This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Hi, this is Pastor Tom and I want to welcome you to day two of our look together
through Revelation chapter 3. We're going to look at verses 2 to 6 today.
Remember yesterday we began our look at the church of Sardis, a church that was
dying, and what Jesus says to a dying church, how He helps us to not give up but
to wake up.

And we're focusing on three prayers that you and I can pray based on what Jesus
said to this church. First prayer we looked at yesterday, it's the honest
prayer, "Lord, help me to see the gaps between who I am and what you want to see
happening in my life, between reputation and reality. " Today, as we look at
beginning in verse 2, we're going to focus on a second prayer.

And the second prayer is, "Lord, help me to close the gaps, not just to see the
gaps but also to close the gaps. " Let me read for you verses 2 and 3,
Revelation chapter 3, "Wake up," Jesus says, "strengthen what remains and is
about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.
Remember therefore what you have received and heard, obey it, and repent.

But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at
what time I will come to you. " In these few verses, Jesus talks about how to
revitalize anything. He uses the words at the beginning, "Wake up.

" He wants us to live a life that's fully alive, fully awake, and he says, "Wake
up. " The church of Sardis has an idea behind it of a reflection. The church was
meant to be a light, but instead it was just a reflection of the culture around
it.

It sort of reflects what this city was like in that day. It was once a great
city. It was still large and wealthy, but it had become just a shadow of what it
had once been.

The very town they lived in was living on its reputation, and now these
Christians were beginning to live on their reputation. Jesus says, "Wake up.
Wake up.

" And you and I, we need to wake up at two points where we're all most
vulnerable. We've got to wake up at our weakest point in life, the place where
we've fallen again and again, but we also have to wake up at our strongest point
in life, the place where I say I would never fall there, and realize at every
point in life, I need what only Jesus Christ can do. How do I do that?

How do I wake up? How do I revitalize something in my life? First you wake up,
and then secondly you strengthen what remains.

You want to bring something back to life. Your love for the Lord, your love for
your husband, your wife, for one of your kids, your passion for your job, for a
ministry. You want to bring something back to life.

Then you find whatever life remains, and you strengthen that. You don't work on
what's already dead, you strengthen that which is alive. This is a key to
revitalizing something in your life.

So you say, "At what point do I still enjoy my ministry? I'm going to strengthen
that. At what point in my life do I still sense God's love for me?

I'm going to really focus on that. At what point am I able to still communicate
and talk in my marriage? I'm going to focus on that.

" Jesus reminds us here that if we're going to revitalize something, bring it
back to life, instead of grieving about what we've lost, you have to strengthen
what remains. And there is always something that remains in the character and
the goodness of God. If you've got nothing else, God remains.

He is there in the midst of that. If you can't think of another thing that
remains, He is there. So you strengthen your relationship with Him.

You wake up, you strengthen what remains. You want to revitalize something? The
third thing you do is you remember what you've heard.

You remember God's Word to you. And it might mean you need to pick it up, read
it again and again and again. I know that you can read God's Word without it
making any impact on your life.

It's possible just to read it in a rote manner and it doesn't make any impact.
But I also know this. If you're not reading God's Word, there is no opportunity
for impact in your life.

I know people who think, "Well, I read God's Word in a rote manner once, so I
should never read it again. " That's like thinking, "I ate food and I didn't
enjoy it once, so I should never eat food again. " The only way you're going to
grow spiritually is through the Word of God.

The times that I've seen myself grow in my life is the times I've been reading
His Word. And the times when I'm not reading His Word, I'm not getting anywhere.
Reading God's Word is like putting up the sails on a sailboat.

When the winds of life hit the sails, you go somewhere. No sails in place,
you're dead in the water. You remember what you've heard.

You go back to God's Word. You hang on to it again. You wake up.

You strengthen what remains. You remember what you've heard. And then you obey
and repent.

Obey and repent those two things together. And that has the sense, we were
talking about a sailboat, the boat's been going in this direction. When I choose
to obey and repent, I choose to go in a different direction, a completely
different direction.

Now, this gets to the honest point in some of our lives, exactly why we don't
want things to come back to life in faith or in a marriage or in a church. We
know that we'll have to go in a different direction and there's something
selfish in us that does not want to change, doesn't want to admit that we're
wrong, doesn't want to give up on that sin habit, doesn't want to have to
forgive someone. We don't want to change.

And so we hang on to what we want and the relationship keeps dying. The ministry
keeps dying. Lamentations 340 says, "Let us test and examine our ways.

Let us turn again in repentance to the Lord. " There's nothing more refreshing
than repentance. You want to revitalize anything, you wake up, you strengthen
what remains, you remember what you've heard, you obey and repent, but then
there's a final thing Jesus talks to us about here.

He says, "You let go of your false security. " He says, "If you don't do this,
I'm going to come like a thief. If you don't do this, there's going to come a
moment when I come again and you're not expecting me.

" We tell ourselves that everything's going to remain as it is. It won't. Jesus
is not going to let it.

Who would want this evil world to remain as it is anyway? Don't fool yourself.
Things are not going to just remain as they are.

Even in your individual life, if you don't do something, things will only get
worse. That dead feeling in a marriage, it'll become a divorce. That dead heart
that you have towards God, it'll lead to rampant sin in your life.

That dead relationship with a friend will turn into a bitterness that starts to
tear your life apart. If you don't do something, then you're going to go
downhill. It's not going to stay the same.

Jesus' warning to His children here is, "It's like I will come like a thief and
you didn't even know I was there. " I don't know what it is in your life that
needs to be revitalized. It may be major.

It may be minor. It doesn't matter. It's what's come to your mind, come to your
heart right now.

Let Jesus do what only He can do and bring it back to life again. Lord, help me
to see the gaps between my reputation and the reality of what You want to do,
but then help me to close the gaps as I trust in You. But then there's a third
prayer to pray as you see something revitalized in your life, and it is the
prayer of confidence.

It is the prayer of Revelation chapter 2 verses 4 to 6. It's the prayer, "Lord,
I will overcome. I am looking forward to overcoming with You.

" Revelation 3, 4, and 6 says, "Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not
soiled their clothes. They will walk with me dressed in white, for they are
worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white.

I will never blot out His name from the book of life, but will acknowledge His
name before my Father and His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit says to the churches. I will overcome.

" Some people think, "Well, wait, that doesn't read right. I'd like to overcome.
The idea of overcoming here is a victorious life, but I will overcome?

" Jesus writes it that way. Jesus says it that way. Jesus wants us to live with
that kind of confidence.

Now, first, this word "overcome," it's an interesting word. The word "Nikaios,"
it's from the same root as the Greek goddess of victory. That's one Greek
goddess, by the way, you probably know the name of, the name Nike.

And the idea of victory that we have in sports, it's really in this word in a
deeper way, the overcoming victory of life, the overcoming victory of faith,
that in the end, our faith is what's going to overshadow everything. Our
relationship with Jesus is what wins out in the end. That's the picture of
overcoming.

And the picture of one who overcomes in these verses is a person who is dressed
in white. It's this picture of victory at the end of the race. And in that
picture of victory, Jesus gives a promise.

Jesus says, "Here's where you're headed. I'm not going to blot your name out of
the book of life. Instead, I'm going to recognize your name before my Father and
before His angels in heaven.

Live that way. That's how you live. " Now, some people read this and they
totally miss what Jesus is saying here.

They read, "I'll never blot His name out," and they think, "Does that mean He's
going to blot my name out, that He blot some people's names out? " Totally
missed it if you're thinking that. Jesus says, "I will never blot your name out.

" That's His promise when you know Him. He is expressing Himself here to a fear
that I've heard many believers express. Am I going to make it into heaven?

In the end, am I going to live in relationship with Jesus Christ? Am I really
saved or am I going to lose my salvation? Notice the way that Jesus puts it.

He doesn't say anything about names being blotted out. His words are simply
assurance that those who trust in Him, your name will never be blotted out. In
fact, instead of that, He's going to say your name before His Father, before the
angels in heaven.

When you get that, Lord, I will overcome. Lord, that is what I'm looking forward
to. That is the kind of heart that allows you to live the kind of faith that God
wants us to live.

Jesus Christ wants us to live as those who will overcome. Now, what does that
mean? What does it mean to be one who overcomes?

Each message, this is important because each message to these seven churches
ends with a promise of victory for those who overcome. Revelation 2, 7, "To whom
who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life. " 2, 11, "He
who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.

" 2, 17, "He who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. " 2, 26, "He
who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the
nations. " 3, 5, "He who overcomes will be dressed in white.

" 3, 12, "He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the household of my God.
" 3, 21, "He who overcomes, I will give the right to sit on my throne. " I went
through those so quickly, but I just wanted you to get the overwhelming,
overcoming nature of God's promise to us.

So who is this, the one who overcomes? Is it some category of super Christian?
No.

1 John chapter 5 verses 4 and 5 says this, "For everyone born of God overcomes
the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
" Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son
of God.

What does it mean to be one who overcomes? It means that you believe in Jesus
Christ. You've trusted Him to be born again.

Born of God means you will overcome the world. No maybes, no questions. Faith is
the victory.

And when you look forward to that, realizing it depends on what He has done for
you, not what you do for Him. That what you do for Him grows out of what He has
done for you. Then you can live a life not of reputation, but of the reality of
your faith.

Let's pray together. Jesus, help me to see the gaps. Help me to close the gaps
between reputation and reality.

And help me to live with faith that I will overcome this world and the
temptations and the troubles and the trials and the struggles and the
difficulties and the disappointments in this world. I will overcome because of
your promise and live with you forever. Thank you, Jesus.

In your name. Amen. Tomorrow, we're going to look together at what Jesus says to
a growing church.