“I’m grieving”

“it can just be overwhelming. And if I'm not careful, I will grow jaded and cold, grieved and sorrowful. And so every time I walk in my office and every time I walk in my house, I need a reminder to be joyful, to be grateful, and to be humble. Humble, like it's not about me, right? It's about what he's doing in us and through us and to us and all of those sort of things. I really need this reminder that when life gets hard,”

“we actually had one of our director of the entire um Southern Baptist kind of mission um board up there in the state of Maine who was officing only miles away from where all that took place and so I've been in contact back and forth just praying for these guys as they Min to minister to families who are suffering unbelievable loss and sorrow and grief in this period and in this time but as we walked these streets we came to a couple different places one is Portland Maine we went to Augusta Main and then we ended up in the mountains for a Men's Conference in bethan with over 200 men that I'll tell you about in a minute but when we were in Portland what I realized very quickly is you had”

“Crystal river that runs through it but the turbulence and the storminess and the destruction of the sea is going to be no more chaos and Calamity will be eradicated No More Tears because hurtful memories will be replaced No More Death because mortality will be swallowed up in life no more mourning because sorrow will be completely comforted no more crying because sounds of weeping will be soothed no more pain because all human”

“Mourning brings comfort. Our mourning elicits a responsive promise of God in our lives called comfort. and our sorrow, our grief, and our tears, they are a means to an end called experiencing the comforting work of God's spirit. So two ways I want you to see this. Number one, comfort is an active work of God's spirit. Comfort is an active work of God's spirit. It's why Jesus, when he's”

“dependency upon God what did this final part of this message say he who has ears to hear Let Him hear what the spirit says to the what churches we are one of the churches that need to hear what the spirit is saying this church did not die because it was attacked outwardly this church died because of the death of its members there was no vibrancy there was no faith”

“could be revived but unless such a Revival occurs this small remainder will also fall subject to spiritual death did you notice that Jesus did say here um in another part of this uh passage that he said you are about to die the end of verse two he says strengthen what remains and is about to die it wasn't that they couldn't wake up but they they needed to wake”

“compromised and sick and ultimately dying and this church was in the curve of death it's very interesting that the word that is used here when Jesus said you appear to be alive but you are dead the word that is used is the Greek word necross necross is the Greek word for death there's another word in the Greek thas which means the death of the physical body but necros means something that is in the process of of corrupting”

“And he lets God do a work through his sorrow and his grief and his despair. And then he moves from lament. Did you know this in the Psalms? There's 150 Psalms. And they say that 30 to 40% of the Psalms are lament. You know what a lament is? It's somebody who's pouring out from deep-seated grief, brokenness, or sorrow. I love that because what that tells us is these are normal, everyday Joes who walk through life, and life is tough,”

“of they have to actually sign over a deed to a developing company to make it into a restaurant called Grace restaurant how does that happen well we're going to talk about how that happens and I think one of the things that I want to begin with if you're taking notes with me today I want us to observe the autopsy of a Dying church I want us to observe deserve the autopsy of a Dying church because this was the case in Sardis they were dying and they”

“breathe in the power of the spirit of God because we are a born again people born again to life that which is of the flesh is flesh fleshly things die and the reason that this church was dying is because it had become a fleshly church so what did Jesus say to the church how did he address address this issue in the church go back to Revelation 3 we talked about observing the autopsy of a Dying church”

“this is a crucial issue for us to consider and for us to understand because we are a church living today and we believe that God has given us a mission that we must be passionate and attentive to and prioritized for in our lives but we cannot Overlook the fact that the loss of churches means the loss of light and witness across Ross the landscape of America and of course we've”

“answer be and would that answer center around the fact that Jesus rose died Rose and conquered death for you and that you have made him Lord and Savior and that his blood has cleansed you from all sin if you if you can't say that today then you don't know Jesus and you don't have saving Faith are you having any particular seasons of deep Delight in the Lord is he teaching you and instructing you are you seeing his faithfulness and”

“Decay what was true of the city of Sardis had become true of the church at Sardis let's begin to work our way through this passage today and let's start by first observing what I would call the autopsy of a Dying Church let's observe the autopsy of a Dying Church Jesus the great physician Jesus the”

“through us and outward to the community around us so in light of that let's learn something now from the church at Sardis so we don't ever become the church at Sardis and I think he's not only writing to the church he's also relating to two kind of groups within the church a faithful group and a dying group and for the dying group he's meaning to write this in such a way that it would convict them and it would draw them and it would renew them by his spirit and so the question we got to ask”

“and something that is in the process of dying it can mean that which is departed it can mean that which is ultimately in the process of moving away and so here he's talking about the ebbing out of the life that that this church is in a a dying State and it's necrotic I love the way way that John MacArthur said it in such a straightforward manner he said the”

“to own brokenness of our brothers and sisters in Christ. But all of this mourning and grief is a means to an end called comfort. So with a few minutes that I have left with a very long sermon today, lean in with me because this is the good news of the promise. Mourn shall be comforted. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.”

“surrendered spirit filled Spirit engaged Spirit fruit bearing church and the day that we fail to recognize the essential movement and work of the spirit is the day that we begin to die as a church we must we must understand that this autopsy of a dead church is a a powerful reminder that the church is not just a body of people it's not a social order it's not”

“sides of the mountain and to come in and to Siege the city and churches began to die when they assumed that their Traditions will be sufficient to ultimately sustain them George lad in his commentary said this the admonition this admonition suggests that the church was not yet entirely Beyond hope it was not too late to awaken from spiritual lethargy there still remained a ridium of Life which”