Sleepy.......

If you have been a Christian for any period of time, and if your Pastor is a true teacher of Biblical truth, you can't help but see all that is happening in the world right now and not see how close the return of Jesus really is. There are wars and rumors of wars.(Matt 24:6), floods, famines, earthquakes, tidal waves, strange occurences in the atmosphere (Luke 21:11) and a return to lawlessness and lacivious living, much like in the days of Sodom.  These things MUST impact us!  I see too much of the church sitting, sleepy, lulled into the comfort of their exclusivity. Do we not see lost souls anymore? Are we not moved at the helplessness of abused children?  Is homelessness accepted as the norm?  Are we content that we know Jesus and we are "in", but ignoring His command to take the Gospel out?   Are we impacting our neighborhoods? Do people know we are saved???  Are we more into our "cool" church programs then our plans to reach the lost? 

In the Book of Revelation, John's vision has a specific message for seven churches.  When I reflect on the condition of the church today, I see that we have become more like the world, and they have become less Godly.  That isn't the way it was supposed to be.  See in those seven letters, there are some powerful admonitions as God speaks what HE sees in His churches.  There are some heartwrenching words, however the one that hurts me the most is in His message to the church at Sardis:

"“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars:  “I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief. “Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine. “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches." Rev 3:1-6. 

Can you hear God's heart begging His church to WAKE UP? OH that hurts my heart!! Pastors and lay people - God is calling us out of our sleepiness for one last spiritual awakening.  If we don't wake up.....He will come like a thief in the night. God's message is summed up in that last verse - this is my paraphrase, "PLEASE, PLEASE church! If you hear anything, listen to what I am saying to you - TIME IS SHORT and you cannot sleep.  PLEASE, PLEASE church - fulfill what I have entrusted you to do!"  I can almost hear the desperation in His voice as He begs us, those for whom He sacrificed his life, to wake up and hear His heart.  We all have to answer this call....now.