if we tune ourselves to something other the good news that our king Jesus has come with salvation.  Do we believe that a salvation focus of the church is the Biblical response to our world?  Do we believe the ultimate answer to the sin of this world is more people hearing about Jesus so they might respond with faith and repentance when their eyes are open by God and can be transformed by the Holy Spirit to a life that honors Christ?  Who is commissioned to do this proclaiming?  The church grounded to the Scriptures is the answer.

Much more to think about this but I so love the local church to be the place where people hear the gospel that speaks of salvation.  Even though I feel the American church is coming off its foundation at times, may I be willing to run toward it with willing hands and voice to aid in its Great Commission and Great Commandment focus.

Here are the video clips I included in the sermon.  There is some audio and it is a "could be" tragic event so some are using God's name to express their shock over what they are seeing.  

clip 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAdX6_zu4mI&list=PLR2Yv0_zJFqn1LBMpTSrF_PHRQLeNgLQn&index=1

clip 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGdYf1h8CqQ&list=PLR2Yv0_zJFqn1LBMpTSrF_PHRQLeNgLQn&index=2

Adam